My son did very well ... and yes, we ate the MacKenzie River Pizza with about 15 hungry swimmers.
Ed
Ed
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Another caliber choice?
- Thread starter Parkerb14
- Start date
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MontanaRifleman
Well-Known Member
Parker,
I have a Sako 85 Finnlight 300 WSM which has a long throat. When I load the 210 Bergers to the lans only about 2/3rds of the bearing surface of the bullet catches the neck. The bullets will not fit all the way into the mag. I have the same problem with my 300 RUM in the Rem 700 LA. The way I deal with that is to load just one round down in the top of the mag. The bullet tip is above the mag wall. This gives me a 2 shot configuration with one in the chamber. In my hunting experiences, I have only once put down an animal with a quick second shot (the first animal -antelope was put down with the first shot) and never put down an animal with a quick third shot which I have only attempted about 3 times in my life. All my kills have been first shot kills. The very few times I have cycled quickly through my mag have never resulted in a kill - all clean misses. You can single shot handload a bolt rifle fairly quick and in most situations, especially LR, it is enough to get the job done. If you want equivalent ballistics and terminal performance of a 300 WSM, you would be looking at the 300 WM and you will probably see the same issue trying to seat a 210 Berger to the lans with that round also.
Having said all that, You could get a 6.5-284 now and later when you can afford another barrel, get a custom chambered to 300 WSM which should be easy to swap out on your Savage. The 6.5 wouldn't be my first choice for elk, but can certainly get the job done and it's a sweet shooting cartridge.
Unlike retiredcop, I have never had any trouble cycling and chambering my 300 WSM and I have neck sized only with no shoulder bumps up to 5 times now on some of my brass. I think the cycling and chambering issues are more related to the action design than the round itself and I cant speak for Savages in that case.
My next 300 WSM will be built off of a Vanguard or Howa long action (same thing) and will be set up as a switch barrel.
With RL17, I have been able get 2935 fps with 210 Bergers and 3193 fps with 180 E-Tips from a 24 3/8" barrel. You may or may not be able to duplicate that. Work up carefully.
Good shooting and hunting and keep us posted.
Mark
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Parker, If you aren't opposed to a little tinkering, there's always the option of buying cheaper Savage action and screwing on a new barrel. I built my .300 RUM on a Stevens 200 action with a Shilen Match Stainless 30" barrel for about $650 including the Magnum bolt head. Between Shilen and all the other makers out there with Savage pre-fits your caliber options for this route would be pretty wide open. Mcgowan Barrels out of Kalispell has various pre-fits on sale at different times for some screaming deals.
http://www.mcgowenbarrel.com/SavagePrefit.pdf
http://www.mcgowenbarrel.com/catalog4.htm
http://www.mcgowenbarrel.com/SavagePrefit.pdf
http://www.mcgowenbarrel.com/catalog4.htm
3fingervic
Well-Known Member
My vote is for the .300wsm. Tank spoke of retained energy at longer distances, that is my deciding factor.
Parkerb14
Well-Known Member
WOW!, this is why I like this forum. There are plenty of people out there willing to share their knowledge. Thanks for everyone who responded. 3fingervic, I never really thought about not getting one "good" shot at an animal. 406pat, I like the idea of "tinkering" buy a Stevens/Savage LA, set up a 300 WSM on that. My question is, how hard is it so head space and all that good suff?
winmag
Well-Known Member
Well, where to start............
I have a 270wsm that I load for and it loads very well when I F/L size it and barely ''bump'' the shoulder.(finding the sweet spot with a redding dye is easy) Mine is in a Model-70 Winchester, and my C.O.A.L. is 2.915 with 140 gr Accubonds. Book max says 2.755(ya right) Even with my long coal, I still have room in my magazine. I also hold 3 + 1, in my Winchester.
You may want to consider another ''brand of rifle'' thats more ''accomodating'' to shoot and load for. But IMO your on the right track with the 300 as far as caliber goes when Elk are in the mix and Long Range is an option. --not that others cant get it done, they can and will when shot placement is right, but if something goes wrong I personaly would rather have more ''oomph'' than not quite enough.
I hope I didnt offend anyone. It was certainly not my intention. I just proof read my reply and it sounds a bit blunt. Sorry
I have a 270wsm that I load for and it loads very well when I F/L size it and barely ''bump'' the shoulder.(finding the sweet spot with a redding dye is easy) Mine is in a Model-70 Winchester, and my C.O.A.L. is 2.915 with 140 gr Accubonds. Book max says 2.755(ya right) Even with my long coal, I still have room in my magazine. I also hold 3 + 1, in my Winchester.
You may want to consider another ''brand of rifle'' thats more ''accomodating'' to shoot and load for. But IMO your on the right track with the 300 as far as caliber goes when Elk are in the mix and Long Range is an option. --not that others cant get it done, they can and will when shot placement is right, but if something goes wrong I personaly would rather have more ''oomph'' than not quite enough.
I hope I didnt offend anyone. It was certainly not my intention. I just proof read my reply and it sounds a bit blunt. Sorry
liltank
Well-Known Member
Not hard at all. Actually I took a few runs at it the first time for my .300 because I couldn't believe it was really that easy. You take the ejector plunger out of the bolt, close the action on a go gauge, screw the barrel down onto the gauge then tighten the barrel nut. After that you check with the no go gauge. If the bolt closes, loosen it all up and try again. If the bolt doesn't close you're good to go. I like to check a piece of sized brass just to make myself feel better.
The beauty is, headspace can be a trial and error (before firing of course!). If you get it wrong and the bolt closes on the no go then all you have to do is loosen things up and try again, no trips to a machine shop for a lathe or tedious reamer work.
you can rent headspace gauges here for a reasonable price http://www.reamerrentals.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=300WSM.g
Here's the wrench you need. If you shop around you might find a better price.
Wheeler Engineering Barrel Nut Wrench Savage 10, 110 - MidwayUSA
I'd go for a long action so that you could load long bullets and still use the magazine. I don't know for sure, but I would bet that the magazine box for either the 7mm mag or .300 win could work for the WSM with little or no work.
The beauty is, headspace can be a trial and error (before firing of course!). If you get it wrong and the bolt closes on the no go then all you have to do is loosen things up and try again, no trips to a machine shop for a lathe or tedious reamer work.
you can rent headspace gauges here for a reasonable price http://www.reamerrentals.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=300WSM.g
Here's the wrench you need. If you shop around you might find a better price.
Wheeler Engineering Barrel Nut Wrench Savage 10, 110 - MidwayUSA
I'd go for a long action so that you could load long bullets and still use the magazine. I don't know for sure, but I would bet that the magazine box for either the 7mm mag or .300 win could work for the WSM with little or no work.
Just saw this on the for sale forum. http://www.longrangehunting.com/forums/f25/savage-111-7-rem-mag-55454/
Might be worth a look if you can find an FFL to work with (Shouldn't be hard in Butte though).
Might be worth a look if you can find an FFL to work with (Shouldn't be hard in Butte though).
Parkerb14
Well-Known Member
Pat, thanks, but my purchase will have to made this summer. Being in college and having a baby on March, 11th dosent leave too much room for toys without a full time job.
