I have heard rumor of some 338 cal Hornady A-Max prototypes being handed out to some shooters at the big competitions but this may only be guys talking to much as well, not sure as I have only heard rumors.
To he honest, I would be very suprised if the new Hornady bullet will weigh much more the 270-275 grains. The reason is because a tipped bullet of the A-Max design will more then likely be longer then the 300 gr SMK.
Its BC should be higher as well, probably in the low to mid .8 range compared to .78 to .8 for the 300 gr SMK.
To be honest, Sierra could redesign their 300 gr SMK and use a more modern ogive design and get the same BC with less bullet weight.
Kind of like they did with their new 142 gr SMK to replace the older 155 gr SMK in 6.5mm.
Will they, probably not.
But another reason I feel Hornady will limit the new bullet weight to the 270 gr range is because they want every 338 factory rifle out there to be able to shoot these bullets. Right now, every 338 caliber round with a 1-10 twist can shoot the 300 gr SMK. Rounds like the 338 Win Mag are pretty small for this bullet weight but they will handle then and in most cases accuracy is quite good.
if Hornady sends out a 300 gr A-max with their current design, I suspect the smaller 338 rounds would have stability issues and Hornady is not going to release a bullet that does not work properly with the standard 1-10 twist, just not good for business even though in the larger wildcat chamberings 1-10 would be plenty.
Hornady honestly does not give wildcatters a care in the world, that is not where their real money is made so they have to cater to the factory rifles and that will limit the length of the bullet they can use and therefore the bullet weight in my opinion will be well off 300 gr.
Again, that is good, with modern design, there is no need for a 300 gr bullet if your looking for a BC of around .78. THis could be easily had with a bullet significantly lighter which would also offer a much higher velocity output as well.
I just tested a prototype 270 solid bullet for a company in my 338 AM. IT was similiar to the LRB J40 bullet. BC measured out to be around .860 and I was able to break 3600 fps with this bullet in a 40" 1-10 barrel.
Do not ask where to get them, they are not available to the public anyway but it goes to show what can be accomplished with a modern bullet design.
Wildcat Bullets is also working on some new 338 bullets that will do this same thing, drop bullet weight, increase bullet length to offer higher BC along with higher velocity potential!!! We should be getting results with those bullets by late spring and if all works out, there may be some chucks in trouble at 3000 yards this summer!!!!
Anyway, enough gossip for now!!!
Kirby Allen(50)
Sorry for got to answer your other questions, a 300 gr A-Max would not penetrate as deeply as a 300 gr SMK but it would open up ALOT better at long range and both would penetrate plenty well for any game on out half of the rock. A 300 gr 338 bullet is going to penetrate no matter what it hits!!! But yes a SMK would drive deeper on average simply because of the smaller frontal area after expansion and the higher weight retention.
I would guess a 300 gr A-Max would have a BC easily in the .85 range comfortably.
