Beware the budget rifle that can smoke you on the range

[BIG MO]

I feel in an average weight rifle the 300wsm has noticeably less recoil than the 300wm, 7rm, and alot less recoil than the 300 weatherby. I also feel it may be a more inherently accurate cartridge design. Just my opinion and experience here so no one get your dander up. The aforementioned cartridges are all fantastic.

The weatherby vangard has a pretty beefy action and although it is not a heavyweight, it is not a lightweight either. A 300wsm from this rifle has very reasonable recoil. I have seen multiple novice shooters acquire a rifle in this caliber and be totally comfortable with the recoil. I don't consider myself to be sensitive to recoil but whenever I am shooting for practice I utilize a past magum recoil pad when I am shooting a sporter weight highpower rifle to include a 30-06. Even if you feel recoil doesn't bother you, over time your mind will start to anticipate the recoil and worse case senario you could develop the dreaded flinch. Of course, when hunting no pad is needed and you will not notice much recoil from a 300wsm.

As far as magnums go, a 300wsm in a 7-8 lb rifle is a pussycat with some pretty long fangs.

 

[liltank]

And why the 300WSM and not the 300 Win Mag or 300 Wby Mag?

To much recoil for me. Though I put a muzzle break on my 300WSM just so I could shoot from a bench as much as I wanted. The WM and Wetherby Mag are going to have as much or more recoil... usually more due to a higher case capacity. The 300WSM is more efficient and capable of reaching the same velocities with a little less powder.

I currently push a 200grn SMK at roughly 2950fps. A WM and Weatherby will match and exceed that speed, but for my application this is just fine. You start loading 168 and 175 grain bergers your recoil should be less or comparitive to the larger magnums.

Tank

 

[sdkidaho]

How do you guys feel about the 325WSM?

I should preface all of this by saying that I know nothing about most of this. I chose 30-06 because that is the caliber that Dad has. The last hunting rifle I owned was a 270.

I am family with firearms and their use, but I'm not knowledgeable as far as what all the different calibers are capable of. I know I can take game from Moose on down with a 30-06. I don't know that I would ever be out there and need to make an 800 yard shot on something though. I am however open to advice and opinions on why others prefer what they do.

Thanks for the replies.

Darby

 

[Tyler Kemp]

325 WSM has very small bullet selection, and almost none with a good BC.

 

[liltank]

BC is Ballistic Coefficient. This is one of the determining factors used by long range hunters and shooters to choose the appropriate bullet for its intended purpose. The higher the number the better the flight at given distances.

As for the 8mm (.323") which is also the 325 WSM caliber, I have read many things and guys like them. One guy said he would never give his up. There was a member here that liked the 8mm Remington Magnum. Here are some bullet selections to choose for shooting to about 500yrds. Hornady Soft Point 195grn, Barns TSX BT 200grn, Sierra Game King 220grn and 200grn Sierra Match King, Nosler 200grn Partition and Accu Bond, and the Speer 200grn Hot Core. If I were to pic any of these I would choose the Sierra Match King 200grn due to the BC.

Tank

 

[huntin1]

When I read the title of this thread it brought back memeories of an LE sniper comp. I was at a few years ago.

I had just put together a budget Savage 10FP. Factory action and barrel, I bedded it into a Bell and Carlson Duramaxx stock, used a Ken Farrell base and TPS tactical rings and a Sightron SII mildot scope. Price for rifle and scope came in at just over $1000.

A couple of guys were badmouthing my lowly Savage, they had customs in the $5000 range. They were pretty humble at the end of the match when me and my lowly Savage budget rifle kicked their butts.

Just put a new Nikon Monarch 4x16 side focus mildot scope on it. Saturday after I dialed it in I shot 5 back to back 100 yard 3 round groups all less than .5" Not bad considering I have not shot at all this past summer. Our range was closed most of the summer due to flooding issues last spring and just opened the end of Aug.

Custom rifles are nice and I'd love to have one, but there is nothing wrong with a budget rifle and the Savages are some of the best IMO.



huntin1

 

[countryrebel]

Yep, I have always been told by fellow hunters that I cannot make those long 800 yard deer kills with a factory stick in 30-06. More power does not mean anything if you cannot put it where you want. Thinner barrels work fine on most hunting rifles. Great write up.

PS don't forget those Tikka's

 

[OKIE2]

The only factory rifle I couldn't get to shoot worth a darn was (2) identical savage 270 WSMS my dad and I both bought. I think we got the only 2 lemons they produced that year.

I have a 110 Savage I rebarreled with a 26"heavy 270 wsm E. R.Shaw and I have yet to find a load that is not accurate in it.
I also bought a used Savage 110 7mm mag that with hand loads shot a .187 3 shot group @ 100 for $235.00 at a gun show. And my Savage 308 win will surprise anyone with hand loads.

 

[efw]

Amen big Mo!

While it isn't a "factory factory rifle" it is a lowly Savage 110 with an inexpensive ER Shaw aftermarket "magnum contour" barrel chambered in 338-06 A-Square:

This is the result of 3 shots at 100 yards with 200 gr Speer Hot Cors over 53 gr RL-15 sparked by a CCI-200 large rifle primer. Not going to win any speed records, but death to any and all whitetails that I should happen to come across this fall!

And here we have 3 shots at 100 yards running 215 gr Sierra Game Kings over 57.5 gr of BLC-(2) sparked by a CCI-250 mag rifle primer. Two shots were 4 fps apart and averaged 2683 fps... with real long range potential.

Not a lot of money into this one... I'm a hobby gunsmith who wanted something to do last winter, and look at what came of it...

Cheap, accurate rifles rule... in an economic downturn, or whenever you have the "good fortune" to run into one!

 

[BIG MO]

Thanks for sharing and the pics EFW. That rig is a winner! Nice! I need to take my digital camera to the range. The dude with the Remington 710 30-06 shot three rounds through the same hole the other day. Jeeze, he shoots clover leafs all the time but this group you could barely tell there was more than one bullet through that hole. Crazy!

 

[efw]

Great read,, but I am CUSTOMIZING my savage 11 with a new recoil pad.

If all you care about is making it fit you, that is probably all there is to it... it isn't like it isn't going to shoot !

 

[7mmSendaro]

I bought a S&W I bolt for $399 that shoots right at 1/2 MOA with 140 grain accubonds. I did bed the top end.....is that cheating?

 

[liltank]

I bought a S&W I bolt for $399 that shoots right at 1/2 MOA with 140 grain accubonds. I did bed the top end.....is that cheating?

No.... that's not cheating. That is right up the alley Big Mo is talking about. Taking a factory rifle, doing as little as possible, and hanging with the big boys and their custom rifles.

Just and fyi, I just put together another winning load for my 300WSM. 61.5 grns. of RL17 with a 200grn SMK, 2925fps. avg. puts me right at or less than .5" at 100 yards with a 5 shot group. I gained 125fps over the H-1000 with the same accuracy. Good stuff!

 

[statjunk]

I recently bought a Winchester Extreme Weather in .30-06. All I did on it was a trigger job.

Last weekend I shot two groups back to back that were 1.11" and 1.13".

I was shooting Remington Core Loks loaded out to the lands minus .002". Now that I have some fire formed brass I'm going to try some different bullets, like accubonds or game kings with some touching the lands and some .002-.004" off the lands to see if she does better.

Tom