Fail-Safe's are a great bullet. That said, I don't consider them a good whitetail bullet. From the deer I've seen shot with them, they have excellent penetration on a light-skinned deer...but lacks expansion and shock.

On a bear or moose, it's a different story. The Fail-Safe's are made for heavier skinned animals.

colo wolf, I have tried the 160, 175, 185 regular and coated, and the 200 gr x bullets in my 338/06, and typically get 100 yd five shot groups in the 2 - 3 inch range with these bullets. I have tried them with 4895, 4320, h-380, 4064, and H-414. Nothing seems to work. Before they changed the design I was getting five shot groups well under an inch. Now I see groups in the four inch range frequently. The best groups I get are 2". With other bullets the accuracy is fine, running about 1 1/4" with hornady and speer and much better than that with ballistic tips. Thats what I hunt with now, the 338 ballistic tips have a thicker jacket than the smaller calibers, and besides, any 200 gr bullet will work alright on a deer. I have a 280 that will shoot the 140 gr x good, but if you look at that bullet it doesnt have the secant ogive. The only rifle I have that will shoot the secant ogive x bullets is my sons' 3006, and it wont shoot them better than about 1 1/2 ". It frequently gets around 3/4" with other bullets. I have talked to Randy Brooks and he tells me that Im not seating them correctly, he says at least .05 off the riflings is where they need to be, but I have tried every seating depth practical with no noticable difference in my rifle. I would love to use them, the old 175 in my rifle was the best killing bullet I have ever seen on deer, but I just hate to shoot a load that wont group better than six or eight inches at 200 when I can shoot two inch groups with a nosler. As far as performance though, I think the x bullet is the thing! It just pisses me off that they wont shoot as good as they used to. I wish barnes had kept their old machines and offer both styles. They apparently invested a bunch of money in the new disign though and arent about to re-tool. Tell me something to try! I have shot about $600 worth of these things trying to figure out how to get them to shoot in my 338.

Larry,
I went to RL22 in my 338 WM. Something else I do is use the 250 gr. that I bought in the time frame your having problems with. What I am thinking it isn't the powder or the load, I think the center of gravity in the light bullets has them unbalanced, expecially for your barrels rifling. Light bullets and heavy both really get optimized by different rifling twists. Have to admit that for a fat bullet, the 338 has some enormous weight deviations. Thats one of the reasons I usually use the heavier bullets in whatever caliber I shoot, heavier bullets seem to take to bad twist rates better. I look at the lighter weight bullets and start thinking of tossing marbles from a rocket launcer. What your telling me, I think I will just keep on using my heavier slugs.
Man, do I EVER sympathize on the cost of testing loads with those bullets, really a bummer when money and a plan don't work.