Antelope with my .338
Question:
> If I had to hunt antelope with a .338, I’d try factory loads with FMJ bullets. >These won’t expand even if they hit bone, and the diameter and energy of >the .338 is large enough to bring the animal down with no expansion.
Check the state laws first as many places prohibit big game hunting with FMJ bullets. Bill I.
Response:
- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – > D. Karosich (by way of Alex Vitek ) > : Would it be possible to hunt antelope with a .338 mag if I dropped down > : to to the lowest possible load without damaging the meat? If so, what > : kind of bullet and grain should I use? I use factory loads. I don’t > : handload. Thanks! > Federal has .338 ammo with 210 grain Nosler Partition bullets. This wouldn’t > damage too much meat because the bullet should penetrate tha animal completely > before a lot of expansion occurs, assuming you get a broadside lung shot. > If you hit bone other than ribs, you will damage a lot of meat. If I > had to hunt antelope with a .338, I’d try factory loads with FMJ bullets. > These won’t expand even if they hit bone, and the diameter and energy of > the .338 is large enough to bring the animal down with no expansion. > — > Michael Courtney, Ph. D.
can go too a lower cal. I would do it. I took a 14" goat in Sept. 96 with a .243 at 220 yards and dropped it in its tracks. Good luck. Erick Seager NRA, RMEF, RGS, DU
Response:
>Would it be possible to hunt antelope with a .338 mag if I dropped down >to to the lowest possible load without damaging the meat? If so, what >kind of bullet and grain should I use? I use factory loads. I don’t >handload. Thanks! >Darin
Use any load you want — it won’t make a difference. I have used my 338 with 200 gr factory through 250 gr. Grand Slams loaded two grains of powder over max and have never had any wasted meat on everything ranging from a small yearling doe to a 6point bull elk. Damaged meat comes from shooting an animal in the wrong place — which simply comes from poor hunting technique. Kyle Miller
Response:
- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – > D. Karosich (by way of Alex Vitek ) > : Would it be possible to hunt antelope with a .338 mag if I dropped down > : to to the lowest possible load without damaging the meat? If so, what > : kind of bullet and grain should I use? I use factory loads. I don’t > : handload. Thanks! > Federal has .338 ammo with 210 grain Nosler Partition bullets. This wouldn’t > damage too much meat because the bullet should penetrate tha animal completely > before a lot of expansion occurs, assuming you get a broadside lung shot. > If you hit bone other than ribs, you will damage a lot of meat. If I > had to hunt antelope with a .338, I’d try factory loads with FMJ bullets. > These won’t expand even if they hit bone, and the diameter and energy of > the .338 is large enough to bring the animal down with no expansion.
I would not worry about overexpansion. 338 bullets are mostly intended for heavy game, so they tend to expand slowly. If anything, you may have a problem because your bullets do not expand enough. If you handlaod, then I would suggest 200 grain Hornady interlock spire points (I have found that they open quickly and hold together pretty well), Nosler 200 grain ballistic tips, or barnes 175 grain X bullets. Elmer Keith considered the 338 to be the world’s greatest antlope round because "you can eat the meat right up to the edge of the hole. In other words, the 338 was both letal and non-destructive.
Response:
A long time ago a friend of mine tried to talk me out of using my .338 for dear hunting in our area of Alaska. He said that when he shot deer with his .338 they never knew that they were shot and coninued on their merry way. Seems that the bullets had gone clean through the deer before the bullet really started to expand. One day he shot twice at a deer standing about 60 yards away. He thought he had missed and was wondering if something was wrong with his scope. He held dead on the shoulder bone and when he squeezed off a round it picked that deer up five feet off the ground and through it ten feet back over a small drop off. When we inspected the deer, he had hit it all three times. We have since both learned WHERE to take these animals with 250 grain bullets. We wait for the right shot…or we pass. As amatter of fact he is now using a 340 WBY Mag on some of the hunts. Too much gun, you may think, but most of you know why. If any of the rest of you ever have a coastal brown bear trying to find and eat your ass you too will know. What changed my friend’s mind? An encounter with the aforementioned furry friend, which caused him to encounter his mortality, which caused him to encounter God, who suggested he buy a bigger gun. 
Steve
Response:
> You have an outstanding rifle… any gun good, shoot’em good. I have a
friend who killed an elk at 800 years…. 3 shots, to hits… We shoot deer with this caliber and have no problems at all with wasting meat. Good Luck… Stan K.
Response:
I wound up using my backup rifle, a .338, on a South Dakota antelope hunt in 1995. For medium game I use Nosler 200 gr. ballistic tips over 70 gr of IMR 4350 and have found that load to be extremely effective. Antelope, mule deer and whitetail have all fallen to that combination and I haven’t ruined any meat yet. Certainly a dead on shoulder hit would be rather catastrophic; however, heart/lung placement may blow up a rib or two but nothing much else is affected. While I prefer the "06" for most hunts the .338 is truly hard to beat for an all around rifle on the North American continent. Regards and good hunting, Wen
Response:
>A long time ago a friend of mine tried to talk me out of using my .338 >for dear hunting in our area of Alaska. He said that when he shot deer >with his .338 they never knew that they were shot and coninued on their >merry way. Seems that the bullets had gone clean through the deer before >the bullet really started to expand.
Try the Nosler 210 Partition. It’s a beautiful "little" bullet, and has worked VERY well here in British Columbia on deer, goat, and sheep. Just keep a 250 Partition, 225 BARNES-X or similarly great bullet "up the spout" while walking. If one encounters a deer, one can change to the 210. I want a 250 ALREADY IN THE CHAMBER when I walk in grizzly country, and I want the magazine filled with the same… Regards de Mikey.
Response:
D. Karosich (by way of Alex Vitek )
: Would it be possible to hunt antelope with a .338 mag if I dropped down : to to the lowest possible load without damaging the meat? If so, what : kind of bullet and grain should I use? I use factory loads. I don’t : handload. Thanks! Federal has .338 ammo with 210 grain Nosler Partition bullets. This wouldn’t damage too much meat because the bullet should penetrate tha animal completely before a lot of expansion occurs, assuming you get a broadside lung shot. If you hit bone other than ribs, you will damage a lot of meat. If I had to hunt antelope with a .338, I’d try factory loads with FMJ bullets. These won’t expand even if they hit bone, and the diameter and energy of the .338 is large enough to bring the animal down with no expansion. — Michael Courtney, Ph. D.
Response:
>Would it be possible to hunt antelope with a .338 mag if I dropped down >to to the lowest possible load without damaging the meat? If so, what >kind of bullet and grain should I use? I use factory loads. I don’t >handload. Thanks!
I’ve been hunting whitetails with a .338 for three years now and have killed several. All this nonsense about "damaging" meat is jsut that, nonsense! The .338 actually damages less meat while killing much better than the .270 I used previously.
Response:
On Wed, 22 Jan 1997, D. Karosich (by way of Alex Vitek > Would it be possible to hunt antelope with a .338 mag if I dropped down > to to the lowest possible load without damaging the meat? If so, what > kind of bullet and grain should I use? I use factory loads. I don’t > handload. Thanks!
Any commercial .338 load will either 1) pass through an antelope-size animal without expanding, perhaps leaving it to a lingering death, or 2) blow it all to hell and gone.
Response:
>Would it be possible to hunt antelope with a .338 mag if I dropped down >to to the lowest possible load without damaging the meat? If so, what >kind of bullet and grain should I use? I use factory loads. I don’t >handload. Thanks! >Darin
Absolutely, If you use bullets specifically designed for the magnum, you will find that they have heavier jackets. Bullets like these will penetrate deeper with less expansion, and you will find that a magnum will often do less meat damage than most nonmagnum calibers. And, you will not have to back your loads off at all. I have used a 7mm Rem mag for almost 25 years on deer and antelope, and with the 154 hornady spire bullet and max loads, it does less meat damage than any non-magnum caliber I have ever seen used, except the 22 calibers. Even my 6mm Rem destroys more meat than the 7mm, and the 6mm damage is minimal compared to a 270. In spite of the low meat damage from the 7mm, it gives better, quicker kills. A typical exit wound for the 7mm is under 1 inch even if it hits bones. I would try it with a premium bullet like the nosler partition, if it is available in a factory load.
Response:
Would it be possible to hunt antelope with a .338 mag if I dropped down to to the lowest possible load without damaging the meat? If so, what kind of bullet and grain should I use? I use factory loads. I don’t handload. Thanks! Darin
