.338-06 anybody?

[Jbotto]

I’ve shot Barnes Bullets out of the 338 federal and 338-06 Improved, for years. The 338 federal shoots the barnes 160gr TTSX at 2750fps, and the 338-06 Improved shoots the 185gr TSX at 2900fps. Every deer and hog I’ve shot with these rifles has been under 200 yards. Every animal shot with these 2 rifles, has died and been recovered. On thin skinned, easy to kill, deer I have found the tipped version of the barnes bullet to be a quicker killer. In my experience, the 338 federal with the tipped 160gr at 2750 puts deer down faster than the heavier faster 185gr UNtipped bullet out of the 338-06. On hogs, the bullets perform the same, but they are bigger tougher thicker skinned creatures. I have zero experience with the Hornady GMX line of bullets so I cannot speak on those with experience. For elk, the barnes tipped or untipped 185gr - 210gr bullets should perform admirably out of the 338-06.


JTD

If expansion at long distances is a concern, then you could also look at the Nosler 200gr accubond and 210 partition. Both are soft enough to expand at lower velocities, but tough enough to get the job done at close range higher velocities.


JTD

Thanks JTD for sharing your experiences with these! I appreciate that a bunch! I think I'm going to go with my gut and give the 210's a try. I can't say I have plans to shoot big game at 400 yards and realistically 300 will probably rarely happen, but I don't think the projected ballistic numbers I was getting are anything I should be too worried about. I've heard very positive results from both the 200gr Accubond and the 210gr Partition seems to be the standby bullet for the .338-06 from my research. As a fall back, those are definitely some great options I'll look into if I every decided to stray from the non-lead options.

On a different note, I have completed over 100 sized cases this past week and am getting antsy for some time to screw the rifle together and get to shooting! I saw that MidwayUSA had a deal on some factory seconds .338" 215 Sierra Gamekings for about $0.30 apiece so I scooped up 100 to get my barrel broken in and get comfortable with my rifle before I go ahead and get serious with some load development. Should have some ammo loaded up in the next couple of weeks!