Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles .300 Win Mag - The one rifle battery

It's a damn shame 30 Newton or 300 Dakota didn't catch on.

Recoil tolerance varies a good deal among individuals,and has little to nothing to do with gender,or physical size.

Assuming a person has no impairments,the felt recoil to the shoulder is not hard to take from anything up to and including a 375 H&H,and for some , beyond that. Rather, heavy recoil can effect smaller body parts to a greater degree, and the amount of muscle tension that needs to be exerted in order to shoot well,as well as he ability to manage the recoil from a variety of awkward, but sometimes necessary, field positions.

The effect on the face, and neck from the heavy, fast recoil of a 300 magnum will leave some people a bit punch drunk after any extensive shooting. One old pal of mine finally left his 300 Win Mag home after several African trips,and borrowed my 270 because he said you shoot a lot every day in Africa and a 300 Win Mag finally wore him out. He was only 6-7" tall and in great shape since we played college basketball together....but he was smart enough to know when he'd had enough.He probably had 7-8 full blown African safari's under his belt at that point.

I hunted various 300 Magnums pretty extensively for years,and can still pick one up cold and do good work with it for a few shots.....but they require another level of muscle tension to control and in general the drop down to a 7mm Magnum has done more good than harm for me....the animals have not noticed the difference.

That said,there isn't any doubting the game killing capabilities of the 300 Win Mag,or it's ability to serve as a one gun battery. I would take a 7mm magnum with the best bullets myself...it will kick less and kill the same game just as thoroughly.....but that's just me.

I've owned nine 300 WIN MAG rifles over the years, with one exception they were all good, accurate rifles (had an early M70 Deluxe that wouldn't shoot for anything). Eventually I sold my last 300 WIN MAG; today I hunt with several rifles chambered in 308 WIN, 270 WIN, and on occasion a 30-06 SPRG. I don't miss my 300 WIN MAG's, just don't need them any longer (prefer a FW type gun nowadays), but they were good rifles. I think author Steele pens a good article and it is relevant to some.

I had the .308 Norma mag in a Springfield 03 sporter. I miss that gun. From what I understand the short neck on the Win. mag causes problems with the heavy bullets.

I am reminded of the robust debate in the Alaska section on minimum calibers for brown bear. 458Win stated on repeat occasions that the 30-06 was very acceptable in his camp. If someone who has been involved in that many brown bear hunts says that, than anything exceeding the '06 is not needed. Now its a free country last time I checked so do as you wish. But I am reminded of a similar style article written by Ross Seyfried a number of years ago which extolled the "do it all" virtues of the .270 Winchester.

I like the ballistics of the .300 win mag, but can't say I like anything else about it.

That's because you have a mangina...

BobinNH,

I have a friend who has killed everything in North American, including an Alaskan griz, with a .300 Wby Mag. As he grew older, he went to a .270 Wby Mag.

We all grow older. After a while, recoil becomes less tolerable...or less desirable.

When I was a kid, I could shoot 100's of 12 gauge shells out of an 870. I have gone to a Belgian A-5 Light 12. Of late, I've been thinking of picking up a Beretta 20 gauge. I can do recoil, but I'd rather not.

I do agree that some things can mitigate felt recoil such as stock design and weight of rifle. But in the end, physics dominates. Big bullets + lots of powder = big recoil.

I used to hunt with a sharp fella. He left practicing law to become a super court judge. He bought a .375 H&H & .300 Win Mag because he really believed that they were necessary to kill big game. He sold both but kept his FN .270 Win. I guess that somewhere along the big game rifle continuum he figured out how big game animals die. BTW, he might be the best shotgun hunter I know. He can kill 10 doves with a dozen .410 shells. I've seen him do it.

Cartridge debates are fun. Unless biology is included in such debates, they're academic. Except for zombies, nothing lives sans heart and/or lungs.

Did you get permission from your handlers to post that?

BTW, Bobin, I do own a Sako 7MM Rem Mag. It is an excellent combo. The 7MM Rem Mag is legendary in large part due to .284 caliber bullets. They are capable of interstate travel and Sequoia tree penetration. The reality is a .280 Rem will do everything that a 7MM Rem Mag will do.

I don't own a .280 Rem, mostly because when I got in the gun buying business I was a lot smarter and knew everything necessary about cartridges. As I've grown older and less smart, I've come to wish that I had bought a 22" barreled .280 Rem. It would have been the only rifle I would have needed.

On my first deer hunt I was introduced to an old timer who had lived through the Great Depression. With little deviation, folks who've endured the Great Depression tend to be on the frugal side. They've experienced not knowing when their next meals would come. Anyway, this old timer had 2 surplus rifles: a 7MM Mauser that he used for mule deer, and an 8MM Mauser that he used for larger game. BTW, he wasted none of deer he killed and fish he caught. The Great Depression left great impressions on folks who survived it.

From the looks of things as they've now been fleshed out, an 8MM Mauser ain't got utility. Why, I'd bet that Germans and Scandinavians are no longer killing moose with it because it doesn't have a belt. Last I heard, our Northern European brethren have taken to paintin' belts on cartridges so moose they shoot with 'em will die thinking that a mega-mag did 'em in.

My poor, underexposed dad must of had a hard time killing a lot of big game back east & in eastern provinces with his Model 81 .35 Rem. Last thing he killed with it was a respectable CA mule deer. Why, he even killed Utah mule deer with it. I have no idea how all the big game he killed with it gave up their ghosts, but were I a wagerin' dude, I'd go with 200 grain bullets in necks. Apparently our eastern brethren got something figured out that us math-challenged west coast hunters can't calculate. Seems as though our eastern brethren have figured out that bullets in necks kill big game more so than powder volume.

"Magnum mania" is in full force among "our eastern brethren". I see far more magnums afield here in the east than I do .35 Remingtons. The old .35 Remmy is starting to become unusual and a good conversation starter. I've slummed a few.

Mike, one of the two best deer hunters I have ever known used a .35 Rem. when I first met him more than 50 years ago.. He was from your part of the country, and had killed 23 bucks in a row with that .35..It was either a 14 or 141.. I am not sure now, I am I not sure I ever knew.. In those days killing a buck every year was quite a feat.. Not many did it.. He also was not just a stand hunter.. In those long ago days, there were NO tree stands, and NO buildings elevated off the ground to hunt deer, and NO food plots... All quite common now.. Dick could still hunt whitetails in heavy cover.. He shot several bucks in their beds..
After our first meeting, I saw him several years later, and he was packing a 721 Rem. in .300 mag.. It was a wildcat made by some gunsmith in Indiana, Pa. Dick was even more deadly with this out fit.. He killed several bucks across old fields that would simply never have been taken with the .35..

In those days, guys who owned and shot magnums were very, very, few.. The were limited to the very best shooters in that area.. Guys who shot all the time, and were able to utilize the added range and power of the bigger rifles.. Often, they filled the tags of .30-30 shooters who could spot deer across a field or on anther mt., but completely out of range for the carbines so popular then.. This was NOT legal, but it was done..

The one thing that I see as a reason for the increase in mag.s in your area, is the current hunting conditions.. I have hunted in Pa. some since I retired in 1999.. Each year there are more posters, more tree houses, more food plots.. One of the guys I know has crippled bucks the last two out of three years.. They got one, but the other escaped.. He shot a .25-06.. But he is not shooter enough to be killing bucks at 400 yards, no matter what he shoots..
But back to the .300's.. In those long ago days, only very experienced shooters bought those calibers along with various 7mm mag. wildcats.. They liked the longer shots, so they went with those calibers.. Often they had several other rifles for woods hunting.. But I feel, guys saw the shots they were able to make, because of their rifles AND because they were skilled shooters, so the once a year hunter runs out and buys a big gun and doesn't shoot it any more that he shot a .30-30... Buying a rifle doesn't make up for practice, but I am sure you know that.
It is interesting to me to look back on more than half a century of hunting and notice the changes that have gone on...
Some good, some not so good..

+1

On a side note, I have no desire to have the piss beat out of me with a 300 when I can simply shoot a 6.5-anything and get the same ballistics.

I've owned a couple of 300WinMags but they are both gone because of the recoil and the fact that they were overkill to hunt small southern whitetails exclusively. To me, that cartridge is meant for long range hunting and both my rifles were sporters. I wouldn't mind owning another, so long as it is in a Sendero style rifle. This weight helps both with the recoil and is easier to steady for those long shots. Any hunt where a 400yd+ shot is unlikely will see the big magnums left in my safe. I've got plenty of other standard caliber rifles that can handle that range with much less recoil and blast.

No doubt that if I wanted to "have to" own only one rifle for NA hunting I could do a lot worse than the .300 WM but I don't care to restrict myself like that, so thank God I don't have to consider it.

The heaviest rifle in my cabinet is a .30-06 and while it's my "go to" rifle it's almost always overkill. I have a .280 AI that is becoming a "go to" but is also overkill by a healthy margin. Sure would kill the heck out of an elk I'm sure.

I'm not a big believer in the ft/lbs calculations this gentleman uses as a basis of comparison, though I also admit to knowing of no better way to compare, either.

I've found that stock fit is critical to my ability to handle recoil. I have a friend who owns a SS 700 Laminate in 338 RUM which I've shot several times w/o major issue. My 30-06, on the other hand, is very light weight and had a short classic stock w/ a recoil pad with as much give as a steel-belted radial. I bought an old 03-A3 w/ a Fajen Monte Carlo and thick ventilated pad and found I could shoot the heck out of that rifle. I added 1.5" of length to the classic stocked 06, 1" of which was a good pad, and VIOLA! I could shoot the heck out of it, too...

People who don't care for recoil aren't pansies at all and it's ignorant chest-thumping to suggest that's the case. I've found that judgments to stock fit make a massive difference, though I still wouldn't care for a .300 Mag of any sort, opting instead for a 338 if taking any step above the venerable (and as yet, the OP notwithstanding, CLEARLY undefeated versatility champ) 06.

Going to try 220 gr Semi-spitzers in my .300 H&H. I load 180 gr Swift Scirocco in the Win Mag,200 gr NP in the Weatherby. Might as well try the heavy bullet now. IMHO that's where the Mags do better than the '06,heavy bullet at higher velocity.

I've owned several 300s and still have a few, but personally can't find where they have performed any better than smaller carts such as the 270WSM, 270Wby, 7RM, or like carts. I'd like to say they do, but with modern bullets, I just don't see an advantage.

For example, would you really feel undergunned toting a 7RM with 160TSX vs the 300 with 180TSX?

I don't agree with the article or it's point that the 300 WM is the best all around rifle!

The cartridge kicks too much for me and the rifles are heavy!

I have had a 300 mag (H&H) for a long time and a 300 WM now and they are not best for getting the game.

I much prefer the 7mm RM class for longer range and smaller rounds for normal ranges.

Here is an old big and heavy 300 on the right.

elk, do not short the lighter wt. bullets in the various .300's..When I drew my bighorn permit, I loaded 150 grain Nosler BTBT at 3400fps. Shot in 3" high at 100 it dropped less than 2 foot at 500 yards.. When the shot came at that sheep, I needed every bit of it.. While I generally like a heavier bullet for game bigger than deer, I used that load quite a bit over the next years, because I loaded quite afew to practice for the hunt. Also I loaded 50 or so for the trip..

Over the next seasons, I shot mulies, a huge black bear, and several elk with that load.. One bull at about 400 yards moved the farthest, about 25 yards.. Everyone makes a fuss of the .257 WM, and it is a fine round.. But for flatness the .300 with a hot load and 150's is not far behind, if indeed it is behind at all. Plus it has more bullet wt..

If I had to have 1 it would be a 300win. JMHO