338 win mag bear bullet

[Akhunting]

Bet those were costy?

$25/box iirc. Wish I had bought a few cases! At the time I believe the loaded ammo was cheaper than the component bullets alone.

 

[Pdvdh]

Well that WAS a bargain by today's standards. Now I understand... should'a bought'em all.

 

[HARPERC]

....I don't believe the lead is bonded to the copper jackets. But if the jacket is as thick as I remember of the reputation, they should plow in deeply.......

No bond, pure copper, pure lead, the smaller/lighter calibers with the 0.032" jacket could be driven fast enough to come apart. The best use was moderate velocity, heavy for caliber, 0.049 jacket. 195 grains in 7mm, 250 in .308. Favorites were 350 and 270 grain .375's.

"Better" bullets available today for a variety of uses, but they did work.

 

[FIGJAM]

The 300 grain Accubond is my African slayer and the only bullet I use for large game from Ibex, hippo's, water buffalo(although I made a skull shot with my 300RUM with a 210gr Accubond that made the rear skull cap into shrapnell and hamburger also splitting his vertebrae on the tail end of his rear. It is Accubonds for me above the old die-hard Partitions anymore as my number 1 choice. I have either been ---- lucky or this bullet is the world's best performer for one shot kills!

My experience with accubonds has been limited to a couple hunts is all, but my limited experiences have been similar to yours. I have been surprised with the stories of them blowing up on the shoulder. I didn't know a bonded bullet would perform like that.

 

[Cold Trigger Finger]

I spent a number of years in Sitka and remember hearing that story from Charlie, thought it was a 150 or 160gr. though, his "goat load".

It may have been the 160 gr. I know it was with his 338/378.
The lightest I ever loaded in my Win mag was the 200 gr. Had them going around 2900 fps. But, I loaded them for when I was on PoW.

 

[Cold Trigger Finger]

Cardboard or plastic boxes?

Plastic , pretty sure , plastic.
I did have some 400 gr 458 rnsn that were in cardboard tho.
Horrible blank blank blank bullets. Too thin a jacket . on those 458 bullets .
The 338 , 300 gr had 49k jackets.
They were pretty good bullets.

 

[Len Backus]

Guys, cool it please.

 

[troutwest66]

I'm a fan of the Barnes X Bullet family. I have a friend who took an Alaskan griz with a .338 WM and the Barnes XLC 215 grain. The XLC has been discontinued but the TTSX and X Bullet is the newer better version. At close range they work. I shoot the 225 TTSX in my .338 RUM. I knocked a whitetail off it's feet at 70-80 yards while passing through and blowing up some rib bone. Plenty of penetration with these bullets and good weight retention. Yes, there other good bullets but you can't go wrong with these.

 

[cat26fish]

I have had great accuracy shooting barnes, but I have a buddy who hates them, I have seen elk wounded with them out of 338-378. Back to the original post, I would say the A-Frame and Partition are up there at the top of the list and equivalent to each other. And i would consider a Sirocco and accubond as equals.

 

[MagnumManiac]

The ones I have were already loaded in some .338 Imperial Magnum casings. (the truth! ). I purchased a used rifle in the mid 1990s with reloading dies and misc handloads.
I pulled those bullets and thought they were pretty neat. Looked like a sledgehammer. Also looks like they were made one at a time instead of off an automated production line. I still have them, but have never fired one. Collector items...

I don't believe the lead is bonded to the copper jackets. But if the jacket is as thick as I remember of the reputation, they should plow in deeply.

I'm old enough I could have bought some when they were in production. Remember their availability.

I can guarantee the core is bonded. Every Woodleigh bullet, except solids, are bonded. The solids have a copper washed steel jacket with a steel 'cup' crimped into the rear opening to keep the lead core in place.
The jackets run 1.6mm/.075" thick.

Cheers.

 

[Gone Ballistic]

I

My experience with accubonds has been limited to a couple hunts is all, but my limited experiences have been similar to yours. I have been surprised with the stories of them blowing up on the shoulder. I didn't know a bonded bullet would perform like that.

I have shot a black bear boar that penetrated through his right front shoulder and was retrieved in between his second to last and last rib on his opposite side with a 200 gr Accubond at 422 yards. Made a huge hole at unbelievable fragmentary damage throughout his interior that was a mess to field dress and clean up. I almost quit using them due to the incidental amount of meat ruined but think it was just a fluke. Any time you hit bone with a high speed magnum using bonded bullets damage gets severely obliterated and fragmented.

 

[zeeman]

In the early to mid 90's when I had lots of surplus money, I hunted/guided many Kodiak/Brown/Grizzly/Polar bears. The bullets I used at the time in 338's, both the magnums and 338-06, were the Speer 275gr Semi spitzer as a client/backup option and the old style 250gr Partition with the machined cannelure.
I also used a 375 Weatherby as a back up with a 300gr Woodleigh.

Nowadays, if I were doing it again, the Speer was discontinued many moons ago now, I would still use a Partition in 250gr, but seeing as though the 250gr and 300gr Accubond are available, I would opt for either of those, preferring the 250gr weight for the 338-06/338WM size and the 300gr for anything bigger like the RUM/EDGE or bigger.
I would absolutely love to see my 338-416 Rigby Improved take down a huge Kodiak using a 300gr Berger OTM..............anyway just a dream right now.

IMHO, in a 338, the lightest bullet to use on bear is a 225gr HEAVILY constructed bullet, like a Barnes, Accubond, Partition, Core-Lokt or Swift A-Frame.
Cup and core without bonding should be avoided. Unless it's a Berger.

Cheers.

Frenchie

I realize this is an old post but in the 300 WM do you feel the 200 Accubond or the 220 Partition?/

Zeeman

 

[tomsd]

Never hunted Big Brown Bear - but think a 250 grain would be the minimum size to be safe. A famous old guide on Kodiak Island used to casually say - that "Six Bit" over there works pretty good - as in .375 - probably w/ 300 grain bullets. We are talking Brown Bear righto? - not the smaller Black Bears - but some of those can get up over 500 lbs. Very hearty animals.

 

[tomsd]

Again - from what I know - Big Brown bear can easily go over 1,000 lbs - and they are tough.