Anyone carry two loads for hunting?

S

Salvelinus

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I recently picked up a 300 WSM, and a big reason I chose the caliber was its versatility and bullet selection. Looking at load data, the caliber basically picks up at starting loads where the 30-06 leaves off at max. So it can be loaded with 150-165 gr bullets and starting loads should produce similar recoil energies and velocities to a 30-06 on max loads. Recoil calculators verify this when I plug in available load data.

I bought the rifle thinking I can maximize barrel life and keep recoil down by shooting mainly starting loads (assuming I can get them to shoot accurately), which should be more than enough velocity and energy for the deer and elk hunting I do. If I head up to northern BC or the Yukon I can work up something heavier or closer to max load in 165 gr or 180 gr for moose.

Then I got to thinking that I could go all in and load up 220 gr and get as hot as possible for the rifle for bear defence. My main hunting areas locally can be heavy grizzly country so why not keep a magazine of stout loads for hike in/carry out and switch to the lighter stuff when I get to my hunting area? Anyone use this tactic? I doubt point of impact will be too different to matter much for scope zero, and it still gives the option of close range shots on game when walking up trails or through timber.
 
For myself, sticking with one load is enough.

Ask yourself this; why would a bear need more than a moose? Why does a moose need less than a bear?
When the time comes, will you have the ice in your veins to unload, find your bear defense, load up and survive?
Me, not so much. I'll skip all that and pull the damn trigger, cause you know, a bear be coming to eat me.

30-06 is enough for anything you're asking. Find the equal load that works in your .300 and go with it.
 
I use 2 loads in my 300WSM. A full power Barnes TTSX and a low velocity Trailboss load for whacking grouse.

Find a good load with a good bullet, and use it for everything. You are really over complicating things, unless your goal is to play around with different loads for fun.
 
^^^^^^

I do the same with the 308.

165gr Accubond hunting load,and a 150gr 30-30 bullet over TB for grouse or (point blank finisher)

*****
I just tried loading some 220 grain Partitions for the 06' (mostly out of curiosity), but doubt i'll hunt with them.
 
My standard load for my .300WM is the 180gr TTSX bullet at 3050 fps MV sighted 3" high at 100yds. I also load the 240gr Woodleigh power point soft nose bullet at about 2500 fps MV and it's dead on at 100yds. I carry both loads and would like to see how the heavier bullet performs.
 
Slamfire said:
My standard load for my .300WM is the 180gr TTSX bullet at 3050 fps MV sighted 3" high at 100yds. I also load the 240gr Woodleigh power point soft nose bullet at about 2500 fps MV and it's dead on at 100yds. I carry both loads and would like to see how the heavier bullet performs.
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The 180 will have 3700 ft lbs at the muzzle the 240 will have 3300ft lbs...which one hits harder? Velocity combined with penatration=knock down power.
 
I have hunted for years with a .300 WSM - in most cases I have one mag loaded w/ 150 grain bullets for deer, and one mag loaded w/ 180's for elk/moose. I also have a mix of the two in a buttstock cartridge holder as a back up/single feed supply. Whatever I am targeting or actively hunting is what is loaded in the rifle, but if push comes to shove and I don't have time to change things out, whatever is present and ready to go works just fine for any of the above if I do my part.
 
And to answer the OP, I use 300wsm occasionally and no, I don't bring two loads. I tried a long range and a short range load for a while and found that given enough time it's possible to screw up which round is in the chamber. Now no matter what rifle goes with me it's one load with a tough all around lead based bullet to cover all. One poi and one drop value to memorize.
 
I personally wouldn't use two big game loads... better to sight in with one load, practice and get comfortable with that load and stick with it regardless of what you are facing... extending barrel life? Not worth it, IMO.

However, I do have subsonic loads made up for most of my rifles... I carry ten of those around with me for small game and varmints, and colour the headstamp with a blue Sharpie marker so that there can be no mistake in which load is going into the rifle.
 
I have carried hard cast wfn and jacketed fnsp both in the same rifle. Now a days I usually carry that rifle with both barrels hard cast but if I hunt thick areas where shots are less than 15 yards ill put a soft nose in one barrel hard in the other. This is a sxs 45/70
In my 458 wm ill be carrying two loads. 400 gr woodlieghs ppsn and 405 gr Remington flat nose simply because I didn't get around to testing the woodlieghs past 100 yards. I've shot the rem bullets out to 250 yards and know they perform well. I'm sure the woodlieghs will to but I'm not going to risk it if I have to take a poke at a bear in a clear cut
 
hoytcanon said:
I personally wouldn't use two big game loads... better to sight in with one load, practice and get comfortable with that load and stick with it regardless of what you are facing... extending barrel life? Not worth it, IMO.

However, I do have subsonic loads made up for most of my rifles... I carry ten of those around with me for small game and varmints, and colour the headstamp with a blue Sharpie marker so that there can be no mistake in which load is going into the rifle.
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I do something similar to Hoytcanon here, lighter cast bullet with a reduced charge for small game and full power heavier bullet ammo for big game. Difference is that it's in .44 mag and .45-70. I personally wouldn't carry two different loadings for big game, unless I was hunting two drastically different game animals, for example coyote and moose in the same day ( not likely at least for me), where a completely different bullet would be advantageous. As you say a cartridge like .300 wsm starts where the .30-06 leaves off, which means it's more than capable of killing anything on this continent. I'd find a load somewhere in the mid to full power loadings that shoots accurately and just stick with it. Echoes of Hoyt.
 
I only carry one load during a hunt.....but where I am hunting will determine which load I am carrying.
For example, in a 30-06 for a moose hunt, I will have a 180 Partition loaded on most occasions.

However, if my hunt is in a grizzly - infested area, I may well pack the 200 Partition up the spout
instead.
Since my 30-06 shoots both bullets to the same point of impact out to 200 meters, no
change in sighting is required.
In 99% of the cases, the 180 hunts with me in that chambering.

I have one 308 Norma Magnum that shoots the 200 better than the 180, so, needless to say, the
200 is what will be coming with me on the hunt with that rifle.

Dave.
 
Two loads, seven rounds................buhhh-jeeezzzuss..............:runaway:

Fill the ammo belt with a known good reload the rifle likes.
No need tuh think what is what when it's buzzness time.
Me ol pah tawt me tuh pewt a round in each pawkitt too.
When chtf and you reach fer a round, it'll be there.
 
"Anyone carry two loads for hunting?"


Yeah, my backpack and eventually my wife's backpack ! ... :p

One round.
 
When I go afield I prefer to carry a Lee Loader in my cartridge of choice and some dippers as well as a wide selection of bullet weights and the powder that works best with each weight for the rifle I am carrying...... Then, when I spot an animal I whip out some brass, primers and make up a tailored load factoring in animal species, weight and approximate distance of the animal (I say approximate because I have no room in my pack for a rangefinder)..... It really gets interesting when the animal closes distance and I have to get the bullet puller out and change loads on the fly......

Seriously though, I prefer to keep it simple...... If the mood strikes me I carry a slingshot for small game..... Like a ninja cricket.... Silent but deadly....
 
medvedqc said:
looky the new challenge: one rifle, seven rounds of three kinds and the sight-in to do ...
Click to expand...

Dizz I can dew.
The BLR81 in tree fiftee-ate........180, 200, oar 250 pills and the only thang that changes izz ellivayshun.
Formadubbly is the werd.


:cool:

Nawt shure oww tuh get tree rownds awff each oh three intuh seven thou.
Sum kind oh funny mathmuhteeshan yew izz medvedouiwee.
 
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