hey guys, i have a ruger m77 mkii in 300 win mag, and am lookin to start reloading for it but was lookin for a lil advice as to powder amount and type,primer,bullet weight and really any reloading advice as ive never done it before. Im thinking the barnes ttsx is the bullet i want to go with, but cant decide on whether to go with the 150,168 or 180 grain bullet..im leaning towards the 150s because ill get the flattest trajectory and for primarily deer sized game it should be more than enough for shots out to around 400 if i do my part of course. im currently shooting federal 180 grain blue box ammo and want to see what the ruger really has for accuracy. I just bought a hogue overmold in max4 and am going to pick up a redfield 4-12 accurange scope for it and upgrade the trigger(any opinions on what combo works best w/ rugers?)..im looking forward to seeing the responses and opinions from you guys and i want to thank you in advance for your help.
Brian

Do you like blood-shot meat? I don't! (and I've had a lot of it shot with speed demons like the .270Win even using standard 130-140 grain bullets!)

A .300WM can propel "deer-weight-bullets" like 150's and 165's pretty dang fast! Actually too fast, IMO.

If you reload you can control the throttle! And moderate the velocity to .308Win or .30/06 speeds.

Plus I limit my shots to 400yds since I call it (stalking and) HUNTING. Not "shooting!"

For what its worth, when I first started hunting at age11, I read MANY, MANY times that "an average shot" is usually about 150-250yards. And 30+ years later I've found that to be true! I've killed almost 30 total mule deer, whitetails, elk and pronghons (many fellows here at the 'Fire many more BG's than that!). Only 1 or 2 of those 'big gamiNals' was as far as a true 400yds.

If I had to deer hunt with one rifle in .300WM, that's the only reason I'd kill deer with something that big and powerful, and only load big heavy 180 or 200 grain bullets (to slow the whole thing down to less-than-meat-destroying-velocities) and shoot the deer with the same load I'd use that bruiser mangle-um on elk or moose!

If you are inquisitive and like to learn "things," then you might consider investing in your reloading knowledge by studying many cartridges and their hunting loads like in the .30-30, .30-40Krag, .300Savage, .308Win, .30/06, and other similar 30 or 31-cals.

All of them kill deer QUITE WELL and DEAD at VERY reasonable ranges! Twas me I'd load that bruiser down if developing a "deer load" in .300 WM.

Or I would work-up one "go-to" elk-type-load that uses a 200grain Nosler Partition or AccuBond (in .308 cal if the AccuBond is available in that weight), and use that same [one] load for ALL North American game you might shoot with the .300Winnie.

I've known several .338WinMag hunters to do that very same thing with their .338's at moderate velocities with 210 or 225grain bullets, even when killing mulies, black bear or pronghorn antelope! Looks a little silly using such a huge cartridge to dispatch a 90-100 pound sage goat, but the the tissue damage is surprisingly minimized and there's still something left to butcher and enjoy on the table!

Barnes 130 grain TTSXs are nice. They won't destroy a lot of meat either. Work them up to somewhere just over 3600 and they are accurate, deliver bad news to Bambi in a hurry and shoot very flat out to 300.

I amone of those guys that believe that each caliber/case combination has a sweet spot for a narrow range of bullet weights. This has developed over many years of experience with a variety of calibers and what I saw in the field. More or less, when I want heavier bullet, I move to a larger caliber. I have been trying to factor in the outstanding improvements in bullet technology, as they are changing the game.
At any rate. when I got into the 300 Win Mag, I decided it was going to see only 180 grain bullets. And, have not been disappointed.
The newer bonded bullets and more particularly the copper bullets, seem to be extremely accurate, kill very well, and minimize blood shot meat. I have now killed several deer with the 130 gr ETip out of a 270. Great performance, nearly zero blood shot meat, quite different than I have seen from Partitions & conventional bullets out this caliber.
The message from my rambling, would be to take a hard look at the 180 gr ETip, TSX, or GMX for any 300 mag.
It is what I would be doing if I did not already have a hell of a bunch of 180 protected point Partions ready to go

I would try some 180s and see how it shoots. I'd start with Hornady Interlocks, Remington Core Locts or Speer Deepcurls and see which shoots the best.

Try r22 as your powder first

Also. I'd ditch the Houge stock idea

x2.....wut he said is perfect

mine likes 180 ABs over 78 gr 4831=3100fps.

x3 on above

I would bed the action to the factory one and start killin stuff.

if you do want to kill stuff way out there it will take lots of practice, if you're practicing with TTSX's its gonna be very spendy.

what I did with my 300wm was to hunt with 180 accubonds, and practice with 180 BT's. they shoot the same in my rifle out to 600 yards, the BT's are a little cheaper to shoot too.

I would start with reloder22 powder, check a manual or go here http://stevespages.com/308_7.html for an idea where to start, start with a light load and work up.

For deer. I like the 165's, but take it for what it's worth, I don't reload.

I have a 300 wby that I load the 168 gr TSX's up to about 3200 fps and they work great. I killed two this year one at 20 yards one at 120 yards neither had a problem with blood shot meat. One was shot in the heart one in the high shoulder.

200grs. If you want to shoot a lighter bullet, use a 30-06 or even a 300Savage.

thanks for the responses guys!.as for ditching the hogue stock, i dont really wanna do that since i already have it on order and should get it any day, and im not really a big fan of the wood stock thats on it now..just doesnt feel right to me..and ive shot a buddies rifle w/ the hogue and the stock just "felt" better to me..im still undecided on what grain bullet..i might go w/a 165 grain to split the diff between 180 and 150 that i was considering to get a happy medium..im not really concerned about getting .5 moa groups or anything that extreme w/ my reloads, but id still like to be close to 1 inch groups +/- a lil bit at 100..i may go on another elk hunt w/ this rifle but at any reasonable range id be shooting at an elk i dont think id have any issues w/ the 165s...i was curious how the 130 grain ttsxs shot out of a 300 wm, but from other reviews ive read is that the bullet doesnt stabilize real good because of it bein shorter and the speed, so ive crossed that option out. what are some good 165s i should give a try that perform good and wont break the bank(cant go too crazy lol)..thanks again for the help!

168TSX's and Ramshot Hunter...

Geez..how big are your deer?

I've got the same rifle and it loves the 180's and 200's. Imr 4350 powder and CCI 250 primers. I use the regular partitions (not the protected point). The rifle shoots great with these bullets. DON'T use 150's in it unless you like tons of bloodshot meat. If your thinking 150's, maybe you should sell it and buy yourself a 300 savage or 308 win.

Big! Huge! Prehistoric wooley mammath-size!

lol i do hunt where some pretty big bodied deer in northern wi and western ny haha..prolly not big enough to NEED a 300 wm but i like the rifle alot so im gonna hang on to it...it puts em down in a hurry tho

here in va we have little deer, i run hornady 150ssts in my 300 wm and my 300 weatherby, i would say if we had longer ranges and bigger animals i would opt for a 180grainer, but dont think that it is needed at all here. Ive dumped deer in the 350-400 yard range with my 257 weatherby running 115 bergers. Ron

150 , 165 or 168 ; baltip cbt or sst.

My MKII likes both the Barness 180g MRX and 168g TTSX. Haven't tried anything lighter.

I hunt elk mostly and use those loads for deer, too. The 180's will end-to-end a mulie. In your situation I'd shoot whatever shoots best, 130g to 180g TTSX.

My 300's all have one load for each rifle, simpler for me that way, and also will take care of any animal the 300 will be used for.
200gn Swifts or NP's have proven accurate w/extreme penetration, there may be better long range bullets out there, but these 2 will do out to 500 easy if You know Your rifle and have a little exp. @ shooting longer ranges.
Plus, You dont have to wonder if there gonna work when they get there.
They work.

Gunner

The 180 grain and a 300 go together like "peas & carrots"

I'd go with whatever bullet over-penetrates.

i like 180's also in most of the 300's

Deer aren't that hard to kill. I do though tend to pick my 300Win over lesser cartridges more often than not. I've loaded from 150gr to 200gr bullets in my 300Win. My recommendation is to find a load (or two) and use it for whitetail through elk. Right now, I'm liking 180gr TSX but about to try some load development for 200 Accubonds.

I always liked 180 in my 300. Nosler Partition for elk hunting. Doesn't matter for deer.

270

I think that the Military runs 200 grainers to handle the wind better down range, or at least they used to.

ive always ran 180s thru mine as of not since i did buy it to go on an elk hunt, and they havent given me any reason to change so far, but i was thinkin bout trying somethin different...but i think for now im going to stick w/ the federal 180s and give reloading a try when i shoot enough to save money off buying all the materials..i do appreciate the responses tho!
Brian

Go with a 180 gr Hornaday SP or the Speer Version. That is were I would go with a 300 Winchester. Those two bullets worked well for the few Deer I shot with a 300 Weatherby may moons ago. I myself will be moving to Alabama next month if the job I am up for comes thru. I think either a 6.5 x 55 or 7 x 57 will be more than enough gun for Alabama White Tails. I have a 338 a 7mm RM and 300 WSM. My guess a 250-3000 would be just what the doctor ordered.

ya you definately wont need a big gun for the alabama whitetails if you come down there...not very big at all lol..im gonna do some testing w/ factory ammo to see what shoots the best out of the 300 after i move down to ms where ive been told is a 1000 yard silhouette range..hopin after the makeover on the gun itll like the federal 180s ive been shooting since i have 3 boxes of shells lol

I'm going to try the 200 grain Nosler BT in my .300 mag for deer this year.

why not go with the 180 accubond? if you reload its no more than a box of factory cheap ammo, but they are a premium bullet

IMO you can never go wrong with a 180 Partition and Rel 22.

Near and afar, that combo will do the trick.

I don't like premium bullets for deer. I don't want my bullet to retain all it's weight and punch through the deer only to shed it's energy into a tree. I want my bullet to shed it's weight and energy inside the deer.

150 Power Point

im gonna try some diff factory ammo for this year, my fed 180 grain and probably try some rem 180s and also give 150s a try and see how those group at all the ranges i can shoot(word on the street is i have a 1000 yard steel target range to play on where im moving), and then probably after i get back from deployment start messin around w/ getting some reloads for my 300, and i plan on owning an AR carbine in 223(prolly just keep factory bulk ammo for that), and set up a long range varmint/deer size and below 243 win that i wanna reload and turn into a tack driver

I mostly run 200-Accubonds in mine. Many ways to skin a cat; I generally prefer heavier bullet and the advantages they offer.

My rifle shoots the 180-gn NBT really well; it wouldn't suck even a little to practice with the 180 NBT and hunt the 180 Accubond.

RL22 and H1000 have worked for me.

im really tempted to make up some 200 grainers to see how accurate i can work the load up to when i start for this gun, and i wouldnt ever have to worry about the 200 grain bullet not hitting like a ton of bricks haha..but i like to play around w/ alot of diff sized bullets to see what my gun shoots best...im prolly even gonna try to load some 130 grain ttsxs at some point to just see what they can do

Might want to try a Barnes 150gr.ttxs. I don't currently load for the 300WM, but in one of my 30.06's it's an extremely accurate bullet. In a 300WM you could make it a screamer. I can't imagine how deadly it would be.

thats a bullet i wanna give a shot too..i really like the looks of the ttsx's and have heard lots of good about them...im gonna prolly try almost all their 30 cal line up from 130-180 and see what shoots the best...a 130 grain ttsx in my 300 wm would be crazy flat shooting tho if it could stabilize..ive heard its hit or miss w/ that one tho

It's more about accuracy in what load you should choose. Then I look at downrange performance.

I shoot:

180 gr in 300 win mag.
165 gr in .30-06
150 gr in .308
130 gr in .270

As somebody else pointed out, each caliber has a sweet spot. Why screw with it. Any of the above will smoke a deer and won't explode on impact from being driven at warp speed.

the 180 is more than likely what im going to go with just for the versatility of that round..itll perform on any animal i plan on hunting..and im going to get a 243 for some long range varmint and antelope someday and prolly will give it a go on whitetails too

Years ago when I was carrying the 300 WM. deer hunting I was shooting 180's. I shot one deer with it and it was pretty much like the hammer of Thor hit it. I generally like 180's in my 30.06 also.

if the bulk of your shooting is going to be for deer, there is no reason for a premium bullet. i used to shoot 165's for deer and 180's for elk and have finally settled on 180 hornady's for both. several deer and only one cow elk later, but nodoby will ever convince me you need more than a cup and core like hornady, or sierra or speer in 180 grain for elk.

I'm with you on this. Why use a 300 mag to shoot deer in the first place?

I'd load up some 180 or 200gr bullets for that .300, then buy a .257 Bob or a .243 or a .260 or a .270 or a 7mm-08 for the deer.

168 TTSX with RL 22 to about 3200 fps or so. You're done.

That load could be used to take just about anything on the planet.

A man after my own heart . Don't leave out the 200 gr in the 300 though. Oops, forgot we're talking deer here. The 200 puts the elk down in a hurry. Who uses the 300 on poor old deer anyway . I've actually used the 165's in the 300 winnny with good luck. The 180 is probably the better bullet though if your using the oldstyle bullets and worry about bloodshot meat.

im thinkin im gonna go w/ 180 grain for bigger/longer range game..and a 243 for everything deer and smaller..should be a solid set up

Damn hard to beat a 180 partition or similarly constructed bullet for the 300 win mag. I've just about settled on the 180 and 200gr. partitions in mine. They are both accurate as hell and stout too.

im lookin at either the partition or the nosler ballistic tip..heard great things about both..just depends what shoots best out of the gun

Last Fall I shot 3 deer with a 180PT/300WSM, they all died.
Two weanlings at 100-150 yards, bullet opened, toasted the lungs and left a minimus exit, no carnage.
Shot a big bodied mule deer 3 times at 420 yards. He kept walking after the first shot but dropped at the third. One of the bullets didn't exit(quartering away) but it was dark and I didn't find it boning out the meat.
I also shot a coyote with that combo and it died also.

.300WM story.

When I was using mine I bought a bunch of Remington 150gr Core-lokts just to shoot them and get the brass without a lot of recoil. They shot better than good in that rifle and one season I thought why not give them a go.

Not exactly sure how many Deer I shot with that combo, guessing somewhere around 15 or a few more. Only two ever took another step. One ran about 35 yards and another an old mature Wyoming Mulie just stood there after the the first hit with his legs splayed out-I could see his muscles rippling in the scope as he tried to stay upright, and it was one of the most impressive examples of pure will I have seen-he took two more before he just gave out.

Don't expect others to use the same bullet, and today I probably wouldn't either, but it worked well.

Well....because we could.....and did

Pals and I used to get a load that would handle both elk on down because we frequently hunted elk, and deer in the same season...so there ya go...we used all kinds of bullets in the 165-200 weight range but the 165 Nosler Partition and the 165 BBC driven to 3250 or so worked so well on big bodied mule and whitetail deer(and elk),in so many places from Central Canada through eastern Colorado, that we just grabbed it for everything.

I would respectfully disagree with the notion that a bullet kills these big deer better if it comes unglued and stays inside....I've had some very devastating results(much more than once)with the 165 Partition(you won't recover many),and the BBC(which fragments not at all),that it dispells the notion pretty thoroughly in my mind.

Chest hit with these from a 300 WM,nothing goes far, if it moves at all.....

Ill have to give the 165 partitions a try..im not sure if im goin to go w/ 180 or 165 for primarily deer sized game and occasionally elk

navyman: We used the 180's for the same purposes and of course they work really well also.....but on big mule and whitetail deer, that 165 NPT is a bomb....

One of my pals knocked the snuff out of a 220 gross B&C whitetail in Eastern Colorado with that load....if there was ever a deer that you want "DRT"....that was it!

In my 300 Wby...I have shot the 180 TB, 200 BBC and 220 NP...my favorite 300 Wby load is the 200 BBC loaded to 3000 with H870...seems to just kill critters..

seems like that might just be the ticket for me then..as long as they shoot straight out of my rifle...im gonna do like 90% whitetail sized game(hopin to do a muley hunt if the govt gives me the time off and a pronghorn hunt sometime too)..and my rifle would def shoot pretty darn flat w/ 165s

180gr partition.

i think im going to load up some 165 and some 180 partitions, and see what one groups the best out of my rifle..but if whichever one i buy first, prolly the 165s, shoots good w/ that bullet, im not gonna change anything...im happy w/ 1-1.25 moa..obviously smaller groups are better, but realistically in a hunting rifle if i can shoot 1 inch +/- itll be more than enough if i do my part down range

I have the same Ruger m77 mII in 300wm, and hunted with it as my only big game rifle for 14+yrs. For the last 10yrs I used 180grn Hornady interlock at 2960-2980fps. It is a sturdy enough bullet to not give bloodshot meat, and still soft enough to open up decently on deer. The 190grn btsp was also a very accurate and solid performer.

I'm loading 180 interlock, 71.5 grns RL19, Win mag primers. Consistantly at or under 1moa, and purposefully under 3000fps.

I've taken deer out to 370yrds with my 300wm, but with the load that I use, it really isn't any more or less effective than a standard .270 deer load, which is perfect really. Just more recoil and noise to deal with.

If you go with one load and stick with it, you'll get to know the trajectory very well, and that is a big advantage.

If going to a TSX, I would recommend the 168grn and use it for everything.

Im lookin at the 168 tsx, 165 nosler ballistic tip or the accubond or partitian..im sure w/ good shot placement itll anchor anything i shoot it at

Haven't been following this thread but if I were limited to only one bullet, it would be a 165 Partition or AccuBond.

My thoughts also..gonna try a couple and see what my rifle likes best..but 165s are what i am gonna use

Yup shoot the bugger out it!

also considering the 165 sierra gameking, have read lots of good on it but no personal experience

Plus I limit my shots to 400yds since I call it (stalking and) HUNTING. Not "shooting!"

I use 180 accubonds .. they have a high BC, don't damage tons of meat and have worked perfectly on anything from antelope to larger game

after reading some reviews and stuff i think the 168 grain berger vld sounds like it could be a performer out of my rifle..might have to see how they shoot

i know theres alot of form and factors into shooting out to 600 yards, and i dont plan on shooting that far on game, but i am gonig to practice out that far to expand my hunting distances a lil bit