.300 WM -- .30-06??

[MOS8541]

I just got a very nicely done .300 Win. Mag. from my father in law, and it really works great.  I was sighting it in with some very junky factory ammo and it was still driving tacks.  Anyway, my big problem is that I would like to use it for white tail hunting here in the east, but I'd prefer not to blow the poor critters to smithereens.  Is there a decent light load for the .300 WM that will work well, or alternatively is it possible to use .30-06 ammo in the weapon?

[jhm]

mos8541:  Dont even think of shooting a 30-06 in that rifle completely different CHAMBER, your best bet would be try and find someone who reloads and have them reload you some light loads from the 300 brass, but again dont try and fire 30-06 in it as the brass is smaller, bullet diameters are the same but again the brass is different.    JIM

[Dave in WV]

Jim is right. The 30-06 and 30WM are not interchangable. You can load the mag down or use premium bullets like Nosler Partitions that won't blowup at close range. Going for a heavy bullet like a 200 gr should help lessen meat damge too. Dave

[Lawdog]

MOS8541,

"Dave in WV" has hit the nail on the head.  Considering the costs in shooting factory .300 WM ammo if you don't reload now I would suggest you get into reloading.  Then you can adjust loads to fit what you want to do and save money at the same time.  Stay with premium bullets like Nosler Partitions and you won't go wrong.  Lawdog

[Zachary]

MOS8541,

First off, WELCOME ABOARD.

Another alternative to not blowing up whitetails to smithereens (if that's how you spell it) is to use heavy bullets.  Lighter bullets expand violently and thus cause greater tissue damage.  On the other hand, heavier bullets travel slower, and also generally have thicker jackets, and thus expand slower as well, thus resulting in lesser (although not little) tissue damage.

Zachary

[longwinters]

Yes, Welcome Welcome  Even here in Michigan's Upper Penninsula,big woods country, there are many hunters who like the 300.  It is an awful lot of rifle for shots under 100 yds.  But as everyone ahead of me has said, shoot a heavy bullet and load it light (by the book of course).

See ya around.

longwinters.

[Ron T.]

MOS8541

With a couple of exceptions, I agree with everything everyone has posted here... especially the advice to get into reloading yourself.

You can load that big ol' .300 Winchester Magnum right down to .30/06 velocities with ease… or even down to .300 Savage velocities.   And then, you won't have to stand that big recoil from the heavy bullets.  The .300 Savage is considered by many experts to be “THE” best round for hunting whitetail deer.  My own handloads give a 150 grain Nosler bullet a muzzle velocity of 2675 fps.

You see, there are at least four factors that can cause a rifle's "sensed" recoil to be or SEEM greater.  One is the weight of the bullet, another is the amount of rifle powder used, the third factor is the weight of the rifle and the fourth factor is the fit and shape of the rifle’s stock to the shooter.

Sooooooooo... if you load a 150 grain bullet and drop the velocity down to, let's say, 2700 fps... not only will the recoil be light, but the bullet won't tear up your deer unless you shoot it very close to the end of the rifle's muzzle.

My reloading manual shows a "starting load" for a .300 Winchester magnum of 56.0 grains of IMR4320 that yields a muzzle velocity of 2720 fps using a 150 grain bullet.  This would be slightly “hotter” than my hunting load in my .300 Savage using a 150 grain Nosler Bullet.

According to my ballistics program, if you zero’d your bullets at 2.75 inches high at 100 yards, your bullet would be 3 inches high at 130 yards, 1½ inches high at 200 yards, dead “on” at 230 yards and 3 inches low at 270 yards with a remaining muzzle velocity of 2207 fps and 1622 ft/lbs of bullet energy at 270 yards.  Therefore, you’d have a very respectable “point blank range” of 270 yards meaning that you would not need to “hold over or under” any animal from the muzzle of your rifle out to 270 yards to keep your bullet in the “kill zone” of a deer.  This load has enough “reach”, yet would cause less meat damage than a regular .30/06 load.  Recoil would be 16.65 ft/lbs according to my ballistics program.

Your could duplicate a 150 grain, .30/06 load, but the muzzle velocity would be 200 fps higher (2900 fps), shoot only very slightly flatter, have a slightly greater “point blank range” (285 yards vs. 270 yards) and would probably destroy a lot more meat on the deer due to the increased velocity… and, of course, it would “kick” more (21.23 ft/lbs vs. 16.65 ft/lbs).

As mentioned by another who posted prior to my post, a 150 grain Nosler Partition Bullet would be a fine choice.  You could, however, go to heavier bullets which would not expand nearly as much as a 150 grain bullet due to heavier bullets tending to have thicker jackets.  Such bullets tend to be made for elk, moose and larger or more dangerous game.

Naturally, they will kill a deer, but sometimes… due to their heavier, stronger jackets, they fail to expand very much.  This leaves a very poor blood trail and possibly a wounded rather than a dead deer due to a lack of bullet expansion and a reasonably sized hole in the game.

Naturally, you could load a heavier bullet… a 180 grain or even a 200 grain .308 caliber bullet at lower velocities.  While such bullets wouldn’t damage the meat as much, the recoil would be greater and the “point blank range” shorter.

As an example, using a “starting load” which was also the reloading handbook’s ballisticians “accuracy load” for your .300 Win, Mag. consisting of 62.0 grains of IMR4350 (Maximum load = 69.0 grains) behind a 200 grain Nosler Partition bullet having a very high ballistic coefficient of .481, it would yielded a MV of 2600 fps.  If you “zero’d” your rifle 2.8 inches high at 100 yards, your bullet would be about 3 inches high at 130 yards, dead on at 220 yards and 3 inches low at 255 yards giving you a “point blank range” of 255 yards.

Recoil for the 200 grain bullet @ 2600 fps would be 24.26 ft/lbs compared to 16.65 ft/lbs or about 50% more recoil than the 150 grain bullet.

If you get into reloading, you should buy a good reloading manual.  I like the Lyman Reloading Handbooks because Lyman makes reloading items, but doesn’t make bullets or powder and, thus, tends to use a wide range of both different brands of bullets and different brands of powders.

Whereas, if the tester/publisher of the reloading manual manufactures either bullet OR powder, they naturally tend to use their own brand of bullets or an array of different powders that ONLY they manufacture.  This doesn’t give the reloader as much variety in information as it could if other bullets or other powders were tested and reported upon.

If you know a level-headed person who reloads and is willing to be your mentor, you’ll be far ahead of the game.  But if you don’t know such a person, you can purchase reloading videos and read the information in your reloading handbooks and become quite knowledgeable in a relatively short time.

There is no “mystery” about reloading… it’s pretty straight forward.  But there are certain “rules” you never disobey… and since “common sense” isn’t any longer “common”, one should learn as much as possible about an endeavor like reloading which is very safe unless you get “stupid”… and then it can be very dangerous.


Strength & Honor…

Ron T.

[sport240]

If you do not reload and are shooting factory ammo...DO NOT GO FOR A LIGHT LOAD....this a common mistake a lot of people make on whitetail, they figure the animal is more frail than moose or elk so go for a smaller bullet....right?....wrong!!  The increased velocity you will get out of the lighter load will really do a "jello" job on your meat.  The 300 already hass all the knock-down power in the world....if you lighten the ammo, that knockdown power will come from velocity instead of weight destroying any meat it touches...trust me I hit a deer in the shoulder a few years back with 150's and there was nothing to salvage...you want "umph" instead of "whizz".....Start with 180's and you should be fine.....Good luck!!

Sport240

[Cabin4]

I confused by this. A 300mag is essentially a 30-06 magnum ballistically. They shoot the same exact bullets. I understand the case is differant, I'm talking bullets moving out the end of the bbl.

Handloading the 300mag back down should take you to the 30-06 ballistic range. Again using the same bullets, the result should give you 30-06 performance ballistically and on the game.

I have witnessed fantastic deer kills with a 30-06 using both 150, 165's and 180's in the vitals and shoulder with minimal meat damage worth noting.

Quite honestly I can't see it will make a bit of differance with either the 300 or the -06. If the bullet goes in one side its coming out the other on a deer. So the speed the bullet travels should not make much of a differance on the meat anyway. Both the 300 or the 30-06 with the same bullet are more than ample speed and should do the same thing on a deer anyway.

Am I missing something ?