Opinions on 300RUM

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BarneyRubble

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new gun to the family, debating whether to load 180's or 200's. Son wants to use it for a long range rig and reach out at the range. We have Retumbo, IMR4831, H4350 for powder.

Any experience you would like to share would be much appreciated!!!
 
That 300 RUM is a cavernous case, and your IMR 4831 and H4350 will not be ideal with the heavier bullets.

The Retumbo should work well, though. Others to consider are Reloder 33, Vihtavuori N570, Ramshot Magnum.

I believe that the 200 grain bullet is ideal for such a big case, but a lighter monometal bullet should also work well. [180 Barnes TTSX, or 180 GMX]

Prepare to deal with noticeable recoil, unless that is a 9 or 10 lb rifle.

Regards, Dave
 
I saw a guy shoot a Mtn Caribou across a lake in the NWT with one at 450 yds. The rifle weighted 12 lbs with bipod (I weighed the rifle as I thought it a bit heavy for a sheep hunt). A string of bulls appeared and he set the rifle up on a rickety table and put 2 bullets side by side on a big B&C bull. I was impressed. It will certainly reach out there with authority.
 
I used mostly H1000 in mine for about 600 rounds , which is about where the groups went to crap. It sucks when a rifle gets sick. Anyway, since my 1/2 MOA custom Sako turned into a 2 MOA noisemaker I decided to see if Nosler knew anything when they commented on benchrest type accuracy with IMR 4350 and 180s. Nothing to lose but a bit of powder and bullets, before banishing the rifle to the rebarrelling rack. I'm used to rifles that eat barrels, but 600 was pushing it even for me.

Long story made shorter, the starting loads in the Nosler book (This rifle never gets to the max charges or even the middle with anything, short throat) gave me my rifle back and still does 3250 fps. It is easy to get along with, being so mild to shoot that I wouldn't have believed the chronograph if the 800 yard drops didn't confirm it. Interestingly the muzzle blast and concussion no longer makes my think someone hit me across the shoulder blades with a fence post on every shot.

I've heard and read, and probably repeated how cases should be full for accuracy but I can sure think of a lot of full case loads that didn't shoot and a lot of not so full cases that do. For speed I've found the order that they are listed in the manual in their rifle may not be the same in mine.

I wouldn't rule out your faster burning powders out of hand, though I'd start with Retumbo.
 
BarneyRubble said:
new gun to the family, debating whether to load 180's or 200's. Son wants to use it for a long range rig and reach out at the range. We have Retumbo, IMR4831, H4350 for powder.

Any experience you would like to share would be much appreciated!!!
Click to expand...

300RUM is probably 1 of the biggest marketing debacles of all time. Using 15% more powder to deliver less than 10% more velocity with the same projectile that a 300 Win Mag delivers seems to me a waste of time and money.
The 300 Win Mag has more offering is so far as brass and ammo than the RUM does, uses less mag length so bullets can actually be seated out closer to the lands and in general is just a great caliber. Barrel life of a RUM is also significantly shorter.
WAAAAAY more long range competitions are won with 300 Win Mag, and you virtually never see a RUM on the line. There must be a reason for this.

The only way I would see the the 300 RUM having any possible advantage would be using the larger case capacity to propel 230 or 240m gr bullets, and then you would need to go single shot as there is no way they will fit into a mag.

As others have commented, what is your idea of long range. IF the plan it to exceed the 1500 yard mark for killing game, then the RUM may have a very slight advantage.
 
My son bought it. It is truly a cannon. Almost obnoxious to be honest but he was set on this gun. We have 300WM in the family and agree that is 1 super caliber. Our range only goes out to a half mile so that will be the limit for the most part unless he truly wants to go longer. Then I guess he'll be driving to longer ranges.

Retumbo it is and start with 200's for now as well.

Thanks!
 
You need a 300 RUM for 880 yds? Darn near anything will do that kind of distance. Hell, my friend was smacking steel at 1060 yds with a 22-250 yesterday.

All that RUM is gona do is smack the sh!t out of you for no good reason. The whole key to long range shooting is practice, practice, practice. A rifle that beats you blue and develops a mean flinch is the worst possible way to learn long range because it is no fun to shoot and you can't learn without shooting ... a lot.
 
I had a model 700 LSS that I fed a steady diet of 91 grains of RL 25 and Nosler 200 grain partitions, Rem cases and Fed 215 GM primers. The velocity I was was getting was 3104 fps. This was my main go to gun to use on moose when I wanted to be able drive a bullet from any angle to vitals at distances I cared to shoot. Shot bears and plenty of deer with it to. The only reason I sold it was to be able to buy a pre 64 model 70 in 300 H&H that had come up for sale The guy I sold it to shot a decent bull with it at 270 yards and liked how hard it hit. Didn't find the recoil to bad but then I wasnt putting more than a dozen rounds through it in a session. When used for hunting never noticed the recoil
 
The 300 Rum is a specialized calibre. It will give you 150 to 200 fps more than a 300 Win can but it costs almost 20 grs more powder to do that. A 26 in barrel is a must and if you were building a 27 or even 28 in barrel should be considered. Mine likes Retumbo powder and 180 gr Barnes TTSX. RL 25 is also quite good. Barrel life will be shorter than lesser cartridges but it can enjoy a useful life if you allow the barrel to cool between shots. I wouldn't recommend this calibre to those who shoot a couple rounds the day before season opens and then goes hunting. No sense in having a high performance rifle if you don't have some serious shooting skills.
 
My Run is a Kliengunter that started out life as a 300 wm, and was rebarreled to Rum. It has both a brake and a mercury tube. Wears a Zeiss Diavari 3-12x56. The mag box is short, and despite modifying the magazine just does not take long COAL cartridges. Any long cartridge must be single loaded.

One of the benefits of the Rum is the ability to load down to 300 WM and even 06 levels. Course with the short barrel life, does one want to play with three loads with three different POI.

The purpose of mine is as a still hunting pipeline/seizmic rifle. Weighs a lot and you dont want to pack it.
 
A buddy of mine bought a slightly used Remington in 300 RUM from a hunting friend of his that had 25 rounds fired through it.
It came with the 25 once fired pieces of brass and another 25 loaded rounds.
The rounds were his friends "Pet Load" which he was kind enough to supply the load data for.

We went to the range to zero in the rifle and I immediately noticed the heavy bolt lift and sticky extraction so we put an end to the range session.
I asked him to provide me with the load data of his friends "Pet Load" and it was 98gr of Retumbo over 200gr Accubonds in Nosler brass with WLRM primers. That is 2.5gr over Hodgdon's max load and evidently way too much for this particular rifle.
We pulled the remaining rounds and made up some new ones.
We managed to find a node right around 92.5 gr and 3,000 FPS.

The old adage about trusting nobody's hand loads but your own still holds true.
 
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