.300 Win. Mag.

[L Ross]

Without really intending to, I find I am now the owner of a tang safety Ruger 77 in really nice shape, topped with a Leupold 2-87 Vari-X II contemporary with the age of the rifle. The only fly in the ointment is the caliber. As this post is titled, the rifle is in .300 Winchester Magnum.
Anyone here played with cast bullets in this caliber?

 

[dale2242]

I haven`t in a 300 Win Mag but I have in my Weatherby MK 5 300 Weatherby Mag.
23 gr 2400, 1 gr Dacron and a Lyman 311291 shot pretty well.
That was the only cast load that I`ve tried in that gun.

 

[Winelover]

Never got any kind of accuracy with cast in my 338W and 2400 powder. Much better with powders starting with SR4759 & AA 5477 on the burn chart. I don't do painted bullets or fillers. Besides the aforementioned powders, in those large cases, 4198 does pretty well. Tomorrow AM, I plan on trying 3031 with 200 grain cast that is already ladder loaded. Been waiting for cooler hunting temperatures for testing. Getting a late start this year, because of the shoulder replacement.

 

[Glaciers]

Without really intending to, I find I am now the owner of a tang safety Ruger 77 in really nice shape, topped with a Leupold 2-87 Vari-X II contemporary with the age of the rifle. The only fly in the ointment is the caliber. As this post is titled, the rifle is in .300 Winchester Magnum.
Anyone here played with cast bullets in this caliber?

My advice to you sir is trade it for a decent caliber like a 300 H&H, 338 mag, 375 H&H or a good old 30-06. All of which are superior to the 300 Win mag.
Can you tell that I detest this caliber?
My BIL and brother both shoot the 300 Win mags, but I just can’t stand them. Kick like a mule for what? 20 more yards point blank range than a 06. 338 mag has a more manageable recoil impulse than the 300.
Now I don’t have a 300 H&H but that is a cartridge. A Winchester pre 64 model 70 in 300 H&H is a grail gun for me.
Now don’t get me started or I’ll tell you what I really think of the 300 mag.

 

[Rushcreek]

I did play with cast in a 1917 Remington that had been rechambered to .300 Win.
At the time I didn’t have a .311” sizer and the .309” bullets that I did have didn’t shoot very well.
I used IMR 4198 only.
My 30-30 and 30-06 rifles shoot very well with cast so I abandoned the 1917 by trading it for a nice m91 Mauser sporter.

 

[oscarflytyer]

No cast, but I do have a cpl jacketed loads that were excellent in the 300 WM I had.

 

[CZ93X62]

I had some decent luck with the RCBS 200 grain castings in a couple 338s I had some years back. Run them around 1600-1800 FPS and they shot all right. I took them deer hunting locally, and didn't fill a tag.

 

[Winelover]

I had some decent luck with the RCBS 200 grain castings in a couple 338s I had some years back. Run them around 1600-1800 FPS and they shot all right. I took them deer hunting locally, and didn't fill a tag.

I had Tom at Accurate Molds clone that bullet in a three-cavity brass block.

 

[L Ross]

My advice to you sir is trade it for a decent caliber like a 300 H&H, 338 mag, 375 H&H or a good old 30-06. All of which are superior to the 300 Win mag.
Can you tell that I detest this caliber?
My BIL and brother both shoot the 300 Win mags, but I just can’t stand them. Kick like a mule for what? 20 more yards point blank range than a 06. 338 mag has a more manageable recoil impulse than the 300.
Now I don’t have a 300 H&H but that is a cartridge. A Winchester pre 64 model 70 in 300 H&H is a grail gun for me.
Now don’t get me started or I’ll tell you what I really think of the 300 mag.

I don't mind getting you started.
I had a .300 H&H standard weight pre 64 Model 70. I thought it was a cool and unique piece for sure, until I shot it. Pounded me, beyond my recoil tolerance. I traded it for a standard weight 1959 .270 and a nice amount of boot to a Model 70 collector.

 

[Michael]

Trade it for 338 Federal, you'll be glad you did.

 

[JWFilips]

I have no problem with that rifle ( & No experience with cast) But love to relate a story from my younger days hunting deer!
I stated hunting PA whitetail deer in 1964. My families hunting ground were about 1 hour to our west in Forkston, PA on "Dutch Mountain".
I hunted with my brothers ...they were Savage 300 people. I had a Marlin 336 in 35 Rem.
They always invited a few guys from where they worked to go with us an climb the mountain stating at 3 am in the morning on the first day so everyone was in position when the hunting hour started. The first year the "Friend" carried 30-30's The cover was mostly some open ground & Ledges and lots of Laurels ! Most a 40 yard shot !
Well my brothers took deer; I was green and passed on my chances!
The friends claimed they got shots but did not get a deer! ( I call this a miss)
A few years later they showed up with Rem 600's in 350 Rem! The same excuses that time!
Then a few years later ( Now only one friend hunting) Has a 300 win Mag! He said he is set for anything! & Connects with a nice 8 pointer at 40 yards ...good shot ( must have been practicing! ) Deer trots away no blood acting like it was not a shot but there was lots of hair!
Too fast no expansion clear through deer never knew it was shot!
300 mag may be great but not in the PA dense woodlands!

 

[oscarflytyer]

JW - nearly all of the 300 WM loads back in the mid-70s were the same. Back then it was factory loaded for long shots on big things out west. Bullet way to hard for thin skin white tails. My Dad had same problem (recognized shooting feral dogs killing live stock as a deputy sheriff in N IN). One load drilled a clean 30 cal hole though a 6" oak tree inside of 100 yds! Why he started reloading for it, and when I started loading for it I used the Nosler Partition and then the Speer HotCor. MUCH softer. The one deer I killed with the rifle: 200 yds/~200 lb (guess) NC whitetail. Bullet was a Nosler Partition 150 grn. dead center shot shoulder to shoulder. Deer was set to jump and crashed. 30 cal hole in and out, but inside, the front half of the Partition made a mess.

 

[Winelover]

You can tame any hard-kicking rifle by using cast and downloading it and still keeping it powerful for taking deer-sized game. The 338W was the first rifle I attempted to load with cast.

 

[Elpatoloco]

My advice to you sir is trade it for a decent caliber like a 300 H&H, 338 mag, 375 H&H or a good old 30-06. All of which are superior to the 300 Win mag.
Can you tell that I detest this caliber?
My BIL and brother both shoot the 300 Win mags, but I just can’t stand them. Kick like a mule for what? 20 more yards point blank range than a 06. 338 mag has a more manageable recoil impulse than the 300.
Now I don’t have a 300 H&H but that is a cartridge. A Winchester pre 64 model 70 in 300 H&H is a grail gun for me.
Now don’t get me started or I’ll tell you what I really think of the 300 mag.

Huh?
I have a thing for Ruger M77s
The worst kicking gun that I ever owned is a Ruger M77 MkII chambered in 300 Win Mag. I purchased it because ammo was hard to come by for my Ruger M77, tang safety chambered in .280 remington. It became a moot point soon at age 15, I started handloading.
I grew up Hunting a place down In Leakey Tx. It was low fenced, But had all the typical High fenced in Texas Animals. Free range escapees. We actually had more Axis than Whitetail and they were like fire ants.
We did NOT purchase meat. I cannot fathom the amount of Axis deer, Fallow deer, Sika deer, Blackbuck antelope and occasional Elk that Rifle has taken.
I never loaded cast for it, But the damn gun liked over book loads of H4831 and 180 gr slugs. I swear the Hotter the load, the better it grouped.
I will not post the load data, but the bolt had to be beat on to open her up with my standard fodder. Ignorance of my youth.
Hate the 300 Win mag? I say its the do all cartridge. At least it was for me for a Great Many years. My son is now the proud owner of that Hard Kicking S.O.B. I never had any animal take more than one step after being hit with it. Granted, most were shot in the melon.

Shoulder shots on Deer sized game and hogs would yield exit hole that you could put a baseball in.

Nosler Ballistic tips

 

[Ian]

I got nothing. If one fell in my lap I'd probably work up a powder-coated jax-level load to smack deer and put it in the safe for a spare.

 

[Glaciers]

Well obviously your mileage varies. But there’s lots more pleasant cartridges out there. Yes the 300 is a bolt of lightning. But there are a few that do the job a lot more pleasantly. Trust me I’m not a recoil ‘wuss.
I just don’t care for the mighty 300 or the 7mm Remington magnum.
But that’s just me. My advice is free and my opinions are even cheaper.

 

[Glaciers]

Oh and I like the Ruger tang safety model 77’s.

 

[swc-tr]

If your rifle has a SAAMI spec chamber, the start of the throat/ball seat could be an issue.
See the yellow highlighted bits below.

Many years ago in a Handloader magazine article, Jim Carmichel reported good accuracy from a .300 Win Mag target rifle with cast bullets (Lyman #311284 IIRC) using RL7 powder, but I suspect it had a match/non-SAAMI spec chamber.

I would suggest doing a puond cast of the chamber throat to be certain.

 

[sundog]

Not 300WM, but 7mmRM. Best powder was 3031. I spent (wasted) a lot of time chasing something that was not all that useful. Not that it won't work, but the boiler room is just too big on the bottle neck mag rifle ctgs. 7mm would be better served by any number of smaller 7mm ctgs. I suspect the same of 300WM. Seems like a 12 twist 308W (or a few others) would be a 'mo betta' place to produce a harmonious outcome.

 

[Glaciers]

Truth be told, the 300 WM is a great cartridge. My brother shoots it long range and my BIL has been shooting his since the mid 60’s. They both love the 300.
Personally I’ve always liked cartridges with a long neck. 30-30, 30-06, 300 H&H. But my standard cartridge is the 30-06 where my hunting load is Hornady 190 grain BTSP with a maximum load of IMR 4350. Shooting some 220 grain Hornady RN for special occasions. Cast RCBS 30-180 and NEI 308-220 weights out at 195 and 226 respectively.
So if I need more I just figured that might as well step UP with something meaningful. 338 WM which I Went with Hornady 225 SP and Speer 275 semi pointed. Frankly more pleasant to shoot than the 300 WM with 200’s and more meaningful. I would have gone to the 375 H&H but spendy rifles back about 1970. Picked up my pre Garcia made Sako for $179 on sale if memory serves. Now I shoot a 338-06 improved which comes close to the 338 WM and has a longer neck.
So I’m not opposed to the 300 WM but to me there just isn’t a beneficial use for it. If I need more than the 30-06 then there’s the 338-06 and of course the 35 Whelen.