I have a 30-06, what more or less does a new rifle in 300 win mag offer?

[RockyMtnTactical]

I would rather go with a 7mm STW over a 300 win mag. Shoots flatter and outperforms .300 win mag past 250 yards in terms of ballistics.

 

[alsaqr]

Took a doe the other evening at a range of 412 yards with my Remington 700 in .30-06. She bang flopped. The handload is an above recommended quantity of IMR 3031, a Winchester LR primer and the Sierra 150 grain BTSP. The scope is the excellent Leupold FXIII 6X42.

Got two .300 Winchester Magnums, a Mathieu (left hand sold by Weatherby in the 1950s) and a new Ruger 77. Both are accurate, especially the Mathieu with it's 28 inch Buhmiller barrel. Unless i there is a pressing need to shoot at something over 500 yards away they just stay in the safe gathering dust. The Ruger is sometimes used for long range coyote zapping.

 

[target1911]

I have a friend with a 300WM with muzzle brake and the same stock as the OP but its a Winchester rifle. Many of you are talking about the recoil.......Put a good muzzle brake on it. I have put 20-30 rnds at a time thru his with no problem. The recoil is about the same as a 223. Just make sure you get a fairly large MB.

 

[rangerruck]

Now that ussr mentions it, hanloading a 30.06 with some 190 or 200's maybe, would make a .06 be a real nice all around long range, paper puncher, game crusher, without the shoulder burn of the winmag. That is fabulous, USSR, really, I had never though of that!!!

 

[geronimo13]

I just choose a savage package gun in 7mm rem mag as a lot of posts I read said it outperformed the 300 win mag and seemed ballisticly 1/2 way between the .308 and the .338 lupua. But if I already had a 30-06 I wouldn't have bought it. Save your money and spend it on the much cheaper surplus ammo for the 06 and practice at long range punching paper. Practice makes perfect. The 06 is a very versatile cartrige when looking at range of bullet weights, muzzle velocity etc. The long range crowd used to be all 30-06 at 1000yards. Get a loading setup and work for more accurate bullets, maybe get sims barrel deresonator.

 

[Zak Smith]

While I wouldn't necessarily choose .30-06 for LR shooting, it's a cheap affair to get some good high-BC bullets at shoot them, get the most out of the rifle that you can-- instead of building up a whole new rifle. Look at the 190gr SMK, 190gr Berger, and 210gr Berger, and shoot the one that is most accurate in your rifle.

I have a rule of thumb for long-range ballistics, based on the observation that wind drift is what causes LR misses 90%+ of the time: increase case capacity to enable shooting higher-BC bullets, not increase velocity. A difference of a couple hundred FPS shooting the same BC bullet has relatively minor effects in wind drift-- but stepping up the BC has a dramatic effect decreasing wind drift.

For example, a 6.5-284 has about 100-150 fps on a 260REM, but shooting the 140-gr-class bullets, it has within 5" drift @ 1200 yards-- that's virtually no difference, but the 6.5-284 burns more powder and has about half the barrel life. Not a good trade-off!

 

[1200 meters]

I too have been thinking of going for greater range. Thinking of a 338 Lapua. But I have been working on longer range 30-06 bullets and have found a good load with 240gr Sierra hpbts out to 1300 meters and using IMR 4065 there isn't much recoil. you should be able to increase this but may burn out the barrel faster. The 338 will certianly reach to 1600 meters but I'll never be on a range that long. 1300 is a wood line where I shoot. Plus the recoil on the 338 is substancial. Blitz

 

[Zak Smith]

I have a 338LM.. but does it pay off ballistically?

_Bullet_           _BC_ _MV_         0     250     500     750    1000    1250    1500    1750    2000 | YARDS
338LM 300SMK      0.77* 2750 >    0.00    0.24    0.51    0.80    1.12    1.48    1.87    2.30    2.76 | wind (mil)
338 250           0.675 3000 >    0.00    0.25    0.52    0.82    1.15    1.52    1.93    2.39    2.88 | wind (mil)
300WM 210 VLD     0.640 2870 >    0.00    0.28    0.59    0.93    1.31    1.74    2.22    2.75    3.30 | wind (mil)
260               0.620 2830 >    0.00    0.29    0.62    0.98    1.39    1.85    2.37    2.93    3.51 | wind (mil)
65-284            0.640 3000 >    0.00    0.26    0.55    0.87    1.23    1.63    2.08    2.57    3.11 | wind (mil)
7RM 180 VLD       0.698 2850 >    0.00    0.26    0.54    0.85    1.19    1.57    2.00    2.46    2.96 | wind (mil)
7RM 168 VLD       0.648 3000 >    0.00    0.26    0.54    0.86    1.21    1.60    2.04    2.53    3.05 | wind (mil)

338LM 300SMK      0.77* 2750 >   -0.00    0.71    2.51    4.65    7.13    9.98   13.30   17.18   21.72 | drop (mil)
338 250           0.675 3000 >   -0.00    0.55    2.08    3.93    6.10    8.66   11.67   15.26   19.54 | drop (mil)
300WM 210 VLD     0.640 2870 >   -0.00    0.64    2.35    4.43    6.91    9.85   13.39   17.63   22.73 | drop (mil)
260               0.620 2830 >   -0.00    0.67    2.45    4.63    7.23   10.35   14.13   18.69   24.18 | drop (mil)
65-284            0.640 3000 >   -0.00    0.55    2.10    3.99    6.23    8.89   12.07   15.88   20.48 | drop (mil)
7RM 180 VLD       0.698 2850 >   -0.00    0.64    2.35    4.39    6.79    9.59   12.90   16.80   21.43 | drop (mil)
7RM 168 VLD       0.648 3000 >   -0.00    0.55    2.10    3.98    6.20    8.83   11.97   15.73   20.25 | drop (mil)

338LM 300SMK      0.77* 2750 >    2750    2515    2292    2080    1880    1691    1518    1365    1238 | velocity (fps)
338 250           0.675 3000 >    3000    2719    2454    2206    1973    1755    1557    1383    1239 | velocity (fps)
300WM 210 VLD     0.640 2870 >    2870    2582    2312    2059    1824    1607    1418    1260    1137 | velocity (fps)
260               0.620 2830 >    2830    2535    2260    2003    1765    1549    1362    1211    1100 | velocity (fps)
65-284            0.640 3000 >    3000    2704    2426    2166    1924    1698    1497    1323    1186 | velocity (fps)
7RM 180 VLD       0.698 2850 >    2850    2586    2337    2104    1885    1680    1497    1336    1206 | velocity (fps)
7RM 168 VLD       0.648 3000 >    3000    2708    2433    2176    1935    1712    1511    1337    1198 | velocity (fps)

The main advantage of the 338LM over high BC bullets in 6.5, 7mm, or .30 caliber is the terminal momentum.

 

[USSR]

...I have been working on longer range 30-06 bullets and have found a good load with 240gr Sierra hpbts out to 1300 meters and using IMR 4065...

1200 meters,

Once you move up to 190 grain or heavier bullets in the '06, you've got to use a slower powder if you want to get any velocity out of your load. Alliant's Reloader 22 is THE powder for this application.

Don

 

[ArmedBear]

Some food for thought...

The .300 goes on out to about 500-ish as effectively as the .30-06 does inside 300.

This is an example of some common beliefs about the .300 WinMag. If you look at energy and velocity, it's more like "the .300 goes on to 500 or a bit more, as effectively as the .30-06 does out to 400. But factory .30-06 with low-drag bullets will still bring down a deer at 500+ yards -- a good deal farther away than many real hunting situations will allow with sufficient accuracy. The .300 WinMag will work better with the heaviest bullets in .30 caliber than the .30-06 will, so for bigger game, it's got an edge."

But you're not shooting game anyway.

Next thought...

.45-70 Black Powder Cartridge competitors hit bullseyes at 1000 yards, in wind, with iron sights, using heavy bullets going 1300 fps at the muzzle. Granted, only the top shooters can do this reliably, but it does suggest that one can do a fair amount of long-range shooting with a well-chosen .30-06 load, and THEN decide what his next caliber will be.

The .300 WinMag is a round that was sold to the public as a way to extend one's hunting range on larger game by retaining energy farther out. Whether or not it really fulfills its marketing promises is subject to debate, but what is not debatable is that, for paper punching, you don't care about energy like you might when you're after an elk.

So, if I were you, I'd mess around with the .30-06 right now, and look around for a rifle you like in a caliber (several mentioned above) that is tailored for long-distance target shooting, not big game hunting.

As others have said, a lot of what you get from a .300 WM is recoil, expense, and noise. That might be worth it if you can bag that elusive elk in the mountains, but for paper, I'd consider something else.

 

[ShunZu]

.243 Win. (that's what I use)

+1

I have a .300 Win Sendero, and it is a tackdriver... but it sees more action in my novel than at the range. .243, if you roll your own, can also be a whole lot cheaper to shoot. Unless you're filthy rich, more shooting + more practice = better groups.