Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting what grain bullet for 300 win mag?

hey guys, i have a ruger m77 mkii in 300 win mag, and am lookin to start reloading for it but was lookin for a lil advice as to powder amount and type,primer,bullet weight and really any reloading advice as ive never done it before. Im thinking the barnes ttsx is the bullet i want to go with, but cant decide on whether to go with the 150,168 or 180 grain bullet..im leaning towards the 150s because ill get the flattest trajectory and for primarily deer sized game it should be more than enough for shots out to around 400 if i do my part of course. im currently shooting federal 180 grain blue box ammo and want to see what the ruger really has for accuracy. I just bought a hogue overmold in max4 and am going to pick up a redfield 4-12 accurange scope for it and upgrade the trigger(any opinions on what combo works best w/ rugers?)..im looking forward to seeing the responses and opinions from you guys and i want to thank you in advance for your help.
Brian

Do you like blood-shot meat? I don't! (and I've had a lot of it shot with speed demons like the .270Win even using standard 130-140 grain bullets!)

A .300WM can propel "deer-weight-bullets" like 150's and 165's pretty dang fast! Actually too fast, IMO.

If you reload you can control the throttle! And moderate the velocity to .308Win or .30/06 speeds.

Plus I limit my shots to 400yds since I call it (stalking and) HUNTING. Not "shooting!"

For what its worth, when I first started hunting at age11, I read MANY, MANY times that "an average shot" is usually about 150-250yards. And 30+ years later I've found that to be true! I've killed almost 30 total mule deer, whitetails, elk and pronghons (many fellows here at the 'Fire many more BG's than that!). Only 1 or 2 of those 'big gamiNals' was as far as a true 400yds.

If I had to deer hunt with one rifle in .300WM, that's the only reason I'd kill deer with something that big and powerful, and only load big heavy 180 or 200 grain bullets (to slow the whole thing down to less-than-meat-destroying-velocities) and shoot the deer with the same load I'd use that bruiser mangle-um on elk or moose!

If you are inquisitive and like to learn "things," then you might consider investing in your reloading knowledge by studying many cartridges and their hunting loads like in the .30-30, .30-40Krag, .300Savage, .308Win, .30/06, and other similar 30 or 31-cals.

All of them kill deer QUITE WELL and DEAD at VERY reasonable ranges! Twas me I'd load that bruiser down if developing a "deer load" in .300 WM.

Or I would work-up one "go-to" elk-type-load that uses a 200grain Nosler Partition or AccuBond (in .308 cal if the AccuBond is available in that weight), and use that same [one] load for ALL North American game you might shoot with the .300Winnie.

I've known several .338WinMag hunters to do that very same thing with their .338's at moderate velocities with 210 or 225grain bullets, even when killing mulies, black bear or pronghorn antelope! Looks a little silly using such a huge cartridge to dispatch a 90-100 pound sage goat, but the the tissue damage is surprisingly minimized and there's still something left to butcher and enjoy on the table!

Barnes 130 grain TTSXs are nice. They won't destroy a lot of meat either. Work them up to somewhere just over 3600 and they are accurate, deliver bad news to Bambi in a hurry and shoot very flat out to 300.

I amone of those guys that believe that each caliber/case combination has a sweet spot for a narrow range of bullet weights. This has developed over many years of experience with a variety of calibers and what I saw in the field. More or less, when I want heavier bullet, I move to a larger caliber. I have been trying to factor in the outstanding improvements in bullet technology, as they are changing the game.
At any rate. when I got into the 300 Win Mag, I decided it was going to see only 180 grain bullets. And, have not been disappointed.
The newer bonded bullets and more particularly the copper bullets, seem to be extremely accurate, kill very well, and minimize blood shot meat. I have now killed several deer with the 130 gr ETip out of a 270. Great performance, nearly zero blood shot meat, quite different than I have seen from Partitions & conventional bullets out this caliber.
The message from my rambling, would be to take a hard look at the 180 gr ETip, TSX, or GMX for any 300 mag.
It is what I would be doing if I did not already have a hell of a bunch of 180 protected point Partions ready to go

I would try some 180s and see how it shoots. I'd start with Hornady Interlocks, Remington Core Locts or Speer Deepcurls and see which shoots the best.

Try r22 as your powder first

Also. I'd ditch the Houge stock idea

x2.....wut he said is perfect

mine likes 180 ABs over 78 gr 4831=3100fps.

x3 on above

I would bed the action to the factory one and start killin stuff.

if you do want to kill stuff way out there it will take lots of practice, if you're practicing with TTSX's its gonna be very spendy.

what I did with my 300wm was to hunt with 180 accubonds, and practice with 180 BT's. they shoot the same in my rifle out to 600 yards, the BT's are a little cheaper to shoot too.

I would start with reloder22 powder, check a manual or go here http://stevespages.com/308_7.html for an idea where to start, start with a light load and work up.

For deer. I like the 165's, but take it for what it's worth, I don't reload.

I have a 300 wby that I load the 168 gr TSX's up to about 3200 fps and they work great. I killed two this year one at 20 yards one at 120 yards neither had a problem with blood shot meat. One was shot in the heart one in the high shoulder.

200grs. If you want to shoot a lighter bullet, use a 30-06 or even a 300Savage.

thanks for the responses guys!.as for ditching the hogue stock, i dont really wanna do that since i already have it on order and should get it any day, and im not really a big fan of the wood stock thats on it now..just doesnt feel right to me..and ive shot a buddies rifle w/ the hogue and the stock just "felt" better to me..im still undecided on what grain bullet..i might go w/a 165 grain to split the diff between 180 and 150 that i was considering to get a happy medium..im not really concerned about getting .5 moa groups or anything that extreme w/ my reloads, but id still like to be close to 1 inch groups +/- a lil bit at 100..i may go on another elk hunt w/ this rifle but at any reasonable range id be shooting at an elk i dont think id have any issues w/ the 165s...i was curious how the 130 grain ttsxs shot out of a 300 wm, but from other reviews ive read is that the bullet doesnt stabilize real good because of it bein shorter and the speed, so ive crossed that option out. what are some good 165s i should give a try that perform good and wont break the bank(cant go too crazy lol)..thanks again for the help!

168TSX's and Ramshot Hunter...

Geez..how big are your deer?

I've got the same rifle and it loves the 180's and 200's. Imr 4350 powder and CCI 250 primers. I use the regular partitions (not the protected point). The rifle shoots great with these bullets. DON'T use 150's in it unless you like tons of bloodshot meat. If your thinking 150's, maybe you should sell it and buy yourself a 300 savage or 308 win.

Big! Huge! Prehistoric wooley mammath-size!

lol i do hunt where some pretty big bodied deer in northern wi and western ny haha..prolly not big enough to NEED a 300 wm but i like the rifle alot so im gonna hang on to it...it puts em down in a hurry tho

here in va we have little deer, i run hornady 150ssts in my 300 wm and my 300 weatherby, i would say if we had longer ranges and bigger animals i would opt for a 180grainer, but dont think that it is needed at all here. Ive dumped deer in the 350-400 yard range with my 257 weatherby running 115 bergers. Ron

150 , 165 or 168 ; baltip cbt or sst.

My MKII likes both the Barness 180g MRX and 168g TTSX. Haven't tried anything lighter.

I hunt elk mostly and use those loads for deer, too. The 180's will end-to-end a mulie. In your situation I'd shoot whatever shoots best, 130g to 180g TTSX.