Thread: 300 win mag

Originally Posted by MattyR

Sweet bro cheers for that. Were you reloading?

Yea mate I was reloading, first rifle I started reloading with, was sold a few years ago as I was mucking around with other rifles. my friend up north has a tikka and pretty sure he is using the 200gr eldx precision hunter to good effect although not too sure how far he shoots out too. The factory hornady would be worth a look if you don't plan on reloading.

Mate shot goats to over 1000m with his win mag before he rebarelled to a wsm. Seen footage of him shooting deer to 775m with it to. Used to run 178 eldx very fast, 200gr eldx mag load and then a single feed 220gr load. Spent lots of time at the range which is very important for shooting game at range.

@MattyR The archaic system on the forum cut off part of my post, when l tried to add some info ,so here is some more important points ,for you to consider on bullet choice at longer ranges for hunting .

The 300's work best in the field with 180grn weight Bullets & up, as they are the most capable of handling the speeds the caliber is capable of making & it was really after development of "new" bullet design's like the controlled expansions, we now take for granted, that there popularity had a resurgence .The difference between hunting & punching paper, is you need to use bullets that not only shoot accurately in your rifle, but are capable of cleaning taking animals by reliably being able to punch through bones & flesh to reach the vitals at various angles for a quick kill.

With light for caliber bullets in the 300's like for example the 150gn's which can be launched easily at speeds around 3300fps & so shoot very flat & is mild to shoot, but it has major problems when used for hunting, in that its Ballistic Coefficient (BC), (which is a important factor to take into account for hunting , especially if looking at shooting longer distances), is less than the 130gn .270, which causes its retained energy & effectiveness on flesh & bone to drop right off by the time it reaches the 350 mtr /400 yd mark.

The 160/165gn's suffer a similar fate ,so that even though they start out 100plus fps faster than the 180 grn's , there is so little difference in drop by the time it reaches around the 350 metre/400 yard mark , that you'd never notice it in the field . Also, the 165gn delivers around 200 ft/lbs less energy at the 350 mtr /400 yd mark than the 180gn., because of its lack of sectional density - .247 against .271 ,from memory .

The use of a well designed 180gn spitzer type hunting bullet ,in a controlled expansion design, gives the all important deep penetration & performance needed for hunting at longer ranges & is still the bench mark for the .300 Win. Mag & its bigger cousins for hunting .

The .300's are still one of the great long range hunting rounds IMO, that over a couple of decades l not only took a lot of game with ,but watched a lot of clients use as well .It's performance in the field when used with the proper bullet choice is a great combination of power & penetration ,but is still able to be handled easily by the average hunter.

Hope the info helps

Originally Posted by bunji

@MattyR The archaic system on the forum cut off part of my post, when l tried to add some info ,so here is some more important points ,for you to consider on bullet choice at longer ranges for hunting .

The 300's work best in the field with 180grn weight Bullets & up, as they are the most capable of handling the speeds the caliber is capable of making & it was really after development of "new" bullet design's like the controlled expansions, we now take for granted, that there popularity had a resurgence .The difference between hunting & punching paper, is you need to use bullets that not only shoot accurately in your rifle, but are capable of cleaning taking animals by reliably being able to punch through bones & flesh to reach the vitals at various angles for a quick kill.

With light for caliber bullets in the 300's like for example the 150gn's which can be launched easily at speeds around 3300fps & so shoot very flat & is mild to shoot, but it has major problems when used for hunting, in that its Ballistic Coefficient (BC), (which is a important factor to take into account for hunting , especially if looking at shooting longer distances), is less than the 130gn .270, which causes its retained energy & effectiveness on flesh & bone to drop right off by the time it reaches the 350 mtr /400 yd mark.

The 160/165gn's suffer a similar fate ,so that even though they start out 100plus fps faster than the 180 grn's , there is so little difference in drop by the time it reaches around the 350 metre/400 yard mark , that you'd never notice it in the field . Also, the 165gn delivers around 200 ft/lbs less energy at the 350 mtr /400 yd mark than the 180gn., because of its lack of sectional density - .247 against .271 ,from memory .

The use of a well designed 180gn spitzer type hunting bullet ,in a controlled expansion design, gives the all important deep penetration & performance needed for hunting at longer ranges & is still the bench mark for the .300 Win. Mag & its bigger cousins for hunting .

The .300's are still one of the great long range hunting rounds IMO, that over a couple of decades l not only took a lot of game with ,but watched a lot of clients use as well .It's performance in the field when used with the proper bullet choice is a great combination of power & penetration ,but is still able to be handled easily by the average hunter.

Hope the info helps

Thank you mate that helps heaps. Great information. Ill get into it with some heavier bullets find one that works and practice up👍🏽

Hi there @MattyR - Welcome to the land of 30 Cal magnum's.

I will preface this response with the comment that you WILL need to try a few different projectiles to sometimes find the right one but hearing others' experiences is a good place to start (but don't see this as finding the one solution - part of the fun of this is the Journey.
So what I share here here is my experience and that of 2 of my friends gained across 3 Remington 700 -300 win Mag rifles, Which fortunately all behaved consistently so may give you some clues here. Two were Remington 700p Milspec WinMag's - both 24' 5R Barrels and my own Remington 700 action reworked by SSRNZ with 25' Criterion match barrel - in a HS precision stock

Off the bat, all 3 rifles shot the Hornady ELD-M / X in 208gn extremely well at .25/.4 MOA at 100 and sometimes better with low ES and just over single-digit SD's. The two run loads of 2213sc and are going what I'd consider quite hot/fast for this projectile weight around ~ 3075 FPS
My own runs a bit slower at 2808 FPS (fueled by 2217) but I haven't pushed it after working up and consistent node for accuracy there with an ES of 8FPS.

What I will say is that shooting 50-100 rounds of 208gn in an afternoon can push you around a bit. If you're starting out, it's good to do a moment of self-reflection and understand it's not about being the he-man shooting the hottest and fastest loads. You just want to find good solid consistency that is fun to shoot and where you don't pick up bad habits (like flinches) along the way.

(My own opinion)- but I think that's why the 260 cal and 6.5 Creedmore, in particular, have come back into vogue given it's just monotonously accurate, and fun to shoot. Plus you can do it in a slightly lighter package to heft around than our heavy barreled HS precision beasties.

For me - I love the 300 winMag it gives (in the right stock) a push rather than a slap in the shoulder and is gratifying to master.
But I also came to the realization that I needed something that I could shoot happily 50+ per day. So looked at scaling back the projectile weight and immediately found good contenders in the Berger VLD/H 175 and 190 weights. Both of these for me shot very well. The 175 being an awesome one to put new shooters on (being a pussy cat to shoot) whilst the 190 seemed slightly more accurate at longer distances.

I hope this insight into my journey was useful and possibly insightful in finding the right pairing for your Sako.
Have fun on your Journey & Carpe Diem!

Originally Posted by Carpe Diem

Hi there @MattyR - Welcome to the land of 30 Cal magnum's.

I will preface this response with the comment that you WILL need to try a few different projectiles to sometimes find the right one but hearing others' experiences is a good place to start (but don't see this as finding the one solution - part of the fun of this is the Journey.
So what I share here here is my experience and that of 2 of my friends gained across 3 Remington 700 -300 win Mag rifles, Which fortunately all behaved consistently so may give you some clues here. Two were Remington 700p Milspec WinMag's - both 24' 5R Barrels and my own Remington 700 action reworked by SSRNZ with 25' Criterion match barrel - in a HS precision stock

Off the bat, all 3 rifles shot the Hornady ELD-M / X in 208gn extremely well at .25/.4 MOA at 100 and sometimes better with low ES and just over single-digit SD's. The two run loads of 2213sc and are going what I'd consider quite hot/fast for this projectile weight around ~ 3075 FPS
My own runs a bit slower at 2808 FPS (fueled by 2217) but I haven't pushed it after working up and consistent node for accuracy there with an ES of 8FPS.

What I will say is that shooting 50-100 rounds of 208gn in an afternoon can push you around a bit. If you're starting out, it's good to do a moment of self-reflection and understand it's not about being the he-man shooting the hottest and fastest loads. You just want to find good solid consistency that is fun to shoot and where you don't pick up bad habits (like flinches) along the way.

(My own opinion)- but I think that's why the 260 cal and 6.5 Creedmore, in particular, have come back into vogue given it's just monotonously accurate, and fun to shoot. Plus you can do it in a slightly lighter package to heft around than our heavy barreled HS precision beasties.

For me - I love the 300 winMag it gives (in the right stock) a push rather than a slap in the shoulder and is gratifying to master.
But I also came to the realization that I needed something that I could shoot happily 50+ per day. So looked at scaling back the projectile weight and immediately found good contenders in the Berger VLD/H 175 and 190 weights. Both of these for me shot very well. The 175 being an awesome one to put new shooters on (being a pussy cat to shoot) whilst the 190 seemed slightly more accurate at longer distances.

I hope this insight into my journey was useful and possibly insightful in finding the right pairing for your Sako.
Have fun on your Journey & Carpe Diem!

Appreciate your help mate. Its definitely new territory for me. I don't do reloading and probably am gonna just stick to buying factory. Try get a 180gr or bigger working and practice, learn what i have too..solid consistency is what im looking for for meself and the rifle... then take it out hunting is the goal. Thanks again