Hi there.

If you were shooting up to 400 yards and had to choose one of the bullet weights above, what would it be. Animals ranging from Impala to Eland. Does the 250s have too much drop? I am thinking of using either TSX 250s or Partitions 250s. My rifle performs quite well with TSX 225s but I am itching to try 250s and would like to know what the pros and cons really are. I guess one can simply check a ballistics chart but I prefer getting first hand info from you guys.

Pieter

Download JBM free ballistics calc and go from there by entering bc ,mv and elevation.

I prefer 225 NAB at .550bc. I'd rather run 210ttsx or 210 Partitions rather than 250's.

I used 210 gr Barnes TSX in my .338 Win Mag for my African plains game adventure and they worked very well.

Check the charts and use whatever you feel comfortable with. Everything mentioned will kill plains game.

donsm70

With the honest comment here that I am NOT a "long range" hunter-shooter, due entirely to the lack of a suitable range to develop and practice the skills needed for this, I do have extensive experience with the .338WM, my favourite round for decades.

I have shot, loaded for and hunted with this outstanding round for 45 years, owned about a dozen .338 rifles and used several others, it is just an outstanding round for BC hunting, IMHO.

I started with 225 gr. bullets, Hornadys, then used various 200s, the excellent 210 NP and tended to avoid the 250s for some years. But, when I decided to try the 250 NP, I was "done" and I have kept to the 250s. almost exclusively, since 1982-83.

I use NPs for hunting, Hornady SPs are great for deer and broadside hits on larger cervids and I like to load and shoot SGKs for practice, as they are so easy to load and so accurate.

I also do not see any actual benefit to the slightly higher velocity of 225 over 250 gr. bullets and tend to prefer using heavier bullets in this as in most of my hunting cartridges as I hunt where Grizzlies are numerous and encounters are increasing. The penetration issue is also a factor as we are largely restricted to taking only 6 pt. elk and the shots are often in heavy cover, where driving the bullet as "Elmer" used to tell of is the only available shot.

YMMV, and 250s DO "kick" more, but, I prefer them and am content with my trajectory of 2" hihg at 100, on at 200 and 2 feet low at 400...seems to work for me and many guys I know here.

I can think of no reason to use a 250 TSX over the 225 in the 338 Win mag. Even with the 225, you won't be getting too much speed for consistent and reliable expansion out yonder. The 250 Partition is a good one however.

Nothing wrong with the 250's but I've used the 225 Hornadies and partitions pretty much since I've had my .338's and I've never needed or wanted more performance. When I went to Africa, I used A-frames in the same weight and everything went down like it was hit with lightning.
I did bring a few partitions on that trip just for insurance in case I ran out of ammo, but didn't need it in the end.

The best part is all of these 225's shoot to the same point of aim so I can practice with the cheaper Hornadies and hunt with the Partitions or A-frames.

I've shot Elk out to 600+ yards with the 225's and never really needed more power. They just plain work, which is why I will probably always have a 338 around.

Bob

Pieter-honestly I'd find a bullet that your rig liked and go from there. 400 yds isn't very darn far and it's awfully tough to find a bullet that wouldn't do well for you. I've not hunted the animals you mention but have a good deal of elk experience with the 338/06, 338 WM, 338 WSM and the .340 and and I'd just find a bullet your gun likes that you can buy when you want and go from there.

IMO either the 225 Noz Pt or 250 NPT would be incredibly hard to beat.

Dober

Thanks guys.

Great info. The reason why I am saying 400 yards is that I am using the rifle for walk and stalk hunting and we do hunt places like Namibia where you have open spaces that offer longer shots. I know I could have posted the question in the hunting rifle section but I thought that I will get a clear answer here. I want to avoid shots past 400 yards as the only rest I will use would probably be a tree. I just do not want to limit the rifles' capabilities.

Pieter

Mark, makes a lot of sense here and I would bet that probably 70%, or more, of the serious users of .338" bore cartridges in B.C., where you do have a lot of "big" game and many Grizzlies, use either or both of these two bullets as their "go-to" hunting choice.

Me, I consider the .338WM, to be so close to "perfect" for all B.C. hunting that I often wish I had the will power to sell all of the other rifles I own (far too many!) and just use it exclusively. The .340 Roy is also a helluva round, but, for ME, it "kicks" much worse than any .338WM and the two .340s I have shot seemed to boot me worse than any of my .375 H&Hs did/do.

So, given that these two bullets are also outstanding in close range uses, I think that Dober's point is "right on, man"....

Pieter,
Give some thought to putting a Harris 25C bipod on your rifle or practice using shooting sticks. I use a bipod on my rifle on just about every hunt now just because it has come in handy so many times. After a while, I don't even notice the slight additional weight on the rifle when using it offhand for shorter shots and it only takes a couple seconds to fold it down and extend it for long shots sitting or kneeling.

In Africa, most PH's will carry shooting sticks for you to use on the longer range shots so practicing with them before hand might be a good idea.

Bob

Small point:
The only reason there is a large range of bullet weights per caliber is that traditionally, the cup and core designs fell to pieces on impact. The idea was to retain bullet weight and increase or maintain penetration, because of this retained weight.

With modern technology, that old theory is as obsolete as the 300 grain factory load.

The modern bullets in the 200-225 grain weight range will outperform the older design 250's in most cases, Parition included and that, was always "the" bullet in .338 caliber.

John

I seriously doubt that ANY contemporary .338" bullet available to average shooters/handloaders will ...outperform... the 250 NP at a chronoed 2800 fps-mv.

Now, I will stress that I have no African experience, but, I have been "in on" about 200 kills of BC big game and I have driven these bullets completely through bull Elk and never have had one stay inside a deer.

The performance is SO consistently good, that it just can't really get any better and the lighter "monometals", etc. DO sometimes punch through and a lost and suffering animal is the result. So, each to his own, but, I see NO "better" bullet in .338" for BIG game as in 1800 lb. Moose, 850 lb. Elk, a very tough animal to drop and keep down and ANY Grizzly, as these are VERY dangerous critters that have and do kill even armed people here all too often.

Some guides I have spoken with are also fond of the 275-SAF, especially for packing meat, etc, out on hayburners, but, I honestly doubt that any REAL improvement exists. In fact, with the exception of the North Fork, which some here and elsewhere whose opinions I tend to trust have indicated IS a bit better on big stuff than the NPs, I seriously doubt that a moderately heavy for caliber NP driven at moderately high velocities in ANY realistic big game round CAN be bested; some [bleep] just works!

Well I'll put this out there. I've always been a Nosler Partition fan. I've had great results from them on Elk, bears, etc..
However, the A Squares I used in Africa were at another level altogether. They shot as well as the NPT's and to same point of aim, penetrated better IMHO, and when the couple I was able to recover were found they had the absolutely classic mushroom and shape and retained almost all of their original weight.

If they weren't so darned expensive, I'd shoot them for everything that I use my .338's for.

Bob

For heavy game (Brown Bear, Moose, etc) I'm found on Barnes X 250 grains with a hot/tough load in 338 WM

if the 250 grains Partition is a very good bullet, I think the Barnes in this application/duty is even better. I don't like Barnes but for Real heavy game, it's really difficult to beat them (Brown Bear, Moose, Buffalo, etc)

My pick would be the 225..When I shot the 250's in my .338, the drop was pretty great compared to my other rifles...

I used the 225 Partition for eland, gemsbok, & kudu. All one shot kills. I'm sure the 250 Partition is also excellent, but I could not have asked for anything to work better than the 225 did. I have used the 225 out to 700yds and it works well.

One of my old 4H shooters became a guide in AK... has had to stop everything under the sun with his 338 wm...

Also has shot through a 4 inch or so alder, through a BC Blackie, and through another tree never to find the bullet....

There is nothing better than the 225 barnes tsx/ttsx bullet in the 338 win mag that you can ever find for general purpose IMHO.

225 worked out from around 30 yards out to just over 800 in that gun. And stopped more than a few coastal browns for clients in bad situations.

I am a barnes slut though, but only because they have a good track record with me and have performed better consistently than any other bullet used, and that includes other premiums. At least for the results that I wanted.

l can not agree more, the 210 to 225 TSX or TTSX is the best 338 win mag bullet going IME. I have seen the 225 TSX bullet out pentrate a 300 TBBC on a buffalo and drop the buff at instantly with a raking body shot. The internal damage looks like a blender went through the vitals

Have you tried any of the http://gscustom.co.za/ bullets? The most devastating results and the best accuracy I experienced was with their HV bullets.

I like the partitions alot. For 338 I always try the 225 first as that is my preferred pill. If that doesnt work i then try the 225 accubond. I have no doubt the 225 TSX wouldnt work but have yet to give it a try. I really havent found a need for the 250's but i have no doubt it wouldnt work well. For 400 yards either will work. Just depends how far you want the bullet to dig into the ground on the other side of the animal

210-225 TSX/TTSX are tough to beat. Elk and Brown Bear, no Africa game, but results should be the same, impressive. The 210' TTSX's @ 2860 are 0.5 MOA out of my .338. Awesome.

I always gravitated to the 225gr bullets. To me they seemed like a good balance with a darn good ballistic coefficient.
My three suspects were the Sierra Pro-Hunter, Partition and the Accubond.