- Joined
- Jan 28, 2003
- Messages
- 13,334
I got a buddy who is a world class gun smith and he has basically quit the smithing business. One of his personal projects was a .300 Dakota built on a stainless M-70. It’s got a 1 in 9 twist 26” Bartlein stainless barrel and has a McMillian stock.
He completed the project and sold it to me for a price I couldn’t refuse even though I am not a .300 mag fan. The sale included several hundred cases and a set of reloading dies. In any case the rifle is stupid accurate as in almost one hole 5 shot clusters at 100 yards. The .300 Dak easily produces book velocities with 180 and 200 Gr bullets. At just under box max loads I was pushing a 180 Gr Barnes TTSX at just over 3200 FPS. Which is just a sliver faster than I’ve seen with a .300 Weatherby. This from a 2.5” case vs the magnum length Weatherby.
I’ve settled on a load that pushes the 180 Gr TTSX at about 3150 and is 4 grains under max. The Dakota is basically identical to either the .300 PRC or the .300 Nosler. It’s amazing how marketing is what sells because you can pick any .300 mag you want Win, H&H, Dak, Weatherby, PRC, Nos, and they all do exactly the same thing on game.
I’m not saying the .300 Dak is any better or any worse just that these new .300’s are completely redundant and the Dak was only different in that it offered .300 Weatherby performance in a non belted standard length case. The results are seriously dead critters at any range you can ethically hit them.
The current crop of .300’s is nothing more than re- marketing a round that existed 25 years ago. There is nothing wrong with that it’s just extremely redundant. And I have a beautiful, excellent shooting rifle that I really don’t have any practical use for but it would make an excellent open country elk and moose rifle.
He completed the project and sold it to me for a price I couldn’t refuse even though I am not a .300 mag fan. The sale included several hundred cases and a set of reloading dies. In any case the rifle is stupid accurate as in almost one hole 5 shot clusters at 100 yards. The .300 Dak easily produces book velocities with 180 and 200 Gr bullets. At just under box max loads I was pushing a 180 Gr Barnes TTSX at just over 3200 FPS. Which is just a sliver faster than I’ve seen with a .300 Weatherby. This from a 2.5” case vs the magnum length Weatherby.
I’ve settled on a load that pushes the 180 Gr TTSX at about 3150 and is 4 grains under max. The Dakota is basically identical to either the .300 PRC or the .300 Nosler. It’s amazing how marketing is what sells because you can pick any .300 mag you want Win, H&H, Dak, Weatherby, PRC, Nos, and they all do exactly the same thing on game.
I’m not saying the .300 Dak is any better or any worse just that these new .300’s are completely redundant and the Dak was only different in that it offered .300 Weatherby performance in a non belted standard length case. The results are seriously dead critters at any range you can ethically hit them.
The current crop of .300’s is nothing more than re- marketing a round that existed 25 years ago. There is nothing wrong with that it’s just extremely redundant. And I have a beautiful, excellent shooting rifle that I really don’t have any practical use for but it would make an excellent open country elk and moose rifle.
