New member with ?

[anicholsdpm]

Hello all. New member from SD, lurked here for a while.

Recently picked up a Rem 700 in 300 RUM that had been blue printed, bedded into an HS Precision stock, wearing a threaded Krieger stainless match barrel (bright and shiny bore), and 5 mags. The kicker is that the barrel is only 22", which I know is way shorter than ideal It had sat at the gunshop for a while and was priced well enough for me to take a chance on.

Wondering if anyone has experience loading shorter barreled ultra mags? I'm guessing I'm stuck with faster burning powders and probably lighter bullets? Im not really interested in rebelling it until the bore is shot out. FWIW it'll probably be limited to targets, maybe the occasional deer hunt.

Thanks in advance.

 

[RockyMtnMT]

Haven't loaded a short barreled one, but yes you will probably not get full ignition on the slowest powders. You should be just fine with published data though. With the loss of 4" if barrel you will likely be short a hundred to two hundred fps in vel. 25-50fps per inch of barrel lost.

Steve

 

[sable tireur]

Your greatest loss will be velocity from short barrels and an increase in muzzle flash. Hunting in daylight won't be a problem but dawn and dusk might wake your eyeballs up just a tad...

There are a few powders suited to your shorter barrel and will still accommodate both heavy and some of the lighter bullets. I've reloaded with Norma 217, Re-25, Hodgdon Retumbo and H-1000 with fine results with Berger 215 Hybrids and the Berger 185 Hunter. The Nosler 180 AccuBond works as well as the Barnes 180 TTSX. The lightest I've shot is the Berger 175 Hunter VLD. All have shot good groups in custom rifles, no guarantees with factory rifles.

With 22" barrels you can consider getting a .30 caliber suppressor in one of the shorter versions which will make a world of difference when hunting.

Regards.

 

[Bravo 4]

Two years back I chopped my 26" barreled .338 RUM down to 20" to shorten the OAL when adding a suppressor. Dropped velocity by 200 fps with my load of 300gr Bergers and RL-33.

 

[Bravo 4]

Thought I should add to my last: even at only 2600 fps out of the muzzle, that still made it a viable 1000 yard elk rifle at the altitude I have been hunting.

 

[WildRose]

Well I definitely would not have gone with such a short barrel but you have what you have.

Instead of doing as most of us shooting the large case magnums do and going for the slowest burning powders we can get accuracy and adequate velocity with you probably need to look towards faster burning powders to maximize velocity with the short barrel.

See what loads you can find for RL23 and RL26 and stick with bullets in the 180-190gr class and you should be able to get very satisfactory results.

 

[FEENIX]

With 22" barrels you can consider getting a .30 caliber suppressor in one of the shorter versions which will make a world of difference when hunting.

Velocity at this barrel length with the right powder and bullet combination is no slouch. This is what I would do IIWY until it is time to re-barrel.

 

[imartin]

A suppressor sounds like a good idea as I would mostly be concerned about my ears with a 22" barrel 300 RUM.

 

[joseph singleton]

Anybody have insight on the Kahntrol Solutions clamp on brake?????

 

[FEENIX]

Anybody have insight on the Kahntrol Solutions clamp on brake?????

No, but there's a few here that have the Witt Machine clamp on MB.

Also, out respect to OP, you might want to consider a separate post for your query.

 

[Rich Coyle]

Yep

 

[AZShooter]

I remember reading an article Ross Seyfried wrote years ago. He was working up a load for a shorter magnum barrel. Thought faster powders were the answer. He discovered through his testing that was not true. He said use the same powders as you would use for a longer barrel. In addition to that he also said the heavier bullets loose less velocity when compared to light ones when using a shorter barrel.

I rechambered a 24" 300 Win mag and had to remove the bolt recess as the barrel was a Remington going on a push feed model 70. Length is 23.5". I chose the 230 gr Match hybrid Berger and RL-33. Remington brass. Fed 215 primer. Wyatt's mag box allowed a slightly longer OAL of 3.760". Max load for this rifle was 100 gr for velocity of 2975 fps. Rifle weighs 8.5 lbs.

I took a cow elk with that load six years ago. Didn't get an elk tag for five years. I shot up that ammo and had to load up some more. Switched to a more moderate load (and perhaps more temperature stable) using 88 gr of H1000. Velocity is 2800 fps with the 230 gr Berger. Shot a nice 6 x 6 with this load last December.

Let us know what you end up shooting in your short handy RUM.