.300 Win. Mag. Throating

[BigBboy25]

Right now I've got a 28" 1-9" twist Hart barrel at my gunsmiths that is going to replace my current barrel on my .300 Win. Mag. I've put about 1,500 rounds on my current barrel in the matter of 3 years. It still shoots great, but I want to have another barrel ready for when my current barrel goes. What I've been going back and fourth about it having my new barrel throated slightly longer to better accommodate the 215 grain Berger Hybrid. I plan on using this as my primary bullet for hunting and for 1,000+ yard shooting. The reason I'm having such a hard time deciding to go with a longer throat or not is I have about 1,000 190 grain Sierra Matchkings that I'll use for paper punching and for the local tactical matches that only go out to 1,000 yards. I want to be able to shoot the 190's as well as the 215's with good accuracy and precision and am not sure if the longer throat will be detramental to the 190's performance.

In my current barrel, I went with a standard throat and have run the 210 Berger, 190 Sierra, 200 Accubond, 215 Berger and 230 Berger with excellent performance from all. The long throat on the new barrel would give me a touch more case capacity and theoretically, give me slightly more performance. My question for you folks is should I go with the longer throat, or go with what I know has worked in the past?

 

[7stw]

Right now I've got a 28" 1-9" twist Hart barrel at my gunsmiths that is going to replace my current barrel on my .300 Win. Mag. I've put about 1,500 rounds on my current barrel in the matter of 3 years. It still shoots great, but I want to have another barrel ready for when my current barrel goes. What I've been going back and fourth about it having my new barrel throated slightly longer to better accommodate the 215 grain Berger Hybrid. I plan on using this as my primary bullet for hunting and for 1,000+ yard shooting. The reason I'm having such a hard time deciding to go with a longer throat or not is I have about 1,000 190 grain Sierra Matchkings that I'll use for paper punching and for the local tactical matches that only go out to 1,000 yards. I want to be able to shoot the 190's as well as the 215's with good accuracy and precision and am not sure if the longer throat will be detramental to the 190's performance.

In my current barrel, I went with a standard throat and have run the 210 Berger, 190 Sierra, 200 Accubond, 215 Berger and 230 Berger with excellent performance from all. The long throat on the new barrel would give me a touch more case capacity and theoretically, give me slightly more performance. My question for you folks is should I go with the longer throat, or go with what I know has worked in the past?

BigBboy, the answer to you question is really in your last paragraph. If you extend the throat to accommodate the longer bullets, and if it dosen't work, you can't UNDO it, unless you rechamber, BUT, if you try what HAS worked, and if that dosent work for you, you can simply have the throat pushed ahead.
I know what you are going through. Once you make a decision, you are always second guessing yourself. I am building a 280 right now, and I can't even start to tell you about all the changes that have came to be since I first concepted this gun. But the final product is going to be awesome, and nothing more or less then what I wanted it to be. Gun building is fun, but sometimes our mind plays tricks on us! ( it dosen't stop changing it's mind) take care, have fun.

 

[Greyfox]

Right now I've got a 28" 1-9" twist Hart barrel at my gunsmiths that is going to replace my current barrel on my .300 Win. Mag. I've put about 1,500 rounds on my current barrel in the matter of 3 years. It still shoots great, but I want to have another barrel ready for when my current barrel goes. What I've been going back and fourth about it having my new barrel throated slightly longer to better accommodate the 215 grain Berger Hybrid. I plan on using this as my primary bullet for hunting and for 1,000+ yard shooting. The reason I'm having such a hard time deciding to go with a longer throat or not is I have about 1,000 190 grain Sierra Matchkings that I'll use for paper punching and for the local tactical matches that only go out to 1,000 yards. I want to be able to shoot the 190's as well as the 215's with good accuracy and precision and am not sure if the longer throat will be detramental to the 190's performance.

In my current barrel, I went with a standard throat and have run the 210 Berger, 190 Sierra, 200 Accubond, 215 Berger and 230 Berger with excellent performance from all. The long throat on the new barrel would give me a touch more case capacity and
theoretically, give me slightly more performance. My question for you folks is should I go with the longer throat, or go with what I know has worked in the past?

I have thought a lot about this as well since I target shoot with Sierra SMKs, and hunt with the Berger VLD's. I shoot a Rem Milpec 300 WM that groups both SMK 175 and 200's into .25MOA with good velocity and ES. It does the same with Berger210's and 190's. I shoot the SMK's .100" off the lands and Bergers .010" for these results. All my loads fit in a standard magazine with room to spare. Here are the measurements to the lands using both a collimator that measure from the ogive, and the COAL.

Bullet. Collimator COAL
175 SMK. 3.840". 3.510"
200 SMK. 3.840". 3.521"
190 VLD. 3.836" 3.574"
210 VLD. 3.837". 3.576"

With the amount of shooting I do will also get a back up barrel lined up. I will most likely go with the same throat that I have in my rifle, but increase my length from 24" to 26" for the extra velocity.

 

[etisll40]

You guys are good, I'm going to have a dedicated 300 win mag made at some point, I want it to be a lightweight, 24" barrel, what weight and contour for good shooting and carry wood you suggest? Flutes? Today I'm going out to shoot a new 375H&H, never had one, can't wait to pull the trigger. I expect it to be like my 12 guage with a 2 3/4" magnum sabot, we'll see?