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Factory ammo .338 Win Mag

16K views 18 replies 18 participants last post by  fritz1 
#1 ·
I am looking for a good factory ammo for my .338 Win Mag Savage 116. I want a 250 or 225 grain bullet. I have tried Remington with no luck. It is not consistant and the groups are to large out of my gun. Any suggestions would be helpful.
 
#2 ·
Well I have had great luck with the Remington ammo in my Ruger 77. You might want to try a box of Hornady or Feds. I have had great luck with the Hornady in my .308. If you really want accuracy get into reloading. Not to expensive and you will save BIG $$ loading the 338WM.

BTW Welcome to the forums
 
#3 ·
I'm not sure if this will help or not, but the Federal Premium 210gr. Nosler Partition is scary-accurate in my 338 (Ruger 77).

Depending on how big of critters you are shooting, it may be worth a try. Two dead hogs, DRT, so I can't complain.
 
#4 ·
Back when I used factory ammo, Federal Premium was often the most accurate for any gun I shot, but the cost of it is what drove me to load my own ammo. Turns out it's even more accurate, lets me tailor the load to how and what I hunt, and costs 1/3 to 1/2 as much...or, let's me shoot 2 to 3 times as many rounds, depending on how ya look at it. :)
 
#5 ·
I can't tell you what factory ammo to buy but I can tell you that Remington and Winchester 200 grain loads don't work in mine. My Ruger was shooting patterns, not groups. Since then I've heard a lot of people say their .338's don't like 200 grain pills either.
I've just started handloading for the .338WM and I've seen some indications it might like 225 grain accubonds. As I work more with those I'd expect them to improve. So my recommendation is to at least try something loaded with those bullets.
 
#7 ·
When I first got my 338, I bought FederaL Premium, in both the 210gr. Nosler Partition and the 225gr. Nosler Accubond. They both shot great, what was weird is when I got dies and started loading my own, I couldnt get the Accubonds to shoot as good as the factory loads.
 
#10 ·
It's been a long time since buying factory 338 WM ammo. Last I purchased was a box of Federal Premium in 210 gr Nosler partition for a caribou hunt. Accuracy was not that great off the bench, but I used them anyway, and, the caribou died just fine. I've had much better accuracy results with reloads in 225 (NP's), 230 (failsafe), and 250 (Sierra GK and NP). Despite this, a thumbs-up for the Federal premium ammo, whatever bullet you prefer. I used some in 30-06 with 165 trophy bonded bear claw this last fall on elk and deer, and they worked great. They hurt a bit in the wallet, however!
 
#11 ·
My 338 is a Ruger M77, it surprisingly put the one box of Remington ammo (don't recall the bullet weight?) I was given into nice little clover leafs, but I moved over to the Federal 210 NP's for my standard round, it shoots "minuet of Elk" just fine, but at around $2+ (looks like they're pushing $3 now!) a pop I also went to hand loading them, I haven't tried anything heavier yet to see if it'll group any better?
 
#14 ·
The .338 Ruger M77 I had (notice the past tense) shot about 5 inch groups with factory Remington 250 gr ptd soft point, but wouldn't even keep factory premium ammo (Winchester 230 gr Failsafe, Speer Nitrex 250 gr Grand Slam, Federal Premium Safari 225 gr trophy bonded) on a sheet of typing paper at 100 yards. A friend said I was just shooting it poorly because of the recoil, so I replaced it with my current elk/moose rifle, a .340 Weatherby which consistently beats the advertised 1 1/2 MOA with factory 250 gr ammo.
 
#12 ·
My Ruger Hawkeye 338 has never fired factory ammo (never will) but it will easily put 5 225 gr. accubonds under an inch at 100yds. I haven't heard anybody complain of accuracy problems with them. Have fun:) should'nt be too hard to make that Savage shoot.
 
#13 ·
I have 2 options for you, Paul K. The first and easier of the two is to start reloading and you'll find a decent load soon enough. The second option, which is a pain in the butt. Loose the job you have now, become a high priced lawyer/doctor/stock broker and start shelling out cash on factory ammo.

On a serious note, you really have to either accept what you have (assuming your groups aren't totally ridiculous) or accept that fact that you have a financial adventure in front of you. And that you are going to have to start buying factory ammo in the hopes of finding a decent load. Or reload, of which the initial investment can be a chunk of change as well.

Hobbies and fun are not cheap.
 
#19 ·
I just got the Midway April sales flyer, they have Federal Premium Vital-Shok 338 Win mag. 225gr. Accubonds on sale for $29.49, you wont find them any cheaper than that, the normal price is $58.99 , that is what I paid for the last couple of boxes I bought. The product # is 276-475. I load now for mine but at that price I might buy a couple of boxes.
 
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