[dakotasin]

picked up a new 300 wsm this week. just began testing on it.

anyway, looking for any data you might be willing to share for 165 and heavier bullets.

thanks.

[Smokey Joe]

Recently did the same thingÑain't it a great cartridge!! Basically a .30-'06 on steroids. Seems like it has a lot of inherent accuracy.

The one problem with a brand-new cartridge is that there just isn't a body of accumulated wisdom about it out there.

The reloading manuals are starting to come up with data for this cartridge (Lyman's new 48th, and Nosler's 5th, anyhow) but the info doesn't "feel" like anyone has been massaging it around for 100, or 50, or even 5 years.

I, too, would like useful reccommendations, especially on what 165 gr. bullets are useful for (1) accuracy, and (2) excellent mushrooming at extreme and at close ranges.

Haven't gotten the dies yet myself, so can't add any firsthand knowledge. Will be rectifying that ASAP.

Good choice, man. Good shootin' to you.

[dakotasin]

as you can see by this thread, the data hasn't exactly come pouring in! i have the new lyman manual and sierra's latest also offers data for the short and ultra mags.

unfortunately, i am in need of a trim plate before i can get after the development in earnest, and am hoping it will be in this week.

on another forum i frequent there is some info on the 300 wsm, and it appears that rl-19 is emerging as the top powder choice. unfortunately, i don't have any rl-19 and don't want to pick any up (already have more cans of powder around than i need) until i exhaust other possibilities, which will include rl-22, h-4350 and 4831.

my velocity goal is 3000 f/s. i have been assured by several sources that the 180's will do it. if that is true, i'll run w/ 180's and get a little more bc over the 165's. i have 165 and 180 hornady interlocks and sierra gamekings on hand waiting to be tested.

as far as accuracy goes, this cartridge seems to have a lot of it. will know more soon as soon as i can get the loading wrung out.

[Smokey Joe]

I can help you a little on the 165 gr Gamekings: They are murder on deer in a .30-'06. Have never hit a deer anywhere reasonable with one, that did not go down about like a pole-axed steer. Same with others with whom I share anecdotal load reports. Now, how they'll do at the increased velocity of the .300WSM, I hope to find out from somebody before putting one through a deer. One thing I have against them, is that their noses, being soft lead, are darn fragile. The least little mis-feeding into or out of the magazine dings 'em, and firing most of magazine will put tiny meplats on the noses of the bottom 1 or 2. Don't suppose that the damage is really enough to affect hunting accuracy, but I worry about it.

Seems to me that the 165's would be plenty on deer-sized critters. The general consensus in my neck of the woods is that 180's are too much bullet. My own experience is that the 165's are likely to be more accurate, also, than 180's. Of course, this is with .30-'06's and .308's.

And all I'm offering here is my own experience and others' talesÑno formal testing or comparison. Which is what I too would really like to find.

[Art Eatman]

Re: Battered noses.

I did a test one time, saving cartridges that had been in the magazine during firing. I'd keep putting them down as the bottom two or three rounds, repeatedly, in my '06.

They were pretty much within 1/4" or so of my regular five-shot groups of 7/8" to 1-1/4".

FWIW, Art