I need a new rifle

I believe not long ago a seen a couple of very lightly used sako TRG-S for sale on the EE in 30-378 weatherby for around 1400-1500 dollars. They came with bases rings dies and brass. I personnally own one and think they would make a great buy. There is a drawback to the weatherby cases though with a higher cost and shortened case life due to the belt. I'm also not above admitting that recoil is an issue for me. Not from standing or sittting but if you are going to do a lot of bench work get a muzzle break and heavier stock. Same would probably go for a 300 rum

Even if the calibre isn't ideal you can shoot the crap out of it and then have it re-barrelled to whatever you want. It won't take that long with the barrel life of any fast .30

Osborne
 
You don't need a 300!!

Get a 338 win mag or a 375 H&H. Better yet, get a 378 Weatherby!!:D That will take care of Moose on the 401! Big trucks too!!:D
 
osborne said:
I'm also not above admitting that recoil is an issue for me. Not from standing or sittting but if you are going to do a lot of bench work get a muzzle break and heavier stock. Same would probably go for a 300 rum
Click to expand...

There is no reason that off the bench should hurt. The problem is with technique and/or bench/stool construction. Almost every club I've belonged to had stools that were too high for the bench, and you had to hunch in over the rifle....this hurts. Try bringing a much lower stool or adding an extra 6" of elevation under the gun so you are sitting more upright. You will be amazed how much more comfortable shooting the big boys is when you are more upright on the bench.
 
"shortened case life due to the belt"

Huh? It's not the belt that gives you shortened case life, it's the fit of the brass to the chamber and how much stretching it does. The belt is just another way to set headspace, and if you reload, you just adjust off the shoulders of the case anyway. I'm a little confused. - dan
 
The rounds that headspace off the shoulder can just be neck sized and reloaded subsequently by neck sizing with virtually no case stretch.

A belted magnum, however, headspaces off the belt. You have to case size enough for the belt to engage the barrel recess for the belt to achieve headspace. The distance from the back of the case to the bolt face is the minimum that a belted case will streatch with every firing, not matter how tight your chamber is in front of the belt. It's a fact.

So unless you have almost perfect minimum SAAMI headspace, your will liekly have shorter brass life than a neck-sizer will get from rimless brass.
 
Just like Clanven said above but I also full length size all my brass since I only use this rifle for hunting. Neck sizing only will increase case life compared to what I'm getting. I guess I should have mentioned that.

Belted magnums will push brass back toward the belt as you full length size. After a couple of reloads the brass can accumulate to a point where the case will no longer chamber. I only ever heard it referred to as "belt bulge". The hotter you load or higher operating pressure of the cartridge the more this will be pronounced after every loading. I've had some cases that were bought factory loaded from weatherby realoaded once (full liength sized and case trimmed) that started experiencing this problem that shows up as a very hard to close bolt. For cartridges in the same family as the .300 win mag there is actually a die on the market that is made specifically to reduce this happening and is run as a separate die after full length sizing.
 
Claven2 said:
You have to case size enough for the belt to engage the barrel recess for the belt to achieve headspace.
Click to expand...

No you don't. If you only size the neck portion and partially size the body, then the case will now headspace off the shoulder, and the belt may or may not engage the chamber. It's perfectly safe, and I've not once ever had a round fail to chamber using this partial sizing only method.

I've long been of the opinion that the 'you must fl size for hunting ammo' is a complete myth. It's true that neck-only sizing can result in sticky brass, but you cannot achieve neck-only sizing with a FL body die. What most people refer to as 'neck sizing' by backing the FL die out by a quarter to a half turn is in fact, partial body sizing. Hell, I even use this method for autoloaders, pump guns and levers. I've found that you'll get 5 to 10 loadings easily before there is any sign of sticky chambering for these guns. And by that time the brass is probably garbage anyway.
 
The last moose I shot was at about 20 feet. She was walking towards me on a game trail. At 3X all I could see was black fur.

I was walking to a tree stand that over looked a large meadow. Had a 338 Win Mag for the job.

I think the muzzle blast broke its neck.

My favorite moose rifle is a 35 Whelan. I have a M98 sporter and a Remington pump.
 
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