300WM twist rate?

[Mr Drysdale]

My son is trying to decide between a Tikka T3x Superlite or Browning Hell’s Canyon in 300 WM. The Tikka lists a 11” twist while the Browning lists a 8” twist. There is bound to be a great difference between bullet weight performance in the two. I don’t have any experience with a 300WM so let’s hear it from y’all.

Browning weighs more but has a 26” barrel.
Tikka weighs less with a 24.3” barrel and is a couple hundred dollars cheaper.

 

[elkguide]

If you're going to shoot the heavier bullets, the Tikka won't be as likely to stabilize them with that twist.

The .300 Win Mag is a great caliber. My go to for all around hunting.

 

[davsco]

browning should be a 1-10 twist in 300wm, not 1-8. most everything other than tikka is 1-10 for the .30 cal's.

tikka's twist rate seems to be a little less in all their calibers, not sure why, but haven't heard many complaints.

 

[Formidilosus]

My son is trying to decide between a Tikka T3x Superlite or Browning Hell’s Canyon in 300 WM. The Tikka lists a 11” twist while the Browning lists a 8” twist. There is bound to be a great difference between bullet weight performance in the two. I don’t have any experience with a 300WM so let’s hear it from y’all.

Browning weighs more but has a 26” barrel.
Tikka weighs less with a 24.3” barrel and is a couple hundred dollars cheaper.

What bullets does he want to shoot?


While an 11” twist sucks, it’s certainly not the inhibitor of shooting good projectiles like most seem to think.

browning should be a 1-10 twist in 300wm, not 1-8. most everything other than tikka is 1-10 for the .30 cal's.

tikka's twist rate seems to be a little less in all their calibers, not sure why, but haven't heard many complaints.

On some models Browning is being smart and have updated their twist rates to reflect modern bullets. There are indeed Xbolts in 300WM that have an 8” twist.

 

[wareagle700]

While not ideal, the 11 twist in the Tikka will be fine for most hunting bullets up to around 200gr. If that's an issue then you probably want to look for a 10 twist from another manufacturer. I know nothing about the newer Brownings but I think I could live with a 11 twist in a Tikka for a hunting rifle. You would have a hard time finding anything to walk away from a 165gr-180gr Barnes TSX, Nosler ABLR, or Partition out of a 300WM.

 

[Formidilosus]

While not ideal, the 11 twist in the Tikka will be fine for most hunting bullets up to around 200gr. If that's an issue then you probably want to look for a 10 twist from another manufacturer. I know nothing about the newer Brownings but I think I could live with a 11 twist in a Tikka for a hunting rifle. You would have a hard time finding anything to walk away from a 165gr-180gr Barnes TSX, Nosler ABLR, or Partition out of a 300WM.

It’ll do better than 200gr’s. I’ve shot lots 208gr AMAX’s out of 11.25” twist 308’s.


People don’t realize that a 10” twist 30cal is a “fast” twist comparatively speaking. They should all come with an 8” twist, but I would worry a bit about an 11” twist of a 300WM in a Tikka worked for me.

 

[duckhunter175]

browning should be a 1-10 twist in 300wm, not 1-8. most everything other than tikka is 1-10 for the .30 cal's.

tikka's twist rate seems to be a little less in all their calibers, not sure why, but haven't heard many complaints.

For 2018 Browning updated their twist rate to 1-8" on the 300wm for the Long Range Models- LR Stalker, Hells Canyon LR and the Pro LR.

They also used faster twist barrels on several other cartridges in the Long Range line ups.

 

[wareagle700]

It’ll do better than 200gr’s. I’ve shot lots 208gr AMAX’s out of 11.25” twist 308’s.

Bad wording on my part I guess. I was assuming 208's 210's and such would be considered "around 200gr."

 

[Formidilosus]

Bad wording on my part I guess. I was assuming 208's 210's and such would be considered "around 200gr."

I didn’t think you meant that, was just clarifying because it often comes out that the 11” twist is only good for short, blunt bullets. It’s not optimum, but not that bad.

 

[Kraze]

Do you or your son hand load? If you do or plan on it in the future, just know that the max COAL with the stock Tikka mag will leave you a long way from the lands (.2" away from the lands in my particular rifle). You can buy aftermarket bottom metal and use AICS mags which would help, but factor that into the cost if you plan to reload for the rifle.

If you only shoot factory ammo, that won't matter to you.

Personally, I wish I would have gone with 300 WSM instead of WM on mine, solely due to the mag length restrictions. Love everything else about the Tikka though.

 

[HonkeyMcGee88]

I wouldn't be very concerned with the 11 test rate bud.
I've shot plenty of 175s in 308s with 12 twist barrels that most would say isnt enough twist. That being said my winmag is a 1-10.
If you have an idea of what factory ammo or hand load you will be using and a rough idea of the speed you can easily check stability in a calculator for some peace of mind as well.

 

[HonkeyMcGee88]

On another note, if you are shooting something like a 180ish bullet I really wouldnt be worried about it.

I used to have a 20+lb winmag shooting 215s af 3000fps and now my hunting rifle is a 11lb winmag that I am shooting 180s at 3000fps.

The recoil even on the lighter gun is much more tolerable than smoking those heavy bullets fast.

 

[davsco]

On some models Browning is being smart and have updated their twist rates to reflect modern bullets. There are indeed Xbolts in 300WM that have an 8” twist.

wow, that's a big change!

 

[Sodbuster]

davsco

Formidilosus
On some models Browning is being smart and have updated their twist rates to reflect modern bullets. There are indeed Xbolts in 300WM that have an 8” twist.

wow, that's a big change!

Bullet options are wide open with that one.

 

[ChrisA]

I borrowed a friend's 11 twist 300wm with 26" barrel and worked up a 215gr Berger load with H-1000. Elevation here is 900' and Berger's stability calculator says it should be marginally unstable, however, at 8000' it would be stable.

Every barrel is different and other 11 twists may not stabilize the 215 Berger. Like mentioned earlier though, there are many other fine bullets that will stabilize in an 11 twist.

Chris