338-06AI

James B · 08-23-2006, 10:20 AM

While at the gunsmith shop the other day, he showed me a 338-06AI. He says he gets 3100 FPS from the 200 grain Nosler BT. Has anyone tried this cartridge?

8mm/06 · 08-23-2006, 10:26 AM

Sounds reasonable if the linked chart is accurate

http://thehunterslife.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1228

Superpig · 08-23-2006, 12:28 PM

If you are interested in this rifle I would look to the 185 gr. Barnes XLC BT. If you read much about the Barnes family you might notice that Connie uses a 338 mag and the 185 almost exclusively. You can approach and exceed 3200 fps in a 338-06AI with this bullet and it will cleanly take elk and moose. If you go after a big bear look to the 225 gr. XLC as it will nandle anything that walks on the North American continent.

James B · 08-23-2006, 05:11 PM

Thanks. He had trouble with the 200 grain Nosler Ballistic tips. He shot a whitetail at about 125 yards and hit directly on the shoulder. The deer went down but needed a finishing shot. When he skinned the critter he found that the bullet did zero penetration. This suprises me as I would think any bullet intended for use in that caliber or any 200 grain bullet should have penetrated probably clear through. Maybe it was just a freak deal. I am going to look at the rifle again but It not at the top of my list as I doubt I will hunt the big bears again at my age.

. I quess you never know though when you might run into mr Griz while moose hunting.

DANTHEHUNTER · 08-23-2006, 07:24 PM

James I agree it should atleast went thu its shoulders. That had to be a freak deal. It sounds like a great round.

DM · 08-23-2006, 09:40 PM

I've shot a huge amount of big game with the 338-06 and 338-06imp.... I've also shot hundreds of bullets testing them, and my experence is that telling someone to use bullets under 250 grain for something like a moose is BS, unless you have those perfect side rib shots! You need the 250's or heavier to get proper penetraton in this caliber for big animials....

Personally, i just hate it that's there such light weight bullets comeing on the market in .338" as the SD just isn't there... There's going to be some lost big game that will suffer because of them!!

DM

James B · 08-25-2006, 03:14 PM

I have not used many 338 bullets. I had a couple 338 Win Mags but they didn't see much use as I didn't do much hunting right then that required that type of rifle. I would have thought that any 338 bullet should penetrate the shoulder of a whitetail. I do however have no reason to doubt his story. The SD of that bullet is over 250. I quess I would stay with 250 grainers or go to the X bullet if I wanted a light weight bullet.