338 win mag hunting bullet

[joecool911]

Looking for a good hard hitting and long range hunting bullet. Does it exist in cast? Currently shooting a 250 grain boat tail @ 2,700 fps. Great ballistic coefficient at .550. Really carries the velocity and energy downrange. Shooting a Ruger Hawkeye.

[AlaskaMike]

I don't have any molds for .338, but I've shot some in my .30-06 that fast. I don't think my load would be good for hunting though, because I cast the bullets fairly hard and don't think they'd expand.

I only just started casting fairly recently, so hopefully one of the more experienced guys will pitch in their $0.02. From my experience when you want to reach out and touch something at long distances, and do so with significant velocity, cast is not what you want. Cast bullets seem to be at their best at lower velocities, and with bullets that are heavy for caliber.

I think if it were me I'd save the jacketed bullets for the high speed, long range hunts and try to find a 300-ish grain bullet with a blunt or flat nose, and work up an accurate load in the 2000 - 2300 fps range maybe.

Mike

[leftiye]

You could cast grooveless boolits with a good ballistic coefficient out of a tough alloy (50/50 wheelweights/pure, straight wheelweights, 10% tin 1% copper all are varyingly tough alloys and will expand at varying impact velocities up to full house loads) and paper patch them.