Bullet choices for 300 RUM

Moman

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My Sendero will be here at the end of the week and I'm trying to figure out what bullets to start my load development with. I have thought about the 210 Bergers, 200 Accubonds, even 208 A-Max. I have heard pros and cons on all of these but it's been hard to sort it all out. I even thought about trying 210 or 220 SMK's thinking they might give similiar performance to the 338 300 grain pill. My goal is to develop an accurate long range hunting round, deer and elk size game. I know a lot of you are using this round for the same type of hunting, can you give me some feedback on what is working for you?
 
If you dont mind the cost, the GS HV 177's will far out perform anything else in the 30 cal.

I developed loads for the 180 E-Tip, 200 AB, and 210 Berger. I've decided to go with the 180 E-Tips for now becuase they are as accurate as the others and I am getting 3400 fps with them. With that velocity they are very close to the 200's and 210's down range and I've read too many confliciting reports on the AB's and Bergers. A couple of E-Tips I pulled from the dirt were very impressive looking. No worries about terminal performance with them.

When my budget loosens a little, I'll be ordering some GS 177's which will extend my "potential" range from 1100 yds to 1500 yds. Potential meaning me and the rifle do our part. I expect to be able to push them close to 3600 fps with a BC of ~ .62

Mark
 
Well, Montana beat me to it. I agree the 177 GS is your bullet if they are accurate. I tried the ones you mentioned and got good velocity with good accuracy, but not good terminal performance. The A-max jackets are to thin, Bergers were not much better and the Accubonds were best. So far I have got good performance out of the 200 grain 30 cal accubonds. But on several elk hunts this year I saw the 225 grain 338 accubond completely dissentigrate every time. Last count I think was 7 for 7. Bullet completely spent with nothing but pieces of jacket remaining. That's the reason I am just giving up and hunting with nothing but solid controled expansion bullets like the etip, GS, barnes, etc. A friend borrowed my 300 wsm this year and had perfect terminal performance with the 150 grain etip starting at 3400 fps. Another friend on the caribou hunt shot a caribou at 400 yards with the 208 Amax out of my 300 ultramag at 3250 fps. At least a baseball size exit hole and dead in it's tracks.
 
I am running the 177 GS HV's this year. I harvested 2 antelope, 2 mule deer, and 1 elk. Ranges from 297 on a mulie to 762 on an antelope. Terminal performance is exceptional. Meat loss is nill. I took autopsy photos, but I have not developed them yet. I will do it this week and post them.

I ran the 180 E-tip last year. I have no complaints about them. I like the GS better for the bc's and the extra velocity. They will simply out run conventional lead core bullets for drop and drift. Plus they are a dedicated hunting bullet.

I have been holding off saying anything because I have not gotten the pics done. I'll get it done soon.

Later,

Steve
 
Get the pics! Thanks for posting. Do you have enough of those GS that I could buy a few from you for testing? I am in northern Wyoming and in Billings all the time. Especially since the new Cabelas opened there. Don't know if you are in that part of Montana or not. I know a good thing when I see it. If those bullets have that good a BC and shoot straight, knowing I can push them close to 3500 fps, my big 338's are going to get jealous.
 
Get the pics! Thanks for posting. Do you have enough of those GS that I could buy a few from you for testing? I am in northern Wyoming and in Billings all the time. Especially since the new Cabelas opened there. Don't know if you are in that part of Montana or not. I know a good thing when I see it. If those bullets have that good a BC and shoot straight, knowing I can push them close to 3500 fps, my big 338's are going to get jealous.

LTLR, I'll be giving RL17 a try with the 177 GS's in my RUM. I tried it for the 180 E-Tips and it matched the velocoites Retumbo and H1000 were giving me, so my guess is that it will do well with the GS bullets, probably better than Retumbo and H1000 at that pressure velocity ratio.
 
Thanks guys, so far some good info. Mark, I've read some of your other posts about the E-TIps and G7's. I did find a link to the G-7's and they have some great numbers but the price is pretty substantial, I'll have to wait a while until I give them a try. The E-Tips may hold some promise though, and it looks like they have a decent BC, much better than the Barnes offerings from what I can tell. It would be interesting to see what kind of numbers they would have in a 200 grain pill. I'll follow more of your posts to see how they perform on game for you.

LTLR, I see you've tried most of what would be considered the top offerings with pretty much the same results I have been reading about. What do you guys think though of the heavier SMK's. I know they're not advertised as a hunting bullet but get quite a bit of use in the 338's. Do you guys think there is a comparatable bullet in the 30 cal offering that has the potential to give those types of results?
 
I have used the 300 SMK in my 338-378 since there inception when Sierra graciously sent me some for testing. I have had good results with those. I think because it is so fat, long and heavy it just blows through stuff. It is the most accurate big game bullet for western hunting across windy canyons and the 338-378 gets the velocity up there over 3000 fps to buck that wind. That is why that is my go to rifle when I am dead serious. When people see me with that set up they pretty much know I am onto a pretty good animal. I have hunted with guys using the 240 SMK out of the big 30's and seen similar results but have not used them myself on game, only on targets. I know others use the lighter SMK's and some smaller caliber ones but I think that would be setting up for disaster on large big game with high velocity magnums. Bottom line though I have seen everything but the monometal quality big game bullets disentigrate in big game animals through the years. So to be 100% sure that is the only way to go. I have had the good fortune to see a lot of stuff shot through the years with guiding and such which gives me quite a bit of data to form an opinion. I started shooting the Etips when they came out because of the greater BC in a monometal bullet. The GS will beat them but look at the price. I am shooting a .469 BC 150 grain Etip in my 300 wsm at 3400 fps. Run the numbers on that and they look pretty good for what I consider a 600 yard rifle that is light and very accurate. I wouldn't shoot beyond 600 with the light 150 but they look mighty good out to there.
 
I have used the 300 SMK in my 338-378 since there inception when Sierra graciously sent me some for testing. I have had good results with those. I think because it is so fat, long and heavy it just blows through stuff.



At what ranges are the 300 SMK's just blowing through stuff? The phrase " just blows though stuff" does that mean the bullet exits?
 
Mark, I've read some of your other posts about the E-TIps and G7's. I did find a link to the G-7's and they have some great numbers but the price is pretty substantial, I'll have to wait a while until I give them a try. The E-Tips may hold some promise though, and it looks like they have a decent BC, much better than the Barnes offerings from what I can tell. It would be interesting to see what kind of numbers they would have in a 200 grain pill. I'll follow more of your posts to see how they perform on game for you.

I like the E-Tips and I used to think highly of the TSX's (other than BC) but have been reading a lot of reports of non-expansion pass throughs with those lately. The GMX looks good in some cals, but so far it looks like the heaviest available in the 308 cal is 165.

I talked with Nosler about a year ago, and the 180 E-Tip was as heavy as they planned to make due to stability issues because of the length of bullet needed for a monmetal. Barnes has a 200 gr, but their BC isn't great and the 180 E-Tip leaves way behind. I also like the expansion characteristics of the E-Tip. They have broad jagged petals that open up to form a very square/flat frontal area which causes a great deal of damage.

The GS's are the way to go though. Nothing touches them in any category. Once I have a load worked up for them, I wont be shooting them a whole lot other than for an occasional drop and zero check. I could work up another plinkiing round and spend a lot more time with my 300 WSM and 25-06 :)
 
The GS's are the way to go though. Nothing touches them in any category.
Oh goodness. This all based upon Gerard's advertised BC of that bullet? You're going to get 400 yards more "effective range" with it than you will a 210 Berger? Good luck with that.

Montana, I luv ya man, but the phrase "hook, line and sinker" comes to mind. When you actually try the things at 1500, let us know how far off the drop charts were.
 
Oh goodness. This all based upon Gerard's advertised BC of that bullet? You're going to get 400 yards more "effective range" with it than you will a 210 Berger? Good luck with that.

Montana, I luv ya man, but the phrase "hook, line and sinker" comes to mind. When you actually try the things at 1500, let us know how far off the drop charts were.

FWIW,

The advertised bc' for the current GS bullets that I have run out have been true. I shot the 177g 308's out to 1000yrds. And the 110g .264's out to 600yrds. I know that it is not 1500yrds. When I ran the older version of the bullet, it did not come close to the advertised bc's.

Steve
 
At the risk of sounding like a broken record, I have to say 168 BERGER VLD, H-1000 and Fed 215's. Load to max mag length and let the fun begin !
 
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