There is no shortage of .300 magnums on the market. From the .300 RCM to the .30-378 Weatherby and a whole bunch in between. What is your favorite and why?

.300 H&H because it's my kudu rifle...

Old school 300 H&H Pre 64 Win is the only .300 I have any interest in...

this one, a pre 64 model 70 300 H&H, in a echols legend stock

300 Win is my favorite, been shooting a saum also for the last couple years. The more I shoot it, the more I like it

300 H&H would be THE classic magnum.

300 Win Mag for availability. Planning on a long range build in this caliber.

300 wsm. Because it hangs with the 300 win mag with less powder.

.308 is my favorite, with the .300 sav running a close 2nd.

If we're talking magnums, 300 Winny. Here's one of mine. I have two.

300 H&H for me.

Hard not to like the .300 Weatherby Magnum

.300 Savage is at the top of my list due to not being able to handling recoil any more....

The only .300 for me:

In '84 I had a S&W 1500 in .300 Winchester Magnum set up for Fred Huntington's long necked version of the Winchester Magnum.
Worked out fine. Wouldn't do it again though. I'd just go .300 Weatherby.

.300 Weatherby.

Tie between the .300 H&H and .308 Norma Mag.

.300 Savage. Oops, it's not a magnum. Guess I can't kill anything with it...

I will be the guy....

30-06!

No flies on any 30 cal rifle (though I wouldn't personally choose a 300 Blackout for something like an elk hunt), but I like to shoot. Some are tough enough to put volume through something like a 300 Win Mag, but not I.

My pick is the 30-06. If I were starting over today I might pick the 308 Win instead, but I already made the 30-06 decision 12 years ago. Now with plenty of H4350 and 180 Partitions and Accubonds I'm not changing to a different platform.

Tomorrow that 30-06 and I will be elk hunting...

If we are talking Magnums, I don't know why, but I think one of the coolest looking hunting rounds, is a 300 H & H with a 220 grain Round Nose on it...

My 300 RUM. It has taken a few truckloads of game for me.

H&H... Only magnum in the house at the moment...

I like the .300 Win mag. It's easy to get a 180 to 3,000 and its not punishing.

Ok i'll play too. I have a 300 WBY, I was going to go with the 300 winnie but at the time I couldn't find any components, dies and brass, so I had my smith ream out the chamber to 300 WBY and haven't looked back.

Mine is on a Rem 700, recoil ain't bad. And with a 24" barrel it will lob a 200 gr. bullet at 3000 fps no problem.

Hard to beat a pair of Aces. Father & son matched pair in 300 Win Mag. Pillar bedded in Marine-tex, free floated Krieger barrels, single point recut receiver threads, 3.600" magazine length with long loading eject/load port, etc...etc...etc...

You can buy ammo almost anywhere. Too bad you can't say that for the 300 H&H.



links for BIG pics
Right side Sons Rifle
Left side Fathers Rifle

I've had a 300 Wby, now I have a 300 Win. Mag. It shoots great.
But, It's still not my 30-06..lol

This is my 300 Win.

300 WSM. Accuracy like a 308, performs like a 300 WM, kicks like a 30-06 +P. Just a no fuss, no muss, accurate, easy to load for round.

Think of it as a 308 Win on Lance Armstrong's PED's...

Ain't that a handsome bugger! You can chamber that rifle for any 30 cal magnum and it would be OK with me!

Is it for sale?

My only 300 Magnum is a Pre'64 Model 70 in 300 H&H. I don't need another 300.

Whitworth Mauser with DST, claw mounts, Redfield 3-9 scope and several memorable hunts under her belt.


Terry

I'e hunted with 30-06 most of my life. Can't say a bad thing about the round, but if advising a young hunter today I'd steer them to a 308 and 300 WSM if they felt the need for more speed.

There isn't anything I realistically can't do just fine with the 308. Close enough to 30-06 in a lighter package with less recoil. The 300 WSM comes within 50 fps of 300 WM, but with noticeably less recoil. I simply don't notice the difference between my 300 WSM and 30-06. I notice it with 300 WM.

Me too..


You mean there are other 300s?


Why?

The 300 H&H is a great round, that we all know.

Why did they make other 300's. Those crazy marketing dudes.

Had perfection right out of the gate.

Roy got it right the first time.

The only 300 magnum in my safe is the WSM:

moosemike;
Thanks for the interesting reading in the thread sir it's cool to see what other folks like as well.

I've got to admit that we've played with a few .300 Magnums at our house over the years and have indeed developed a fondness for a couple.

This rifle was built on a wartime Steyr built 98 action, what I believe was a Bishop stock and a no name barrel I purchased off a buddy for something like $10. It's been rust blued, bedded, checkered and tweaked by me so it's as reliable as an anvil.

I put it together in the '90's for my good wife and she used it on a few local mulies. We went with a .308Norma because it fits into a 98 action with a wee bit less modification than a .300 Winchester.


The positive results with her rifle encouraged me to build a .308 Norma of my own, this time on a Liberty Model Ruger 77. The barrel was a Parker Hale blank, this stock is #3 from a Richards Microfit blank and again the bluing, bedding and tuning was done in my shop.

Folks who've run it a bit say it's one of the smoother working 77's they've tried and again for me it's been both utterly reliable and somewhat of a "lucky" rifle.


After those two were completed, we were into horses for a good stretch of years so I picked up a .300 Win. Mag in a No. 1 for my hunting saddle gun.

I built a new fore end, installed a Gentry barrel band, Moyers trigger and fabricated a tuning block too.


It was a grand rifle for the purpose it was put together for, but after we got out of horses I found I didn't hunt much with it anymore and a friend of our neighbor made me a fair offer so it went away.

As far as looking at them, the No. 1 was my favorite, but the 98 I built for my wife is a bit of a sentimental favorite as it was first "extensive" build I ever did.

In the final analysis though, my Ruger 77 in .308 Norma is my favorite because as I've said on another thread - it seems to be somehow "lucky" for me.






[img:center]http://i180.photobucket.com/albums/x83/BC30cal/Amy1456.jpg[/img]

All of the above and quite a few more animals expired in front of that .308 Norma, so hopefully it makes sense that it's my favorite.

Thanks for the thread again sir, thanks to those who've responded and good luck to you all this season.

Dwayne

Dwayne, last buck is one helluva whitetail!

I sold my 300 RUM last year. But if I buy another it would be a Tika Ultralight in 300 WSM, or a Stainless/ Wood stockedFeatherweight, if I could find one in 300 WSM.

Why are all the good-looking rifles Winchesters???

Sam;
Thanks for the reply and let me say in return that I hope you folks are doing well across the line tonight.

As I mentioned Sam, it's a "lucky" rifle in a few strange ways.

With my usual late season rifle, a lightweight .270 on a 98, I'd missed a smaller buck the weekend before - easy chip shot on a small racked buck that I missed clean....somehow??

With only one weekend left in season, I pulled the Norma out of the safe on the last morning I could get out hunting. I'd finished my second series of grunt calls when I saw antlers coming through the timber and thought it was a nice 2nd rack buck I'd been playing tag with unsuccessfully for the last month.

Anyway because of the terrain I had to shoot it off hand at maybe 80yds - so I shot it in the neck as it trotted past the Doug fir.... I had NO idea the size of buck I'd shot until I walked up to it Sam and I've got to say I was QUITE excited.

It's always good to hear from you Sam so thanks again, all the best to you folks and good luck on your hunts this fall.

Dwayne

BC30cal's #1 is plenty "good-looking" enough for me!!

Geno

Roll my own H&H. Have plenty of components on hand. Don't get out often. When I do, I put at least one box of cartridges in each piece of luggage. To-date, have never had to "go look" for ammo when I got somewhere.



Beautiful rifles. Did you do the stock work ? If not, do you mind sharing who did ? I like the open grip and the fact that the grain flows thru the wrist... Well done...
.

I could go back to wood and blue, and never look back. Great looking rifles men.
Mickey Coleman worked his magic on this one and its a real shooter. I couldn't be happier�
Remmy 700
Krieger #5 at 24"

Top rifle is my favorite, and only, 300(H&H)Magnum. Working on putting a set of Stith mounts and either a Weaver 330 or K2.5 on it.

My favorite is the Rem LH SS 300 RUM

The .308 Norma is my favorite .300 Mag. I have two and they both shoot quite well. I like the long neck and they give up little to other .300's.

That said, I shoot my '06's and .338 a lot more at game. They are stainless and the Mauser and P-17 I have the Norma's on are blued. The Mauser is a darn pretty rifle. Maybe too pretty.

Dancing bear. I've always wanted a 308 Norma mag. Let me know if you ever want to sell the m1917 if it is indeed a 308 Norma.. I used to work in Portland, so we are almost neighbors

BC30cal,

I've been enjoying this thread thoroughly myself, The pictures of game and rifles have been amazing. Not the least of which was yours. I have a soft spot for 308 Norma's having had a 1903 Sporter so converted. I made all my ammo from 338 brass so initially I was shooting 30/338 until my brass grew.

Of all the .300 magnums you can't beat the Win Mag for ammo/case availability and cost or overall versatility. In terms of velocity some of the others struggle to keep up with the .300WM using barrels of the same length and even at best fail to add any significant velocity advantage. The more exotic magnums (Dakota, RUM, 30-378, etc., provide useful velocity gains but have their own unique drawbacks - ammo/case availability and cost, amount of powder required, barrel length required to burn that powder, additional recoil and so on.

With two .300WM rifles in the safe, if I was to buy another 300 magnum it would be a stainless .300RCM with a 20" barrel. If it didn't come in a synthetic stock it would soon get one. The price would have to be really right, too, as I already have a fairly lightweight 22" .30-06 in stainless/synthetic.

A 300 H&H that lives in an old pre-64 super grade.

Sorry Bob, The pics are of two different rifles. I don't think their owner had them built to later sell on the secondary market.



Thanks Orion, I built the stocks. Roger Vardy supplied the exceptional matched pair of blanks from Australia. I'm more than a little picky when it comes to what wood I work on. As you mentioned, grain flow through the whole stock is paramount.

I'm a big fan of the 300 H&H as it's a truly classic cartridge. Around here, even with a Cabelas it's been impossible to find any loaded ammo or brass in the Black Hills. Every store had 300 WinMag on the shelf. Here's a graceful 300H&H I built a few years back.

My personal elk rifle is a 30-338 Mag. Built on an 09 Argentine years ago in GSmithing school. Laminate stock, Devcon, freefloated tack driving workhorse. 180 gr @ 3150FPS will take care of anything I care to hunt here in the US. I don't get any calls to build similar though. My brother even sent back the 30-338 I built for him. Now he wants it rebarreled to 300 WinMag. After several years of goofing around with a wildcat, he just wants a "normal" cartridge capable of getting the job done. I got on a history kick in school at TSJC and wanted to build a 30 Newton. You know, the grandaddy 30 magnum designed in 1913. Since brass was hard to come by, I settled on the 30-338. Or 30 Belted Newton. I still can't figure out why the Newton never caught on. IMHO, it should be the standard classic cartridge available today at every sporting goods store and gas station that sells ammo.

The availability of the 300 WinMag is the reason It's my favorite 300 magnum. Does it make it better than the other options? Nope

My 300 JARRETT,pushes 165gr NBT'S AVERAGE 3508FPS.I shot 3 deer,1 hog and 1 elk with it and none have taken another step yet.

I have a 300 H&H in a pre-64 Win....all I need.

Like a great dog, there isn't anything that won't let you down like a 30-06. When there becomes a need for something more, nothing fills the bill like the 300 WBY mag.

After trying several 300's, I finally came back to the Weatherby. It seems to have the right balance of power, recoil and ballistics. I consider getting a 300 H&H in a pre-64 every once in awhile, but 2 big boomers don't fit the shooting I do, like varminting where even 14 guns may not be enough.

The question of ammo availability has never been a consideration as I have never gone anywhere hunting and needed to go to a store to buy ammo for my rifle. I certainly wouldn't base my decision to buy a caliber due to availability of ammunition at a store.

From antelope to elk and everything between, it would be hard to beat the 300 Weatherby magnum...

After 15 years of hunting elk with my .338 win mag, going to take a .300 win mag this year. Will know or not if it's my favorite 300 after elk season. lol

300 WSM. Has the power of a 300 Win mag (comparing 180m grain factory loads, handloader's can push the Win mag faster). My Savage Model 11 in 300 WSM is the most accurate rifle I've ever owned, it's killed antelope, deer, elk and moose. I can't find any fault with the cartridge or the rifle.

My fav .300 Mag.....

The barrel says 30-06 hmmmmm

My Savage 111 .300 WM.

JRG: My inquiry was mostly TIC and a visceral reaction of greed,wanting to own such a beautiful rifle. You did a great job on them both.

Can't blame a guy for trying though.

I'm real partial to my custom 300 rum built by Andy Hooker out of Texas.

And, is the ballistic twin to the 300 H&H. That puts it in pretty good company.

OMG!!!!

Since the only 300's I own are of the H&H variety, that gets my vote...

I like the 300 RUM and the 300 Win Mag the best, but it's hard not to like a 300 magnum of any flavor.

I have several 300's. 30-338, 300 WSM 300 Win, 300 Wby., 300 Rum, and 30-378 Wby. I use the 300 Wby most of the time. My oldest son carries the 30-338 and my youngest son is partial to the 300 Rum.

Its been that way since the beginning of time.

Now that's some funny chit. But it's true...

.300 H&H. 200grn Partitions at .8 MOA all day long.

You forgot to tell us, that you shot him from a cross that canyon in the background.

Really, that's a great bull.

Congratulations.

My favorite .300 Mag is the ones you guys own. Let us keep it that way. I prefer .30 plain. Now that I think of it, the only mags I own are a .44 and a WMR. They were misnamed at birth I think.

Don't hate me for being such a dinosaur.

I'v never been a fan of any .300 Magnum. To me, they are a cassic "tweener"...niether fish nor fowl. If I feel the need for more rifle than a .30-06, I generally bypass the .300's and go straight to .338.

With that said, the 300's make fine all-around rifles for North American game....just no better than a .30-06 in my opinion. If I were to choose any .300 it would likely be an H&H in a classic style safari rifle, but the H&H actually offers almost nothing balistically over the '06. For any significant gain ballistically you need at least a .300 Weatherby

To me, the 30-06 is the "tweener" - stuck in between the 308 Win and the 300 magnums.

I still like the '06 and have a couple, but I'm more likely to grab a 308 or a 300 WSM.

Back a few years ago (about 30 ) I had a 300 Win Mag, a 300 Weatherby, and a 300 H&H, all at the same time and all M70 Winchesters. The 300 Win and Weatherby were custom and the H&H was a stock pre 64 M70. I was in my 300 magnum phase learning my way around these cartridges, and I took the Weatherby and Winchester hunting quite a bit. I loaded a bunch of bullets but mostly 180's in all three.


The fastest of the three was the Weatherby which averaged about 3150 from a 24" barrel; the 300 H&H did 3090,and the Winchester was sort of stuck somewhere in the middle of those two. The results sort of surprised me because I had read from various sources that the H&H was no better than the 30/06 ballistically, and the 300 Weatherby was the barn burner high velocity king of the 300 magnum crowd.

But I had never seen a 30/06 do any better than 2750-2800 fps with sane loads. The H&H was close to 300 fps better,and fell behind the Weatherby by a whole 60-70 fps (!) Later on I would learn that, if you outfitted the Weatherby with a 26" barrel and the right powder you would get over 3200 fps with a 180 gr bullet.But I chronographed Weatherby factory ammo with the 180 and it did 3190....not bad,and about 100 fps faster than the H&H with good handloads.......again this ain't what I had read.

I also learned that, if I loaded the 300 Win Mag in a H&H length action and OAL to 3.5+", it would rival the Weatherby for velocity...and in a 24" barrel, so seemed more efficient,I settled for 3150 or so with a 180 gr bullet and used that load for a lot of hunting.Powder charges were 8-10 gr less than the Weatherby,depending on the powder.

Had a bunch of other rifles (factory and custom)chambered for all three cartridges and results were always much the same.

I concluded a few things....first, my old mentor, JOC, was right about a lot of stuff but dead wrong about the H&H vs the 30/06...the old Holland round stomps it with good handloads,even if the factory stuff is nothing to write home about....but that can be said of the 30/06,too with some factory ammo.

Second, while it's good with anything the "best shot" for the 300 Weatherby was with a 26" barrel, and a 200 gr bullet at close to 3100 fps. This is where the bigger case showed some superiority over the smaller one's.

I owned a 300 RUM when it came out,and have sat and watched load development in rifles belonging to friends;shot their rifles quite a bit. It's easily the fastest but I could not fall in love with burning 90+ gr of powder and torching it all off in an 8 pound mountain weight rifle.I'll leave that to others.

I hunted with the H&H, Winchester, and Weatherby, killed a bunch of elk and other animals with the Winchester and Weatherby from hard off the muzzle to 400-500 yards.I found all three to have more punch on heavier animals like elk on the far side of a canyon than a 30/06, which is no toy,but isn't a 30 cal magnum either.

I sort of learned that the velocity differences between the first three cartridges were not really the quantum leaps I had been led to expect, but more like baby steps between all three. What I could do with one I could do with the others,at the range and on game.

So these days when someone asks about "which 300 magnum?" I shrug because once you start a 180 gr bullet at around 3100+- fps it doesn't matter;and at least with these three cartridges there's only 100-150 fps that separates them.

I never used the real heavy match bullets in the 300's but maybe the differences will matter more with those bullets.

Ive always loved the way the browning 78 rifles looked, I wanted one chambered in 300 wby, but could never find one, so, I had a browning 78 re-chambered from 30/06 to 300wby added a 7mm rem extractor, and added a 3x9x leopold scope , and found i had a really nice elk combo that threw 190 hornadys into tight groups

velocities were not spectacular, at about 3000fps but 1/2" 3 shot groups at 100 yards off the bench were common

340mag, I'm DROOLING over that Browning 78! Beautiful rifle!

I really like my Remington model 700 XCR in 300 RUM shooting 180 Accubonds

It was fun reading my way through this thread. I have worked my way through 5 different versions of .300 magnums over the years. I came back to the .300 Win Mag earlier this year, and it is the only one that I plan to keep in the safe from now on. It is accurate with bullets from 165/168 grains up through 200 grains, and I shoot it well. Although my primary elk rifle is a Ruger No. 1-S in 9.3x74R, the .300 WM will go to elk camp with me every year. No doubt we will take an elk or two together before we both retire.

I ain't never had a .300 mag, but if I did, I'd be a .300 H&H.

308 Norma for me. Have had 2, still have one.

My favorite is the 300 Win Mag and mine is in a Remington Custom Shop APR.

The .300 magnums kick too much for me to enjoy. Nor do I really need one for the game I hunt.

I have a couple however as the rifles were too sweet to pass up.

The one I am shooting now is a custom on an old M70 action with a well done walnut stock. Currently it shot the 150 gr Nosler CT's well over a load of Varget.

When we go up North this season it will not be taken. A favorite 30-06 will be however.

I only have one 300, it's the Win Mag. Mostly I use a 30-06 or a 338 WM. One of those can do most of what I need.

300 rum sendero 92 gr h1000 200 gr accubond at 3200 fps.

Only had experience with the .300 WM but it is My favorite all-around go to cartridge, I own three.................Hb

Based on the number of rifles in the safe my favorite .308 magnum is a .30-06 by a factor of 2x.

Run the 180 gr Cutting Edge bullets outta my 300 RUM to 3450 with Retumbo, will have to see how they work on game, accuracy is stellar.

Excellent post Bob!

Every once in a blue moon he comes out with a good post......lol.
I agree with him that there basically isn't any real (field) difference between the H&H, 300 Win and 300 Roy. Personally, for my hunting, I don't have any need or want to drive 180 gr bullets at 3400-3500 fps. My 300 Win will drive 180's @ 3100 fps, so if I wanted or needed more " power " I'd be looking at something that drove 338 pills instead of trying to put a pound of powder in a modified Jeffery or Lapua hull.

Would the 308 Norma be considered a short action mag compared to the Weatherby and H&H?

cutNshoot;
Good afternoon to you sir, I hope this finds you well on this warm, sunny September Saturday.

As I said in my initial post on this thread, our first Norma was built on a standard 8x57 length wartime 98 action and I chose the Norma because it fit into it with less modification than a .300Win Mag. Honestly I'd have been equally happy with a .30-388 too, but the smith we used had a .308 Norma reamer so that was that.

Anyway the .308 Norma and its twin the .30-338 wouldn't fit into a short action as far as I can determine - so they're not exactly in the same class as the RSM/WSM/RSUM lineup really.

Perhaps they could be best described as "standard" action length magnums - if there is such an animal truly.

That's only my take on them of course - there are a couple other .300 magnums to choose from after all and others might have an opinion on them too.


Have a good weekend sir and good luck on your hunts this fall.

Dwayne

Thank You! And thanks for the education on the case length's.

Like that stock, who did that?

Sycamore