300 win mag cartridge question...

[jl98800]

Hi,

What type of cartridge should I purchase (for elk hunting) with my 300 win mag? There are way too many choices out there. My feeling is something around a 180 grain bullet or more. Federal, Remington or other? Should I make homeloads? What do you recommend?

Thanks,
John

 

[dakotasin]

first choice would be a nosler partition load (i think federal supreme is where you'll find these), anything between 180-200 grains.

i handload, so i am not up to date on what the ammo makers have out there... if i was to handload, i'd start w/ rl-25, win cases, federal mag primer, and barnes x-bullets in the 165-180 range.

if i was bent on using 'non-premium' bullets, i would only use hornady interlocks. again, 180's or more.

 

[Jaywalker]

There's an article in "Petersen's Rifle Shooter" (Nov/Dec 2003) that makes it worth buying the magazine, I think. It describes the Premium/Standard world as one of controlled expansion vs. accuracy. (Surprised me, at least - the author concluded that premium bullets are rarely the most accurate.) Since we aren't likely to be hunting woodchucks with a 300 Mag, a premium bullet is probably the way to go for always, even if your target is the (smallish) wiley whitetail. (I'm sure some of the premiums are also accurate, maybe the ballistic-tip.) As a new 300-Mag owner, I'll be trying some of these out, too.

Jaywalker

 

[Black Snowman]

A 180 gr Nosler partition would be my #1 choice for Elk after seeing it perform on a rather large deer from my .340 Weatherby Mag. The diamater is a little less and the velocity higher out of a .300 Win Mag and should be flatter shooting and carry just as much energy at longer range.

I was actually able to retrieve the bullet from the far skin of the 180+ lbs dear I shot. The only reason it stopped there is it went through the bottom half of the heart and straight through the thickest part of the far shoulder blade (destroying a lot of meat in the process ). It was beutifully mushroomed and retained most of it's weight.

Even if it hit a rib or other major bone on an elk I have no doubt this bullet would stay in tact and lethal out of the Win Mag.

 

[cookhj]

not to terrorize this thread, but is a 1-10" twist enough for a 190 sierra BTHP in .300 WM?

i just bought a savage, and wanted to try some match ammo to see what kind of accuracy i get.

 

[dakotasin]

12 twist, generally speaking, will handle 180's. anything heavier than 180's (175, ideally), and 10-twist is the way to go. yes, your savage should be able to handle 190's (or more). now whether or not it will shoot a given load well or not, only your rifle can decide that - but your twist rate is a good one.

 

[cookhj]

thanks, i just wanted to make sure it would handle heavier loads for long range.

 

[redneck2]

I "think"...

the Winchester Supremes (black box) have Trophy Bonded bullets. I got some for my 300. Haven't used any.

I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm incorrect. This is what I was going to use for elk. Just another thought.

 

[GooseGestapo]

The "Black Box" Winchesters I've seen were loaded with either the "combined technology" Nosler/Win. Balistic tips, or the Winchester Fail Safes.

The Trophy Bonded's are offered by Speer in the "Nitrex" line or the New Federal line (Speer was sold off by Blount to ATS which already had aquired Federal. Federal no longer offers the Sierra's as it is owned by same folks who make the Speers now).

Just hope the Federal primers don't get dropped in favor of the CCI's, like they did with the Federal Gold Medal match .22's. (GM .22's are no longer- Federal match .22's are now just different labeled CCI green-tag.


Whats the world coming too ???

 

[Mike Irwin]

Agree on the 180-gr. Nosler Partition.

 

[kudu]

I think someone has factory loads for Barnes X-bullets, I'm a big fan of these. Good performance on big game. All the ones I have shot have been handloads.

 

[treeprof]

Lots of well-constructed bullets available these days, but Nosler Partitions are popular in my family. I'm not much of a hunter, but my dad is and he's used hand loaded 180 Nosler Partitions in his 300 WM to take elk, pronghorn, caribou, Dall sheep, various kinds of deer including moose, and black bear (he really loves that bullet). He has also used Partitions (300 gr) in his .375 H&H to take brown (Kodiak) and grizzly bear. I have used the same 180 bullet in an '06 to take deer and black bear, and my brother successfully uses 150 gr Partitions in his .308.