working a load , 300wby

[jimbires]

I've been playing with my 300 wby and 200 gr Partition bullets . this rifle is bedded and the barrel is free floated . I'm wondering if a pressure point under the barrel would help , or if playing with seating depth in the 3.051" and 3.031" area would help .maybe it just needs a better driver . I'm going to work the seating depth first and go from there . maybe I'm just expecting a little to much from this light weight barrel too . it's only .550" diameter at the muzzle . I'm using IMR7828ssc , fed 215 primer , norma brass , 200 gr Partition bullets .

yesterday , playing with powder charge .

79grain


80 grain , I didn't number the shots on this target .


81 grains


82 grains I couldn't see my second hole from the bench , but it was obvious when I was close to the target . by now the gun is very hot . I couldn't get it to cool in the weather I'm getting .



I shot an 83 grain target but it locked the bolt every shot . I've shot 83 before without problems , but not in these humid temps .

so today I decided to use the 82 grain load and work seating depth .

3.090 length , shots 1 and 2 are clean cold barrel . this would be the load that put 3 in one hole yesterday . but the gun is cold today .




3.071 length


3.051 length


3.031 length

 

[OU812]

I'm digging the 82 grains 3.091 COL load, nice shooting. Both groups of the same load look great to me and will be the job done near or far.

 

[Alderman]

That 82 grain target looks great to me. I can't imagine this being anything but bad medicine on an elk.

You might get more response if you post this under the politics forum. Lol.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[truck driver]

Nice work Jim, the 300Bee I sold to a friend of Fotis used to love 180gr Hornady's. It was a Vanguard in a B&C Medalist which I had free floated. Sold it because I couldn't take the recoil and it would cross my eyes after each shot.

 

[Elkman]

I would be dancing and chanting "no more load development" it looks to me like you have a great load and knowing from past experience the bee will get the job done. Great shooting.

 

[Ridgegoat90]

I have had tough luck with my 300 weatherby getting much under 1/2 an inch. Mostly will do 1 inch groups. Keep in mind the freebore in factory weatherby cartridges, you will not be able to reach out to the lands. Neck sizing helps. Also do not be afraid to try different powders. I am loving reliader 26 and 23, they are a new powder that is very temp stable and gives great velocity. Some of the older powders are really affected by temp.

 

[jimbires]

I'll load a few of these up and try them to see if they keep grouping . yesterday I went early , I started shooting in about 57* - 60* temps . so I need to get this back out in cooler temps to double check it .

 

[SJB358]

Jim, my sons 300 Wby has a very light barrel as well and really came together with the same exact load you are using when I added the pressure point under the forearm. I added about 5lbs of weight to the barrel when I bedded the forend and it really became consistent at that point. Our loads are just about identical and his typically shoots about like your first 82 grain load with the 200 PTs. I think I'm running right at 3050 with the 200's and as Bill said there might be more but I can't as a shooter see too much difference.

 

[FOTIS]

Jim, my sons 300 Wby has a very light barrel as well and really came together with the same exact load you are using when I added the pressure point under the forearm. I added about 5lbs of weight to the barrel when I bedded the forend and it really became consistent at that point...................

 

[jimbires]

thanks for the comments fellas !

Scotty , I knew I wasn't far from the " Fotis load " , I just forget what it was exactly . I followed your thread closely , when you were working with that rifle . I was more than willing to get any info I could use . this things been a struggle for me .just when I think I get something , then it all goes to crap . when that happens I'd put it away until I got my courage up again . I'll just shoot this load awhile and see what happens .

Fotis , your load made it to Pa . Ha

 

[SJB358]

Try putting a rubber washer from a garden hose nozzle in between the forearm and barrel Jim. Easy to take out. Might show you something as well. Good luck.

 

[rodell]

Even with the long freebore, I've found seating depth to make a big difference. One of my goto load uses 168 grain Barnes and 7828SSC. I wondered whether the depth would make any difference. It turns out .010" from my selected spot (after picking a charge with OCW) makes a huge difference.

Here is one of the targets from that work.

 

[jimbires]

good tip , Scotty .


Rodell , seating depth for sure plays an important part of this . I'm going to shoot this load a little and see how it acts . if it keeps showing good things I can always play with seating depth in smaller increments , I used a .020" increment . just to see if I can fine tune it more .

 

[kraky1]

I had a 300 Weatherby ultralight that was a terrible shooter. I tried every viable slow powder and hunting bullet around with terrible luck. Then I started seating the bullets really deep ..... suddenly it was a consistent MOA or better. I'm talking about going from a sexy long bullet that was Magazine Length and then seating so deep the ogive was barely out of the case mouth.
Before that gun I had a really good shooting Weatherby Alaskan. But be very aware with longer bullets you need to shoot longer than 100 yards to see what it can do. That gun will shoot the old 180 Barnes xbt to 1.5 inches at 100 yards.... but routinely shot under 3 inch groups at 300 yards.
A 168 etip or ttsx in 300 WBY could hunt most any animal out to ranges us mortals would feel good shooting to.

 

[lhsako]

I have found that lighter contour barrels many times shoot better w/ some, but not much, pressure at the fore end. I use plastic milk container pieces to experiment.