Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Ported .300WM for Daughter?

From anther thread:


RE my previous post, I've been thinking a used Savage with a magnum bolt face and a quality barrel would be fairly inexpensive to rebarrel into whatever I wanted fr my daughter. With that in mind...

Was killing time in Atlanta today and stopped into a gun shop near my hotel. With low expectations, I asked what they had in used lefty rifles with a magnum bolt face. To my surprise, the salesman pulled out a used but immaculate Ruger MKII in .300WM. The previous owner had had some work done to it, including adding a vented recoil pad, trigger work and barrel porting. In the rings was a Leupold Vari-X III, 3.5-10x50. Asking price was $700. A bargain IMHO and I might be able to get the dealer to throw in shipping back to Colorado.

My thought was I'd sell her ex-hubby's .30-06 (which she never wants to see again) to cover most of the cost, keep the Leupold, give the rifle to Daughter #1 and let her get a scope of her choice (likely a 40mm 3-9x).


Couple of questions:

• How much will a ported barrel reduce recoil for a .300WM?
• How much louder would the rifle be compared to one without porting?

Maybe my original idea or rebarrelling a Savage is still the best. Thoughts?

What type of "porting" Pard? Mag Na Port slots in the bore add no appreciable noise, to me at least, and they keep the rifle from bucking "up" so bad. Stay with 150gr Barnes TTSX or similar stout 150s and recoil will be very controllable. Maybe even 180s after a bit of trigger time. If its a "brake", recoil will be substantially "less" while blast be "more". No free lunch, as they say.

The ports are a series of holes at the end of the barrel. Two rows on each side, angled up and about 90 degrees from the opposite holes. Maybe 24 holes in all.

Here's a photo of the rifle:



From what I've read in other places, ports like these don't raise the noise level to the shooter by much, but I'd like to hear from those who have experience with such ports as opposed to brakes.

Sounds like a lot of fun for her. I'm sure she'll just love the range sessions. LOL.

Good looking gun. How recoil sensitive is your daughter?

If she’s an experienced shooter, and wants to....she can certainly handle it. Though you may consider an improved recoil pad, and cutting the stock for “her” perfect fit. If you’re a handloader, taming the loads a bit until she’s comfortable with the new rifle, may help! Bench work will probably “not” be fun ....but the bench isn’t required once a load has been developed. Field positions are more productive and felt recoil is less! My wife has used an “unbraked”, sub 9 pound, .338 WM, as her “only” hunting rifle since ‘96. She doesn’t enjoy (at all) bench work....but is pretty darn lethal on game! memtb

Good question. She likes her Ruger Hawkeye .308 with 130's and prefers them over 150's due to recoil. Then she shot her first deer with her hubby's .300WSM and 165g Barnes VOR-TX ammo and didn't think the recoil was too bad. The WSM has a cushy recoil pad, unlike her Hawkeye.

I guess it depends on the rifle. My Kimber Montana in 300 WSM spanks me pretty hard. Great rifle/cartridge combination, but I think few woman would put up with that much recoil. But it is a lightweight rifle.

Maybe I missed it - what rifle is the 300WSM that she has been okay with shooting?

Winchester M70 Black Shadow.

The .308 is solid to 500yds with proper loads.

She shooting further?

The .300WM is even more "solid" out to 500 yards. In terms of retained velocity and energy, what a .308 can do at 400 a .300WM can do at 600. Example, Barnes VOR-TX.308Win/168g TTSX2700fps vs Barnes VOR-TX .300WM/165gTTSX3100fps. Or, from Barnes load data, 130g TTSX @ 3164fps and 3572fps respectively.

Our range goes to 600 and while she shoots at that range, she is not yet comfortable attempting a shot at game that far. This year she passed on a cow elk at a lasered 476 yards for that reason. My hope and intent is to get her comfortable - under excellent conditions - out to 600.

I would rebarrel as it is the best way to make sure you get n shooter.

Why does she get to sell one of his rifles?

I would run from that, those style of mb are horrendous. Shame too nice looking rifle..

It isn't his rifle any more.

And I'll be the one actually selling it. She doesn't want to see it ever again.

I would put a break on it, a whole lot less recoil.

Stupid ain't never smart. But that also applies to this entire thread.
Hint.

This seems pointless to me, and I advise against it. People underestimate the effect of muzzle blast on developing a finch. A ported .300 is going to be LOUD and unpleasant to shoot. I think it will create problems for her. Her preferring 130gr loads to 150 in the .308 is pretty telling that she would have difficulty with the recoil.

Has she expressed interest in a .300 WM, or is this a rifle YOU want and are justifying as a rifle for her?

No, I don't want the rifle - I'm not a lefty - but I would keep the scope. Have already decided not to buy it because of the ports.

She didn't mind the recoil of the .300WSM when she shot her mulie in October. I don't shoot or reload for anything WSM, let alone the .300, but I do for the .300WM, which is one reason it was interesting.

At this point I'm pretty much back to where I started - maybe a 7mm RM or a .280 Rem, both of which I reload, or a fast 6.5. A .300WSM is not out of the running as her hubby has dies to reload but doesn't have a place to do it - they are busy finishing off their basement and the area where the reload bench will go is currently occupied - perhaps rather permanently.

+1. The OP was led to water right here.