Bullet Recommendation and Questions

[timeless61]

I am trying to decide what bullet to use for a 300 wsm. Now that I have a 338, it is not much of a long range rig, 400-500 yards would be absolute max shot. I will be primarily hunting whitetail and black bear in pa. I will not be shooting any smaller bears, I do not think that matters a whole lot though. But its primary use will be sitting in stands with it, where shots are much closer. I have a 30-06 to walk with, and the 338 for long range. My question is, what bullet would be my overall best for what I want to do? at close range, I do not trust the bergers or a-max's from what I have seen on wet newspaper… also, I would prefer a boat tail type bullet, for whatever reason, the gun seems to shoot them much better.

Which brings me to my next question, how do partitions generally shoot? I tried shooting them in the 300 wsm, and they grouped very poorly. I was using reloader 17 which has not given great groups in the past, but not as bad as what the partitions did, also, same experience with a 30-06, I have a load for the 30-06 which shoots ANY 150 grain boat tail bullet very well, but will not group partitions well, is it a partition thing, or flat base or..??

Also, how is reloader 17 working out for people? I have had pretty high ES, and not as good accuracy as like H4350, but, it has given much better velocities.

 

[mkg]

timeless,

I haven't had any issues with either bergers or A-max on whitetail ,even at close range they do the job well. I'm planning on a black bear hunt this winter and will be using 180 gr, Nosler ballistic tips over H-4350.

Mike

 

[Outlaw6.0]

Take a good look at the Barnes TTSX bullets (not the MRX although they look alike) the MRX is a fine bullet but quite expensive ($35-$40per 20). The TTSX if a great bullet with the available boat tail you were asking for. I would personally recommend either the 150 or the 168, don't bother with anything heavier; aim to break bone & you should never be disappointed.

 

[timeless61]

I will look at them, how do the ballistic tips hold up, my main worry with a ballistic tip is a bigger bear. and as far as deer go, generally if its a buck I will shoot heart and lung, but doe I usually shoot head or high neck.

So, it seems like I want something in between, it can't pencil through a deer not hitting major bone, but it can't completely blow up on a bigger bear without penetrating some first.

 

[Outlaw6.0]

There are quite a few guys that use the ballistic tip for long range work, but the general acceptance is that the ballistic tip is somewhat less than reliable at short range & high velocity. There are also a bunch of shooters using the Accubond to great success, not quite as tough as the Barnes, for heart/lung shots I would tend to think the Accubond may be slightly better in terms of expansion; although a 150 TTSX loaded to top velocity would be VERY effective, even on a heart/lung shot.

Can you tell i'm a Barnes shooter?! lol

 

[bigngreen]

Try the Accubond, I haven't shot a Barnes since starting to use them and has tuned into my go to bullet. They work good on bone and good for hitting them in soft spots!

 

[timeless61]

thanks, in the 300 wsm, would you recommend a 180 or 165 anyone?

 

[retiredcpo]

I shoot the 180 gr accubonds and the balistic tips through mine
they both have the same bc and flight path.
That means I can shoot the cheaper balistic tips at targets abd varmits and the accubonds at game.
Retiredcpo

 

[Derek M.]

There's no question the 300 WSM shoots the bigger bullets just fine. Some argue that it's a "magnum" so it should push a big bullet. But I like a little balance with the case design, so with the case being short, and the neck being short, I like the 165/168 class bullets.