Ammo question

I don't really have much to add other than I never thought I would like 300 win mag. I got mine from my father in law who wanted to gift us an elk gun. I thought it would be too much and that I would prefer hunting with a .308 until I shot it. The recoil and weight didn't bother me like I thought it would. Since then, I found the 300 win mag is a really good round for elk. I don't think I would use anything else at this point.

However, it is expensive to shoot. I am not a reloader, but I think a lot of the other people on here have the right idea. If you are going to make it a go to gun for lots of game, you need load your own.

I have owned two 300 WM and found them both to be accurate, but very picky on ammo. I have had a couple 308s that seemed to shoot everything well and a few things great - not so with my 300s.

My buddy and I both got 300 WM Weatherby Vangaurds (made by Howa) around the same time and agreed to split the ammo and test fire several boxes. We narrowed down as much as possible. We agreed that we wanted to shoot a tipped homogenous bullet and we wanted to be in the 150-180 grain range because we were hunting everything from whitetail to elk. Therefore, we ended up about with 6 boxes that fit that criteria. It seemed like overkill because we ended up spending about $200 in ammo. However, our tests proved us right.

We had groups ranging from 3/4 in to 5 in at 100 yards. It was unbelievable how much these rifles "liked" one load and "hated" another. Further there was not rhyme or reason to it. In the end there was NO WAY to predict what load would shoot well. We just had to take time to shoot it.

Since we split the ammo we ended up being out about $100 each, but we also ended up with a lot of quality range time, practice, confidence and knowledge of what our guns would do, sore shoulders, and having a good time.

brnsvllyjohn said:

For me I try different factory loads until I am happy. That means something less than 1 MOA for my hunting rifles. I have tried about 10 different loads in my 7 mag and only needed a couple different loads in my 7 mm-08 to get to where I was happy. That was with non toxic ammo. With conventional ammo I only had to try 2-3 loads before I was happy. I purchased 2 types at a time and would shoot 3-4 shot groups to start with. I waited a few minutes between different loads or until my barrel was just barely warm not hot. I found out quickly that some would just not shoot well in my gun. If it shot well with 3 shot groups then I would go home and come back another day to try my best loads again.
I started with loads that I hoped my gun would shoot and then go from there. Sometimes a brand I wanted to shoot just didn't work out.
Since this is a new rifle you might want to do a little research on breaking in a new barrel. I tried to follow some recommended break in procedures on my last two rifles.

Click to expand...

Nosler, on their website has what is likely a standard break-in procedure.

I start by checking the round on a twist stability calculator
http://www.bergerbullets.com/twist-rate-calculator/

You can find lengths here
http://www.jbmballistics.com/ballistics/lengths/lengths.shtml

Just a general suggestion to the OP when picking your initial test ammo for this rifle: I would suggest spending some time specifically defining exactly what you want this rifle/ammo combo to do for you. Then, I would identify (maybe with help from this forum or similar forums) what current factory loadings (it sounds like you don't reload currently) most closely meet your expected performance parameters. This may be only one or two current loadings, or 5+. Either way, i think it is more important to define what you want this rifle/ammo combo to accomplish and then buy test ammo from that standpoint, than it is to pick an arbitrary number of different loadings for your initial testing. A match load for your .300WM might shoot lights out, but it obviously won't fit your performance envelope you are hoping for in big game. On a related note, my ~2010 M700 ADL .300WM love anything Hornady. I've fed it the 165gr GMX superformance load the past 4 years with great results on the bench and in the field, you may want to consider that loading for testing (if it meets your overall desired performance parameters).

I had to rebarrel my Remington 700 .300 Win. Mag. a couple years ago. I tried 5-6 different loads in 180 grain of the "premium" ammo. None would group well enough to consider taking on an elk hunt. Out of frustration, I tried a box of "cheap" Winchester Power Points (silver box). The rifle shoots 1.5" groups at 200 yards with those. The rifle would, at beast, shoot the premium stuff into 2" groups at 100 yards. The power Points have accounted for a couple elk and several deer.

Actually there is no correct answer to your question. I have a finicky 308 and it took boxes & boxes & boxes to finally settle in on plain white box Win 180's, only one of my handloads beat that for accuracy, but didn't match the velocity. My brothers 7RM printed 3/4" out of the 1st box of Rem 150's. I have a 338 Fed that has only been tested, at the range, with Federal 200 Fusions ...and I have a couple/three hundred Nolser bullets to reload. I can only hope they match the Fusions............