Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles Anyone run the elcheapo 180 gr. winchester powerpoint in their 300 win mag?

Wanting to switch powder to H4350 in my new to me 300 win mag and run some elcheapo 180 gr. winchester power points that I bought from crod1972 for plinking and informal paper punching ...Any of you guys run these in the 300 win mag? ...any load data with these bullets would help, thanks...

An Uncle of mine did. Killed a few elk too. They are more expensive than Hornady's though so I don't know about them being elcheapos.

Bought 250 at a time from crod1972 for $35.00 so that is pretty inexpensive to me....Great deal and they seem to be a good bullet for plinking. I know guys use them for game (deer/elk) too so I figured I'd ask. I've got 700 + of these so I'll be burning them up. They shoot good thru my 30-06's and my 300 win mag with IMR 4350 but wanted to make a switch to H4350.

I ran them through my 300 WM a few years ago. Real accurate, they worked well on a few mule deer, aoudad, whitetails, and cow elk.

Bill

Thanks, were they handloads or factory?

71 gr of imr 4350 plus a 180 power points ran real nice from a 300wm I use to shoot. Chrono'd at 3070, knocked out one ragged hole with 3 shots at 100 yds. Knocked the snot out of deer and coyotes with one small entrance and one LARGE ragged exit hole on the opposite side of the animals also

Neighbor tipped over "DRT" a fat cow elk shot threw and threw the slats last fall with same bullet little different load.

Sounds real good. Just wondering if anyone has used H4350. I like IMR 4350 too but find the H4350 to be a little less temp sensitive. I've given the H4350 a good test over the course of a year with my 30-06's and noticed it is not affected by the temperature like the IMR4350 is. Heck maybe I'll just stick with the IMR powder since I'll probably keep running it in the good ol 338 win mag with its pet load. I ran some IMR up to 70 grains the other day in the 300 with no pressure signs so maybe I'll try bumping it up a bit but probably won't exceed 71 grains...Here's how a new to me ruger m77R (tang safety) shot with IMR 4350 powder the other day:




Keep in mind, this thing is still under load development......
Next thing I'll do is run them across the chrono and try a little fine tuning. Thanks for your input, it is much appreciated. I'll probably just stick with the IMR 4350

The 180g Win was the most accurate bullet in my 300 Win Sendero with a load in Rem brass with Fed 215's, 75.5g of R#22, and you have to play with seating depth to get down to the tiny groups.

That bullet also is super accurate in my Rem 700 -30/06.

Excellent start bsa.... It has been my experience that the more full of powder the bigger cases are, the better they tend behave. My last new to me 7mm mag 'a ruger tang safty also' proved that and the m-70 338 wm was the same way.

If you laid those three groups over each other its a match still. That half grain increment seems to be a step in the right direction... I Would be very curious to see what 70 grains would do, if all elts checks out.

BSA, You may not be planning to hunt with them but I think they make a fine hunting bullet. My brother took an elk with the powerpoint at ~75yrds a couple years ago. OK, no big deal but while I was helping him clean it up for the pack out I noticed the 4" pine tree the bullet drilled through before impact. The bullet went full broadside breaking the front rib and came to a stop just under the hide. The bullet separated from its core but it was still cradled in the jacket base. I know a lot of variables go into a bullet successfully taking down a bull elk after passing through a tree but the powerpoint gained a lot of my respect regardless.

Yeah, I thought it was weird that the groups look a lot alike like the rifle was flinging them in the same order every time....even with 1/2 grain difference in charge weight. The 5th. shot was definatley me dropping it for some reason. I'm very pleased with this old rifle as I've heard these tang safety models were not accurate. I bedded it and left the pressure point in since my 338 win mag loves it that way. I figured if it didn't shoot that way, I'd deffinately freefloat it but I don't want to mess up a good thing here and will probably leave it as is. I'm limited to mag box constraints so for the first time with any rifle (and I've owned a few) I have to load to mag box lentgh . My newer ruger m77 mkII wasn't that way and either is my mkII 338 win mag. I generally like running around .020" off the lands but I think this bullet is somewhere in the neighborhood of .040" (I'll have to check my nots to be sure, I forgot already....).I like this bullet and I've got plenty to go around for my other rifles too and just may give them a try next year on some game. I can't see them working too much differently than my hornady's that I like so much...I'm pretty happy so far but am still going to work on fine tuning it a little. I think I can squeeze a little more accuracy out of her yet . So that is 2 for 2 now on lucking out and finding a fairly accurate tang safety m77


One more thing, I'm thinking you are right about working up to 70 gr.'s as it seems to be tightening up as I near max. Like I said earlier, I'll try bumping it up to maybe around 71 gr. and see if I start getting pressure signs. Thanks for the vote of confidence , it's appreciated...

No, but I have an old yellow box of the Winchester 180 gn bullets specifically for the 300 WM, I'll send 'em to ya if ya want 'em BSA.

Gunner

I'll send you a pm....

No problem bsa. That 71 gr./4350 load was actually one of my ol'mans findings.... clean back in the late 70's or early 80's for his 300 win mag.

20 some odd years later, I ended up at the same load he had figgered out...with other bullets including the power point. I Should have just looked at his recipes first.

The rumor that tang safety rugers don't shoot has NOT been my or the ol'mans findings neither.... Your groups prove that handily

Far as them fliers go, they seem to be in the air around here too... No matter the brand of firearm

Thanks buddy. I think it was me more than anything. The ol arm gets a little sore after 40 rounds of 300 win mag..... and 50 rounds of the little 6mm..... I've done the same thing with my ruger m77 mkII in 338 that is a known tack driver. Proof:



Generally it shoots like this:

Something that has helped me get rid of fliers, two words.....LEAD SLED.

Especially with the higher horse power of the .300 or .338 and high volume shooting of anything over .223.... You are made of titanium if 40 rounds of those win mags don't start shake'n yer group shoot'n up.

With groups turning out like that, I would most definitely file that as problem solved .

The last 2 targets were from my good ol 338 win mag (ruger m77 mkII). It's my elk rifle and it shoots lights out.....Just don't practice with it much



It's a major workhorse and good for pushing through thick brush like manzinita . It really likes 250gr. sierra gamekings....

Sorry on the late reply. No they were factorys. I had just put that rifle together and didn't have time for load development before a CO trip, so tried a couple of factory offerings. The powerpoints shot very well, usually sub moa. Since I've moved on to handloads for that rifle I've gone to "cooler" bullets in it, but would not hesistate to run power points through it again.

Bill

I know what you mean about "cooler" bullets . Thanks for the reply....i've got a bunch of these to shoot so maybe I'll start using them on game too . Hey my CDS on my leupy (on my EW 30-06) says "180 partition", do you think the rifle will know the difference??? My extreme weather loves these bullets.....

Thanks for the words of encouragement in regards to this bullet. It seems the rifle really likes them. I had to recheck zero and see how much I had to re-adjust the scope after having the rifle and rings cerekoted:


Had 5 of these loaded up from the last outing and it looks like it still shoots them well even in the wind and spitting snow yesterday.....I think I'll stick with these ol win powerpoints:



I may even get brave one of these days and try them out on deer and elk....