.300 WSM bullet choice

[skip300]

Hey,

Going to be reloading for my Browning A-bolt in .300 WSM when my dies arrive from the states in the next week or so.

Will be mainly hunting medium to large game (feral pigs, Fallow and Sambar deer).

I have used Winchester Supreme factory ammo and have found it very effective and accurate on the above mentioned game.

My question to you all is which bullet would be best suited to my hunting needs? I want the load to be both accurate and devastating on impact.

I was thinking of using Sierra matchkings in 180gn or 200gn but im unsure as to how they will perform on these game species.

Cheers,
skip300

 

[JAWZ]

Mate i would probably go the 190 gr vld, it is a good trade off between fps and weight specialy in a 300wsm were longer bullets can eat up case capacity when using a factory barrel and chamber.

 

[britz]

what ever shoots better is what you should use. I personally have good luck with the 180g NAB's... tried the 165 class in nosler, sierra, Berger, and hornady and they just don't perform as well as the 180 ballistic and the 180 ab. But that is just my rifle... you may have different luck.


I to agree w/ the 190 grain limit for practical reasons. If your rifle is single shot and has a long throat you may be able to get into the 210 class w/ no loss of case space.

 

[skip300]

Got some 175gn SMKs and 180gn Gamekings to try from work.

Was told that it wont really matter a great deal due to the distances ill be shooting.

Was also told that I wont need to use Magnum primers? Normal large primers will be fine but a higher charge will be needed to achieve same velocities.

Cheers
skip300

 

[saskhunter]

im looking for some new bullets also for my 300wsm. thnking about trying the 168ttsx from barnes. just throwing it out there, not tried but looks promising

 

[winmag]

True, with the WSM case you can use either lg or lg mag. Ive used both Fed 210's and Fed 215mag's on my 270wsm when working up loads.

If you have a clip fed rifle I would stay away from VLD bullets and heavy long bullets strictly because youll probably run out of room to load them to thier full potential. ie; seating depth with the VLD and A-Max style bullets is FINNICKY! and those long 190+gr bullets eat up too much case capasity in the WSM case when you have to shove em way down in there to fit in the clip.
Who knows, you might get lucky and get either, or both of them to work well with a short C.O.A.L. but I doubt it .

Id opt for a 180 Accubond in this case. Easy to load, not too picky on seating depth, high B.C. and it covers wide range of velocitys/yardages and is a proven performer on a wide variety of game. If I had a clip fed rifle this is where Id start.
Dont get me wrong, I like the simplicity of a clip fed rifle, but it usually hinders you for bullet selection when working up a load.

 

[TheHardWay]

I had good luck with the Barnes 168 gr ttsx in my 300 wsm. I seated them at the point to where I could still fit them in the magazine. Twist is 1 in 10, with a 24" barrel. My best load so far was with 63.0 Gr of RL 17 and a Fed 215M primer. velocities are just a shade over 3000 fps. I am at the point where I had to stop playing with it due to hunting season arriving. I may mess with it some more after hunting.

As for the OP, I would say try a few different bullets in the 168-190 gr class for medium to large game.

 

[baldhunter]

165gr Hornady Interbond is a good one.

 

[skip300]

All I want is a round to smack large deer and pigs out to 300m max. Is a slightly lighter bullet the way to go? Hits just as hard out to this distance as a 180gn bullet?

cheers,
skip300

 

[mkg]

Skip ,

If you like the performance with the Winchester factory ammo I believe they use a combined technology 180 gr. bullet, which is a moly coated 180 Nosler Ballistic tip.
The Nosler Ballistic tip is easy to load for and not as long as the VLD type bullets which should help with mag length issues.

Mike

 

[Long Time Long Ranger]

I tried the 150 grain nosler E-tip .469BC out of mine at 3360 fps. With your paramaters I would use the 150 Barnes ttsx. Not that much difference in BC but extremely accurate. More accurate for me than the E-tip. These bullets shoot very flat and will kill anything to well beyond your parameters.

 

[skip300]

whats the advantage of going a lighter weight bullet over this distance? more velocity and less ft/lbs on impact?

cheers,
skip300