300 WSM Good deal or ???

Should be a fine choice for what he wants. Lots of good ammo options, and lots of bullets to load your own. You'll have to stay on the lighter side with the twist rate in the Tikkas. The Barnes 165 should be a good starting point if you want a mono.
 
Mine is 2810 w/ 215 and I just tried the 208 same powder, no seating die change and I'm getting 2820. Ballistics to 1K almost identical, not enough to change. Identical POI so no change on scope. Thought I'd try the 208s since can't find 215s and both being Hybrids, why not. Real excited, will try them on deer hunt in November. Just back from Whittington and at 1K no difference in shooting. Nice it works out so far.
 
An extremely well designed cartridge, occasionally once fired brass is available on-line on OnceFired brass site. I liked mine with 155's & H4350 for casual shooting.
 
I load a 200 gr ELD X over 65gr of superformance in my tikka. No issues in mine with the 1-11 twist. Shoots lights out at 2940 FPS. Great cartridge!
 
This is all very promising, he is very excited to say the least. We do have some 168 barnes tsx's, we found some new win brass and 178 eld-x's on this site, we have a couple of the recommended powders, and now to find the large rifle mag primers that seem to be non-existent but he has enough ammo that shoot's good enough to get through this hunting season. Thanks for all the input, he was glad to see that he made a good choice.
 
As others has noted, it is an excellent choice/buy. I have two .300 WSMs (24" and 26") but have only loaded for one thus far. My current load is propelling the 215 Berger at 2850 FPS; if you run the numbers, it is no slouch.
Mine is 2820 with the 215
Mine is 2810 w/ 215 and I just tried the 208 same powder, no seating die change and I'm getting 2820.
Yep! As with everything else, YMMV
 
My son just picked up a Tikka T3X veil wideland in 300 wsm and was curious as to whether he picked a good rifle/cartridge combo. I personally own 3 tikka t3's and couldn't be happier but know nothing about the 300wsm. He wanted the knockdown power of a bigger 300 but with the shorter action. It came with 4 boxes of factory ammo and 42 rds of once fired brass, which is all the rifle has been fired. Now to find components and get some dies. Thanks in advance for any input. This will be his deer, elk, and bear gun
COhntr - I think your son will be really happy with his choice of both rifle and cartridge. Love the 7-08 Tikka we have. I bought my first 300WSM when they first came out back in 2003 I think it was - beautiful M70 Featherweight (brother just took a big bull moose with it 2 weeks ago). Both sons and a nephew who cut their teeth hunting with this rifle all bought 300WSMs when it came time for their first purchases - so now reloading for 4 of them - 2 M70 Featherweights, an X-Bolt and a Savage 16. All are accurate (<1moa) and recoil without brake is still comfortable. Superformance has been a great powder, but RL26 loads developed this fall exceeds Super by over 100 fps with same bullets and was easier to find good consistent velocity nodes. Tend to use 168 TTSXs for the big boys and 165 ABs for deer and regular 165 c and c's for antelope - all driven around 3100 fps or better. Could easily handle heavier bullets as well, but these have done the job for us so no reason to change (yet!). Hope you and son have the same success with it as we've had - good luck!
 
300 WSM is a great cartridge! SAAMI chamber will be hard to get heavier/longer than 180 gr bullets to perform "well", IMO. I've had half moa +\- results out to 300 yd with my 2001 Win M70 FW, pushing 180's at 2996 fps with 67.5 gr RL23.

You might want to upgrade the recoil pad. Be aware the 300 WSM produces some torque that will get your shots stringing in the direction of barrel twist, if you do not restrain the stock adequately.
 
My son just picked up a Tikka T3X veil wideland in 300 wsm and was curious as to whether he picked a good rifle/cartridge combo. I personally own 3 tikka t3's and couldn't be happier but know nothing about the 300wsm. He wanted the knockdown power of a bigger 300 but with the shorter action. It came with 4 boxes of factory ammo and 42 rds of once fired brass, which is all the rifle has been fired. Now to find components and get some dies. Thanks in advance for any input. This will be his deer, elk, and bear gun
My 300 WSMs liked the 180 Nosler Accubond and the Berger 190 VLD Hunting propelled by IMR4350.
 
It is a great Cal. It is a short action and a 24inch barrel show so it will be a little bit slower than the Win. Did get a great package happy shooting
 
The only thing I would add is that if you want to run those longer bullets you'll need to change out the bolt stop and get a long action magazine.
 
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