.338 is a good cal, but it's not the end all be all. The .338 WIN is a slow turd, but it still does alright on elk.
With the effect of x's you really want the bullet to exit, the wound cavity wont reseal because of the high speed blender effect of the pedals, and the .338 WIN doesn't always have enough velocity to exit.
I used to be in the "can they really be that good crowd?", then I worked there for awhile making tooling, I was converted
I've yet to try the triple shocks, they came out right after I left and I have such a stock pile of the XLC's that I haven't bought any triples.
After working up the loads for that po ackley, I can attest to the benefits of the coating on the XLC's. I got my sweet spot with the XLC's worked out, then loaded up some interloc's (cheap
) I knew I couldn't use as much powder so I started with 4 less grains of 760 (60 instead of 64 IIRC) and blew out some primer pockets
As for more velocity out of a .30 cal, yes I could get a lot more with another cartridge but my improved has a 20" barrel weights next to nothing (Ruger lightweight) and I can shoot $4.50/box ammo out of mine for fun
Edit: another awesome thing about x's is the increased sectional density (and corresponding BC) that comes from the less dense (than lead) copper
Sorry if you feel we've hyjacked