Short magnums on long actions

[wethington123]

Hi. First post so my appoligies if it's not in the right thread and all that. Thinking of doing a 300WSM barrel for a long action soon. If anybody else has done that I was wondering what weight class bullets you find to be the sweet spot since getting out of the SA should unlock the heavy 30 cals....planning to use H4350. Another concern I had was magazine feeding? To me a short mag 30 cal with bullets seated long looks almost like a scaled-up 6BR - like the ratio of powder weight/column height to bullet diameter and weight, I assume there's something to that with the reports of easy to find accuracy and consistancy. That's why I'm drawn to it over say a 300prc, or even some kind of 7mm short magnum. Anybody mind weighing in?

For the record I say long action over medium because really I would like to be able to use the action for a true LA round down the road if needed, and I guess the feeding question would be answered better that way.

Thanks!

 

[pods8 (Rugged Stitching)]

You didn't say what rifle so that is probably going to factor into your feeding question.

I have long throated 300wsm tikka that I used 181gr monos (long) and 208eldm in, at the time I was using HCA's gen 1 mag. No issues with feeding.

 

[wethington123]

Yeah that's right, sorry. My short action guns are Zermatt which are CRF, probably going to stick with that and do a TL3 but not 100 percent. Do you know if your smith had a reamer with whatever freebore built in or if they throated it out to a dummy round for you?

 

[PathFinder]

The 300 WSM I had was a factory Tikka with an LA bolt stop. Also used HCA magazines, which worked great. The load was a 208 ELD-M at 2.910 COAL, RL23 at 2900 FPS. Long throated 300 WSM reamers probably aren't common, and throating them is easy if you don't want to wait for a custom reamer. If my memory is correct, the Tikka/SAAMI throat needed another .100" to seat 208 ELD-M at the neck/shoulder junction. It would be best to mock up a dummy round with the bullet you want to use. The new 230 TMK should be excellent.
Slower powders are good for the heavy bullets, especially with them seated out where they belong. H1000, RL23, and N565 would all be in the ideal range.

 

[Judd]

Yeah that's right, sorry. My short action guns are Zermatt which are CRF, probably going to stick with that and do a TL3 but not 100 percent. Do you know if your smith had a reamer with whatever freebore built in or if they throated it out to a dummy round for you?

I like the flexibility of the Zermatt actions. If it'll fit in a medium, I'd do a medium just for feeding. Especially since Hawkins has bottom metal for a medium 7prc.

One thing to know (and you may already know)...TL3 has to be magazine fed, no BDL and no wyatt's extended box. That's fine if all you want is magazines. The SR3 you can get the wyatt's extended cut and feedrails.

My 300wsm is built on a short action TL3 and I'm very happy...but I don't shoot the long heavies so I can't help you on feeding from a long action. FWIW - a 155 scenar is nasty on stuff at 300wsm speeds. To me, just move to the 300prc if you are stuck on a long action...you'll be happier.

 

[pods8 (Rugged Stitching)]

Do you know if your smith had a reamer with whatever freebore built in or if they throated it out to a dummy round for you?

I don't know if they had a reamer as is or throated it longer separately.

 

[Geewhiz]

I have a factory tikka 300wsm that will let me chamber berger 215 hybrids at 3.25 oal

 

[MT762]

You prob will not be using H4350 for long heavy bullets in the 300 WSM. It loses out to slower powders as soon as you get over 180 grains, as a general rule. H4831SC is a better choice. Plenty of other choices, too, but in that range. I run 4831SC for 200s and I've got a 212gr ELDX load I run over N565. H4350 does really well for 160-180gr bullets.

The Tikka is probably a good choice for what you're talking about. I can't think of another action that will feed long, med, and short rounds through the same action. Which they obviously did to save money but...now it's a feature.

Def go with 1:8 twist. That's a no-brainer.

Your smith will cut the throat based on the dummy rounds you make up and send to him. He'll cut the chamber, slip the dummies in, and keep cutting the throat until the dummies barely kiss the lands.

Ie you will make your dummy rounds slightly longer than the COAL of the rounds you will actually shoot.

The 7 short mags are nice and I shoot them--it's tough to beat a 180 ELDM at 2800-2900 fps--but it's also hard to find good brass for the 7WSM and the 7 SAUM is not exactly common. Meanwhile more companies make 300 WSM brass every year. That alone kind of makes the decision.

I think once you get a long throat fast twist 300 WSM you won't really think about anything else.

 

[Dark timber]

I’m getting 2960fps with Berger 200.20x and 65.5gr H4350 from a throated factory 24” Tikka. 3.17” coal. It hammers.