.300

steelrat

New member
I’m looking into starting to reload for my .300 win mag and am looking for a good bullet for elk. Any opinions would be appreciated. Thanks.
 
I have been using Remington's core-lokt's 150 grains in a 30-06. If it was me I would just step up to a 180 grain for a 300 mag.
Lots of good hunting bullets on the market the Remington's are less and work great. We have shot dozens upon dozens of deer and elk with em and they have proved to be a good bullet.
 
I've had really good luck with Sierra, Speer, Hornady, and Nosler. Nosler is by far the most expensive bullet I hand load in the Partitions. Really the most important is find the load that shoots the best in your rifle and stick with it. If you go lighter than 180 grains in a .30 caliber bullet stick to the premium bullets like the Partitions for elk. You might try Barnes bullets as well, I've heard very stellar reports from people using them. I just find that Barnes a little too expensive for my tastes, if I'm going to spend over $1 a cartridge to reload I might as well stick to factory ammo.
 
Have a look at a 180 grain bullet. Work up your load and sight in 3" high at 100 yards. That should put you on target out to 300 yards with no hold over. Past 300 yards the .300 drops 18 to 20 inches out at 400, 3 to 4 feet at 500, depending on the MV.
 
Try a 180gr. SPBT over 66.5grs of IMR-4350 with a COL of 3.340", my Rem 700 in .300 Win Mag absolutely loves this load consistently shooting 3/4 MOA. I use Winchester nickel-plated cases and CCI Large Rifle Magnum primers if you want the rest of the load.
 
I am a huge fan of the 168g Combined Technology Ballistic Silvertip.

I have them shooting VERY accurate and have taken 6 Saskatchewan Muledeer with them and they have performed great for me everytime.
 
I just recently used a Ruger .300 Win. on Barbary sheep.

I chose the Federal premium loaded with the Nosler Accubond 180gr.

I was expecting a long shot and had my chance on the first day. Sadly my shooting was not up to the task.

Fortunately on the 3rd day of the hunt we were able to outsmart a large group and stalked to within 120 yds. where I made the shot.

The 180 gr. Accubond entered the left front shoulder face on and was under the skin on the off side paunch area, about 30"s or so of penetration.

The recovered bullet weighs 162 grs.

I was very impressed that it held together at this velocity on such a tough animal.

Very accurate in my 77 also.

It will be my choice again for tough or long range hunts.
 
I shoot a 26" '06, which gets me fairly close to a .300 with a 24" barrel.

Anyhow, I did a comparison at 500 yards on a steel plate, with Sierra bullets. GameKings. 150-grain SPBT, 165-grain HPBT, and 180-grain SPBT.

All grouped just inside one MOA. The 150-grain made a slight dimple in the steel. The 165-grain made the beginnings of a crater, but very little splashback of steel. The 180-grain definitely started a crater, with some splashback of steel.

I've killed deer with both the 150- and 165-grain bullets. There was an exit wound for the majority of all hits.

While I've not used the 180-grain bullet on deer, my opinion from what I saw on the steel plate is that it would penetrate quite well on a heavier animal such as an elk.

FWIW, Art
 
Steel rat - I'm loading for my 300wm.
I've found that some rifles just like certain bullets.

For factory ammo, I had a Rem 700 that used to love the least expensive Rem Core-lokt ammo.

I'm now shooting a BAR and a Tikka T3.

As far as the expensive "hunting" bullets, both the BAR and the Tikka seem to love the Barnes triple shock. They are actually loaded to sammi OAL ( Which I have to with the BAR ) and they're sub moa. They are however, some of the most expensive bullets out there, and YOUR rifle may like something else.

Good luck
 
For 150gr and 165gr bullets, I gotta give credit to Remington and their PSP bullets. They are lasers and go right where you point. I use their 165's for my plinking bullets and I love them.

I find their 180's to be inaccurate in comparison to Speer's Hot-Core line. But my platform is a .308 M1A with an 18" barrel, which isn't ideal for 180gr bullets in the first place. I was pushing them soft to be easy on the gas system and who's to say the Remington 180's wouldn't do better at higher pressure from a bolt gun?

Then again, maybe the Speers would do even better.

Were I to buy a 300-somethingmag, I would start with the Remington 180's, the Speer Hot-Core 180's an maybe Hornady's comparable offering and go from there.
 
I would use Nosler 180Gr Partitions. Great bullet been using it for years in my 300 mags. Works well on elk as well as black bear
 
I've killed deer with both the 150- and 165-grain bullets. There was an exit wound for the majority of all hits

If I don't miss my guess here you hit in the heart lung area in the high 90% of the time too. Thats what counts the most more that this caliber or that this bullet or that, proper bullet placement.

I Killed a deer once that had already been wounded. She had stopped at 75 yards or so and was in a what you might call braced position when she stopped. She was standing sideways to me in a plowed field when I fired with my 150 grain cor-locts in 30-06.
I shot, deer didn't move a inch, as far as I could tell, but I saw dust fly up quite aways out in the field past the deer thru my scope. My thought was " how did I miss".
I chambered another round and fired again, deer went down like a dropped rock and I saw dust again. When we got to her the first thing I did was look at where I hit. She had two holes about 2 inches apart side by side right thru her ribcage. I had hit perfect both times but the first bullet passed without hitting a bone or rib and second one did.
 
+1 on Sierra

Ive used 180 gr game king w/ good luck..... Working on a load for 200 gr GK..... Barnes x bullets are good too, but very pricey!!!!!!!!
 
My Savage 110 likes this recipe. 180gr Sierra SPBT backed by 75gr IMR-4831 w/ a mag primer. Kinda kicks though........
elkman06
 
I use 180 Grain Sierra gamekings in my 300 Winmag. I have used IMR 4350 and Hogdon 4350. The hodgdon seems to shoot a bit tighter with longer barrels. I load to the max 71.0 grains. I wouldnt start out this high, this is slow powder. Use magnum primers and be sure to trim your cartridges and check your overal length. Do not excede cartridge OAL.
 
Back
Top