I need some others thoughts on this as I may not be considering all I need to make an informed decisions.

I have 300 win mag with 25" bbl that is magnaported. I'm thinking of cutting it to 22" and adding a brake (maybe saving some weight and gaining some ease of handling). I wear electronic protection when hunting anyway so that is not a consideration (I think?). Is this an exercise in futility and waste of money?

I love the round and like to have stuff DRT. I reload 4064 and R17 so don't run it hot. I hunt deer and elk, but like I like to see DRT's. I don't think I'd get that with a lesser round but am trying to minimize recoil as I get older.

I also have a 6.5 PRC I like and load 129 ABLR's but have not killed anything but a large buck. I don't know that I'd get similar results on elk so am reluctant to use it solely and quit using the 300 (thereby negating this whole thing).

Both rifles are accurate, and I've been shooting for 60+ years and hit what I aim at without any undue excitement. I stay within 600 yds on game.

Thoughts?

The bull elk I shot with a 140 VLD out of a Creedmoor did not go anywhere. A brake on the 300 is certainly not a bad plan. You'd never have to wonder if you brought enough gun. Though in weighing out your options I would not underestimate the lethality of a well placed 6.5 bullet. Which rifle do you like better? Now that I've seen for myself the wound channel from a 6.5 I no longer worry about it. Having the rifle I want would be my deciding factor.

You're in the sweet spot -- just can't go wrong . Me? I'd get the 300 rebored/rebarreled into something fun and use the 6.5 for long distance work. Or sell the 300 ... if you are a righty not much way to go wrong. Little you can do to the 300 to make it as pleasurable as the 6.5 to carry and shoot.

Cut the barrel off, load down to a 30-06, to hell with a brake.

Burning 65 grs of powder to recreatea .30-06....nahh

Actually, 65 with a 175 LRX gets you about 2900...

I'm talking about downloading though. I would rather have a smaller cartridge running normally that kicks less then down load the big gun.

Mike

Gotcha, thanks Mike!

Thanks prm, curious, where did you hit him? Exit?

Thanks all, good thoughts!

130ttsx around 3300 out of the WM would be a hoot. Wouldn't kick much.

Loading some 155 Scenars over 4350 for a friend. Haven't shot them yet but I'd bet they are around 3200 and likely pretty easy shooting.

Those 130TTSX are no joke...

I use them in a .308 and dump all the magnum BS. No recoil. Plenty of killing power.

Yeah, the OP needs to trade his 300 boomer in on a 308 win. Forget about cutting his down and installing a brake. Send it down the road, would be my best suggestion..

been there done that

it's called a 7mm-08 with 120's

Haven’t shot an elk with a 6.5 PRC but have shot a handful with a 270 win. and it has worked great. Doubt the outcome would be any different with a 6.5 PRC.

Probably good advice bsa...

There's a couple good suggestions,, mine is to use 165 NP @ 2700 fps and kill anything handily in North America. I've seen it with my own eyes!

Do the 300 WM down to 23" add the Brake and be at just over 24'
Load 165/168 I use Barnes but any well constructed bullet that groups well in your rifle .
I was using RL-19 and pushing just under 3200

I had a Ruger M77II set up that way, light recoil and hard hitting flat shooter for big open timberline hunting in CO,this rifle always liked near max loads for groups something you have to figure out with yours

The advantage is that you can also adjust that 300 up or down with bullet weight

While I am more of a 6.5 guy. I have a couple of 300 Win Mags, I bought long ago, when I thought more horse power was never a bad idea...

then I got older and wiser...

But then with cast bullet manuals, I've loaded my 300s with equivalents of the 30/30 using Unique and 150 SPs, at 2000 fps, 22 grains of a bulky powder and pretty low recoil
up to 300 Weatherby Equivalent using H 1000...

From a 300 Savage equivalent to a 30/06 equiv.... 4198 and 3031 either would work nicely to accomplish that... or RL 7...

just bringing up some more possibilities.....

Why don’t you use the 6.5 PRC on a bunch of deer/elk, and then after you’ve got a better handle on what sort of results you can expect with it, you can decide what to do with the .300. I have a feeling it’ll become clear to you after you’ve shot a bunch of critters with both.

I owned a 300 win mag and it was absolutely punishing to shoot and I hated it. I also ran a 30-06 for years.. then I started shooting medium cartridges and killing game easily and I realized even a 30-06 is more pain than gain for hunting. Deer are not hard to kill... Biggest bodied deer I ever killed was with a 95 grain out of a 243.

That’s what makes a 7mm-08 Rem and 308 WCF so nice. Big punch way out there with low recoil, short barrels and easy portability. Both have multitudes of bullets to choose from so you can match needs from mice to moose.

Cutting a 300 WinMag to 22"and using 4064 is desecrating the very essence of a 300 WinMag !!!!!!!!!!!! If you want to keep it cut off the worthless magnaport and shorten to 24" and have a good brake installed, then try H1000 or RL26 with 180-210gr bullets.................if this does not sound good , you would be much better off getting rid of it and using the 6.5 exclusively.
I love the 300WM myself and with a proper brake the recoil is not that bad.

Biggest bodied deer I ever killed was with a 210 grainVLD out of a 300 WinMag at 900 yards.

^ My thoughts too, the OP already has a 6.5 PRC, might as well give it a try and see whether he's satisfied with the performance on elk, if so ditch the .300. I don't shoot animals very far out, but I have killed two elk with a 6.5 CM (127gr LRX and 140gr AB) and one with a .270 (140gr AB) and was satisfied with both. With the right bullet, the PRC should be at least as good of a performer, although personally, I do think I'd try the 142gr ABLR over the 129gr for elk.

If you just really like the .300 WM and don't want to let it go, no reason not to chop it down a little and run .30-06 level loads, they kill very well too. Another option would be picking up a suppressor to use with your cut down .300, the big reduction in recoil and blast make suppressed hunting a lot of fun.

Killed a bunch of deer with everything from 243 to 300; couple bear with 7mmRM's; several elk with 264, 7mmRM, 300 Wea, 338; moose with 264. Just getting opinions. Good thoughts all! Thanks guys!!

I agree on 142's over 129's but you take what is available these days.Thanks

I can't imagine a 6.5 PRC and a good bullet not being enough for about any thing in North America. If I was regularly bumping brown and grizzly bears up close or poking at elk at 500 plus yards then some thing bigger would be my choice. Which is why here in Alaska I usually have my .338 or 30-06 in my hands. I have never in 55 years shot out to 500 yards at game and probably never will, except at the range.

In the last 2 years I’ve shot the 6.5 CM more the my 06 and 270 last 10 years combined.
I still use The 06 for elk as it simply works. But off season, the 6.5 with 130 game changers gets the trigger time

Great idea. The ranger recently sent me his 300 Win Mag Ruger No. 1 as a gift for my son Robert who is now 22 and panting to go elk hunting. That might be a way for him to get some experience with it before we seek a tag.

Norm

Good thoughts guys!

Again, thanks all. This was a kind of "intervention" as the rifle Looney in me was going a bit too far past reason. I will continue to use both and just expand loads up and down the scale to take advantage of a particular bullet/ game animal and I've saved hundreds in the process...may use that to add a 308 to the mix just for a really light and handy carry gun to take advantage of those 130 TTSX's. Mike