300 wsm build for european games, selective hunting in Italy

[simone]

Hi everyone. I followed this forum since many years and i already posted a similar thread somewhere else but i finally managed to login here so i want to know your take on this guys!

so, until now i had a very prolific career hunting with a .308 here in Italy. That rifle, a bergara b14 with a 2-10x50i khales scope with a standard german IV type reticle, is intended to be used inside 250 yards and i built it in order to be as simple as possible, no need to worry about anything at that distances: from 200 yards below just point, shoot and the animal dies. I am currently using 170 gr geco teilmantel ammo (softpoint basically), which my gun shoots extremely well (0.3-0.4 MOA all day in range conditions). Now i want to try to reach a couple hundred meters further so i am looking at a tikka t3x lite in 300 WSM (but i am open to other calibers suggestions). I am still a bit undecided between a 300 wsm and a 7 rem mag but the possibility to have a shorter action and barrel, better barrel life and the fact that i like 30 cals make me lean towards the 300 wsm, despite the heavier recoil (luckily it seems that i just don't develope a flinch when i shoot, maybe until now ahah). And i would use a muzzlebrake anyway. So i wanna know what you think of this setup before starting buying stuff. Consider that i will hunt mainly roe deer (50 lbs), fellow deer (up to 240 lbs), wild boars (up to 380-400 lbs) and hunts outside my country are possible in the future (but this is not central in my choice now). Ranges would be from 10 to 500 meters (550 yards more or less), on average probably around 300 yards. I don't like the idea to shoot further because of the many variables that come into play and are more difficult to face at distances past 550 yards but i could change my mind in the future depending on the outcome of my future long shots. I do both stalking and still hunting, depending on the circumstances (50-50 i'd say). So:

-rifle: tikka t3x lite 300 wsm with 4-16 s&b scope (FFP, MIL reticle, uncapped turret for elevation, capped for windage and parallax adjustments) in a PSE composite e-lite stock with a bipod (still have to decide which one), sling and a muzzlebrake. Overall weight will be around 9.5-10 lbs.. a bit on the heavy side but i am young and in good phisical shape and a bit of weight will help with the actual shooting.
-ammo: no idea, i thought about 165 or 180 grains accubonds but i want your suggestions

My main questions are:

what about the caliber choice? I know i don't strictly need a magnum for this ranges and games but I think more power downrange is handy giving a little more more margin of error in regard to shot placement for long shots. There are calibers that have even better ballistic for sure but I think the 300 wsm has good ballistic anyway and I heard it's very accurate, pretty available here in my country, and packs a punch. Additionally it seems like this caliber is gonna stay pretty popular for many years to come and i love the longer barrel life in comparison to other faster calibers (in italy rebarreling is not easy for legal and practical reasons).

What do you think of this setup? What would you change?

What about the bullet? How would a 180 gr accubond perform on a small roe deer (50 lbs) at 50 meters and 400 meters? And what about a big 400 lbs wild boar at the same distances?

What about the scope?

What about the muzzlebrake? I have always shot without ear protections while hunting but whit that artillery piece i would do it. Any downside other than that and other than increasing weight and bulk of the rifle?

a couple pics for entartainment!

 

[Rick Richard]

I am a 300WSM user and advocate. You can easily take any of the animals mentioned at any of those distances. Put a brake on it and you won't feel the recoil.

180 grain projectiles are my favorite with the Berger elites ticking my fancy. Second would be the 166 grain Hammer Hunters.

Now, Tikka would not be my choice, but I have had a bad experience with them and their parent company. If it has to be a factory rifle, then I would opt for a Savage, Seekins or some othe brand. Keep in mind, it is hard to beat a good custom, but with that comes more cost.

As for as the optics, use what you feel looks good to your eye and budget. I am a fan of Zeiss and NF for a good solid hunting rifle.

Anyway, good luck with your journey and let us know how it goes. Good luck.

 

[simone]

I am a 300WSM user and advocate. You can easily take any of the animals mentioned at any of those distances. Put a brake on it and you won't feel the recoil.

180 grain projectiles are my favorite with the Berger elites ticking my fancy. Second would be the 166 grain Hammer Hunters.

Now, Tikka would not be my choice, but I have had a bad experience with them and their parent company. If it has to be a factory rifle, then I would opt for a Savage, Seekins or some othe brand. Keep in mind, it is hard to beat a good custom, but with that comes more cost.

As for as the optics, use what you feel looks good to your eye and budget. I am a fan of Zeiss and NF for a good solid hunting rifle.

Anyway, good luck with your journey and let us know how it goes. Good luck.

Thanks for the input. Can you tell me why you don't like tikkas? You don't like the brand in general or you don't like tikkas in 300wsm?

Have you experience with small animals like roes with the 300 wsm?

 

[Rick Richard]

Thanks for the input. Can you tell me why you don't like tikkas? You don't like the brand in general or you don't like tikkas in 300wsm?

Have you experience with small animals like roes with the 300 wsm?

I am not willing to publicly bash a brand so let's just say it did not work for me.

As for as game the size of a roe, I have not shot anything that small since I think the .30 cal with 180 grain bullets might be a bit too much. A shoulder shot would completely destroy all the meat in the front part of that animal. Through the chest? Well, dead is dead either with a big or small hole.

 

[simone]

I am not willing to publicly bash a brand so let's just say it did not work for me.

As for as game the size of a roe, I have not shot anything that small since I think the .30 cal with 180 grain bullets might be a bit too much. A shoulder shot would completely destroy all the meat in the front part of that animal. Through the chest? Well, dead is dead either with a big or small hole.

Also with a 308 both shoulder are gonna be trashed if you aim there. I think that using a smaller caliber the end result would be similar. A high velocity projectile put into bones and thick muscles is gonna make a mess. How bad the mess is is not gonna change the fact that both shoulders will be given to the dog! And honestly when shooting in the shoulder what i am looking for is exactly that, total devastation and the animal dropping on its tracks. When i aim at the shoulder is because i need a instant drop and I already know my dog is gonna a eat some gulash

Anyways, i have seen roes shot in the shoulder with a 300 wsm, not much difference than with a 308 honestly. At the end is like 1/5 more powerful, not a huge deal, especially on a smaller animal where the bullet won't be able to release all its energy.

The big advantage is that with more velocity the expansion of a tougher bullet is much more likely when not meeting much resistance. For example, in order to preserve some meat i used to shoot partitioned bullets (RWS DK 165 gr) on roes but one time, 10 minutes after a perfect double lung shot from only 190 yards to a roe, i found the animal still alive, it even managed to run a few meters more before i had to put a bullet in its head. That happened because I didn't hit any rib and the bullet didn't expand at all even at relatively high velocities. That's why i switched to soft points. A bit more or a mess but no suffering. If you want more stopping power you need more d'amare, it's inevitably directly proportional, at least with a non CNS shot.

Another interesting thing: with SP i see roes dying for hydrodinamic shock like if a bolt struck them even without directly damaging the spine or hitting major bonus, with partitioned bullet i saw it only when hitting major bones like the scapula.

 

[Quintus]

Sounds like you have a solid plan and good solution. the only advantage to the 7mag might be ammo and brass availability. If I was running a Tikka in 300WSM I would run the 160 Hammer Hunter if you can get them. You will get good speed and excellent on game performance on 50 pound Roe and 500 pound porkers and you won't have to worry about that 11 twist. Your Accubond will work just fine too if you can get em.

 

[simone]

Sounds like you have a solid plan and good solution. the only advantage to the 7mag might be ammo and brass availability. If I was running a Tikka in 300WSM I would run the 160 Hammer Hunter if you can get them. You will get good speed and excellent on game performance on 50 pound Roe and 500 pound porkers and you won't have to worry about that 11 twist. Your Accubond will work just fine too if you can get em.

I will look into hammers but I have never heard about them so i assume they are not on italian market..

Yeah i have also double checked and also the trajectory inside 500 yards is not very different between 7 mm rem mag and 300 wsm, not at all. Also wind drift. Assuming i am using 150 and 180 grain bullets respectively. And I always prefer a 180 grain over a 150, especially for pigs

 

[sable tireur]

From Palmetto Armory:

This is the .308 ammunition suggested by the OP.

 

[Bang4theBuck]

Hi everyone. I followed this forum since many years and i already posted a similar thread somewhere else but i finally managed to login here so i want to know your take on this guys!

so, until now i had a very prolific career hunting with a .308 here in Italy. That rifle, a bergara b14 with a 2-10x50i khales scope with a standard german IV type reticle, is intended to be used inside 250 yards and i built it in order to be as simple as possible, no need to worry about anything at that distances: from 200 yards below just point, shoot and the animal dies. I am currently using 170 gr geco teilmantel ammo (softpoint basically), which my gun shoots extremely well (0.3-0.4 MOA all day in range conditions). Now i want to try to reach a couple hundred meters further so i am looking at a tikka t3x lite in 300 WSM (but i am open to other calibers suggestions). I am still a bit undecided between a 300 wsm and a 7 rem mag but the possibility to have a shorter action and barrel, better barrel life and the fact that i like 30 cals make me lean towards the 300 wsm, despite the heavier recoil (luckily it seems that i just don't develope a flinch when i shoot, maybe until now ahah). And i would use a muzzlebrake anyway. So i wanna know what you think of this setup before starting buying stuff. Consider that i will hunt mainly roe deer (50 lbs), fellow deer (up to 240 lbs), wild boars (up to 380-400 lbs) and hunts outside my country are possible in the future (but this is not central in my choice now). Ranges would be from 10 to 500 meters (550 yards more or less), on average probably around 300 yards. I don't like the idea to shoot further because of the many variables that come into play and are more difficult to face at distances past 550 yards but i could change my mind in the future depending on the outcome of my future long shots. I do both stalking and still hunting, depending on the circumstances (50-50 i'd say). So:

-rifle: tikka t3x lite 300 wsm with 4-16 s&b scope (FFP, MIL reticle, uncapped turret for elevation, capped for windage and parallax adjustments) in a PSE composite e-lite stock with a bipod (still have to decide which one), sling and a muzzlebrake. Overall weight will be around 9.5-10 lbs.. a bit on the heavy side but i am young and in good phisical shape and a bit of weight will help with the actual shooting.
-ammo: no idea, i thought about 165 or 180 grains accubonds but i want your suggestions

My main questions are:

what about the caliber choice? I know i don't strictly need a magnum for this ranges and games but I think more power downrange is handy giving a little more more margin of error in regard to shot placement for long shots. There are calibers that have even better ballistic for sure but I think the 300 wsm has good ballistic anyway and I heard it's very accurate, pretty available here in my country, and packs a punch. Additionally it seems like this caliber is gonna stay pretty popular for many years to come and i love the longer barrel life in comparison to other faster calibers (in italy rebarreling is not easy for legal and practical reasons).

What do you think of this setup? What would you change?

What about the bullet? How would a 180 gr accubond perform on a small roe deer (50 lbs) at 50 meters and 400 meters? And what about a big 400 lbs wild boar at the same distances?

What about the scope?

What about the muzzlebrake? I have always shot without ear protections while hunting but whit that artillery piece i would do it. Any downside other than that and other than increasing weight and bulk of the rifle?

a couple pics for entartainment!

I am not one of those guys that wants everyone to like what I bought, but I have to say, I bought a new Savage Impulse (wait don't stop reading). I bought.it in 300 WSM, and it is the first American straight-pull rifle. I have lots of different rifles in many different calibers, but I think the 300 WSM is goingnto be a favorite. Very versatile. As far as the rifle goes, it has proven to be very accurate, and is very innovative, which is what brought.me to it. Something to consider. I put a relatively inexpensive scope on it, which is feature packed. It's a Burris Signature HD 3-15x44. It's got an illuminated reticle, and side parallax adjustment and long eye relief. I really like the scope so far, but the us has been limited to only the range so far, so I can't give it a full review. Good luck, and reach out via PM with any further questions.

 

[simone]

From Palmetto Armory:

View attachment 450011

This is the .308 ammunition suggested by the OP.

Just looking at it so many memories comes to my mind, that's a crazy accurate bullet despite it's very low price point (33 euros/box). 0.3-0.4 MOA all day. Not the best BC of course (it's like throwing a brick) but perfect inside 250 yards

eta: everyone i know that tried this ammo found it very accurate, not only me. And terminal performance is there. Is like if a f1 granade explodes in the chest of the animal. Animals often drop on the spot even with a chest (not shoulder) shot at moderate distances. When they don't, this bullet makes big exit holes so there is a lot of blood to follow. It's a bit soft, maybe there isn't always a pass through on bigger boars shot in the shoulder, but it discahrge so much power that until now nothing survived. With the RWS DK often the exit was small with all the consequences. I never lost an animal mainly because i shoot when i am sure of hitting the part of the animal i am aiming at and always inside 250 yards but, increasing the distance, i wouldn't feel confident in those bullets because they just favour penetration over tissues destruction too much, especially at 308 speeds and especially because after only 200 yards the RWS DK is already below 2000 feet/sec (very very low BC, low muzzle velocity for the caliber). The DK is a very popular bullet in europe but it's made for max 250 yards shots, better under 200 yards.

 

[simone]

I am not one of those guys that wants everyone to like what I bought, but I have to say, I bought a new Savage Impulse (wait don't stop reading). I bought.it in 300 WSM, and it is the first American straight-pull rifle. I have lots of different rifles in many different calibers, but I think the 300 WSM is goingnto be a favorite. Very versatile. As far as the rifle goes, it has proven to be very accurate, and is very innovative, which is what brought.me to it. Something to consider. I put a relatively inexpensive scope on it, which is feature packed. It's a Burris Signature HD 3-15x44. It's got an illuminated reticle, and side parallax adjustment and long eye relief. I really like the scope so far, but the us has been limited to only the range so far, so I can't give it a full review. Good luck, and reach out via PM with any further questions.

I don't think spending so much money is strictly necessary for having good results in hunting. A good hunter can harvest with an iron sighted mosin nagant proficiently. Of course having half moa rifle and 2000 euros scopes helps but spending 4 or 5 times more you get an advantage of maybe 10% i think (assuming the scope mantains its zero at least). So I think your setup is perfectly fine, i tend to spend more just because I can and because my passion for hunting and shooting is also oriented on the gear other than to the hunt itself (which is of course much much more important to me anyway).

So you approve my caliber choice! Great, i don't have any experience with this caliber so i give your opinion a lot of value. Thanks

 

[FEENIX]

Hi everyone. I followed this forum since many years and i already posted a similar thread somewhere else but i finally managed to login here so i want to know your take on this guys!

so, until now i had a very prolific career hunting with a .308 here in Italy. That rifle, a bergara b14 with a 2-10x50i khales scope with a standard german IV type reticle, is intended to be used inside 250 yards and i built it in order to be as simple as possible, no need to worry about anything at that distances: from 200 yards below just point, shoot and the animal dies. I am currently using 170 gr geco teilmantel ammo (softpoint basically), which my gun shoots extremely well (0.3-0.4 MOA all day in range conditions). Now i want to try to reach a couple hundred meters further so i am looking at a tikka t3x lite in 300 WSM (but i am open to other calibers suggestions). I am still a bit undecided between a 300 wsm and a 7 rem mag but the possibility to have a shorter action and barrel, better barrel life and the fact that i like 30 cals make me lean towards the 300 wsm, despite the heavier recoil (luckily it seems that i just don't develope a flinch when i shoot, maybe until now ahah). And i would use a muzzlebrake anyway. So i wanna know what you think of this setup before starting buying stuff. Consider that i will hunt mainly roe deer (50 lbs), fellow deer (up to 240 lbs), wild boars (up to 380-400 lbs) and hunts outside my country are possible in the future (but this is not central in my choice now). Ranges would be from 10 to 500 meters (550 yards more or less), on average probably around 300 yards. I don't like the idea to shoot further because of the many variables that come into play and are more difficult to face at distances past 550 yards but i could change my mind in the future depending on the outcome of my future long shots. I do both stalking and still hunting, depending on the circumstances (50-50 i'd say). So:

-rifle: tikka t3x lite 300 wsm with 4-16 s&b scope (FFP, MIL reticle, uncapped turret for elevation, capped for windage and parallax adjustments) in a PSE composite e-lite stock with a bipod (still have to decide which one), sling and a muzzlebrake. Overall weight will be around 9.5-10 lbs.. a bit on the heavy side but i am young and in good phisical shape and a bit of weight will help with the actual shooting.
-ammo: no idea, i thought about 165 or 180 grains accubonds but i want your suggestions

My main questions are:

what about the caliber choice? I know i don't strictly need a magnum for this ranges and games but I think more power downrange is handy giving a little more more margin of error in regard to shot placement for long shots. There are calibers that have even better ballistic for sure but I think the 300 wsm has good ballistic anyway and I heard it's very accurate, pretty available here in my country, and packs a punch. Additionally it seems like this caliber is gonna stay pretty popular for many years to come and i love the longer barrel life in comparison to other faster calibers (in italy rebarreling is not easy for legal and practical reasons).

What do you think of this setup? What would you change?

What about the bullet? How would a 180 gr accubond perform on a small roe deer (50 lbs) at 50 meters and 400 meters? And what about a big 400 lbs wild boar at the same distances?

What about the scope?

What about the muzzlebrake? I have always shot without ear protections while hunting but whit that artillery piece i would do it. Any downside other than that and other than increasing weight and bulk of the rifle?

a couple pics for entartainment!

"I" prefer the .30 cal (.30 M1, 7.62x39, .30-06, .30 Gibbs, .300 WSM x 2, .300 WM x 3, and .30 LARA) over .28 cal, so the .300 WSM is an excellent choice. I cannot recommend a scope or muzzle brake because I do not know what you can get at your end. I am unsure of your bullet choices, but a 180 NAB is not too shabby for your intended purpose. I load one of my .300 WSM with 215 Berger propelling it at 2850 FPS. Good luck and happy safe hunting.

Ed

 

[simone]

"I" prefer the .30 cal (.30 M1, 7.62x39, .30-06, .30 Gibbs, .300 WSM x 2, .300 WM x 3, and .30 LARA) over .28 cal, so the .300 WSM is an excellent choice. I cannot recommend a scope or muzzle brake because I do not know what you can get at your end. I am unsure of your bullet choices, but a 180 NAB is not too shabby for your intended purpose. I load one of my .300 WSM with 215 Berger propelling it at 2850 FPS. Good luck and happy safe hunting.

Ed

I don't have a budget limit for this build within common sense, so you are free to suggest me! I heard heavier projectiles could cause overpressure in 300 wsm due to the short case, what about you using the 215 bergers?

 

[Maligator]

I own a Tikka T3 in 300WSM and I love it. It has been very accurate and effective on white-tailed deer and elk. I use 180gr Accubonds and get excellent accuracy with them. I do not think you will regret your choice.