Help me to choose caliber.

[Rolf]

First of all I want to say Hello to everyone at the forum. My name is Rolf and I`m from Sweden. I`ve been one of the silent readers for a while but have decided to join in now.
My first question to you is which caliber I shall pick for my new project. The action will be a Remington LA of cource. I`ve bought the barrel already, a Krieger cal. 30 with a 1-10" twist.
The stock will be a Robertson Tactical but that`s about it.
I don`t want the recoil to be much more then what the 300 Win Mag delivers.
If nothing new comes up I`ll problably go with this caliber but it`s always interresting to hear opinions from people that has been down the road before.
So it`s not only the caliber I`m interrested in. I also want to hear from you guys that has experience in the matter. What shall I think of and what do you regret that you didn`t thought of the first time?

I`m searching among the old topics but haven`t found exactly what I`m looking for.

Regards
Rolf

 

[Down Under Hunter]

Welcome to the board !

It would be helpful to all if you could descibe what the intended use for the gun would be ? Game, targets etc.. How far do you want to shoot ? Is weight a concern ? Budget constraints etc. This will help others give plenty of "informed "advice to suggest possible options.

Cheers for now

DUH

 

[britz]

Also, is a muzzle brake an option? If not, than the obtions are going to be a little bit easior since you dont want much more recoil than a 300wm. 300WSM, 300WM, 300wby, 300Norma, 300 RUM. There is nothing wrong w/ a good old 300wm.

I agree w/ duh, what is your budget, range, game, and do you reload?

later, britz

 

[Rolf]

Thanks for your answers guys.
My budget is in the 2 000$ area. That`s not including the scope. I`ve already bought the barrel and that`s a big part.
The rifle will be used for game up to and including moose. But also for long range paperpunching. To be honest, I would do fine with my Sauer 202 in 9,3x62 but I enjoy my rifles way to much to be smart. I guess I wont shoot farther then 350-400 yards, on game that is. On paper the range itself sets the limit.
Regarding the weight, even though I will mostly stillhunt with this one I don`t want it to weigh much over 10-12 pounds.
Thanks for reminding me about the muzzle brake. Have any of you guys used/tried Gentrys brake? They say that it increases the blast with no moore then 1 decibel.
I`m a bit scared of brakes, should I forget my hearing protection I fear that what little I`ve left of my hearing would be gone.

 

[craigp40]

A 300WM is a good choice, especially if you plan to hunt moose with it. If this offers too much recoil with your 10-12 lb gun, the classic 30-06 would also be a good choice, but is often overlooked. I personally don't like muzzle brakes for the same reason you mention above.

You already have a 30 cal barrel, but if it were me I would have gone 7mmRM or 7 WSM. Very good bullets available, great ballistics and less recoil than the 300WM.

 

[LewisH]

I`m a bit scared of brakes, should I forget my hearing protection I fear that what little I`ve left of my hearing would be gone.

Are you kidding? Without hearing protection (with or without muzzle brake) your hearing will be gone from any of those rifles...or from shooting any firearms, for that matter.

 

[winmagman]

Rolf

You could have your rifle set up with a removable brake and thread protector, use it for paper punching, remove it and put on the thread protector for hunting. That would expand your options a great deal.

Chris

 

[Rolf]

That`s good advice Chris, but which brake shall I choose? Do you have experience with any of them?

After talking to a couple of guys I`m down to two calibers, the 300 Win Mag and the 300 Weatherby. So what I would like to know is, all things being equal which round will shoot best??

 

[P KUNDA]

With Lapua brass "from the next door"

and living in Sweden and the 300Win.M. will be very hard to beat.

Peter

 

[jwp475]

Rolf

You could have your rifle set up with a removable brake and thread protector, use it for paper punching, remove it and put on the thread protector for hunting. That would expand your options a great deal.

Chris

A rifle with a brake on will shoot to a different point of aim vs with the brake removed, therefor will require re-sighting in. At least that has been my experience.

 

[jjmp]

rolf,
congrats on your barrel choice,jwp is rite on as usual,between the two 30's i'd pick the 300win/mag hands down,not long ago i had 308 Nate build me one and i'm thrilled with its performance..custom brakes are way better then factory made....check out gun photos...our Best smiths show what they can build.
welcome aboard ,regards

 

[davewilson]

moose are easy to kill. build a nice 308.

 

[P KUNDA]

300WM and the 300Wea are equally accurate

It's the Lapua brass what makes the 300WM a clear winner. For me anyway.

Peter

 

[Longshot38]

After talking to a couple of guys I`m down to two calibers, the 300 Win Mag and the 300 Weatherby. So what I would like to know is, all things being equal which round will shoot best??

I like the 300 Weatherby. I have one that is my big game/long range field gun. However remember this you have to pick the caliber that will work better for you. Thus keep these things in mind:

Weatherby- This has slightly better ballistics then then Win Mag and it really shines with the heavier bullets due to extra case capacity. The factory ammo for the weatherby is expensive and uses proprietary powder thus duplicating the results will be difficult. High quality brass is fairly easy to come by in the US however I don't know about over there. However Norma makes the brass for Weatherby.

Win Mag- This is one of the if not the most popular 300 magnum ever produced. It is cheaper to load due to the price of components and availablity. There is more data on this round then the Weatherby also.