200gr ELDX 300 wm H4831sc?

[mattwill00]

Hey everyone quick question.

This is my first go at reloading for this caliber and I’m putting together some rounds for a friend. He’s running a tikka 300wm 1:11” with the stock bottom metal. So pretty limited on COAL for this particular round.

He scooped up some 200gr eldx bullets and has a mix of federal nickel plated and regular brass. unfortunately I only reload for my 6.5x284 and started right before the pandemic so I’m limited to h4831sc and retumbo as far as powder that I have.

With limited time before season and him living a couple hours away he just wants me to load up a conservative load with the h4831sc according to horndays load data at magazine length. I went ahead and loaded up a couple lighter loads and then the majority at 73gr 4831. My hope is he doesn’t run into pressure while shooting the lighter ladder, then can use the majority loaded at 73gr, 3.34 COAL in his rifle with serviceable accuracy.

Is this how you all would approach this situation? He’s just low on ammo before the season and this ammo crunch is tough to get around. Hopefully those rounds don’t run too hot and they are at least an MOA round without any work up. Does anyone have any load data for this bullet/powder combo? Running 215 primers and it is a compressed load btw.

 

[moxford]

IMO, no. Sounds dangerous to get up anywhere near the top end.

But if you have to, and don't hold me to this, and none of it is super safe, but I'd back off down to 2800 fps, or even a lower, say, 2750 or 2700. So you lose 50-100 fps ... who really cares? Compared to risking your friend to unknown pressure in an unknown rifle being fired at an unknown elevation chasing game in an unknown temperature using random cases with an unknown history?

Yeah, play it super safe if anything. He could shoot that 200gr at 2500 FPS and be totally good (realistically, it's basically a 30-06 at that grn/vel combo.) It won't reach out as far and will have a shorter range for good expansion, but it's way safer. But if you decide to roll the dice and go higher, stay well away from the top end.

Or just make him drive a few hours to you on a Friday night, have a BBQ, crash out, spend a day at the range working it up with him, have some downtime hanging out, eval the data, and then be happy with your decision to not blow up your friend. Or have him drop the rifle off with you / you pick it up (assuming you're in a free state where this is legal, unlike California ... sigh) and then you work up the load and give the whole package back to him. Could use what you've already loaded to save time / effort.

Stay safe ... !

Cheers,
-mox

 

[wind gypsy]

I'd help him if it was a load I was familiar with.

In your case, I'd be more apt to tell him to get on the google machine to find some ammo and pay the premium for his procrastination.

Safe charge weights in Win Mags vary widely based on the different brass capacities and chambers so info you get online could be very suspect unless you compare apples to apples.

 

[mattwill00]

Got it. To ease minds a little bit I do know that the brass is all 1x fired federal factory loads, bumped back .003. All fired from said rifle in question. I do have the ladder for him to shoot to check for pressure starting at 71.8 gr. Do you think it’s ok to have him start with that ladder? I mean, if it was my rifle, that’s where I would begin. That should be less than 2800 FPS according to hornadys load data.

I do appreciate the responses thus far!

 

[wind gypsy]

Got it. To ease minds a little bit I do know that the brass is all 1x fired federal factory loads, bumped back .003. All fired from said rifle in question. I do have the ladder for him to shoot to check for pressure starting at 71.8 gr. Do you think it’s ok to have him start with that ladder? I mean, if it was my rifle, that’s where I would begin. That should be less than 2800 FPS according to hornadys load data.

I do appreciate the responses thus far!

If he knows how to read pressure and shoots the ladder I'd say you have reason to feel a lot better about it.

I wouldn't intermix nickel plated with standard brass.

Hodgdon website says 71.5 is max with a 200 accubond for what it's worth. My lyman manual on the other hand has a 200 grain OTM bullet with a max of 74.0. To my point, WM data is all over the place.

 

[mattwill00]

Damn that’s pretty eye opening. He should be good at reading pressure signs, and unfortunately I am out of town on work for another week and a half. I’ll probably just wait until I get back and actually do the work up myself.

In the meantime, if anyone has any data for that combo that they’d like to pass along that would be awesome.

i appreciate you guys helping me out with this. Reloading has been an interesting learning experience for sure.

 

[JimGa]

I'm using h4831 with a 210 Berger @72.0 gr with Fed Gold Medal Match brass, 210 primer and getting 2870fps.

 

[hodgeman]

I've used H4831 in the 300WM. You usually don't get top speed, but serviceable accuracy. I've found Hornady data pretty conservative.

Start low and work up.

 

[452b264]

The manual list top loads for the 212 gr. eldx at 2800 the 200 gr. bullet is 2850/2900 fps but your rifle may be much faster. Some riles love to shoot .1 to .3 very close to a max charge and dont group well anywhere else.

I safely get 2930 fps at 79 grs. for the 212 eldx with N 570, but I work up to a max load at .5 grains. I am two grains below max for my rifle.

 

[j43097]

I've used H4831 in the 300WM. You usually don't get top speed, but serviceable accuracy. I've found Hornady data pretty conservative.

Start low and work up.

Ive found that as well. the Hodgdon reloading center site seems a little more reliable

 

[AC300win]

73g’s at saami length is likely a very hot load. Would not go that high without very careful work up. My tikka 300 win is on its upper end with same bullet and powder at 72.3 but loaded out to 3.5 COAL with 2850fps.

 

[excaliber]

H1000 is a much better option for the 200g ELD-X. H4831sc was quite a bit slower with both the 180 NAB and 200 gr ELD-X. It may have been slightly more accurate with the 180g bullet but it was really slow in comparison.
RL26 also shot really well with the 200g ELD-X.
I think you'd be better off with a slower burning powder like H1000,RL26 or Retumbo.