Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles .300 Winchester load suggestions with Sierra 165 gr HPBT Gameking

A few weeks ago I bought a .300 Win Mag barrel for my KP-1, which I got in 45-70 for Louisiana's new "primitive" weapon deer season. I am interested using the Sierra 165 gr HPBT GK bullet in the .300 Win Mag barrel. I have been using that bullet in my .300 WSM for regular gun season and have used it very successfully this first half of this season taking 16 hogs and two deer. I load a lot of other 30 cals, but not the .300 Win Mag. If anyone will share their data using the 165 Sierra bullet, I would greatly appreciate it! BTW, if you are thinking about a KP-1, my experience is all good. My 45-70 load has taken two deer and one addtional hog. It is a 43,000 psi load with a 300 gr Remington HP, with no pressure issues, and it groups into 1/2 inch. Thanks in advance!
Good shooting!
Marcus.

Marcus, that is one of my all time fav 30 cal bullets. Back when I ran a 300 Win I used H1000 if I recall right.

Shouldn't be any too tough to find something to push that bullet along well, it'll be accurate as wel both know and incredibly capable on game.

Good luck to ya!

Dober

I lost my 300 win data in a recent computer crash but I can say that the 165HP sierra is one great shooting bullet in most any 30 cal case. If I'm loading for a difficult gun it is one of my "golden test" bullets and if it doesn't shoot good it's very likely that there is a problem with the gun. I would almost bet that any known accuracy load from a manual will shoot with the gun whether it be RE22, H4350, H1000 or anything between these.
BTW---PLease tell us about the performance on those hogs. The bullet is SUPPOSED to be tough but I'm not getting that feeling from reports.... not terribly frangible either but certainly not "premium tough". So far my experience has strictly been paper punching and it's very good at that!

I used 79.5grs of H4831 with mine and it was very accurate. RL-22 worked well, but I cant remember the charge. The nice thing about this bullet is that at magazine length, it only jumps .020 to the rifling. Most other bullets dont even come close, especially the polymer tipped ones.

This bullet works well in my .308 also. I agree with the other posters on this bullet, in that if a rifle wont shoot this bullet, you've got a gun problem.

Kraky,
Most of the hogs I shot were in the 75 pound range, except one sow, she was 125 pounds. All of the hogs and deer for that matter were all bang flops, the hogs did not even move out of their tracks other than fall over on their sides from the impact of the bullet. All were pass throughs, impact speed was around 3,000 fps, the exit wound in most cases was 2 to 3 inches on the hogs. They were all about a 100 yards. This year was the worst hog incursion year we have had in 10 years. I had nearly 40 that would show up at night around the feeders. On deer the exit wounds were not as large as on the hogs they averaged about 1.5 inches. The 165 grain Sierra HPBT Game King does very well, I would rate it as a good bullet for deer, hogs, antelope, anything of that size. It is a good middle of the road bullet that is very accurate.
Good shooting!
Marcus.

I am not the RL 22 fan a lot of other folks are, but I have to admit it is the first powder I reach for with this cartridge and that bullet weight.. several reload manuals have it posted with an MV of 3300 fps and 4000 ft lbs of muzzle Energy..... and the 165 grain HPBT is my favorite bullet for this load...it will flat lay a job on a large animal...

I have used a 165 grain Hornady BTSP Interlock, 78 grains of Re22, CCI-250 primers and W-W, R-P or Frontier cases in several different .300 WIN MAG rifles successfully over the years. That load is nearly a grain and a half under the Alliant maximum but seems to always provide the tightest group for me. I would think any 165 grain cup and core bullet would shoot well close to that charge in a .300 WIN MAG.

The Sierra 165 grain BTSP and IMR 4350 have always proved very accurate for me in the .300 Winchester. I expect the 165 GKHP would do likewise.

RL-22......can't tell you how much as you'll have to work that out for yourself.

It's the best I've found for that bullet weight, although RL-19 is no slouch either and both are better than H4831.

MM

I have had several 300WM's over the years and most of them have liked RL22,VVN165 and H4831 with 165gr bullets. my previous rifles favorite load was 78gr of RL22 with the sierra 165gr hpbt.
my current 300WM Sendero steadfastly refuses to shoot any of the lighter bullets so I am currently running the Berger 210gr VLD with H1000. its performance on game has been incredible so far from rock chucks to Desert Bighorn sheep and will hold under 3/4 MOA at 1000yds.
you might want to tinker a bit and see what your rifle likes best.
B

My .300 Win Blaser R 93's petload is the 165 GK / N 160 / 73.5 (CCI 250). It shoots 5 into .65 MOA and to this day has harvested a respectable number of big game.

I shoot 82.5 grains of H-1000 with 190 grain Sierra Match Kings.

Marcus,
For your combination I like the R-22 the best also.
IMR4350 & IMR4831 also did quite well, but the R-22 out-shined them.

Since RL-22 was introduced it has proven it's the best all'round powder to me in several 300WM's.

BTW, the 300 WM is my second favorite cartridge, after the 45-70 of course! Add a .22RF and a 12 gauge and you are set for any game in N.A. ... Or the world for that matter!

I think of my CZ 550 in 458 WM as a turbo-charged 45-70!

The 26" Sendero I used to own would make 3300+ with 81gr of IMR7828 and the 165 HPBTGK. That was 1gr under max load per Speer or Sierra's manual, but I don't remember which. Considering the velocity, it was likely warm, so I'd start 2-3gr lower and work up.

We've got a few hogs on our place as well (Union Parish). May make for something fun to hunt after deer season ends.

How did you get 81 grains in there?

With a funnel, silly. (grin)

Just looked at the Hogdon/IMR website and they show 80gr as max with a 168. I ran that load with the 168 Ballistic Silvertips for 3250fps. It was a bit more accurate in that particular gun.

I used that combo quite successfully with great accuracy. Looking at my notes, I used the 165 HPBT also, in a Remington case, CCI BR2 primer, and the charge was 73.5 grains of IMR4350, ran 3167 fps with a standard deviation of 8 fps.

Those two bullets, along with the Hornady 165 SPT, were very accurate in my Win M70 stainless/synthetic.

But, they were overly destructive at 40 to 50 yards, so I sold the two 300 winmags I had and went the .308 Winchester route.

Thanks, for all the good information! My computer was down for about a week and I got it back this afternoon. I will be working on a load tonight!
Good shooting!
Marcus.