300 win mag questions

FD716 · Oct 10, 2017

I have always seemed to like a fairly heavy grain bullet. I think I will get a few of the 180’s and see how they perform. I have read somewhere in the past couple of days where a light grain round has a tendency to tumble on impact at short (-100 yds) distances. Have any of y’all seen anything to confirm or deny this? I could see where this would reek havoc on a light skinned animal at those speeds. Keep in mind I rarely shoot dead in the shoulder. I try to shoot for the crease right behind the shoulder to minimize meat waste. However, there would possibly be a time where I would need to shoot high shoulder to quickly put one down.

furtaker · Oct 10, 2017

Not sure about "tumbling", but light bullets at magnum velocities will have a much better chance of bullet breakup at close range. If you choose to hunt with a 150gr or lighter bullet I would definitely choose a bonded bullet like the Federal Fusion or a mono bullet like the TSX. I don't have a 300 WM but if I did I would shoot the 165s or 180s. I like heavier bullets in magnum cartridges and I rarely shoot anything lighter than 160s in my 7mm RM.

deast1988 · Oct 10, 2017

I've shot all sorts Of weights tinkering with set ups. My opionion is 165gr is about perfect for white tails in a .30cal I've found 150s disrupt too fast and 180grs can act like armor piercing. 165gr is a happy medium, if you aim for crease with a 180 you might get little to no expansion but any bullet put there should easily put them down. We shoot 165gr SST in a .300wby mag. 165gr nosler partiation in .300wsm An reloaded some 165gr nosler ballistic tips for a buddy in his .300Win mag. It's a versatile round can handle most anything near to far in USA with proper bullets and shot. I'd opt for a hard hitting quicker expansion bullet for Ga, Deer.

NCHillbilly · Oct 10, 2017

deast1988 said:
I've shot all sorts Of weights tinkering with set ups. My opionion is 165gr is about perfect for white tails in a .30cal I've found 150s disrupt too fast and 180grs can act like armor piercing. 165gr is a happy medium, if you aim for crease with a 180 you might get little to no expansion but any bullet put there should easily put them down. We shoot 165gr SST in a .300wby mag. 165gr nosler partiation in .300wsm An reloaded some 165gr nosler ballistic tips for a buddy in his .300Win mag. It's a versatile round can handle most anything near to far in USA with proper bullets and shot. I'd opt for a hard hitting quicker expansion bullet for Ga, Deer.

You can solve most of the problems you mention by simply using a standard cup-and-core bullet, instead of a bonded one that is designed more for bigger game than deer. A cup-and-core will expand fine on lungs, and in .300WM, will still blow apart shoulder blades. I don't like ballistic tips, especially in magnum calibers. I've seen them blow up on deer with little penetration at 3,000 fps+ velocities.

deers2ward · Oct 10, 2017

I just received 4 boxes of Hornady Custom Lite that I am going to zero my scope to and use this fall. 150 grain SST

I don't have it in front of me, but I think it is loaded down to 2800fps or so. Something between .308 and .30-06 levels.

It has the ballistics on the box...will post a pic when I get home.

My thought was it will be moving slow enough to not tear the bullet to kingdom come if I shoot something at 50 yards....

jmoser · Oct 11, 2017

I'm gonna play with reduced loads for my 165 Game King; 2800 fps is more than plenty for deer. Any powder recommendations from folks who have gone here?

deers2ward · Oct 11, 2017

jmoser said:
I'm gonna play with reduced loads for my 165 Game King; 2800 fps is more than plenty for deer. Any powder recommendations from folks who have gone here?

Here is what Hornady recommends:

jmoser · Oct 12, 2017

I'm using 77 gr of RL22 now; will just dial that down near 72.
Hodgdon has data for Varget and H4831 as well but the Varget is very low load density [55 gr or so.]

JeffinPTC · Oct 12, 2017

Hodgdon has a "youth loads" PDF for 125-135 gr bullets here:

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct...%20Loads.pdf&usg=AOvVaw0jAZ4mM-W9K3avpQgizh9L
Not much use for 165s though

deers2ward · Oct 13, 2017

jmoser said:
I'm using 77 gr of RL22 now; will just dial that down near 72.
Hodgdon has data for Varget and H4831 as well but the Varget is very low load density [55 gr or so.]

Sounds like that should be the ticket

I tried 165 grain interbonds over 58gr of Varget. Results were like factory rounds....so far my best combo has been 168gr BTHP over 68gr of IMR4831. COL: 3.340

300 win mag questions

FD716

Senior Member

furtaker

Senior Member

deast1988

Senior Member

NCHillbilly

Administrator

deers2ward

Senior Member

jmoser

Senior Member

deers2ward

Senior Member

Attachments

jmoser

Senior Member

JeffinPTC

Senior Member

deers2ward

Senior Member

Similar threads

Latest posts

Share this page