Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles Light Load for a 300WSM

I am wondering if anyone has loaded a 300WSM down to about 308 levels. I like 165's probably interlocks. Thanks for your help.

If you have a reloading manual check out the minimum loads for the 300 wsm, they come close to the max loads for the 308. However I would not go any lower than minimum on the 300 wsm, I would consult the powder manufacturer before doing so.

When I had my 300 WSM (Browning A Bolt Hunter) I used the powders I had on hand already, one of them was RL15. Nosler's minimum load is 56 gr and gives you 30-06 power and recoil with long brass life. Full power loads and RL 15 (60 gr in the Nosler manual) didn't kick that much more and were very accurate with several 165's including the Hornady Interlock. Speeds were in the 3050 fps range with the full power loads. RL 15 also works well with 150's. The load I had with 180 Partitons (69.5 gr of H 4831 SC) kicked noticeably more. Hope this helps

Do a google search on hogdon youth loads and you'll see some with H4895. You can go up in powder charge from there to the velocity you want.
Also noticed that Hogdon has a load of 54 varget under a 165 grainer in their regular data that should do about 2700 fps. I would think that would fit the bill.
I have a 300 win mag and have found a nice load that does 2800 with 150 grainers. It's fun and really accurate with my ballistic plex scope. I can pretty regularily break clay birds at 300 yds and can do multiple sizings with the lee collet die before bumping the shoulder. Should I ever use the gun for deer hunting here in Wis that would be the load I would take to the woods.....and save the deer meat.

Thanks all for your suggestions. It sounds encouraging that accuracy was still excellent. I also wanted to use it occasionly for whitetails in Northern MI.

The 300WSM has the same case capacity as the 300 H&H. Speer #13 lists several starting loads for the H&H and 150gr bullets in the 2650 to 2900 fps range. One that is particularly interesting is 53.0gr of IMR4895 for 2737fps with a max of 2993fps for 57.0gr.

Hodgdon used to advertise that 4895 can be reduced to 60% of maximum and still retain good ballistic uniformity. I mention this in case low end 300 Savage loads interest you.

I have loaded up a few surplus fmj 150 grain bullets with lighter loads of H4895 using their 60% rule. I stay away from the edges of the envelope but you can safely take them pretty low. I use them as I set the gun up for hunting loads, get the scope close & trigger time.