Ive shot a bunch of deer with mine and I love the way it kills. I have mostly used 200 gr bullets but last year I shot a few deer with 185 gr barnes x bullets. The only thing other than whitetails Ive shot with mine was an elk. I used a 250 gr sierra, mainly because that was the best shooting heavy bullet I could come up with. It worked alright though, the wapiti got real calm about twenty seconds after I stuck that bullet in him. The mv for that load was 2550 which was about max for that bullet. I have shot the 200' s at 2900 but it seems to be alot easier to get good accuracy at around 2700. Since your friend has a 338 mag already, he might not be trying to make a magnum out of a 33806 and I think he would find it a fun cartridge. The 33806 is what a 3006 wishes it could be, and then some.