.338 Deer Load
Question:
W. Campbell asks: Recently purchased two cases of 3" steel fiocchi shells, rated rated at 1475 fps. Problem….. sometimes they don’t feed far enough into the Beneli semi auto to get completely closed, and therefore the gun will not shoot unless you manually push the receiver closed. Have had them stick in Remington 870 express too. Never had a problem with either gun before these shells. Anyone else have comments on the Fiocchi shells.? Yes. I have experienced exactly the same problem in all my repeaters. They seem to work okay in my double guns though. It’s like the flange is too thick or something. I picked up a few boxes of Fiocchi empty hulls after a big dove shoot a while back and reloaded some. After experiencing the problem you described, I disposed of the remaining Fiocchi hulls. I seem to recall having read earlier on this or other newsgroups of other folks experiencing this problem with Fiocchi shotshells. Dave LeGrande GET INTERNET ACCESS FROM JUNO! Juno offers FREE or PREMIUM Internet access for less! Join Juno today! For your FREE software, visit: http://dl.www.juno.com/get/tagj. Visit the rec.hunting and rec.hunting.dogs FAQ Home Page at: http://sportsmansweb.com/hunting/
Response:
Walt wrote, > Never had a problem with either gun before these shells. Anyone > else > have comments on the Fiocchi shells.? > . > on the Fiocchi shells.?
*-Walt, My dove/quail hunting buddy gave me a fistful of 16 ga. Fiocchi shells that would not cycle in his Win/pump. I tried them in my Mossberg 500 and had the same problem. I just made sure the first shell in the chamber was a Fiocchi until I used them up. Visit the rec.hunting and rec.hunting.dogs FAQ Home Page at: http://sportsmansweb.com/hunting/
Response:
I would like to know the answer to this question myself. I have shot a number of deer with my 338 using 225 BarnseX, 235 Failsafe, 225 Speer BTSP and 250 Sierra GK. Pretty much in all cases when it came to skinning the deer, all my buddies say to me, Reg, you gotta get a smaller gun for deer. Especially when hitting a bone, the trauma on the exit wound side is considerably huge compared to the smaller caliber rifles. I think that next year I am going to go back to my 3006 like they suggest, but I sure like that 338 and if you do, well you will probably just have to deal with the damage. One bullet I would like to try which I loaded but never used on anything yet is the BarnseX 170gr. The main problem I have with this load is that the trajectory compared to the rest. It shoots about 4 feet higher at 300 yards which is to much to justify sighting my gun for it. Happy Hunting
> Mark- > I would stick with the 250 gr. bullet. I use a .338 for black-tail
hunting on the islands in SE Alaska where there is a risk of running into a brown bear. I tried 210 and 225 gr. bullets and had a lot of meat damage so went back to the 250. Range is not an issue here. Shots are usually less than 100 yds. > Phil > Visit the rec.hunting and rec.hunting.dogs FAQ Home Page at: > http://sportsmansweb.com/hunting/
Visit the rec.hunting and rec.hunting.dogs FAQ Home Page at: http://sportsmansweb.com/hunting/
Response:
Depending on range downloading the 338 to 33 Winchester velocities and using the Hornady 33 Winchester bullet works for me. Ranges in the area where I hunt are maxed at about 75 yards so I don’t feel uncomfortable with this loading at all. LouisB Just an opinion of course. Visit the rec.hunting and rec.hunting.dogs FAQ Home Page at: http://sportsmansweb.com/hunting/
Response:
This reply preceeds the post it referrs to. No brownies in N. Minnesota but I used a .338 Win. mag. w/275gr. Speer handload on a whitetail doe, (boiler room hit, jumped once and piled up, dead as a mackerel) with very little bloodshot meat. That big slug just doesn’t open up that much on a 125-150lb. animal – actually a good whitetail load if you don’t my Ruger 77) here if I ever get that once in a lifetime Minnesota moose tag. > I use a .338 for black-tail >hunting on the islands in SE Alaska where there is a risk of running into a >brown bear. I tried 210 and 225 gr. bullets and had a lot of meat damage so >went back to the 250. Range is not an issue here. Shots are usually less >than 100 yds. > Phil
Visit the rec.hunting and rec.hunting.dogs FAQ Home Page at: http://sportsmansweb.com/hunting/
Response:
I have a .338 Win Mag that I dearly love and have had good sucsees on elk with. I want to try it on mule deer next year and am trying to work up a good handload for it. My favorite elk load is a 250 grain Partition. I am thinking about the 200 gr Ballistic tip or trying one of the lighter Barnes X bullets. Any ideas? Should I just stick with the 250 gr Partition load? It shoots great in my gun and I have the ultimate confidence on elk with this load. I know a .338 is overkill for deer but I really like the gun and I shoot it well so I think it would be fun to work up something just for deer. Mark Visit the rec.hunting and rec.hunting.dogs FAQ Home Page at: http://sportsmansweb.com/hunting/
Response:
> I have a .338 Win Mag that I dearly love and have had good sucsees on elk with. I want to try it on mule deer next year and am trying to work up a good handload for it. My favorite elk load is a 250 grain Partition. I am thinking about the 200 gr Ballistic tip or trying one of the lighter Barnes X bullets. > Any ideas? Should I just stick with the 250 gr Partition load? It shoots great in my gun and I have the ultimate confidence on elk with this load. I know a .338 is overkill for deer but I really like the gun and I shoot it well so I think it would be fun to work up something just for deer.
Certainly using the 250 gr. load on deer will work fine and will not cause excessive meat damage (certainly no more than any other popular magnum cartridge). About the only thing you give up is speed which translates to point blank range but even then, the 338 is a pretty efficient cartridge (for a magnum) and I’m not sure you’ll gain much in the way of point blank range by going to a 200 gr. load. Still, I like the 180 gr. Ballistic Tip in .338 and imagine it would produce a very flat shooting handload that, had I my own .338, I would just have to try. Regards, Rick Visit the rec.hunting and rec.hunting.dogs FAQ Home Page at: http://sportsmansweb.com/hunting/
Response:
Mark- I would stick with the 250 gr. bullet. I use a .338 for black-tail hunting on the islands in SE Alaska where there is a risk of running into a brown bear. I tried 210 and 225 gr. bullets and had a lot of meat damage so went back to the 250. Range is not an issue here. Shots are usually less than 100 yds. Phil Visit the rec.hunting and rec.hunting.dogs FAQ Home Page at: http://sportsmansweb.com/hunting/
Response:
Stay a heavily constructed bullet. Ballistic tips may blow up and cause a lot of meat damage at close range. I’d use a 210 Nosler. Visit the rec.hunting and rec.hunting.dogs FAQ Home Page at: http://sportsmansweb.com/hunting/
Response:
i use the Barnes X 185 gr. boattail in my .338 win mag…..i really like the way it works on Deer and Caribou. Bill http://www.angelfire.com/ny3/BILLNY/index.html Visit the rec.hunting and rec.hunting.dogs FAQ Home Page at: http://sportsmansweb.com/hunting/
Response:
> I have a .338 Win Mag that I dearly love and have had good sucsees on elk with. I want to try it on mule deer next year and am trying to work up a good handload for it. My favorite elk load is a 250 grain Partition. I am thinking about the 200 gr Ballistic tip or trying one of the lighter Barnes X bullets. > Any ideas? Should I just stick with the 250 gr Partition load? It shoots great in my gun and I have the ultimate confidence on elk with this load. I know a .338 is overkill for deer but I really like the gun and I shoot it well so I think it would be fun to work up something just for deer. > Mark
The 250 grain partition will do less damage to the meat, but you do give up some trajectory. If you’re shooting far in open country, the 180 grain ballistic tip works pretty well. (I used one up close and it was kinda messy, but mostly because I clipped the bottom of the spine … bone fragments did most of the damage.) My favorite all around bullet for the .338 was the 210 grain Barnes X boat tail. Tom Visit the rec.hunting and rec.hunting.dogs FAQ Home Page at: http://sportsmansweb.com/hunting/
Response:
>I have a .338 Win Mag that I dearly love and have had good sucsees on elk with. I want to try it on mule deer next year and am trying to work up a good handload for it. My favorite elk load is a 250 grain Partition. I am thinking about the 200 gr Ballistic tip or trying one of the lighter Barnes X bullets. >Any ideas? Should I just stick with the 250 gr Partition load? It shoots great in my gun and I have the ultimate confidence on elk with this load. I know a .338 is overkill for deer but I really like the gun and I shoot it well so I think it would be fun to work up something just for deer.
I’ve never shot a .338, but I’m familiar with its ballistics. I would use a round nose FMJ – that would just blow a 1-inch hole going clear through, without wasting much meat at all, and the deer would NOT go very far with a lung shot, or he’d just drop in its tracks if it were shoulder-to-shoulder. I had a friend once that swore by using his .458WM on whitetails, with exactly this result. Ron M. Visit the rec.hunting and rec.hunting.dogs FAQ Home Page at: http://sportsmansweb.com/hunting/
Response:
I have had good luck with both 200gr hornady and 210gr nosler partition I have bought but yet to load or shoot 200 nosler ballistatip I picked them over the 180’s because of the better BC and SD. But any way you slice it if you hit a bone (other than ribs) on a deer with a 338 you will damage lots of meat. The big problem is that if you use a tougher bullet to minimize meat damage you run the risk of not getting enough expansion on ribshots. Before you buy. Visit the rec.hunting and rec.hunting.dogs FAQ Home Page at: http://sportsmansweb.com/hunting/
Response:
Just a not from past experience. If you must use a ballistic tip bullet make sure you use one of the newer ones designed for hunting big game. Nosler makes a new line that is supposed to delay expansion so you make a better wound channel and get better kills on the big game. I took a follow up shot last year for a friend of mine that swore ballistic tips in his .270 would kill deer effectively. When we got up to the deer after my head shot with a 100 gr Speer BTSP, we found that his .270 bullet had exploded on one of the ribs, never even getting into the body cavity. The shot was perfect but the bullet just did not penetrate. Trouble ain’t trouble for anyone that is ready for it! Visit the rec.hunting and rec.hunting.dogs FAQ Home Page at: http://sportsmansweb.com/hunting/
Response:
I would be very skeptical of advice from someone who has never done it. I have shot a number of deer size animals (mostly impala and warthogs) in Africa with a 250 grain roundnose (Barnes) solid from a .338 Win Mag at a muzzle velocity of 2667 FPS. It doesn’t "just blow a 1-inch hole going clear through" at all. The exit wound is extremely small and the animals went a long way. I used them to do as little damage as possible to the meat, as this was for camp supplies. I went back to 250 grain Swifts because of the long tracking jobs. Very little more meat was damaged, and the critters didn’t go very far. My suggestion would be to stick with the 250 grain Partitions so you only have one trajectory to remember. Otherwise, the 225 Partition would be a good choice. I, personally, prefer Swift A-Frames, as they are a little "harder" than the Nosler Partitions, as they nearly always exit leaving a better blood trail if some tracking is required. Good hunting, Jim Visit the rec.hunting and rec.hunting.dogs FAQ Home Page at: http://sportsmansweb.com/hunting/
Response:
Recently purchased two cases of 3" steel fiocchi shells, rated at 1475 fps. Problem….. sometimes they don’t feed far enough into the Beneli semi auto to get completely closed, and therefore the gun will not shoot unless you manually push the receiver closed. Have had them stick in Remington 870 express too. Never had a problem with either gun before these shells. Anyone else have comments on the Fiocchi shells.? . on the Fiocchi shells.? . Visit the rec.hunting and rec.hunting.dogs FAQ Home Page at: http://sportsmansweb.com/hunting/
