New 300 WM —How to find “THE”bullet

I just finished working up a load for the same purpose, although there is no way I will be shooting beyond 350-400 yards, wouldn't even try. Anyway, I selected the 181 gr. Hammer Hunter after doing a ladder comparison with the 180 gr. Barnes TSX. Both shot great, but in my rifle at least (tricked out Remington 700) the edge went to the Hammer. I started with 70 grains of H4831sc and Federal 215's with COL at magazine length (3.685") which for my rifle is .0050" off the lands for the Barnes and .0040" for the Hammer. Shot groups for both bullets were consistently under 1" @ 100. I hit a node for the Hammer at 74.3gr. w/o pressure signs; groups are averaging .35", with velocity a bit lower than I'd prefer @ 2850.
I just loaded a few more rounds at 74.5 and 74.7, so will see if I can reach 2900 w/o adversely affecting accuracy and w/0 pressure signs.
I've found good accuracy with H4831 and a few different bullets in my win mag, but velocity has always been low. H1000 seems to get another 50-100ish fps
 
All my Long Range shooting has been with a Ruger Precision 308, and it is way to heavy to take to the mountains
Just got a Browning Xbolt Long Range Max in 300 WM,26" barrel, 1:8 twist Bought for a Colorado Bull Elk hunt. Range limited by me to 800 yds
I have a decent selection of 30 cal bullets and powders for testing and I can get others.
I also have a LabRadar for the range.
What process to you use to optimize bullet selection to give you max range and max impact energy? Any help would be appreciated
I use a 180 grain Sierra, either the Gameking or the Prohunter, for my 300 winmags.
Depending on the altitude, the prohunter will work as well as any bullet, and unless you're going to shoot an elk at 25 yards, it will hold together through heavy bones. If you're hunting high country, (8,000ft or above), this bullet will shoot as flat as any boattail bullet at 3,000ft. or below. So if you're calibrated for lower altitudes with bullets that have BCs of .500-.550, this bullet or the Speer 180 grain Hotcor flat based bullet will work with both great accuracy and penetration out to at least 800 yards. The Hotcor has a BC of .441 or so, and the Sierra has one of .405-.410. The Sierra 180 grain Gameking will shoot noticably flatter, though. Even better is the Sierra 200 grain gameking or the 200 grain Hotcor. BC for the Hotcor is .487 and for the Sierra is in the .550 range, and they hold velocity very well. These bullets stabilize very well in both my .300's and shoot around 0.7 to 1 inch at 100 yards, while retaining velocity at distance. Speer lists top velocities from a 24 inch barrel at around 3050fps with 180 grain boat tail (BC of .545) and Hotcor bullets and about 2850 max for the 200 grain bullet. Both BC and load data are given in their online load manual. At the distances you're planning to shoot, you don't need an expensive bonded core bullet. You just need reasonably flat trajectory and a bullet with good to great density for penetration. Also, I forgot to include the 180 grain Ballistic Tip from Nosler. It would work well for anything you want to do with it where elk out to 800 yards is concerned. By the way, the Speer Hotcor bullets are as close to bonded bullets as you would ever need. They pour molten lead into their jackets, which tends to form a heat bond with the jacket. Speers are quite accurate and now the least expensive effective bullet on the market. Just sayin.
Elton P. Green
SSG, USA, INF. (Ret.)
 
All my Long Range shooting has been with a Ruger Precision 308, and it is way to heavy to take to the mountains
Just got a Browning Xbolt Long Range Max in 300 WM,26" barrel, 1:8 twist Bought for a Colorado Bull Elk hunt. Range limited by me to 800 yds
I have a decent selection of 30 cal bullets and powders for testing and I can get others.
I also have a LabRadar for the range.
What process to you use to optimize bullet selection to give you max range and max impact energy? Any help would be appreciated
I'm pushing a 200 gr Hornady ELD-X out of my Winchester model 70 26" barrel IMR 8133 @ 2970 fps... 800 yards would be a walk in the park. Have dropped several bull elk with this pill from 200 to 1200 yards DRT!! Bullet placement is 100% of the game. The rifle you chose is capable just make sure you take the time to verify you can make the shot before you go hunting......
 
All my Long Range shooting has been with a Ruger Precision 308, and it is way to heavy to take to the mountains
Just got a Browning Xbolt Long Range Max in 300 WM,26" barrel, 1:8 twist Bought for a Colorado Bull Elk hunt. Range limited by me to 800 yds
I have a decent selection of 30 cal bullets and powders for testing and I can get others.
I also have a LabRadar for the range.
What process to you use to optimize bullet selection to give you max range and max impact energy? Any help would be appreciated

What is your rifle's measurement to the lands and maximum useable magazine well length?

Your 1 in 8" twist rate bore 300 Win Mag is best suited for nearly any Cup-N-Core bullet with the typical length of a 210gr and up weight but, really shines with the monolithic bullets like the Hammer Hunter of 181gr, or up to the 214gr, provided you have the distance to lands and magazine well clearance necessary.

You'll be hard pressed to find better long range terminal performance than the Hammer Hunters, without significant sacrifice of close range performance. The .308" dia. 214gr Hammer Hunter is deadly and has a very high B.C. (G7=0.322, est.) but, is very long (1.752") and needs a lot of throat and magazine length for proper seating depth. The 199gr Hammer Hunter also has a very high B.C. (G7=0.299, est.) and is a little shorter (1.618") but, is still a very long bullet. If your clear magazine well and distance to lands measurements are typical of most 300 Win Mags, then the .308" dia. 181gr Hammer Hunter with its length of 1.524" is the ticket. The G7 B.C. is a respectable 0.272 but, at least some of what you sacrifice in B.C. with this bullet, you will make back up on the higher obtainable velocity of its lighter 181gr weight and you will still get excellent penetration and terminal performance, even at extended ranges.
 
All my Long Range shooting has been with a Ruger Precision 308, and it is way to heavy to take to the mountains
Just got a Browning Xbolt Long Range Max in 300 WM,26" barrel, 1:8 twist Bought for a Colorado Bull Elk hunt. Range limited by me to 800 yds
I have a decent selection of 30 cal bullets and powders for testing and I can get others.
I also have a LabRadar for the range.
What process to you use to optimize bullet selection to give you max range and max impact energy? Any help would be appreciated
When I first started shooting I tried a number of different bullets and settled on Barnes TSX 150 gr, they are solid copper machined bullets and are all within a tenth in weight and, what ever I shoot with them dies quickly. I shoot a Savage 110 action with a Sharpe Shooter Supply 28" straight contour 1:8 twist barrel chambered in .308 set in a Choate Ultimate Sniper stock, I don't mind the weight which is 17#.
 
All my Long Range shooting has been with a Ruger Precision 308, and it is way to heavy to take to the mountains
Just got a Browning Xbolt Long Range Max in 300 WM,26" barrel, 1:8 twist Bought for a Colorado Bull Elk hunt. Range limited by me to 800 yds
I have a decent selection of 30 cal bullets and powders for testing and I can get others.
I also have a LabRadar for the range.
What process to you use to optimize bullet selection to give you max range and max impact energy? Any help would be appreciated

It's what your rifle tells you to use. My 300WSM likes a 185 grain bullet. I agree with the other gentleman, 180 or heavier. The lighter the bullet the lower the co-efficient and the more likely it is to be unstable at distance. Also the heavier the bullet the greater down range energy.

Happy Hunting,

Harvey
 
whatever blows your dress up. I said a while back I use Walt Berger's loading regimen to accurize a loading. Didn't say I loaded the pills exclusively. I have many colors of boxes of pills on the shelf. The Berger regimen works on any pill so long as you used the CBTO measurement
 
What process to you use to optimize bullet selection to give you max range and max impact energy? Any help would be appreciated
I use Dan Newberry´s OCW process.
Quickly, and using few resources, one can find the optimal load for that combination of bullet and powder. I've been using it for years, and every time I'm more convinced of its effectiveness.
I use COLDBORE sotware for ballistics. This program gives us a lot of information in relation to what you are looking for, speeds, energy etc.
Good luck
V
 
That 214 hammer hunter at 2850+ would be sweet IMO. I held off on Hammers just because I didn't like having to go with a sub 200gr weight bullet with my barrel's twist.....I got over it though.
 
The well known combo for the 300Win and Berger 215 is H1000 215M between 76 gr and 77gr(high node) with the H1000 very near or above 3,000 fps, some higher, some lower. H1000 is among the most stable powders and hard to beat, especially in the higher temperatures we have out West. Reloder 26, 33, IMR7828 spike above 90F in my guns, H1000 does not.
I would run a ladder with the 214 grain Hammers and H1000 they are great bullets !
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Some results from Broz and the 215;

"But since I spent last fall killing elk like a mad man (70 elk taken total) and the 300 win with a 215 Hybrid @3035 and the 7-300with a 195 @2950 were the two rifles use most for the first of many kills, let me offer some real world long range hunting results.
Now lets go kill elk. I mentioned the 300 win and the 7-300 were the two most used rifles during a good part of last season here. This included a pre-season management hunt, all season long. And a post-season management hunt. Some nights we even had these two rifles side by side with a different hunter on each rifle while we waited in the blind for the elk to enter the hay field. Here are the results. The 215 Hybrid will out kill the 195 in a way so obvious after about a 15 or 20 elk taken with the 7 I put it away. The 300 with a 215 , not once needed a second shot to dispatch the elk. "
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Hornady have just released a new 230gr with alloy tip would be worth trying out. They also have a 250 but the extra weight might not be optimal in the win mag but would hit hard.
 
I've found good accuracy with H4831 and a few different bullets in my win mag, but velocity has always been low. H1000 seems to get another 50-100ish fps
I've tried H1000 in the past with other bullets...Noslers, Hornady's, Berger's ...I get better accuracy on average with H4831sc.
 
I'm a bit old school, when it comes to bullets for elk hunting. I killed my first elk 66 years ago, and plan on shooting another this season. I have shoot more elk than I can remember and can only recall one that got away, it was a cow and we trailed it for miles, until it grew dark and the blood trail dried up. Before bullet technology was as great as is is today, I had mixed results with bullets. Some blew up if they hit a front shoulder or leg bone and it took some fast shooting (and sometimes reloading) before the elk dropped. Some bullets, the Winchester Bronze Point comes to mind, drilled holes through an elk, with little expansion in between. It wasn't until I started handloading, and started using Nosler Partition Bullets, that I was getting consistent one shot kills. They could hit a bone and still get good penetration, they expanded well when the heart/lung area was hit, however I was not confident with their accuracy beyond 400 yds. I tried Barnes X, TTX bullets with mixed results, sometimes I would get good expansion and quick kills, and sometimes just a hole drilled through the lungs, and more follow up shots. I switched to Accubonds and had good performance until I got out past 400 yds, then I again had to take more shots than I felt necessary. By this time I was shooting a .300 WSM, most of the Barnes bullets were with a .338 Win Mag.
As I grew older, most of my hunting consisted of parking myself in a place with a good view in several directions and distances out to 700+ yards. That's when I really got interested in Long Range Hunting. The Berger had been out a while, the ELDX came along, then the Nosler LRAB, the Federal Edge LR and more coming. I shoot a lot and practice at longer ranges (500 meters max at my range). My first elk taken at long range was a bull in 2017 at 670 yds with a borrowed 7mm mag and 175 gr LRAB bullets. The elk went approx. 200 yds before going down. Last year I shot a mature cow at 580 yds with my .300 WSM using Federal 200 gr Edge TLR factory loads. The elk dropped in its tracks, the bullets performance was perfect, high heart lung shot, total destruction in chest cavity, .50 cent size exit hole, no blood shot meat, no bullet fragments. I have been waiting for a year for bullets, but only the 175 gr are available. Which I am going to try. I think I have found my perfect hunting bullet. I forgot to mention, .5 MOA accuracy from factory loads at 100!
 
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