300 win mag

A friend sold his wsm and gets a 300 win mag now. Coulnd't talk him out of it...
I probably loaded 10.000+, but no belted case.
Purely for hunting, lead-free.
Quickload doesn't predict much of a difference out to 550y, where the speed is around minimum for good expansion for TTSX in 168 and 180 grain.

Does neck-sizing make sense for hunting?
How long might the brass last?
We are somewhat limited with manufacturers.
Hornady, Norma and Prvi. Maybe S&b.
Do the Norma last that much longer to justify twice the price?

Anything else I should know?
Thanks
Frank


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I love my 300WSM. It has accounted for lots of game (moose, mule deer, elk, black bear, etc.). Hits hard and remains accurate. I seldom bump the shoulder more than 0.002 inches, so partial neck size. Brass life is excellent with the short magnums. I have some brass that has been loaded ten times without evidence of hardening or incipient failure. I am cautious not to go for the highest velocities I can get. I'm content with accuracy, which is often below maximum charges. I prefer Norma brass, though I have used my share of Hornady and Winchester. With the life I've observed with Norma, and the freedom from deburring flash holes or reaming primer pockets, I'm willing to pay the higher cost associated with this brass.

Well - I liked his wsm, too.
But now he goes for the belted winmag.



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I misunderstood. I thought you were indicating that your friend sold his WSM to you. Well, take note of a novel situation--I made a mistake.

Well - consider this isn't my native tounge, so I might phrase my sentences thinking German ;-)
For the records: he had a wsm that he sold to someone else to get a winmag.

(I just have an old betsy and a 6,5 Creedmoor).
I really liked the wsm and am now challenged to load the winmag for him.

I do not like belted cases and have no experience with them.
Case life might be shorter so I do not know if premium brass is worth the money.

Do I need a neck-sizer? Or rather full length all time to ensure proper feeding?
He would like sub moa.
Does Hornady brass offer that full length sized?
I told him not to expect more than four cycles brass life full sized with full power loads - is that reasonable?

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I do believe that with full length sizing, four cycles would be about right. Neck sizing and annealing will extend the life of your brass significantly. I'm inclined to opt for premium brass whenever possible. Whether it is justified or not may be debatable, but it does give me a measure of comfort in the field. My experience with belted cartridges lead me to the conclusion that partial full-length sizing with a full-length die will work as well as a neck sizing die. You will still need to bump the shoulder back a thou or so after every couple of firings.

I concur with Dr. Mike - partial full-length sizing has worked well for me with the belted magnums. The 300 Win mag doesn't have a very long neck, but... And yes, 4-5 full power loads per case seems to be "enough."

It has proven capable of extremely good accuracy at ranges near and far.

Read one article that described the 300 Win mag as superb at long-range work, while still very capable of handling "thug" work at close ranges with heavy bullets. I liked that. :grin:

I've owned one 300 WSM which I liked very much, and also several 300 Win mag rifles. Both are good cartridges, I'd just as soon have a 300 WSM, but both are good.

Although I loaded 165's in the 300 Win Mag for a time, I came to truly appreciate the 180 & 200 gr bullets as better. But... That was with lead core bullets, not E-Tips or Barnes bullets... Hmmm... I'd bet a 168 E-Tip at 300 Win Mag velocity would be formidable for hunting!

Regards, Guy

What are your intended game? If lead free is your only option don’t overlook the 130-150gr bullets. I killed a lot of big game with 168 TTSX in 300 RUM. I’ve yet to stop one even shooting thru 5’ of moose.

The biggest mistake I see people make with lead free bullets is going too heavy


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What are your intended game? If lead free is your only option don’t overlook the 130-150gr bullets. I killed a lot of big game with 168 TTSX in 300 RUM. I’ve yet to stop one even shooting thru 5’ of moose.

The biggest mistake I see people make with lead free bullets is going too heavy


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I am hunting lead free for ten years now and yes, tending to light bullets.
130 gr TTSX for the 308 and 150 for 30-06.
Playing with 122 gr for the Creedmoor.


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It has also been in my experience with belted mags that partial "neck sizing" with a full length sizer has been the ticket. About 32 years ago with my first experience of hand loading for a belted mag was with a new Rem. 700 in 7mm Rem mag. I bought 100 new Remington cases. From my research and from what my hunting buddies loading experience was I decided to give H4831 and AA3100 powders a try using 139 Hornady Interlock bullets with CCI250 primers.
I started working up loads just using the new cases all the time. I thought that I had a lemon of a rifle. I could not get it to shoot under 2" groups at 100 yards. I had glass bedded the rifle free floated the barrel and adjusted the trigger to 2.5 lbs so it should had shot great.
When I used up all the new cases I decided to just part size some cases. I smoked the neck and shoulder of a case using a candle so I could see how much of the neck was being sized and could see where the shoulder had just been touched. I loaded up the best previous load and went to the range. First shot, looked through spotting scope and saw a hole in the target. Second shot, looked through spotting scope and there was only one bullet hole on the whole target. I thought, great, now this rifle will not put two shots on the target. I fired the third shot, looked through the spotting scope and there was still only one hole in the target. I fired the fourth shot, looked through the spotting scope and there was still only one hole in the target but it looked like just a little larger of a hole than before. Fired the fifth shot, looked through the spotting scope and still only one hole but it look just a hair larger than it was before the fifth shot. Went down to the target and low and behold all five shots had gone into about the same hole making a hole that was about 40 caliber in size. Turned out that you could just about fill the case up to the start of the neck with AA3100 and shoot 139 to 154 gr bullets and they would go almost into the same hole as long as the case had been previously fired and then part sized. Over the years I have used the same part sizing with all belted mags I have loaded for. Currently the only belted mag I have is a 264 Win mag with a 27 3/4" barrel that is a screamer using 130 AccuBond and Retumbo powder, 3350 fps with sub MOA accuracy.

Could you give me some info how that is done?
Up to now, I either full sized or neck sized.

What you describe sounds good - I just do not really know how it is done.

THANKS

Frank

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I do the same thing with; .375 H&H; .338 Jarrett ; 300H&H; 7mm RM. .264wm.
All my dies have been set up for years. As I recall I ran a case up and then started screwing the die down. Pretty quick I could see the neck partially resize. Just simply repeated until it just touched the shoulder. Took about five minutes.
The 375 I just bump the shoulder because I also shoot it in a #1.


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noslerpartition":g9kudzdl said:

Could you give me some info how that is done?
Up to now, I either full sized or neck sized.

What you describe sounds good - I just do not really know how it is done.

THANKS

Frank

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Click to expand...

This is how I set up my sizing die for bottleneck cartridges.

1. Take a once fired factory round and blacken the neck and shoulders with a Magic Marker or Sharpee pen. Some people like to smoke the neck and shoulder, but I find the Magic Marker/Sharpee pen a bit better.

2. Carefully lubricate the case.

3. Loosen the lock ring on the sizing die and back off about two turns from when the die is set to touch the shell holder.

4. Size the case. Note where the marks are on the case and turn the die down about a half a turn and size again. Turn down some more, and resize again. What you are looking for is the marks on the blackening just touching the shoulder.

5. Clean the lube from the case and try it in the rifle. It may chamber just a bit on the snug side. If so, turn the die down ever so slightly, lube and size again. Wipe off the lube and try in the rifle. If it slides in as easily as a factory round, you should be good to go. If not, usually one more very slight adjustment should fix the problem.

6. Tighten the locking ring for the die and you're done. You have just set your sizing die up for a custom fit to your specific rifle, rather than a generic one size fits all guns.

Paul B.

This is what I've used for quite a long time now. Works slick. Took a measurement on the center of the shoulder of a 30-06 case, drilled a machine nut with a bit that size. Chamfered the edge slightly with a standard RCBS case chamfer tool.

Worked so well I made another one for smaller cartridges. The one I made for 30-06 fits 27-33 caliber. The one I drilled with a smaller hole fits 22-26. Just 2 machine nuts I grabbed off the scrap pile at my Dad's. Hard to say what they came off of.

Picture shows a 30-06 case and is just for demonstration. When I measure I hold it vertically and wiggle it slightly to make sure all the play is out. Take a shoulder measurement of a fired case, adjust your die down until the measurement now shows a bump of roughly .002. Do the same thing on another case to verify, lock your die down and size the rest.