300 Norma Improved. Load testing, info, and builds

[rpierce]

Nice Bull Ryan, nothing like hunting the High Country on horseback.

Thank you. It was an experience unlike anything we've done before while hunting. I cant imagine hauling an elk back to the camp without them. Would have taken several days with the number of trips it would have required. On top of being beyond sore from the 16 mile round trip from camp to where he was killed. LOL

 

[L.Sherm]

Its amazing how sore you can get riding horses if you don't ride, i rode 20 miles one time the first time i rode that year and almost couldn't walk when I got off

 

[rpierce]

Its amazing how sore you can get riding horses if you don't ride, i rode 20 miles one time the first time i rode that year and almost couldn't walk when I got off

I agree. I hadn't rode one in 5 years and rode 12 miles right off the bat. I was wobbly legged when i got off haha. Got better the more I got on the horse though.

 

[Brett Bracken]

Well I tried some H50bmg powder and 230 bergers in my heavy test rifle. Did a ladder test and found two different nodes that were a grain wide and held under 2" vertical at 580 for that spread. Very wide powder nodes and stupid accurate. Heres the two groups from the upper node I shot at 580 yds tonight in a 10mph wind with 98.2 gr of h50bmg. The one group had .394"/.064moa vertical. The second group had .523"/.086moa vertical. The 6 shots at 580 had a ES of 10 fps and average velocity of 3045 fps in the 30" test barrel. With my elk hunt coming up I decided to throw that load in my carbon barrel to try out. Sent 3 rounds into .100"@100 and had a ES of 3 fps and SD of 1.6 fps Gonna do a small ladder test to make sure im in the middle of the node and then see how wide my seating depth window is. But Im definitely in the general vicinity of where it wants to be shot LOL. Ill stretch it out in a day or two. As a side note you will have to use a drop tube if your going to use Reloader 50 or H50bmg. Theres definite powder crunch with both. I had loaded some rounds up and let them set for a few days to see if the powder would push the bullet back out a hair. Didn't even move a half thou so Im good to go there.

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What is a drop tube?

 

[Rhovee]

It's a tube 4-12" long that sits on your funnel. Other end is on the case. The powder drops in the length of the tube and helps compress the powder charge in able to fit more powder in the case.

 

[L.Sherm]

It helps get more powder in a case.

 

[Brett Bracken]

Thanks gentlemen for the quick response.

 

[Marine sniper]

What is a drop tube?

On my 338 LAI and other large cases that have 95% fill, I will rattle the cases a bit to get the powder to settle.

 

[Brett Bracken]

Thank you Marine Sniper....that's what I was thinking anyway. And thank you for your service sir.

 

[rpierce]

Had a badass adventure down in New Mexico with Jemuel Montoya, Kenny, and Hammer with Southwest Outfitters. They run a first class operation and treat you like family. I will definitely be going on some more adventures with them in the future. My wife Jodi, brother in law Lj, friend Blake and I drove down there along with Jodis uncle Bob. Customer Ron Milby was down there as well with his 300 Norma improved I built him along with another customer, Alberto Ruiz, with his 6.5x47 I built him. Jodi shot her bull at 280 yds right through the heart with my 300 Norma magnum improved. Perfect shot in a less than ideal shooting position. Im so proud of you babe. As we were running up to it the bull staggered up to its feet. As it was starting to get behind some brush I sent a round into it that landed a little high but put it down. Kneeling and shooting fast at 250 yds wasn't the most stable position lol. Upon getting up there and gutting it we realized I didn't need to put one in it as the heart was destroyed. It would have been dead in another minute or two and not gotten up had we not started running up to it and making noise. I smoked my cow at 515 yds through the heart with the 300. She went about 20 yds and flipped over. As we were walking over to it we saw one at 588 yds. I quickly threw the gun down and dialed the scope and Blake got on it quick and sent one right through the heart. Absolutely perfect shot under pressure and being rushed. It went about 20 yds and flipped over. The next morning Leo shot his cow right through the heart at 385 yds. Went 20 yds and flipped over. The 300 hit the heart on every one of our elk. After getting Leo's cow was taken care of we got word that Ron had shot his cow at 958 yds with his 300 Norma improved. It went a short ways down hill and expired. We ended up seeing probably over 1500 elk in the valley. The last night we saw a beautiful mule deer as well. The next morning I got to go on a hunt with Alberto Ruiz and his 6.5x47 I built him. Saw plenty of elk but couldn't seal the deal. I went back to camp and right as we had gotten everything packed up Jemuel, Kenny and Alberto came rolling into camp with a nice cow Alberto shot and dropped at 500 yds with the 6.5x47 and 130 gr AR hybrids. Great shooting to everyone on the trip. It was Jodi's, Lj's, Blakes, and Alberto's first elk theyve ever shot. Thank you Jemuel and everyone for making it an amazing experience for all of us. Thank you Miguel for everything as well.

Side Note:The 230 berger performed flawlessly. Opening up without having to hit bone first. All shots were right at the crease of the shoulder. Went in and made the vitals into soup.

 

[Corvalliscory]

That's awesome!! Great job guys. I still
Can't decide what bullet to run (215 vs 230) in my 300 NMI with 26in barrel 1 in 9, 5 port Pierce brake, N570, lapua brass, etc. Deer, Elk, and lots of bears. The 28 Nosler with 195 bergers have wrecked bears for me so I'd think the 215's would be plenty and have less recoil for when my wife wants to kill something? I really don't see any advantage to 230's under 1k yards. Anybody have an opinion?? It's a hair under 10 lbs scoped.

 

[Rick Richard]

That's awesome!! Great job guys. I still
Can't decide what bullet to run in my 300 NMI with 26in barrel 1 in 9, 5 port Pierce brake, N570, lapua brass, etc. Deer, Elk, and lots of bears. The 28 Nosler with 195 bergers have wrecked bears for me so I'd think the 215's would be plenty and have less recoil for when my wife wants to kill something? I really don't see any advantage to 230's under 1k yards. Anybody have an opinion?? It's a hair under 10 lbs scoped.

My choice was based on what shot the best out of mine and that was the 230.

 

[rpierce]

That's awesome!! Great job guys. I still
Can't decide what bullet to run (215 vs 230) in my 300 NMI with 26in barrel 1 in 9, 5 port Pierce brake, N570, lapua brass, etc. Deer, Elk, and lots of bears. The 28 Nosler with 195 bergers have wrecked bears for me so I'd think the 215's would be plenty and have less recoil for when my wife wants to kill something? I really don't see any advantage to 230's under 1k yards. Anybody have an opinion?? It's a hair under 10 lbs scoped.

Thanks. Both shoot great. However I went to the 230 since it was a little slower. At the closer range shots it has much less chance of blowing up on impact. The 215 is screaming out of there and can blow up if it hits a shoulder at close range. Im shooting the 230's at the mild node, 2950 fps, and my wife has no issues shooting it. If setup properly on a bipod with spikes the reticle hardly leaves the target. I can watch the vapor trail even with my scope cranked up to 27x.

 

[gearguywb]

Awesome! One of my favorite things....chasing elk in the high country.

Now about a new rifle in 300.....