Is this an asinine thought regarding bullet weight?I do understand

[Oldschool280]

Greetings, if you have happened upon any of my earlier post regarding my 300 WinMag, you may have read that I have found that it shoots 165 and 168 grain bullets well , But is not happy with 180 and 190 grainers( one inch groups at 100 or larger)Is it possible that it may like 210 and heavier bullets as well as the 165/168, or am i most likely stuck with a light bullet 300. , the thing is throated very deep and cant get 180's anywhere near the lands. The short bullets don't mind the big jump and come out pretty well(1/2"). Maybe i need to venture out past published max powder charges and get the longer bullets humming faster? I have had no pressure signs whatsoever yet. I would use extreme caution, this rifle is built on a very strong action( pattern 14 ). Thanx again guys for all of your help and input.

 

[LoneTraveler]

Some rifles because of the barrel twist only like certain bullet weights. You have to love them the way they are or replace the barrel or rifle.
The 30 cal. is one of the worst calibers. Bullets from 110 gr. to 220 gr. but many guns will only shoot bullets in about a 20 grains, weight span somewhere along the spectrum of weight. I have a factory 308 Win. that shoots 125/130 gr. very accurate. 150 gr. and above, Bout like throwing rocks.
I have a 300 WSM that likes 180 gr. bullets .625 or less at 100. Lighter bullets bad, Heavier bullets bout like shooting a shotgun.

 

[birdiemc]

Well what all have you tried? Different powders? Different mfr bullets? What twist is your barrel? Based purely on hearsay, cuz I havent tried them myself, I would try out some hammer bullets that match your twist if you're not happy settling for 168s. They sound as magical as the creedmoor but without the skinny jeans and manbun requirement. You get to buy them and keep your man card.

 

[26Reload]

Maybe a part of the dismal results is the weight of your rifle...
Liteweight barrels like to jump....heavier stay down for more sturdy shots...

 

[Calvin45]

It's certainly not typical for short light bullets to tolerate jump better than heavier ones, that's kinda weird. Only way I see that being the reason might be a case neck concentricity issue - but that's based purely on hypothetical reasoning, no experience to base this on. What twist? If the rifle has excessive freebore/a long throat, flat base bullets are in general less sensitive to jump (and everything else regarding internal ballistics) than boat tails. The comments about light barrels whipping harder with heavy loads are certainly apt and worth exploring. Finally, this may seem obvious, it could just be that the rifle doesnt like the particular heavyweight bullets you fed it for reasons other than weight. Have you observed this affinity for 165s and aversion for 180+ with a variety of projectiles of each weight?

 

[HARPERC]

......Finally, this may seem obvious, it could just be that the rifle doesnt like the particular heavyweight bullets you fed it for reasons other than weight. Have you observed this affinity for 165s and aversion for 180+ with a variety of projectiles of each weight?.......

Worth repeating.

 

[Oldschool280]

Well what all have you tried? Different powders? Different mfr bullets? What twist is your barrel? Based purely on hearsay, cuz I havent tried them myself, I would try out some hammer bullets that match your twist if you're not happy settling for 168s. They sound as magical as the creedmoor but without the skinny jeans and manbun requirement. You get to buy them and keep your man card.

I tried 190 matchkings, 180 sst's with powder ladders in imr 4831, rl22, and rl25 , switched to 168 matckings and 165 speers and the cut the groups in half with minimal powder ladders, the barrel is a 1/10 twist with a heavy sporter contour. I'll givd the hammers s shot

 

[Mike AVM]

I tried 190 matchkings, 180 sst's with powder ladders in imr 4831, rl22, and rl25 , switched to 168 matckings and 165 speers and the cut the groups in half with minimal powder ladders, the barrel is a 1/10 twist with a heavy sporter contour. I'll givd the hammers s shot

Try RE23 or RE26 with 190-210. Also, with lead bullets, try H1000. A copper bullit takes too much room for H1000 in a 300 WM with a 200 grain copper bullet. Both RE23 and H1000 are considered temperature insensitive and RE26 is less sensitive to temp changes.

 

[ofbandg]

I own a Pattern 14 rifle in 300 Win Mag as well. Mine is a much slaved over customized one and has accounted for lots of game over the last 35 years but I did have to change the barrel once. The barrel is a former military 30-06 re-chambered to 300 Win and it shoots some weight bullets better than others. It likes 150 grain flat based bullets best but I don't. It shoots 165 to 180 grain okay but then it shines with the 212 Eld-x. It is a fussy rifle, and heavy, but very strong with a good safety. I don't use it much any more but I like to keep it current.

 

[Muddyboots]

Rifle weight can be huge part of your issues when coping with heavier recoil. I shoot Sendero that is quite heavy and loves 200 gr AB and can get them 0.010 off the lands easily. RL22 @ 72.5 gr and will hold 3/4" at 300 yards IF I don't have any caffeine for a few days. I found this rifle loves the heavier bullets (longer bearing surfaces) much better than lighter bullets but still shot them well but not like the 200's. Testing RL26 right now and jury is still out if the load will be more stable.

 

[skipglo]

Greetings, if you have happened upon any of my earlier post regarding my 300 WinMag, you may have read that I have found that it shoots 165 and 168 grain bullets well , But is not happy with 180 and 190 grainers( one inch groups at 100 or larger)Is it possible that it may like 210 and heavier bullets as well as the 165/168, or am i most likely stuck with a light bullet 300. , the thing is throated very deep and cant get 180's anywhere near the lands. The short bullets don't mind the big jump and come out pretty well(1/2"). Maybe i need to venture out past published max powder charges and get the longer bullets humming faster? I have had no pressure signs whatsoever yet. I would use extreme caution, this rifle is built on a very strong action( pattern 14 ). Thanx again guys for all of your help and input.

I use 208 gr. Hornady eld match...test drive them!

 

[Jeffrey Van Zandt]

Greetings, if you have happened upon any of my earlier post regarding my 300 WinMag, you may have read that I have found that it shoots 165 and 168 grain bullets well , But is not happy with 180 and 190 grainers( one inch groups at 100 or larger)Is it possible that it may like 210 and heavier bullets as well as the 165/168, or am i most likely stuck with a light bullet 300. , the thing is throated very deep and cant get 180's anywhere near the lands. The short bullets don't mind the big jump and come out pretty well(1/2"). Maybe i need to venture out past published max powder charges and get the longer bullets humming faster? I have had no pressure signs whatsoever yet. I would use extreme caution, this rifle is built on a very strong action( pattern 14 ). Thanx again guys for all of your help and input.

https://www.longrangehunting.com/th...PVN47KRIe5aDMGndoC0C3yo8V2xBir6Bhgi38GsjEf30k

 

[Huggy]

Some rifles because of the barrel twist only like certain bullet weights. You have to love them the way they are or replace the barrel or rifle.
The 30 cal. is one of the worst calibers. Bullets from 110 gr. to 220 gr. but many guns will only shoot bullets in about a 20 grains, weight span somewhere along the spectrum of weight. I have a factory 308 Win. that shoots 125/130 gr. very accurate. 150 gr. and above, Bout like throwing rocks.
I have a 300 WSM that likes 180 gr. bullets .625 or less at 100. Lighter bullets bad, Heavier bullets bout like shooting a shotgun.

I have to agree with LT here.
Each gun has its peculiarities and foibles which the owner/shooter is left to find. That is part of the fun in the sport, IMO.
For example, my WM shoots 147/150 grain FMJ projo's like a laser beam and is pretty accurate out to 300 (+ -) yards but looses steam after that. Notwithstanding I DON'T hunt with any FMJ, illegal or not.
I would get in the neighborhood of ~ "0.75 groups, too.
But my Remington 700 Sendero in the
.300 WinMag, shooting MY reloads (180 gr SGK) will give me 3/8" groups all day long providing I do MY part. It is easily my most accurate rifle in a stable of hunting (not BR) rifles.
So while one can solicit input from others about this bullet, powder, case, primer, yada, yada, yada, as being the best or most accurate, you'll have to do the homework, put in the time, effort and bench work to learn what YOUR Boolit Launcher likes best.
It is all part of the enjoyment of the sport. At least for me, but YMMV.
So enjoy the trip and enlarge your brain.
It's good.
Its Allllll GOOD!

 

[nicholasjohn]

Greetings, if you have happened upon any of my earlier post regarding my 300 WinMag, you may have read that I have found that it shoots 165 and 168 grain bullets well , But is not happy with 180 and 190 grainers( one inch groups at 100 or larger)Is it possible that it may like 210 and heavier bullets as well as the 165/168, or am i most likely stuck with a light bullet 300. , the thing is throated very deep and cant get 180's anywhere near the lands. The short bullets don't mind the big jump and come out pretty well(1/2"). Maybe i need to venture out past published max powder charges and get the longer bullets humming faster? I have had no pressure signs whatsoever yet. I would use extreme caution, this rifle is built on a very strong action( pattern 14 ). Thanx again guys for all of your help and input.

Is it the old military barrel on your rifle ? My uncle once had one ( in the original 30-06 chambering ) and it shot well with 150-grain bullets ( we only used factory loads in those days ) but scattering 180's all over the place. Nobody was shooting 165's much then, so we didn't try them. I didn't learn until many years how simple it is to measure the twist in the barrel. Have you done that ? It's often an eye-opener. I once had a .308 that did better ( on average ) with the 180's than with 150's, and found that it was rifled 1-10, not the standard 1-12. Lots of guys will tell you that this isn't enough to make a difference, but the same guys will say to feed the gun what it likes best. Why does it like heavier bullets or lighter bullets best ? Twist rate is one obvious answer, but there are other variables.

A couple of guys chimed in here about barrel weight. I think they are onto something. My .308 had a very light barrel, and this was probably a contributing factor to its preference of the heavier bullets. Another thing that I should mention is that although there were more loads with the 180's that it liked, the old red-box Federals in 150-grain ( the bullet they used to call Hi-Shok ) was the absolute best by far. Some guns don't give you a reason why they like this or that bullet.

If I were you, I would try the heavy bullets and see what you get. You'll have a lot of fun checking this out, and you will learn a lot in the process. Lots of guys on this forum can help you with loads, since the cartridge & bullets you mentioned are a very popular combination for long range work.

One more comment - with a long throat, the super-long bullets are likely to have more bearing surface in the case neck when loaded with the ogives closer to the lands, so you may get better bullet concentricity when using the heavy bullets, as well as more uniform bullet grip by the case neck. Good luck.