California compliant 300 Win Mag loads?

[Humboldt]

I asked the same of the 308 -- what non-lead loads have people worked up for the 300 WM? Am still working on mine. Not seeing a lot of 200 grain options out there. So far am working with the Hornady GMX and RL22.

 

[meta_gabbro]

Barnes TSX and LRX come in flavors up to 200, and my grandfather gets decent results in a 300WM with a 200gr LRX over 66.1gr of RL19. Hammer Bullets also offer their Hammer Hunter and Shock Hammers from 181gr to 227gr. Their estimated BCs are all lower than the Barnes offerings, though supposedly you can get them to higher speeds. Haven't tested that, so either Barnes' BC or Hammer's radius-bands might be gimmicky af.

Any reason in particular you're stepping into that higher weight class? The lighter mono bullets have performed just as well as heavier bonded bullets for me out of my grandfather's 06 and my 300WSM. Would not be concerned about slinging a 180 or 175 at an elk through an 06.

 

[mooretitan]

180TTSX with H4831, H1000. Should work just fine on anything you want to shoot. I do have a couple boxes of 200LRX but have not reloaded them yet.

 

[CApighunter]

168 TTSX over RL22, right at 3200 in mine.

 

[jt4]

168 TTSX over RL22, right at 3200 in mine.

What rifle is this in?


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[CApighunter]

What rifle is this in?


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Legendary arms works professional.

 

[MattB]

If I was handloading, I would look hard at the Hammer line of bullets. I used those for my daughter's .243 and they were SO easy to get to shoot well. She has only shot one pig with it, but the bullet did it's job. 70 gr. loaded to ~3,000 fps (light), 160# boar bedded at 92 yards, the bullet shank and one petal were found underneath the hide on the far side.

 

[Humboldt]

Barnes TSX and LRX come in flavors up to 200, and my grandfather gets decent results in a 300WM with a 200gr LRX over 66.1gr of RL19. Hammer Bullets also offer their Hammer Hunter and Shock Hammers from 181gr to 227gr. Their estimated BCs are all lower than the Barnes offerings, though supposedly you can get them to higher speeds. Haven't tested that, so either Barnes' BC or Hammer's radius-bands might be gimmicky af.

Any reason in particular you're stepping into that higher weight class? The lighter mono bullets have performed just as well as heavier bonded bullets for me out of my grandfather's 06 and my 300WSM. Would not be concerned about slinging a 180 or 175 at an elk through an 06.

Have been interested in the higher BC, higher KE of heavier bullets in the .300. Have always shot 180 grain Partitions and wanted to try 200 grain Accubonds (both over RL22). With the new regulations here though am obviously going to try something else. Will give Barnes a look, thanks. Had heard the all-copper is harder to clean than the gilding metal of Hornady and Nosler.

 

[meta_gabbro]

Depends on the barrels, in my experience. My Tikka has been fine, with hardly any fouling, but my old Remington 760 gets funky real fast. The majority of my shooting in the off season is with jacketed bullets though, so if you're shooting copper monolithics exclusively, YMMV.

Barnes released a new 212gr LRX this year with a 0.705 BC that should scratch anyone's itch for a stupid heavy monolithic long range magnum bullet. Only problem will be getting a barrel that can stabilize it.

 

[Humboldt]

Barnes TSX and LRX come in flavors up to 200, and my grandfather gets decent results in a 300WM with a 200gr LRX over 66.1gr of RL19. Hammer Bullets also offer their Hammer Hunter and Shock Hammers from 181gr to 227gr. Their estimated BCs are all lower than the Barnes offerings, though supposedly you can get them to higher speeds. Haven't tested that, so either Barnes' BC or Hammer's radius-bands might be gimmicky af.

Any reason in particular you're stepping into that higher weight class? The lighter mono bullets have performed just as well as heavier bonded bullets for me out of my grandfather's 06 and my 300WSM. Would not be concerned about slinging a 180 or 175 at an elk through an 06.

Agreed. I have changed my thinking regarding the heavier bullets. Seems like 180 grains will be perfect in a non lead bullet!

 

[meta_gabbro]

Sounds good. Definitely don't rule out the Hammers; I was wrong about their BC's, since they use G7 and Barnes uses G1. They're comparable, better for some bullets and worse for others. I'm going to try out their 181gr this season if I draw.

 

[cmcpherson]

I shot 199 grain hammers all last year elk and deer. My wife even shot antelope with them. All shots were pass through and critters died within sight and left tremendous blood trail.

Adg brass
215m primers
77.0 gn of h1000
3054 fps

 

[Northpark]

I also shoot the 199 hammers out of my .300 win mag. Have killed everything from 40lb javelina to Aoudad to oryx to antelope and my latest was a Catalina goat. (I hunt in TX a fair bit due to family living there). Everything dies fast. Mine are leaving a 26” barrel at 3128 with H1000 ADG brass, 215m primers. I also shot a Catalina nanny with the 64gr version out of my AR at 145 yards and she went like 20 yards before going down.

 

[CHWine]

We all know that shooting copper in our lovely Commiefornia is now the law. As copper is so much lighter than lead a .30 cal 200 grain traditional jacketed bullet is about the same length as a 168. If a fella is looking for speed and knockdown power think about how much case space those long projectiles take up in your brass. I would suggest H1000 or H4831 as powders for that caliber.

 

[meta_gabbro]

think about how much case space those long projectiles take up in your brass

This really doesn’t seem to affect velocities all that much. Looking at Hogdon’s loads for the 165gr Partitions vs 165gr GMX, it really doesn’t seem like you’re losing that much to reduced case volume; loads are still within like 75fps at most with Win 760. Even looking at the LRX vs. the SMK at 175gr velocities are very very close. The common consensus too is that the higher weight retention of a copper bullet results in similar terminal performance to a traditional bullet that might shed 15% of it’s weight upon initial expansion.

 

[kevin11mee]

The 175 grain Barnes LRX with H4831 seems to shoot really well in my .300 with about 3125fps. Also going to try the Barnes 168 TTSX with H4831 and see how it shoots.

 

[Mosby]

The 175 grain Barnes LRX with H4831 seems to shoot really well in my .300 with about 3125fps. Also going to try the Barnes 168 TTSX with H4831 and see how it shoots.

The 175 grain Barnes shoots sub MOA in my WM. It is the most accurate bullet I have found in my rifle. My 200 grain bullet is a Nosler Partition.

 

[kevin11mee]

The 175 grain Barnes shoots sub MOA in my WM. It is the most accurate bullet I have found in my rifle. My 200 grain bullet is a Nosler Partition.

I just picked up some 200 grain Accubonds for out of state hunting. Which powder? H4831? H1000?

 

[Mosby]

I just picked up some 200 grain Accubonds for out of state hunting. Which powder? H4831? H1000?

I normally use RL22.

 

[ACKLEYFAN]

I posted my .308 Win load - here's my mono load for the .300 Winnie and personal observations: 168gr TTSX over 73gr of RL22 at Barnes' recommended COAL of 3.30". This load is sub-MOA in my Ruger M77MkII and shoots MOA in 2 R700 XCRII's. It's not a super fast load as it's a bit hot for the R700's - they appear to have a tighter chamber than my Ruger which has no pressure issues with this load. Words of caution - I shot a 6x7 Elk with this load, he was lasered @ 512 yards. 2 rounds pencil holed through, he just flinched them off, so I lined up and shot him in the neck for a kill shot. The impact velocity was calculated @ 2006fps. Never again will I shoot a mono on an Elk, or anything else, unless required to by law. I did my research on the bullet, called Barnes and based on the info provided determined that my kill zone was out to 700 yards - not the case. Others have noted the same issue with the early runs of the 168gr TTSX. Perhaps they've gotten better... I did shoot a California Blacktail with the load, he was 25 yards away and dropped like a rock - the bullet functioned perfectly, to be expected at that range. I used the 300 that day as it's all SS with the boat paddle stock - impervious to the rain and wind I was hunting in that day. YMMV Good luck!