New Boom Stick

[JP100]

I have finally decided to upgrade my rifle to something a little bigger.
I am looking at a Tikka in .300wsm and wondering honest opinions on recoil. I am not much for recoil and shoot a suppressed .243 so you can imagine a .300 mag is a big jump up.

I want a rifle that is pretty light and capable of taking our game out to 4-500 yards. A Tahr is about the hardest thing here to kill and are similar in size/weigh to Mt Goats. I am thinking 300WSM as this is a short fat case and will perform abit better in a shorter barrel from my understanding. I ma not too fussed about loosing abot a few FPS

I will be getting the barrel shortened and suppressed and hopefully this will bring the recoil down to a manageable level.suppressors can take about 40% off so can be nearly as good as a brake. I was looking at .280 AI or .284 but want some thing that I can get factory ammo for if need be.

Any other suggestions for calibers that will fit the bill?

 

[Beastmode]

Have you considered a 308? I don't think you need a magnum at the range you are talking about. Ammo is easy to find as well. Another great option is a 30/06. Both will have plenty of velocity out to 500 for a good bullet to preform well.

 

[dotman]

I think you would be fine with the none magnum options as well.

 

[GKPrice]

I think you would be fine with the none magnum options as well.

what you are talking about makes perfect sense for the 30.06 or even .308 and if you go with a 150 grain premium bullet you can lessen the recoil that much more and not give up any terminal performance given the animals you are hunting there - .30 / 150 Nosler Etip would be my first try, second would be Barnes TTSX then TSX and I doubt you'd need to look farther for a good grouping bullet from a Tikka - Yet another bonus is that in 30.06 or .308 you can go with a Tikka superlight and save a few added ounces while getting a nice fluted barrel in the deal AND you can get the long Tikka magazines in a 5 capacity now as well

 

[hodgeman]

I've owned a Tikka .300WSM and currently hunt with a Nosler .300WSM.... and have done a lot of hunting with a .308 and a .30-06. The .308 does OK in a 20" barrel, but I wouldn't want either an '06 or a .300 shorter than 22". Both of my .300WSMs and my 7WSM have 24" barrels and I think that's about right.

One nice thing about the .300...it gives me a fair bit of confidence on tough shots. I've shot a couple critters with the .308 at 300+ yards and wound channels tend to be narrow and kills can be slow. At least to date- the .300 has dropped everything much faster.

In light rifles they all kick you around a fair bit...but none of them are unmanageable with decent technique. Heck, if you suppress it and drop the recoil to 40%....that's going to be nearly nothing.

 

[JP100]

I was looking very seriously at a 30-06 and might go that route. I have seen a Tahr soak up 6 shots from a .300 mag, tracked him for over a mile before we found em. they can be tough! But I have killed about 15 with the .243 with only one issue, 2 days ago which has led me to make a decision for this upcoming season.

I wanted to go short mag as then I will have lots of room in the Tikka mag for projectiles, 30-06 might be a bit limited?

 

[Yellowknife]

I wanted to go short mag as then I will have lots of room in the Tikka mag for projectiles, 30-06 might be a bit limited?

Negative. The short mags are mag box limited on the Tikka with block at the rear of the magazine. The long action mag measures around 3.455" ID off the top of my head. You may not reach lands with the more aerodynamic bullets, but a 30-06 has a relatively long neck length, and has room for about the longest bullet that you can stabilize in a 1:11 twist without getting stuck too far down the case. I've hunted with 200 gr NPT and the even longer 175 gr LRX without issue. Shorter (higher lead content) boattail bullets like the 180 Sierra or a 168 Berger will almost fall out of the case before you run out of mag room. In other words... I don't think you will have an issue with 30-06 mag length unless you are running the real heavies (210+).

On another note. I don't know that the "short fat" gives you any real velocity magic in a short barrel. I have a .300 H&H which is the "long skinny" version of the WSM, and all the load data I've looked at and shot gives near identical velocities for identical powder charges as the WSM. You would get more than a 30-06 for sure, but I'm not sure it would be worth burning the extra powder for on a short barreled gun.

 

[JP100]

Negative. The short mags are mag box limited on the Tikka with block at the rear of the magazine. The long action mag measures around 3.455" ID off the top of my head. You may not reach lands with the more aerodynamic bullets, but a 30-06 has a relatively long neck length, and has room for about the longest bullet that you can stabilize in a 1:11 twist without getting stuck too far down the case. I've hunted with 200 gr NPT and the even longer 175 gr LRX without issue. Shorter (higher lead content) boattail bullets like the 180 Sierra or a 168 Berger will almost fall out of the case before you run out of mag room. In other words... I don't think you will have an issue with 30-06 mag length unless you are running the real heavies (210+).

On another note. I don't know that the "short fat" gives you any real velocity magic in a short barrel. I have a .300 H&H which is the "long skinny" version of the WSM, and all the load data I've looked at and shot gives near identical velocities for identical powder charges as the WSM. You would get more than a 30-06 for sure, but I'm not sure it would be worth burning the extra powder for on a short barreled gun.

Thanks for that info. good to know there is enough room in the long mag. I was maybe going to buy the long magnum magazine or customize the normal one for extra length with the short mag. how longs ya barrel on the .30-06 and .300 h&h?
Im not expecting magic just an improvement.

 

[luke moffat]

I've owned a Tikka .300WSM and currently hunt with a Nosler .300WSM.... and have done a lot of hunting with a .308 and a .30-06. The .308 does OK in a 20" barrel, but I wouldn't want either an '06 or a .300 shorter than 22". Both of my .300WSMs and my 7WSM have 24" barrels and I think that's about right.

One nice thing about the .300...it gives me a fair bit of confidence on tough shots. I've shot a couple critters with the .308 at 300+ yards and wound channels tend to be narrow and kills can be slow. At least to date- the .300 has dropped everything much faster.

In light rifles they all kick you around a fair bit...but none of them are unmanageable with decent technique. Heck, if you suppress it and drop the recoil to 40%....that's going to be nearly nothing.

Why no shorter than 22"? Why do you think 24" is right? At 18" you will still have 30-06 24" barrel 30-06 speed but in a much handier package. Likewise with a 30-06 at 18" gives you 308 speed in a handier package.

 

[tenth1]

Even after traipsing through Alaska brush with all sorts of barrel lengths, I never really felt that the shorter barrel lengths were all that handier. Started with 24", down to 18", now at 26".

 

[JP100]

Im with Luke on the shorter is better. best decision of my life was cutting my barrel down haha. so much better to carry through monkey scrub and points and shoots alot better

 

[Yellowknife]

Thanks for that info. good to know there is enough room in the long mag. I was maybe going to buy the long magnum magazine or customize the normal one for extra length with the short mag. how longs ya barrel on the .30-06 and .300 h&h?
Im not expecting magic just an improvement.

My current '06 is the usual Tikka 22.4" barrel, but I've also owned/own '06's in 22", 20", and 18.5". At 22.4" I get +/- 2800 fps with a variety of 180 gr handloads. I never chronographed the 18.5", but I'm sure it was a bit slower, and certainly it was harder to shoot well (butt heavy balance).

My particular H&H is a 26", so I can't compare to a snubby WSM. Basically however, case capacity is within a couple of grains and load data for both show that they get essentially the same velocity from extremely similar powder charges at equal barrel lengths. Just based on that, I'm going to assume that the efficiency is extremely close, and I can't think of a reason that shouldn't hold true for any barrel length. Could be wrong though.

I suspect where the "WSM is more efficient in a short barrel" comes from is because it IS more efficient compared to larger .300's. Assuming that efficiency is measured by fps/gr burned, or even in fps lost / in of barrel reduction. However, I would guess that it's LESS efficient than a 30-06 which is even LESS efficient than a .308 win. At some point, basic bore/case ratio math is going to trump minor case shape effects.

 

[luke moffat]

Even after traipsing through Alaska brush with all sorts of barrel lengths, I never really felt that the shorter barrel lengths were all that handier. Started with 24", down to 18", now at 26".

Well quit messing around and go 30" then

Having owned a 26" barrel rifle once it's hard for me to want to strap even a 22" barrel to my pack. But that's what so great that we all have choices to carry what we prefer. Personally I don't miss the added FPS and I shot just as mediocre with both a short and long barrel so I just lop them short these days.

 

[tenth1]

Haha, ya... 26" is definitely pushing the limits and I may change my mind again and lop off a couple inches .

I should have added that since I'm using the Gun Bearer, I am able to pack the longer gun easier and lower as compared to other conventional methods.

 

[PathFinder]

One option you'll have with the Tikka is to run long action mags and a long action bolt stop on a short action rifle. That should let you seat the longer bullets out where they need to be in the WSM.

 

[Yellowknife]

I've been told that the WSM shells don't work from the standard long mags. Haven't tried it though.

 

[luke moffat]

Would be interested in hearing how that WSM in a magnum magazine works. Been thinking about getting a 300 WSM. Seems like it could be a sweet setup.

 

[GKPrice]

Would be interested in hearing how that WSM in a magnum magazine works. Been thinking about getting a 300 WSM. Seems like it could be a sweet setup.

I just walked out to the gun room and tried a 270 WSM round in a "L" mag ("L" means long, '06 class and 300 win mag class) No way will a WSM work in a standard "L" magazine
I'm as inclined as anyone to try and "make" it work but I can see a ruined $50 magazine (or two) in the picture on this one

 

[luke moffat]

Bummer

 

[AKHUNTER]

I've been using a Tikka T3 Lite in 300 WSM for 11 yrs now. It's my do everything big game rifle for hunting in Alaska. It's taken moose, big brownies, sheep, caribou, and wolves. No complaints whatsoever. Yes, it has some recoil, but I weigh 155 lbs and it's no big deal. Are my my .204 and .243 more pleasant to shoot - heck yes. Nonetheless, I haven't developed a flinch with the 300 and shoot it well. It's a great gun for the money and very accurate with many loads. Good luck with whatever you end up with.