300 wsm LR mountain rifle

Thanks guys. I am thinking 700 is my max that I am comfortable with. I thought the length and feeding might be an issue but I know quite a few guys have build 300 wsm but they may all be running mags too.

Thanks

Buck

Sherman had a 300 SS reamer built for Short Action rifles that would fit your plans, especially with a blind magazine. I would reach out to him.

@elkaholic
 
That's what I've been afraid of. I've had great success with 180 silvertips and 168 gr barnes vor-tx. Only used for long range whitetail so far, but intend to try elk when points get right (if ever). I feel confident with those bullets ~ 600, but would like better options in longer heavier bullets if I make it western hunting. Been thinking about starting over with new build or converting 300 wsm (rem 700 SA) to 6.5 PRC.
I wonder how a 190 ABLR would do?
 
180~190 Berger should shoot very well. 180 Accubonds shoot well too. Hammers should shoot well.

I wouldn't go longer than 24"

I shoot the 185 Berger in my 300 WSM.
COL is 2.920 @ .020 off lands in a SAAMI chamber
24" barrel
Velocity is 2950
At 700 yards with 5000 Ft elevation remaining velocity is 2015 and energy is 1668 Ft lbs. So it is enough for elk.
Also have a 5 round DarkEagle DBM magazine for it.
Feeds very smooth. It is a Savage though.
 
My 300 WSM is on a mod70 action that was a 300wsm to start, I still have the blind mag and I shoot the 175 Berger VLD and 180gr Accubond with plenty of room and no feeding issues. Both are extremely accurate with the Berger slightly better
 
why so just no feeding issues... I have never owned a tikka

thanks

buck

Trying to catch all of the various things said and address them. We build a lot of 300 WSMs with 18" and 20" barrels. Even in a stock 700 box mag with a 2.885". Bergers are long and I know a lot of people will swear by them but in Short Action, length can be the enemy. We also do not like their performance on game. We like tougher bullets that expand, penetrate straight, and want a through and through. Using a long action, I have seen some built but would like to see them feed. Not a fan of the concept.

Sherman's we compare the performance of all of our WSM's to theirs. Honestly we didn't know much about them until after we opened. They make a lot of cool stuff. They have some FPS (50-100 FPS) on us from their data. Our concepts are short and comfortable. 26" barrels enormous magazines, ammo that is inbetween short and long action. Short action by most book should be 2.85 max. We have a few just over that so we are kind of hypocrits but do make ammo to be true short action for our TXH-F10. All calibers must go in a semi cause sure, you can load beyond short action in some bolt action setups.

This whole feeding issue topic may occur in off the shelf guns, but with a good follower, new spring, and smoothing out the bolt a little, usually gets rid of these problems. When building new we sometimes do Wyatts but we have to do extra inleting work. AccurateMag DB systems allow us to load to 2.930 comfortably. Cycles so great. We rarely have feeding issues, if we do, its because a semi auto gas system needs tuned. Delta L problem.... psshhh

Barrelnut is on the right track with his setup.

ABLRs, not a fan of them. Wouldn't trust it on anything bigger than white tail. Super soft and inconsistent on straight line penetration. Accubonds and even ELDX are great choices. We stay away from Partitions at long distance. BCs arn't high enough.

Sure there are some cool bullets out there. Hammers and Barnes are long. We've shot those. My simple recomendation is go with Accubonds or the ELDX. 20" Barrel, 1-9" twist would be great. We have twists in other calibers below 1-6". Having a little extra twist has always improved accuracy in our book. Here are couple loads we give clients.

20" Barrel, 61gr RL17, 200gr Accubond, 2740FPS. At 600 yards its 1850ish FPS. Accubonds have a minimum of 1800. Even at 1800 they expand fine. If you go to the 180, it has the same down range performance for expansion even though it is 125 FPS faster. Why, the BC is lower.

20" Barrel, 60.7gr RL17, 200gr ELDX, 2705 FPS. At 800 yards it is 1650ish FPS. There minimum expansion is 1600 FPS so you get extra yardage out of them and they hold together very well. They also have a nice mushroom instead of an ABLR which is like throw wet toilet paper against a wall. SPLAT.

We are building 3 "Elk rifles" for clients to take on 2020 hunts. Now they are 338 WSM but 18" barrels, Our factory 230gr ELDX loads are lethal out to 800 yards. When we say lethal, above minimum expansion specs. So the setup I mentioned above is similar, just slightly smaller increments.

Longer barrels extend range some but will take super compact, lighter, well functioning over shooting 100-200 yards further.

V/r,

Richie

"Send It, Quietly"
 
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I am hoping to make the group elk hunt in the next few years and trying to prepare. Never shot an elk but know I need a well constructed bullet. I am wanting at least 190 gr but have heard a lot about those lighter hammer Bullets. I am sitting on a factory Remington 700 short action 300 wsm. It will be getting a match barrel probably criterion from NSS as I have had great accuracy with all of my builds. I would prefer to keep it blind mag and I am thinking a AG composite stock. They let me stop by the shop and tour the facility last year and handled all the models. Anyway I am more concerned and interested to see what everyone's recommends on barrel length, twist and bullet selection. I want to keep it balanced but not too long. I have not hunted the mountain much and can only imagine. It is fairly flat here on the florida and Alabama line. So this will be the elk gun. It will be threaded and most likely have a break on this hunt. It will be equipped with the TBAC 30 back home for those bean field white tails

Thanks

Buck

I'm a big fan of the Peregrine VLR's, Hornady Interbonds, Nosler Accubond, and Barnes LRX in that order.

The Peregrine and Barnes are solids, the Interbond and Accubond bonded, heavy jacketed lead/copper allow bullets.

Solids will be lighter for an equal length and similar shaped bullets due to the lower density of copper.

The copper bullets that are grooved/cannelured will run considerably faster at lower pressures than an equal lead/copper bullet.

You need therefore a slightly faster twist with the solids in equal weights to the traditional lead/copper bullets because they will be 10-15% longer at equal weights again due to the lower density.

I was not a big believer in the solid copper bullets for a long time but since I started shooting them in earnest in 2015 on large and dangerous hard to kill critters such as really big boar here and African game I have become a true believer.

The Nosler Partition is one of the toughest Jacketed bullets ever made is was built specifically for large game such as Elk and Moose but they are a low BC bullet intended primarily for typical shots of 100-200yds and start showing the lower BC's in reduced precision beyond 600yds.

There are other good bullets on the market for sure but I've piled up hundreds and hundreds of bodies using primarily the first four listed.

I figure out what bullets you're most interested in shooting chamber and twist accordingly. If I were building another 30 caliber today I'd probably go with a 1:9 or 1:8.5.

Since you're going wit the WSM, I'd stick with the 200gr and below which you are targeting. Building a .300 Rum or other really big case 30 then the 200gr and large bullets make more sense because of that added case capacity.

Remember, there are probably more elk killed every year with a .30-30 and .30-06 than all other rounds combined so obviously you don't need a cannon to get the job done even at the 600-1000yds range.
 
why so just no feeding issues... I have never owned a tikka

thanks

buck
The mag length is almost perfect. 3.37ish is plenty of room, great trigger, smooth action and make accurate rifles.

I don't sell rifles, so I try to offer the most economical solutions I've found that shoot lr well. Hope this helps

Here is a target with a bunch of bullets I tested on the last wsm I built. All a set charge, just looking for what it liked. I'd stick with 200-215 if it were me. Mine is a 1:10 twist. Nothing amazing but 215s showed promise and ended up using 200 hyb and 215s.
433DA05A-FFC4-4718-8098-4D81B958F55D.jpeg
 
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