Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles 300 win mag

I put together a ss Howa barreled action in a McMillan sako classic, which might be close to what you are looking for. In 300 wm, it isn't bad to shoot with full bore loads with groups of 3/4 to 1" from the bench with various ttsx weights. With a deer load of 150 gr at 2600 fps with sr4759 powder I shot a 3 shot group .385" last week. This will be my one gun this year to hunt deer and elk.

A man after my heart. I still have '06's and 300 Mags and a 405 Winchester if I feel the need for the ouch factor, but the Swede is a honey, for sure.

Yes the Swede is great I have one.....but IMO it's a little light for a 'general purpose' or all around rifle.

Yeah I've seen the video of LR killing of Elk w/the 6.5 Creedmore but it still isn't my choice as 'all around' rifle.

Why? because Elk - Moose territory also hosts critters that can MAUL, EAT, or cripple you and END or ruin the rest of your life.

For an all around rifle, I want at least an 06 or 7 RM. If I had to choose just one I would be hard put between a 7 RM and 300 WM.

There are other good choices but they're larger and kick harder.

BTW the OP asked for opinions.

Excellent, well thought out input from many, many people
Now I will extrapolate on this. First I have decided to put together a "poormans" custom. The deep down truth is that this will probabky see most use on deer, maybe hogs and caribou. So i found a howa in 6.5x55 tonight at a LGS for a very reasonable price. Now to pick the stock and optics.

Should I hunt bigger game. I have an 8mm mag that i have nver really used. And a hand full of 30-06s. Which i feel completely comfortable with. My intial thoughts of a 300 win mag was that it would cover most any hunting and distance I feel comfortable with., and its something different. But after looking at the Swede in different aspects such as ammo, price of ammo and bullet selecion. I am going to go that route
Thanks all

Yeah that 8 RM will cover bout anything. I have one as well.

You will certainly be able to shoot the Swede from a bench much more and we know it'll kill mice-moose. But the larger cartridges give a serenity in certain place.

Good Luck with your project!

Jerry

My 405 tosses a 300 grain bullet downrange at close to 2500 ft/sec. Betting it would take the starch out of most of the kill you and eat you variety. And if I was hunting moose strictly, I prefer the '06. It has NEVER, repeat NEVER come up short for me on moose or bear -- deer either for that matter. (And I've been hunting moose for 48 years now with the old '06.) But as I grow older and less tolerant of recoil, the 6.5 calls my name in the foggy dew.

I was out last weekend shooting a 300win mag. And My 6.5x55 One was very pleasant to shoot.

I was confused, too.
I shot MY Beretta 1201FPG3 shotgun with a 3" Magnum load by Winchester.
The guy that gave it to me said it would kick my ass.
He also said his .338 Win.Mag. would kick my ass.
The shotgun won the ass-kicking contest, hands-down!

Then, I bought a .338 Win.Mag. Remington 700 BDL-DM.
Nice and accurate rifle...but it was missing the KICK!
I didn't notice much of a difference between the .338 Win.Mag. or 7mm Rem.Mag. in my 700 rifles.
I WAS CONFUSED by that.
The .30-06 in my Remington 7400 Carbine was fun, but it still had an 'identifiable' .30 Cal. recoil impulse. Even the .308 has it...but 'only 95%' of it.

So, I sold my .338 Win.Mag., 'cuz I didn't like it enough.
I bought a 700 BDL in .375 Remington ULTRA Magnum!
Now, THAT has the kick I was looking for!

I'm no longer confused.
Hope that helps...

I must be getting soft in my old age (above the waist that is!!)
Have a Sako A7 in 300WM which has only seen bench time and being a rather lightweight unit, is pretty lively when firing 180 gr factory loads. With 150's its a little tamer and tolerable. I always say that if I ever head up to the tropics or the alps this one would come along........one day.
I may even issue myself a challenge and in 2014 shoot all year with the 300 WM and leave the other guns in the safe!!

Gus

IMO, your initial assessment of a .300 Win being a perfect all around rifle is right on. As others have said it's a great round if you can shoot it well. Since you have an 8mm Rem Mag, I doubt you'd find the .300 Win objectionable.

As for the 7mm Rem, it isn't a .300 Win Mag but it does work well and kick less. How much less depends on the rifle and load but for me there is little difference. I find, as Bob mentioned, I really lean on the 7mmRem to get the most out of it, if I were building a magnum 7mm today I'd neck down the .300 Win (7mm MSM) or go STW. My current 7mmRM shoots lights out as is so I don't see myself punching it anytime soon.


My opinion, if you wanted a .300 Win going to a 6.5 Swede might leave you wanting more. The 8 mag is a great Elk gun though!

I had a 300 win as my one and only then built a 358STA. Been contemplating rebarreling back to the 300win for convenience.

EXACTLY!!! Mine get's a lot of use. I just like it.

What ever melts your butter. <G>

All around = .280 Rem.

Fixed it for ya, unless you meant all around magnum then it should say .300 Win Mag.