Short 300 win mag problems

[comfisherman]

As a fan of over the top cartridges and short barrels... they are still faster.... but the fireball criticism is valid.

 

[FireFlyFishing]

To reduce overall length while suppressed and still maintain adequate performance.

Bigger cartridges will always be faster than smaller cartridges at any equivalent barrel length and bullet weight.

Which seems like more of a headache than it's worth in this case. I'll stick to my 26" Sendero with a brake. Bagged an elk this year, so I guess the old stuff still works.

 

[WeiserBucks]

but the fireball criticism is valid.

Have you seen the nuclear fireball from a 16" 338 Lapua with a TBAC 338 Ultra mounted? Neither has anyone else.

 

[PopNFresh]

Why? Why would you do this?

my thoughts a few years ago, then we did a few for clients and some looked like spicy 26" 30-06 more than a win mag, some stayed pretty fast.

I wouldn't give up a full length magnum barrel if I only had one but on the other hand I just finished a light 20" 300wsm for myself after seeing enough real world numbers.
it will keep the 16" 30-06 company

 

[MagnumManiac]

I made a lightweight 20" barrel 300WM on a lightened Kimber 8400 as a truck gun. Still shot 3 into sub MoA, but if you shot a fourth or fifth round, groups would go to 2 MoA.
The muzzle flash, even on dusk, was large enough and bright enough to blind you for a few seconds…very bad night shooting gun.

To the OP, reloading may be the only way to get groups tighter, I tried 2 cheap factory ammo combo's. Winchester ww-super 180g power point and Remington core-lokt 180g, both shot just over MoA, but muzzle flash was huge in both.

Cheers.

 

[Laelkhunter]

Have you seen the nuclear fireball from a 16" 338 Lapua with a TBAC 338 Ultra mounted? Neither has anyone else.

Once....... and only once. Now I can't see anything. Doctor says it's something like "flash blindness" or similar to "staring endlessly at the sun".

 

[comfisherman]

Have you seen the nuclear fireball from a 16" 338 Lapua with a TBAC 338 Ultra mounted? Neither has anyone else.

Nope, but I've considered scooting back with a shorty 300 ultra with no can so as not to singe fur... mostly kidding.... but wouldn't shoot it in a fire danger area...


Back on track, my question on the barrel shortening stems from the fact that 3-4 moa is almost always mechanical. Unless we're talking way off on twist or some similar blatant anomaly, loads fine tune things from inch to decimal usually over 2 inches I'm thinking bad crown, loose scope rings, chamber cutting issues etc.

 

[Muddyboots]

Hello all,
I am on the second barrel in trying to get a 300 win mag at 18 inches to shoot somewhat decent, the two barrels I have had, are simply put, awful.
For what it has cost me, I should have bought a Remington take off and paid someone to do load development.
Has anyone tried a short 300 win mag? 178 Hornady eld-m factory and federal premium 200 eld-x have shot 3-4 inch groups (or worse) at 100 yards.
Waiting to hear back from the company, until then, just curious if you folks have tried one.
Thanks!

I think you will get some good recommendations if you provide some basic info:
Rifle mfg?
Barrel twist?
Optics verification of bases, rings etc to make sure basic is covered
Bipod?
Bags on bench?
Trigger?
Who shortened barrel and crown work?
Shoot reloads?

 

[K.E.C.]

Never had great luck with crap factory ammo
Done plenty of short 300 mags, 300 ultra, 30 noslers, 300 prc's and 300 wsm's and they will shoot tiny groups.
Most will shoot a 180gr bullet faster in an 18-20" than a 26" 308 ever thought of shooting them, so I guess there is that.

It sounds like Lane Precision Rifles can help you. Give him a call.

 

[myshootinstinks]

I never experienced the reduced velocity in short barrels that I hear about. The 50 fps per inch that is supposed to be standard is not true in my experience. A 30-06 that was shortened to 20" from 24" only lost a total of about 50 fps. ive never chopped a magnum so I cant say from experience but i doubt if it is a horrendous difference.

 

[comfisherman]

It's not linear across the board, on moderate bore and intensity rounds its usually less pronounced. My 375 lost as much going 24 to 20 as it did 20 to 18.5, big hole and decent efficiency. 270 wsm lost steady down to 18ish inches then accelerated when we swapped it to a sp action and went sub 16.

We saw accuracy degradation on the cut down test when we got lazy with crowning.... well when my friend who owned the lathe was out of town and I got lazy cutting and crowning.

Will be interesting to hear more about the rifle from the op. Think back it's a small percentage of modern made rifles that shoot 4 moa. Thinking back that's an arms core 22 tcm, a friend of a friend's home drilled home made ar, an early psa al with steel case.... a 4 moa or more group is a decent plate.

 

[AGGRO]

As a fan of over the top cartridges and short barrels... they are still faster.... but the fireball criticism is valid.

So is the waste of powder.

 

[Dman19d]

Thanks for for input across the board,
To clarify, this was to hunt suppressed, I didn't get quite the earplugs in when touching off the braked rifles I've used the last few years and wanted to go back to the suppressor, being someone who gets away from the truck, weight and more importantly balance was my concern for this.
I didn't want to dime out the barrel manufacturer until they have had the chance to respond, I had the first barrel installed by a very credible smith, the second was installed by the barrel company.
I shot the groups prone with a bipod and rear bag.
It's a 1 in 9 twist on a 700 action
Trigger tech special trigger in a mesa adjustable altitude stock
I just wanted to see if there was anything I was missing before spinning a 24 or 26 back on…
With my kids I'd prefer to spend time with them while they are little versus handload like I did back in the day, not that handloading is gonna solve this.
Thanks to all who responded

 

[Ckleeves]

The barrel length isn't the problem, something else is going on. The fact that it has happened twice is even more suspicious. I would go thru the rifle with a fine tooth comb to make sure everything is properly torqued and then swap out scopes to eliminate it also being a scope problem. It takes a real bad barrel to shoot 4 moa groups and the chances of getting two of them back to back are pretty darn slim.