Re-starting Reloading for my 300 Wby

[HappyGVM]

Hi Everyone.

For various reasons, mainly an Army career and kids, I haven't reloaded rifle cartridges in about 15+ years. Now that I'm retired and we're almost empty-nesters, I'm ready to get back to it. I have all the kit and just got it set up again. I plan to load for a couple of 308/7.62 rifles, a 7mm RM and for my early 1990's Weatherby Mark V (Made in Japan) in 300 Wby Mag with 1 : 10" twist. My questions are about the 300 Wby because if I'm drawn, I've got a date with a bull elk in WY's area 117 come Oct.

I have about 60 each, once-fired, Remington and Norma cases, 400 hundred CCI 250 primers and various boxes of 165 gr (Edge TLR & Swift A-frames) & 180 gr (Barnes TTSX & Nosler Ballistic Tip) bullets. My old go-to load was 180 gr Sciroccos over 81.5 gr of Rel 22 at a COL of 3.788 (basically the length of the magazine). I have plenty of H1000 and Varget and about .5 lb of 15-year-old Rel-22.
My 1st question is given that the brass was fired out of the same rifle, should I full-length re-size or just re-size the neck?
2nd, and I'm pretty sure of the answer, can I substitute the Scirocco 2's in my old recipe?
And 3rd, can anyone suggest an accurate load with some components that may be easier to find?

BTW, during Covid I bought 3 boxes of Wby Factory Ammo loaded with 180 gr Hornady Interlocks on sale at Midway for $50/box. I bought them mainly for the brass, and they'll probably do the trick on a bull but what's the fun in hunting with factory loads?
Thanks in advance for your help.
Cheers,
Jerry
PS
I'm a little perplexed about this but the outfitter told me to avoid copper solids because he's lost 2 bulls and a cow to them in the last couple of seasons. I know that's not enough info for an honest evaluation but I always though copper solids were a "premium bullet." Probably bad shot placement?

 

[marksman1941]

You should be able to neck size just fine. To verify, I would neck size a single case and then see if it chambers in your rifle easily.

Scirocco II's are identical external construction to the 1, but with improved reliability of expansion. There were issues with the 1's penciling through critters sometimes.

Never having loaded 300 wby personally I can't direct you. My 300 win mag loves IMR 4831 under 180-200 gr bullets, but I don't have experience with weatherby loads.

I'm not a fan of the interlock. I have a sample size of exactly 2, which resulted in a lost deer. They've been used effectively by numerous folks but I tend to stick to bonded premium bullets (I almost exclusively use federal trophy bonded tip, terminal ascent, and Norma Oryx).

Theres nothing wrong with a copper solid. If your outfitter says don't use them, I'd avoid just to keep the peace. But it's hard to say what experiences he had with coppers. Bad shots, or low quality bullets potentially. I also recognize the irony of saying this in light of my distrust for interlocks.

 

[Dr. Vette]

For my 300s I usually bump the shoulder 0.002, and size the necks.
If I'm taking them elk hunting and 100% feeding is critical, I'll run the case through my Willis collet die.
Every case gets annealed.

My recipe is any 180gr bullet with 7828SSC, usually from 80.5-81.5gr of powder. Odds are you'll find a very accurate load there.
Most recently I prefer the 180 Hammer Hunter or 180 Barnes TTSX bullets. I highly suspect it was shot placement, not the bullet, that caused your outfitter's issues.

 

[Ricky C]

Hey, my 300 Wby liked 82gr of RL22 and the Barnes 180 TSX. Killed many caribou and a few moose with that load. RL22 is a bit temperature sensitive. So I switched to RL26 with the same load, it's a bit faster and just as accurate.
Take Care

 

[bfarms]

I'd just neck size. My 300wby likes 92.5gr retumbo, 185 Berger classic hunter, wby brass and 215 primers. Still working on the gun itself but that load shoots great in it for what it is. (Don't start out at 92.5gr) !! lol. That load is running 3220-3225fps out of my vanguard with 24in barrel. Had to do fl size after 5 firings.

 

[Bang4theBuck]

Hi Everyone.

For various reasons, mainly an Army career and kids, I haven't reloaded rifle cartridges in about 15+ years. Now that I'm retired and we're almost empty-nesters, I'm ready to get back to it. I have all the kit and just got it set up again. I plan to load for a couple of 308/7.62 rifles, a 7mm RM and for my early 1990's Weatherby Mark V (Made in Japan) in 300 Wby Mag with 1 : 10" twist. My questions are about the 300 Wby because if I'm drawn, I've got a date with a bull elk in WY's area 117 come Oct.

I have about 60 each, once-fired, Remington and Norma cases, 400 hundred CCI 250 primers and various boxes of 165 gr (Edge TLR & Swift A-frames) & 180 gr (Barnes TTSX & Nosler Ballistic Tip) bullets. My old go-to load was 180 gr Sciroccos over 81.5 gr of Rel 22 at a COL of 3.788 (basically the length of the magazine). I have plenty of H1000 and Varget and about .5 lb of 15-year-old Rel-22.
My 1st question is given that the brass was fired out of the same rifle, should I full-length re-size or just re-size the neck?
2nd, and I'm pretty sure of the answer, can I substitute the Scirocco 2's in my old recipe?
And 3rd, can anyone suggest an accurate load with some components that may be easier to find?

BTW, during Covid I bought 3 boxes of Wby Factory Ammo loaded with 180 gr Hornady Interlocks on sale at Midway for $50/box. I bought them mainly for the brass, and they'll probably do the trick on a bull but what's the fun in hunting with factory loads?
Thanks in advance for your help.
Cheers,
Jerry
PS
I'm a little perplexed about this but the outfitter told me to avoid copper solids because he's lost 2 bulls and a cow to them in the last couple of seasons. I know that's not enough info for an honest evaluation but I always though copper solids were a "premium bullet." Probably bad shot placement?

Since it is a hunting rifle, I would use the full length sizer, but only bump.the shoulders .002-.003" back, as opposed to the instructions with the dies.

I never could get my 300 wby to shoot to.my standards, but the best loads I found (sub MOA) were from IMR7828 ssc, and 180s.

Not sure what to say onnthe outfitter comments on solids other than I've learned not to ask those questions too.much as I don't often like the answers I get. There are Outfitters on this forum and others that are great with ballistics and terminal performance on animals, amd then there are the guys that make strong judgements on animals where bad shots were taken. I don't really know of any true stories of animals being hit with monos in the boiler room, from normal hunting distances that got away because the bulletndidnt perform. I'm sure there are some, but to wrote off Barnes, Hammer, others on elk sized game.seems counter-intuitive to me.

 

[HappyGVM]

Thanks for the feedback and recommendations.

I understand neck sizing but a couple of you recommended "bumping the shoulder back." I've never done that can you explain it or perhaps provide a link to a good explanation?

Thanks again.

 

[asd9055]

A lot of Great advice here. I load for 4 different 300WBY rifles. One is a 1994 MKV Japanese. For that and another MKV US, I load 200 Accubond or Partition with 77.4 RL22 and Federal 215 Primers. You still have room to play with this one.
For another US MKV I load 180 TSX and 81 gr IMR7828SSC and CCI 200 primers. Note these are NOT magnum, but my rifle likes them. For my Old German, (12 Twist) I load 180 BT or AB and IMR4350.

 

[Bang4theBuck]

Happy,

When you fire a cartridge it grows in almost every direction and it swells to fit.the chamber that it was fired in (referred to as fire-forming). When you full length size a case, the die acts upon the fired case innthe following ways:
1. Usually deprimes the case.
2. It resizes the neck to the size of the expander ball that is onnthe recapping rod, or to neck bushing die, if you're using those type of dies.
3. It pushes the body of the die back into specs to be rechambered.
4. At the very end of the work stroke into the die, the die pushes the shoulders of the case back, so that it will fit (for length) when chambered next time.
If you follow the instructions that come with the dies, they will almost always result in a condition where you have sized the case more than necessary. The dies are design to resize the case so it will fit in any rifle of that same cartridge. What this does, however, is it overworks the brass, and it reduces the efficiency a little on the cartridge because next.time you fire it, the first bit of work the powder expansion does is to swell the case back to fit the chamber, and not necessarily to begin propelling the bullet.

In the case of a 300 WBY there are no issues with propelling the bullet and 'efficiency' wasn't at all what Roy had in mind, but for a reloader in today's market, preserving brass and other components by finding the load quicker and not overworking brass is a worthwhile endeavor.

This change in approach only requires a one-time adjustment to your die depth setting. I am happy to help you figure out and execute that. Just reach out via Private Message.

 

[K.E.C.]

Been a while for the 300 Bee.
With what you have I would test the 165 A-frame with H-1000. [ No all Copper? ]
Sizing brass. I always Full Length Resize,
Bump your shoulder, as mentioned read your die instructions or PM Bang your buck. 165 A-frame put a Elk down, if you do your part.. Hope this helps. Oops Bang4theBuck..

 

[YZ-80]

With regard to Shoulder bumping, I think it's also important to have a Lee deprimimg die to pop the primers out before measuring the shoulders of the fired case, otherwise if you've got a tiny bit of primer protrusion or a mild crater it will result in an artificially high baseline to subtract from for your bump. I target a .002 bump for bolt actions and a .003 bump for my gas guns. Have your rifle handy and check the first few cases you size. A tiny bit of resistance (I think) is good when camming the bolt on a sized case. If you follow some of the destructions from the die manufacture and have a firm cam-over on the press stroke, you'll bump the shoulder a mile. Start at contact with the shell holder and go 1/8 turn incrementally until you get the bump you want. It will drive you crazy the first few times but once you got it down, you will be OK. This is trial and error. Take it from somebody who just spilled H1000 all over his bench.

 

[cajun]

Thanks for the feedback and recommendations.

I understand neck sizing but a couple of you recommended "bumping the shoulder back." I've never done that can you explain it or perhaps provide a link to a good explanation?

Thanks again.

Get a hornady headpsace comparator set. You basically use the comparator to measure the brass with your caliper. Then screw your sizing die down until it hits the shell holder and back it off 1/2 turn. Size a piece of brass until your brass is .002 smaller than your fired brass measurement. I think this is really important with belted mags as they will stretch and cause case head seperation if oversized. I dont like just neck sizing hunting brass although sone guys do it. But eventually you will have to bump the shoulder back anyway or it wont chamber.

 

[nealm66]

You will be fine with once fired brass to just neck size. Load up 10 rounds and see if they still group good and if velocity/drop is still the same. Excellent bullet choice. Hammer bullets are a solid copper bullet that work excellent as well. They are quick to find an accuracy node also if you have any issues and are short on time. You will have to full length resize after a few firings as the brass will grow and won't chamber easily. I have found that accuracy declines in the weatherby cartridges I load for ( 257, 6.5-300, 300, 30-378) as the neck tension changes with repeated sizing unless properly annealed ( amp annealer). Possibly because of the freebore? Doesn't matter, just what I've noticed. Hope this helps

 

[HappyGVM]

Thanks again for the feedback and suggested loads. Has anyone loaded/shot the Hornady ELD-X 178 gr out of 300 Wby? If so, with what powder? Also, I could not find any load data for the 165 gr Swift A-frame online. Does anyone have the swift reloading manual handy? Cheers