Loading big calibers for smaller game

My wife is shooting antelope with a 338 norma IMP pushing 300 gr.Berger OTM's 2950. With fantastic results and no loss of meat. If it was me I would find a load the 300 win with some 180 accubonds and be done
 
Great info , have never thought about lead in bullets getting into meat until recently reading some posts. Make me lean mono along with all the recommendations from this post as well as reading tons of others, people sing hammer hunter praises! Will also look into the Barnes lrx even though I haven't heard near as much feedback on it as the hammer hunters. As far as non monolithic goes it seems Nosler Accubonds and Berger are the go to. Learned a lot in this post hope it also helps many others lurking. The information provided has been outstanding! Thanks for all the help ! I sent my buddy this thread and he ordered 100 hammer hunters and is going to work them up! I might have been converted too!

Thanks to all !
 
Heart shots always kill. No reason to ruin much meat. I would use a lighter fast expanding bullet (not varmint) higher speed and flat shooting. 150 gr maybe. No need to slow it down or use a heavier bullet than you would use in a .308 or 30-06.
 
DREBS said:
I'm surprised by some of the answers based on the old school preconceptions out there that's I've thought were real such as a 300 win mag will ruin too much meat. Based on the answers I'm guessing this is not an absolute and more of a rule of thumb ?

So a 243 85 gr vs a 300 win mag 190 gr on an antelope at 200 yards .. we we're always told growing up that the 300 win mag was "overkill " and if it's for sake of recoil and what's needed for the job fine.. but I wa sand many others were always lead to believe a 300 win mag is "dumb" on an antelope or deer because you ruin too much meat.. wives tale? I'm willing to accept it I'm coming back into hunting from a 2009 understanding and I know a lot have been dispelled and a lot has changed from the old guard
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The .300WM is the only caliber I hunt with. It's as close to a do-it-all as I know of.
 
memtb said:
Not a bad choice…..it is close! 😉 memtb
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Ok…just out of curiosity, what caliber would you say is a better do-it-all? Considering I live in Montana and we go from stinking goats up to grizzlies and moose? .338WM? .300WSM? 7mm? I haven't seen a need for them, for what I need. However, I'd like to hear what you're thinking. There just might be another caliber I need to buy a rifle for!
I've got to be honest, a lot of the reason I first started shooting the .300WM is that it just looked like I thought a cartridge should look. Proportion, capacity, bullet weight, variety of same…it was a definite step up from the 30.06. I love it.
 
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DREBS said:
If a guy was moving from Alaska to New Mexico and had one rifle chambered in a 300 win mag and inherited some reloading stuff. Without offering a "get another rifle " solution and he wanted to load that gun to hunt antelope. And you were concerned about not ruining as much meat as possible

How would you do it ? Asking for a friend

Heavy bullets loaded as slow as possible ?
Light bullets loaded as slow as possible?

None of the above ? Find a fmj bullet?

Also where does extreme lower speed begin to hurt velocity as much as trying pushing a bullet faster than an accuracy mode hurt ? No limits imposed except for where twist becomes unstable ?

I realize it's not ideal to a diffent caliber, but sometimes we work with what we have
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Yes, deer have run a couple times on me... with no lungs or heart... 2-300 yards. More power is better than not enough... Hornady sst is efficient.
 
Wallrat said:
Ok…just out of curiosity, what caliber would you say is a better do-it-all? Considering I live in Montana and we go from stinking goats up to grizzlies and moose? .338WM? .300WSM? 7mm? I haven't seen a need for them, for what I need. However, I'd like to hear what you're thinking. There just might be another caliber I need to buy a rifle for!
I've got to be honest, a lot of the reason I first started shooting the .300WM is that it just looked like I thought a cartridge should look. Proportion, capacity, bullet weight, variety of same…it was a definite step up from the 30.06. I love it.
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.338 WM is a pretty good contender in the "all around" debate as a factory loaded cartridge! My wife is pretty fond of hers and has the utmost confidence in it! I feel that the .338's have a slight edge in performance on the bigger stuff and will still kill the smaller stuff!

Though, I'd personally go with the .338 RUM if I were consider buying a "do it all" NA (only) cartridge!

All that said, I'll not be stepping down in cartridge/caliber, as I'm very happy with my "do it all" world cartridge! 😉 memtb
 
memtb said:
.338 WM is a pretty good contender in the "all around" debate as a factory loaded cartridge! My wife is pretty fond of hers and has the utmost confidence in it! I feel that the .338's have a slight edge in performance on the bigger stuff and will still kill the smaller stuff!

Though, I'd personally go with the .338 RUM if I were consider buying a "do it all" NA (only) cartridge!

All that said, I'll not be stepping down in cartridge/caliber, as I'm very happy with my "do it all" world cartridge! 😉 memtb
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I have a.338 Lapua…it's a safe queen. It would certainly kill anything on the continent, but expensive to buy ammo for, and fairly expensive to reload, compared to the WinMag. I don't know much about the Remington Ultra Mag. I assume it's comparable to the Lapua, with an edge on velocity? I got it for larger game, possibly an Alaska hunt. But mostly to have a heavy hitter at long ranges.
 
Wallrat said:
I have a.338 Lapua…it's a safe queen. It would certainly kill anything on the continent, but expensive to buy ammo for, and fairly expensive to reload, compared to the WinMag. I don't know much about the Remington Ultra Mag. I assume it's comparable to the Lapua, with an edge on velocity? I got it for larger game, possibly an Alaska hunt. But mostly to have a heavy hitter at long ranges.
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Forgot to mention the Lapua…..another great .338. I've never really researched…..but are there any .338 Lapua's that can be had at under 9 1/2 pounds scoped, loaded, slung?

Typical complete weight is what would give the 338 WM a leg up for me. Now a Lapua or Ultra under that magic 9 1/2 would be awesome! memtb
 
memtb said:
Forgot to mention the Lapua…..another great .338. I've never really researched…..but are there any .338 Lapua's that can be had at under 9 1/2 pounds scoped, loaded, slung?

Typical complete weight is what would give the 338 WM a leg up for me. Now a Lapua or Ultra under that magic 9 1/2 would be awesome! memtb
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There you go…
300 Ultra. Different optic( heavier) now, but still under 10#

CB19BBDD-A0BF-4235-B7DF-0F34D3EDD355.jpeg
 
First time I ever heard of a 338RUM as being a "do-it-all" cartridge. My do all is a 270win and it weighs 7lb with a suppressor. (Which by the way was Jack O'Conner's do all) I have heard many solid arguments for 30-06, 308, 7RM, and 300WM being a do all.... but not 338RUM or 338WM.

A do it all cartridge is your own personal choice and should be able to take any game you hunt at reasonable distance.

Example: I used my 308 as a squirrel, coyote, rabbit, deer rifle once upon a time. (Couldn't afford anything else) That was my do all then.

A cartridge of reasonable case capacity is able to be loaded hot and mild to hunt anything you could get your hands on. Maybe if I lived in Africa or possibly Alaska and all my shots were over 400 yards and I only hunted large game I'd consider the big 338's? But maybe you do. And maybe you only hunt the largest game. In your situation the 300WM seems to be a solid solid choice as your do-all. If it were me for goats to bears I'd look at that or something in the 7mm flavor.

I'm also on the East coast so my personal experience may be different from others.
 
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