300WM and barrel length

[Aussie Wanderer]

Hi guys, I have a 300wm in a heavy, 26 inch barrel that I am not overly fond of. It tends to be a safe queen due to its weight. Does anyone have any real world experience in the different barrel lengths as they pertain to this cartridge. A lot of the magnum rifles have 24 inch barrels. All thoughts welcome.

 

[SJB358]

I’d chop it in a heart beat myself. Even at 22” you’ll still get a 200 grain bullet up to 2800 or so with the right powders and a long heavy barrel isn’t any good if you don’t like it. A 24” barrel is about as long as I want most of the time anyhow. I have a couple that’ll remain 25 and 26” just cause of the guns but I’d never build one again with such a long barrel.

 

[salmonchaser]

I would guess most data generated for the 300wm is done with a 26 inch barrel. Cutting to 24 would cost a little in velocity but it would still be shooting flatter than a 300 HH or a 300wsm. Two inches of barrel isn’t going to reduce the weight to any appreciable degree but might help keep the muzzle out of the snow if you are vertically challenged like I am. My 338 Jarrett has a 26 inch barrel, my brothers know when they cut my tracks elk hunting because they see barrel trace in the snow.

 

[JD338]

I'm guessing you would loose 25-40 fps per inch. A 24" would certainly make for a handy rifle. Are you looking to cut and recrown or replace with a new barrel?

JD338

 

[TackDriver284]

I have 26 inches on my custom 300 WM Rem 700, its a bit on the heavy side with the ATACR 5-25 MOAR reticle, but I like the speed I'm getting out of it, with the 200 grain it approaches 3000- 3080 fps safely and with the 180 its around 3150 -3250 fps depending on type of powders. Like the others mentioned a 22-24 will do just fine for hunting even in a box blind. With my 26 inch, I need to be a bit careful to bring it up to the windows of the blind to avoid tapping the sides and making noise. With that kind of weight, I'm getting a pretty good exercise lugging that around. I should have cut down the weight in the first place and go with 24 inches.

 

[filmjunkie4ever]

I bobbed a 26” .300 Win Mag to 24” years ago. It was a model 70, and though not overly heavy, years of 24” barrel sporters in various calibers made it unwieldy to my hands. Sure I lost some velocity but was still able to get 3100 fps with 180 grain Accubonds and stout handloads. It shot best with 180 Gamekings and 68 grains of IMR 4350 which clocked about 2920 fps.

Point is, a couple inches of barrel really doesn’t matter that much.

 

[xphunter]

AW,
Get the barrel length you want!
For the majority of hunters, even a 18" barrel would give you enough velocity to hunt the way you want to.
I have a 16.5" center-grip XP-100 in 300 SAUM.
150 grain Cutting Edge ER Raptors run at 2886 fps. Since it's minimum impact velocity is 1500 fps it gives me plenty of range, and the Cutting Edge all copper bullets perform like a much heavier traditional bullet.

A long time ago, I had a 15.75" XP-100 in 7.82 Patriot (Before there was a 300 WSM or the 300 SAUM), and I ran 150 NBT's at 3001 fps, and 180 grain Game Kings at 2750-2775 fps. I don't remember the exact velocity with the 180.
I killed multiple elk with both bullets over 350 yards.