Lightweight 300 wm

T

tommy88

CGN Regular
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Location
Toronto
I'm playing with the idea of having one rifle that I can hunt anything in canada with. That means that it has to be powerful enough to stop a charging grizzly yet light enough to take up a mountain for sheep or goat (and everything else in between). I know that this is a pretty tall order, I'm also not willing to spend huge money on this project. I was kinda thinking a tikka t3 is light enough. I have a sako a7 in 3006, and a m77 in 338wm and I would consider those to be fairly mild. I know that the Africa crowd deals with much more recoil.... granted the rifles are wood stocked and have more weight.

I'm not particularly recoil sensitive. Does anyone have any experience or advice in that arena?
 
tommy88 said:
I'm playing with the idea of having one rifle that I can hunt anything in canada with. That means that it has to be powerful enough to stop a charging grizzly yet light enough to take up a mountain for sheep or goat (and everything else in between). I know that this is a pretty tall order, I'm also not willing to spend huge money on this project. I was kinda thinking a tikka t3 is light enough. I have a sako a7 in 3006 and I would consider that to be fairly mild. I know that the Africa crowd deals with much more recoil.... granted the rifles are wood stocked and have more weight.

I'm not particularly recoil sensitive. Does anyone have any experience or advice in that arena?
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Well…if you are not recoil sensitive, go for the 300WM. That will have you covered for all NA grizzly included.
 
Why? Just for fun? The majority of people who finds themselves on a gunnutz type forum for over a decade with 27 feedback score will never be happy with one firearm. Maybe a favourite or excuse to buy another one? The one rifle to do all is always a compromise most of us will never be happy with, unless you only hunt one type of landscape? Toronto and charging grizzlies? Doesn’t sound like it fits the to me.

Battue 9.3x62 lite?
 
You will experience some serious unpleasantness with that 300Winmag and 180 or heavier grn boolits.....
But, if you must a nice cushy ...luciously cushy recoil pad might soften the thump.
Enjoy the search for your new hunting gun of choice :)
Rob
 
FLHTCUI said:
You will experience some serious unpleasantness with that 300Winmag and 180 or heavier grn boolits.....
But, if you must a nice cushy ...luciously cushy recoil pad might soften the thump.
Enjoy the search for your new hunting gun of choice :)
Rob
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Agreed, plus a bit heavier rifle, a break and as our friend above said, a nice recoil pad. ;)
 
I mean, there's a T3X Superlite at my local Cabela's in .300 Win Mag - I was holding it the other day and just can't imagine enjoying shooting it. That's a lot of horsepower in a fairly light rifle, and it's not even truly an ultra light rifle. With a lightweight VX-3HD or Swaro Z3 in alloy ringmounts like Leupold or Talley it would be divine to carry but hellish to fire. You can get a Limbsaver for it to take the sting out of it - I run them on a lot of guns - but I feel like I'd still be punch-drunk after a box of ammo. My regular T3X in 7-mag is about as heavy as I can shoot consistently without a brake.

With a brake though, I'm running a Mark V Hunter in .300 Wby Mag and it's fine. Not too heavy, either. Blasts the entire firing line though and I can't imagine I'll shoot it while hunting without some form of earpro. There's a fair few ultralight hunting rifles out there nowadays that will take even another pound or so out of my Mark V.
 
A Wby Mrk-V Ultralite in 300 Winmag would be light with a Leupold UltraLite scope and rings of choice and three rounds might tip the scale at 7.5 pounds.
But, it too will kick like a mule and test ones mettle at not being recoil shy.
I'm almost embarrassed to that I feel uncomfortable shooting my No.1 in .338 Winmag (225grn boolits) with a soft recoil pad .
My back teeth rattle and there are several seconds of unpleasantness after each shot.
Sooo, the choice is yours .
Do not make a snap decision you will regret $$$ wise.
Rob
 
Could try restocking 338 and use 200g bullets as would be same as 300 winmag 200g. Could even try 180 in 338. Believe wildcat makes a stock for m77
 
I own a 300 Win Mag in a Win 70 Winlite model (thin profile 24" barrel, McMillan blind magazine stock, no brake) . It is about as light as I would care to go in that cartridge. I own 3 other 300 Win Mags, and the difference in felt recoil is very, very noticeable. You can train that out of yourself, usually, but it is never pleasant. - dan
 
It is true that I buy a new hunting rifle every year or so. It's true that it says I'm from Toronto, although I've been living in Northern Alberta for the last 4 years. It's probably true that this concept may or may not be a bad idea.... but.... it's just cool to see how much we could get away with sometimes. I may not even bother pursuing this. Just seeing if anyone else has tried pushing the envelope, and with what results.
 
A premium bullet from a 7mm Remington mag isn't going bounce off a grizzly. It would be my choice for an all around cartridge and I believe a better choice in a lighter weight rifle.
 
I bought a sako finnlight in 300 win for that exact purchase. I sold it after a trip to the range. Unpleasant to shoot and bad habit forming. By comparison, the browning xbolt pro long range in 300 is very pleasant to shoot though it weighs just over 7lb unscoped (about a pound more than the sako). With the heavier barrel profile and very light stock it handles decently. The removable brake makes it good to practice at the range then remove for hunting.

I found a sako finnlight on the EE in 7mm RM with a fixed ATRS brake and it is a joy to shoot. The recoil feels about the same as my cz527 in 223. I sold it to my friend and it's his 1 gun rifle, though it requires earpro IMO.

I personally also wouldn't buy the lighter sako/tikkas in 9.3x62. I prefer a bit more mass to the rifle.
 
I find a 7 1/2 lb 300 wsm with 180 at 3000fps not that bad for recoil. 6 1/4lb 375hh with 18.5 with 300g in a tc encore is a little raunchy
 
I won a 300 wsm Finnlite in a raffle, I had a T3 in 338 an A7 in 300WM, an X bolt in 375H&H, plus some others, they were all lighter production rifles and all had good pads, none had brakes, I didn't find the recoil bad on any, none were true light weight rifles. There is a pretty good list of calibres for a potential one rifle arsenal for North America not just the 300 Win Mag and the list is growing. Would not be for me though. The only rifle that bothered me after I pulled the trigger was a TC Encore in 375H&H with a flex tech stock, I thought the scope was coming for my eye every time I pulled the trigger.
 
I ran a Tikka T3 Lite in 300WSM, didn’t last long maybe 3-4 seasons. Wonderful carrying rifle, but not something you wanna string more then 3-4 shots together. A 700 Mtn SS replaced it as my go to.
 
tommy88 said:
I'm playing with the idea of having one rifle that I can hunt anything in canada with. That means that it has to be powerful enough to stop a charging grizzly yet light enough to take up a mountain for sheep or goat (and everything else in between). I know that this is a pretty tall order, I'm also not willing to spend huge money on this project. I was kinda thinking a tikka t3 is light enough. I have a sako a7 in 3006, and a m77 in 338wm and I would consider those to be fairly mild. I know that the Africa crowd deals with much more recoil.... granted the rifles are wood stocked and have more weight.

Serious - Really ? U already use a 30-06 and a 338 Win Mag and your asking WHAT ? f:P::popCorn: RJ
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I say go for it. I have a t3 in 7mm rm and it's not exactly unpleasant to shoot even with stout 175 gr handloads. It's not something you're going to have long range sessions with but it will be nice to carry. The superlight is only and oz or 2 lighter.
 
A light-weight 300 is a first class choice. I have some reservations about a Tupper-ware Tikka though, from personal experience. One of a group of friends got one for some stupidly low price but found the recoil excessive. There was a an occasion where a bunch of us passed that thing around and tried it out with the full understanding that we could have it for a price very little more than the Opti-lock rings and bases. Nobody wanted it. Most found the recoil obnoxious though plenty could handle it just fine. A 300 just doesn't have to kick that hard, and whatever combination of stock and total joke of a factory pad made it un-pleasant. I was shooting a 375 and .416 Rigby that day and there wasn't a soul that wouldn't rather shoot the 375. One guy said he'd rather shoot the 416, but he's sort of prone to exaggeration. ;). I had a T3 300 Win in a wooden stock and Pachmar at that time that was a pussy-cat, and a nearly identical Tupper- wear T3 in 300 WSM with a limb-saver that was sort of a joke. My Weatherby Mark V Ultra-lightweight in 300 Weatherby was fun to shoot by comparison. That one weighs maybe 6 3/4 pounds, and the 300 Weatherby is in a different recoil league than the Win. (For not much of anything as well) 338 Win Mag in a Kimber? Piece of cake.
 
A good way to tame the recoil of a lightweight 300 mag is with 150 gr bullets. Maybe that’s why lighter rifles often end at a 7 Rem Mag.
 
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