I bought a .338 win over a .300 weatherby because of this bullet; however, the first year I lost a couple of whitetail with it. I admit I didn't follow them up as well as I should as I thought I just missed or something. I expected them to get knocked down at the very least. Then I shot a decent buck running away from me at about 300 yards. It had clearly been hit in the back ham Texas heart shot style. It ran a LONG way, crashed into a barbed wire fence, which was full of blood and hair, then ran/crawled up and down the fence ab out 20 yards either way, managed to make it over and down into a thick, deep valley. It was a nightmare.
The next year, I was a little more cautious of shot placement, and nailed a nice buck at about 175 yards quartering away. The buck ran away without falling. I thought I was in for another dose of last year's nightmare. There was deep snow, and as I walked up to the round bale the deer was munching on, there was a spray of hair and flesh on the snow. The face of the bale had a frisbee or large size spray of hair on it. We recovered the buck about 100 yards away. It managed to jump a fence to escape. There was a decent blood trail in the snow. When we found the deer, it had about a 5" wide hole and the ribs were blown out there. The bullet only went in a few inches and there was a golfball size chunk of lung gone. That's it. I suspect the bullet struck the rib and blew up. MV was ~3260 FPS. I never used the bullet again.
I am a huge supporter of Nosler bullets, and am the type of hunter that believes nearly all of the energy should be expended inside the animal when possible in typical hunting situations; however, I pass on this bullet now. I went to 200's and they wouldn't shoot. I tried partitions and they didn't shoot great but as I was hunting elk, it didn't matter much. They killed well, but the cores shed the jackets and it two bullets to kill mine. One never made it through on a broadside shot.
I now use 250 Sierra GK and they cut the same hole. The BC is higher than anything else out there aside from 300 MKs (that I know of) and they are one tough bullet. I have killed several critters with them with great success. I do plan to try the new Accubonds if I can ever get them up here. No one has them yet.
I have a pic of the entrance hole of that deer on my office computer and I'll post it tomorrow.
