Long range .300 Win Mag loads

M

Meph

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So I'm going to send my Savage action to Mystic later this summer for a new barrel, timing/truing of the action and hopefully I'll find him a stock he can bed. I've got to figure out some things before then. My load questions are as much about the rifle as they are about the bullet and powder load.

1. Do I go 26" or splurge on a 30" tube?
1a. Is the 30" worth the velocity gain?
2. Depending of question 1 and 1a, what twist should I get it in?
3. Are compressed loads any trouble for rifles in terms of accuracy or brass life or anything like that? I've always been weary of compressed loads.

So what loads could yield me fast, heavy bullets? Pretty much, I want to throw a fast .30 in the 190 to 220 grain VLD variety. I'm debating what bullet grain to find out if at 30" barrel is worth the extra velocity and what twist would be best for as I'd like to stick to one weight of bullet. I'm planning to make this for a long range rifle, so I'm likely to tailor this for heavy bullets. One thing I've found is that between the 190gr Berger and the 210gr, even with generous velocities for the latter, the 190gr drops 3" less than the 210gr - is it a case of diminishing returns, where the 300 works best with a bullet at or under 200 grains for long distance?
 
Definitely go longer than 26".
Is the added velocity "worth it"?
This isn't going to be a rifle that you are going to pack way up into goat country, is it? If so, the weight/velocity trade might not be worth it.
On the other paw, if you are talking about maybe a 1 mile leisurely stroll to a good shooting spot, who cares about the weight?
I have found that longer barrels seem to shoot better for me, I don't know if it's because they hold better (more weight dampens the movement), or if the longer burn time tends to even-out any velocity deviations, or if I just shoot better because I think I shoot better.
Another thing you might want to think about is that a .300 WM barrel is not going to last forever, a 30" tube gives you the opportunity to cut 2" off the chamber and 1/2" off the muzzle, re-chamber and re-crown and you've still got a 27"+ tube.
Or if you wait too long to set-back the barrel you can still probably get $25 because with 4" off the chamber and 1' off the muzzle it's still a 25" tube that'd give fine hunting accuracy in .30-'06.
 
It's for long range target shooting. I'd be hunting buckets of water at a mile ;)

Just maybe though, it could hit some furred creatures far out. Long range hunting isn't "silly" when you know what you're doing. Wouldn't be past three quarters of my comfort zone at all though. Like if I'm comfortable hitting a dinner plate at 600 meters, I wouldn't be shooting at living animals past like 500 yards.

Now I think I'd be loading 210 grain sierras with a starting load of 80 grains of Retumbo. How does that sound?

1/10 twist for the 210gr bullets, and I still don't know what length I want it. And I want to wait until I know I've got enough money before bothering Mystic, depending, this could have multiple months of saving up left.
 
I run a few long range rifles and the 300 is one of my faves.
I wouldn't bother going more than 26-28 inches. As the barrel gets longer it gets less stiff and exponentially more unwieldy.
You want a good garbage can (muzzle brake) so you can spot you own hits.

I've had good luck with the 190 and 200 SMK, the 208 A-Max is superb.
The Bergers are good bullets.

If you intend to hunt with it the 200 Accubond is a good place to look.

RL-22, H-4831, or H-1000 are the best places to start with RL-22 being my first choice.

If you are shooting enough to burn barrels I would pitch the barrel as soon as accuracy fails.
IMHO rechambering is a waste of money for something like a 300Mag.
The entire barrel is usually well on its way to being roached by the time you are setting a 300s barrel back.
 
My 300 WM has a 29" barrel. I'm getting 2950 FPS with RL22 and 208 Amax bullets. I have, and would recommend, a 1-10" twist. Since you're not going to be humping it all over the place hunting you're not going to suffer using a heavy barrel. The Old Man has a 7 Mag with a real sewer pipe barrel on it (probably weights at least 17lbs with the Nightforce and McMillan A4 stock). Mine isn't that heavy, maybe 13-14lbs (haven't weighed it since I added the Nightforce).

Another thing that I would recommend doing is lengthening the mag box and follower for H&H length cases. This will allow you to seat heavy VLD bullets out to the lands and still feed through the mag. Blackcloud did this with his ATRS 300 WM and had great results with 210 Bergers way out there. LongRangeCanuck also has an ATRS 300 WM and I believe that he uses the 208 AMax, though I can't say for certain if he has a long mag box (Deb says nothing about him is "long" :D)

I have some RL25 that I bought to try but can't find any load data for it in the 300 WM and heavy VLD bullets.
 
Just to add, if you have very high standards for precision for your barrel, and twist a new one on when those standards are no longer met, there is still a market for the used barrel. If you're only happy with .5moa or better, there's lots of guys, such as myself, who find 1moa or thereabouts, quite reasonable.
 
I run 2920fps with a 200SMk and 2980with the 200gr Partition...I can go faster, but that is where it likes to shoot. This with a 26" barrel with a brake.

The factory Savage barrel will probably shoot fine, but I would not expect 1/2 MOA accuracy at extended range.
 
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