It seems toward the fast end for 250s in my opinion. It could work well in shorter barreled guns, and looks like a good fit for lighter bullets in the 338 WM. You never know until you try though. When I had one I remember using RL19, RL22, 4350, and 4831, which are all slower than RL16. I was loading 225-250 grain bullets. RL16 is getting good reviews in the 7mm-08 for high velocity loads with heavier bullets. This is a cartridge that typically uses stuff like RL15, RL17, Varget, H414, etc. I say if you have some RL16 on hand it would be worth trying out. Alliant's data looks encouraging. But most other sources of data aren't even listing RL17 for a 250 grain bullet, and it burns a bit slower. Go figure!