Recommendations for a bolt action 300WM for BC hunting

H

HelloKy

Member
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Location
Langley Township, British Columbia
Hey all, title says almost everything. Family wants to do some moose and other big game hunting with me in the near future, and I've got my eye on a Browning X-Bolt .300WM to get the job done.

I don't have any particular loyalty to anything though and am all ears to other options. I'm sold on the cartridge though so I'd prefer to look at options chambered in that, for now anyways.

thanks!
 
Look at the Weatherby Vanguard in .300WM or in .300Wby-Mag

300 Weatherby Magnum rounds - on average - achieve a velocity of about 3230 feet per second (fps) while . 300 Winchester Magnum rounds travel at a velocity of 3030 fps. ... 300 Weatherby Magnum bullets travel 3.7 times the speed of a 737 airplane at cruising speed - speed kills quickly
 
IvoB said:
Look at the Weatherby Vanguard in .300WM or in .300Wby-Mag

300 Weatherby Magnum rounds - on average - achieve a velocity of about 3230 feet per second (fps) while . 300 Winchester Magnum rounds travel at a velocity of 3030 fps. ... 300 Weatherby Magnum bullets travel 3.7 times the speed of a 737 airplane at cruising speed - speed kills quickly
Click to expand...

I shall look into this Weatherby version! Thank you for that :)

The Kurgan said:
I'd look at a Tikka T3x if you don't care about polymers.
Click to expand...

I've heard a lot of praise about Tikka, I'll be honest I was waiting to see how long it took before the first Tikka showed up in the thread, and to see it so quickly tells me a lot about how much people love it

Pat Brennan said:
A tikka in 300 WM will be more recoil than a lot of people would be comfortable with.
Click to expand...

Is there anything that could be done to a Tikka to help with that?

MiG25 said:
If it is a loaner rifle, skip the 300 and get a 270.
Click to expand...

This one's not a loaner rifle
 
If you are sold on a .300 Win Mag, then it'll be hard to top an X-Bolt. At that level of factory gun it comes down to mostly variations of features and stock shapes and the like. They are excellent hunting rifles, accurate, smooth cycling, reliable, and well-made.

Have you fired a sporter-weight .300 Win Mag off a bench? I usually would start there with most folks, let them take a couple shots, see how it goes, and see if they can send a few good 3-shot groups downrange. 100% of the time so far the rifle has been handed back to me after the first shot. Sometimes I have to help stop the bleeding or prep a cold compress for their eye, then we move on to more appropriate rounds before building up their recoil tolerance.

About a month from now you will be able to pick up a bunch of "low round count" .300 Win Mags for cheap on the EE or #######. How much trigger time do you have behind a .300? I only ask due to recent join date and past experience with new shooters going straight to the glorious yet pulverizing .300 magnums.
 
I have a 300 WM in an X-bolt Long Range and I love it. Very accurate and it has a muzzle brake for shooting off a bench. I'd definitely choose one for hunting but it is a bit heavy for carrying all day as it's the 'long range' model.
If I were you I'd choose the Hells Canyon Speed model or similar weight.
Good luck!
 
Again, I would echo the ask about your experience with 300 magnums. Have you shot one previously? If so what was it?

Personally the T3 doesn’t fit me well and I have to work hard to shoot it well, also the action is very short for loading longer than standard spec. I do not load the high BC target ammo, I was having issues with normal accubonds. I think for the average person the Tikka is a decent fit, but I’m taller than average, and my arms are longer, for some reason I have a hard time with it.

I would look for a BDL rem 700 or Winchester M70 or Weatherby vanguard. They are all solid rifles, and have a bit of weight to offset the recoil. If you are looking to spend a bit more the Kimber has an excellent stock design to reduce recoil. Also I have been shooting a Christensen arms Mesa for the last little bit. It comes packed with a lot of upgrades compared to a standard factory rifle for the cost. It shoots darn good too. First load I tried was under 1” at 200 years.
 
Very good deal on a kimber classic in 300 wm with Leupold std bases at proline shooters in Calgary, under 800 bucks iirc
 
The 300 wby is a great round but has quite a bit of recoil and is getting very expensive to shoot these days. I would look at a Howa 1500 or Vanguard in 300 Win Mag. I have owned many Tikka's in my opinion the Wby/Howa is a better rifle. I prefer their triggers, metal bottom metal as opposed to plastic, integral recoil lug and 3 position safety.
 
If you can find a M70 Extreme Weather then that would be one of my picks for an off the shelf BC hunting rifle.

The Browning will work just fine, too. Nothing wrong with that pick.
 
huntingfamily said:
If I were you I'd choose the Hells Canyon Speed model or similar weight.
Good luck!
Click to expand...

I took a buddy out to the range 2 weeks ago to sight one of these in. His was a rifle+scope package which isn’t something that I would generally look at but it shot pretty damn well and that was with average ammo. Recoil was pretty manageable with the break. I keep telling him that we have to take it out further. Anyway, it’s a nice gun IMHO. I’m flirting with the idea of getting something in 7 mm Rem Mag and I think a Hells Canyon would be in the running.
 
Not a fan of Tikka myself, I prefer the X Bolt, I like Vanguards but they are heavy I presently own two Vanguards in 300 WM one was bought for a project.
 
One of these years I hope to stumble onto the legendary pile of cheap like new 300 with 19 shells , 44 Mags with 2 shots taken, cheap quads and sleds when the “patch slows down and a hot tip on the whereabouts of the guy wth the 200 mph carburetor. :) Hasn’t happened yet, but I remain optimistic.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom