338 Mag bullet Quandry

[TCLouis]

My 338 Mag will shoot the Lee 220 RNGC into a tiny little cluster at about 1800 fps.
It will scatter both of the other 338 bullets I cast into sorta reasonable groups, but they are flat nosed (not a big flat point, but a meplat none the less).

Do I go with the Round nose and accuracy or the small flat point?

I have considered chucking the Lee RN in the lathe and adding a flat point.

Hey, one other detail, I hunt the woods 100 yards is a LONG shot!

[Bass Ackward]

My 338 Mag will shoot the Lee 220 RNGC into a tiny little cluster at about 1800 fps.
It will scatter both of the other 338 bullets I cast into sorta reasonable groups, but they are flat nosed (not a big flat point, but a meplat none the less).

Do I go with the Round nose and accuracy or the small flat point?

I have considered chucking the Lee RN in the lathe and adding a flat point.

Hey, one other detail, I hunt the woods 100 yards is a LONG shot!


TC,

Tough quandry? Your last statement answered your own question eh?

Since you have some equipment, you could devise a way to drill out the nose of that round nose for the very few bullets you will actually need. Don't go too big (.125) or too deep (@.125). That's all you need. Just use ACWW and fill that hole with melted candle wax. Act's just like a wide flat. Go deeper and you obviously expand more.

Your call.

[Doughty]

TC,

You might consider using a lead/tin alloy soft point.

[9.3X62AL]

Welcome to the board, Vic!

My sole 338 Mag experience was not good at all--this with a Howa 1500 and the RCBS 200 FN. The boolit did VERY well in a 1886 x 33 WCF that once graced my gun safe, and I rue the day I sold that rifle. Sending the mold to Buckshot exorcised the final demon remaining from that ill-advised disposition. Try as I might, I could not get the 338 to do anything reasonable with the castings.

[Doughty]

Al,

Sorry about the slow reply. I've been over to Forsyth, MT to the Quigley match and had a blast.

I never have tried the .338 Mag, but have felt for some time that the .338 cast bulley may be the optimum hunting bullet. I have also come to believe that the .30-40 Krag case may be the optimum case for single shot hunting rifles, so, I made a .33 Krag on a Ruger #1. The reamer was made to my specs, however, I never could get the Lyman or the Lee to shoot well. I finally resorted to making a mold to my specs and it has worked out really well. When I first used it for hunting I was using 2 alloy soft points. They worked very well but wasted too much meat, so I went back to using solids. I shoot mine at 2400 fps. TC is trying them at 1800 so the soft points might work well for him.