Recomended bullet weight for ELK

[casilva43]

I have a .338RUM and am wondering what bullet weight you guys would recomend for long range ELK. I have been shooting 250 grains but am wanting to drop down for flatter shooting. Would you guys recomend ballistic tips?

[bailey1474]

I'd go up in weight, not down. I'd shoot the 300 gr SMK. You'll gain some arc, true but you'll also lose alot of wind drift. That bullet will absolutely smash an elk out of that cartridge.

[royinidaho]

You'll get all kinds of feed back on this one. It could even turn into a banter....

So here goes. All of this is personal opinion from having burned lots of powder and bullets through the 338 RUM but having killed nothing so far. Maybe this year.......

The most important thing is to hit where you are shooting regardless of conditions. After that any bullet of 225 gr class on up to 300 gr would be well.

Yep, I'd shoot a ballistic tip bullet but after my pig penetration test I'd go with the 224 Accubond. It did all the hard stuff and performed perfectly.

Try the 225 accubond and 7828SSC and a good primer and see what she'll do.

Also, if you're goin' long range I'd put a brake on it.

[sambo3006]

What do you consider long range? I have shot the 225 Accubond out of my 338 RUM out to 600 yds with excellent accuracy and it bucks the wind fairly well. I don't think you will see a great deal of difference in the 225 AB with its BC of .550 vs the 300 gr SMK with its BC of a little over .7 out to 500 or 600 yds. Out past that, I think the higher BC 300 gr SMK would have a lot less wind drift and retain energy better. Nosler just introduced the 250 gr AB with a BC of .575 so there is another choice. I laid the smack down on a bull last year with the 225 AB and it performed well. I have read many posts regarding performance of the 300 SMK and it seems to work very well also.

Sam

[RockyMtnMT]

Maybe some one on here will run the #'s, and tell you at what point down range the 225 will be surpassed in wind drift, elevation, and compare energy between the 225AB and the 300SMK. I would find that very interesting as well. I think it will all come down to how far you are willing to harvest game at.

Steve

[bailey1474]

What velocity are you pushing the 225s??

[jwp475]

With a barometric pressure of 29.95 and a temperature of 30 degress and and a RH of 59, the 255 AccuBond will have 21 inches of wind drift in a 10 MPH cross wind at 600 yards with a muzzle velocity of 3300 FPS.

The 300 Grain SMK under the same conditions will drift 14.3 inches with a muzzle velocity odf 2791 FPS, which is my muzzle velocity

I ran the 250 SMK to 3197 FPS and the 300 SMK hits noticable harder at all ranges, no contest IMHO. The 255s will kill Elk for sure, but I am going with the 300 SMK in my Lapua for sure and certain