Taking opinions on a 30 cal cartridge for a future build

[eshorebwhntr]

There is a Defensive Edge rifle for sale on this site at a great price. If I were in the market for a big stick that would be the one(338 Edge).

Unless something changes and 300 RUM brass becomes more readily available I'll probably stay away from cartridges based on it. But I've shot a friends DE in 300 win mag and it was a nice rifle for sure. Just a little too heavy to hunt with for me at 14lbs + with an optic.

 

[eshorebwhntr]

+1 on the 300 norma.

What are the specs and performance on yours?

 

[Predator 22]

Wish I had one! I had a chance to shoot one a friend has about a year ago and I was very impressed. He was shooting 210 grain vlds I believe, stiller action, and a benchmark tube. We only got to shoot out to 400 yards at a rock face. Recoil was very acceptable very fun to shoot. I was planning on building one and have since changed my mind and I'm now going to build a 28 nosler.

 

[trueblue]

There is a Defensive Edge rifle for sale on this site at a great price. If I were in the market for a big stick that would be the one(338 Edge).

I agree with this as well.

 

[Wachsmann]

I have the 300 RUM and there are a few things that are left to liking for this caliber. First off Remington is not supporting the brass as they should which really pees me off the most and loaded rounds are always low stock. The mag box is way, way to short. I think my rifle is addicted to Retumbo or it may be just me. The up side. It shoots the heavy 230's really great but I'm single feeding. It has probably enough energy with a well placed shot to kill at 1500 to 1600 yards with heavy bullets maybe even futher. When all said and done the cost between a 338 LM and the RUM isn't enough to me so I wish I had went with the 338 LM. LM brass is great brass and I think the LM cases open up a few different powder options. Maybe it's just me on the powder but it seem retumbo produces the best over all results but I haven't tried RL33 yet. Nosler brass is close to the cost of LM brass so why not go to the LM and brass life is long. I think when my barrel get tired the action will get trued and the rifle will probably get turned into a 28 nosler. It might not have the energy as the rum but hopefully the whole cartridge support will be there and brass. The LM will come later.

 

[MarkA]

30 Nosler

Would think the 210ABLR would work.

THE 30 NOSLER

 

[el matador]

.30-378 and build on a Weatherby or Stiller TAC338 action. Or buy an Accumark. I have one in .338-378 and it's a 1/2 moa gun after skim bedding and a trigger job.

 

[eshorebwhntr]

I'm still up in the air right now about which one to go with.

I will most likely want to shoot 200+gr bullets out of the gun with a 26" or so barrel and would obviously like the best ballistics that are feasible without being a barrel burner. But it is a hunting gun so I'm not overly concerned. I would like to get 1500 rounds of good life out of it.

The one thing I don't want to build is a gun that I have to eventually fireform the brass for or turn into a guy that hunts brass more than I hunt with the gun. The 30 Hart (300 weatherby based) that was mentioned earlier seems to have good brass availability now but back in 2014 I couldn't find brass for it anywhere. Maybe and hopefully those days are well behind us. The 300 RUM has been discussed on brass and I agree. I really liked the 300 Norma that was mentioned. No belt, factory brass, good performance...seems like a nice compromise of the factors that I'm looking into. The 30 Nosler fits into that category as well except the brass is only carried by Nosler at the moment. That worries me a little in times of crisis but a viable option.

I was hoping an owner of a 30-338 lapua would chime in at some point to share an opinion. Maybe the lack of response is an opinion in and of itself. My thoughts on the pro's of that caliber were good brass, brass options and availability, and the idea that I could run it mild on the reloads and get at or near 300 RUM performance and have the brass last forever and decent barrel life. Maybe it's not worth it.

I never thought about the action restriction/requirements of the options I've mentioned. More specifically, would the 300 Norma and 30-338 options work on a magnum based r700? I probably will go the custom route when the time comes but I was just curious.

Thanks for all the replies so far guys.

 

[Bart B]

One of the rimless 30 caliber magnums with a case capacity of the .30-.338 may well be the best compromise. Belted cases are too difficult to reload for best accuracy and new belted cases typically shoot bullets more accurate than resized ones.

The recoil of .30-.338 size cartridges is about the most one can handle and still get good accuracy afield hand holding it.

I'd use a Win 70 action over the Rem 700 ones. They're near 3 times stiffer and a lot more reliable plus easy to replace parts afield if needed.

 

[Edd]

How does the stiffness of a Model 70 compare to a Remington footprint action with an integral rail and lug? Something like this one... https://surgeonrifles.com/shop/591sa-repeater/

 

[MudRunner2005]

One of the rimless 30 caliber magnums with a case capacity of the .30-.338 may well be the best compromise. Belted cases are too difficult to reload for best accuracy and new belted cases typically shoot bullets more accurate than resized ones.

The recoil of .30-.338 size cartridges is about the most one can handle and still get good accuracy afield hand holding it.

I'd use a Win 70 action over the Rem 700 ones. They're near 3 times stiffer and a lot more reliable plus easy to replace parts afield if needed.

Hmmm, out of my dozen+ belted rifles I've owned and loaded for, none of them have given me 1 inkling of trouble... And all have been just as accurate as my non-belted caliber rifles.

And if belts were such a concern, unreliable, and not as accurate, why does the military keep deploying M24's in .300 WinMag?

I still want to see the proof of this which you keep touting...

 

[Frank in the Laurels]

Do yourself a huge favor, it must use the .300 wm as the base case !! If not your more than likely going to drive yourself crazy in the future for 100-200 fps and look at the rifle instead of shooting it ! You see the number of fellow shooters on here looking for brass, primers and some powders..not worth the headache for a couple of extra clicks on the scope at long range !! Don't make that mistake from the start.

 

[el matador]

I never thought about the action restriction/requirements of the options I've mentioned. More specifically, would the 300 Norma and 30-338 options work on a magnum based r700? I probably will go the custom route when the time comes but I was just curious.

They will work on a 700 action but there are some things to consider. Cartridge length is one thing that'll get tricky with the Lapua, not an issue with the Norma. There are other issues with the extractor and the strength of the action itself. Here are a couple of links that spell it out pretty well:

http://www.longrangehunting.com/for...-much-chamber-pressure-safe-40117/#post269273

378 Weatherby Cases in the Remington 700 Action? - Lilja

If it's built correctly the 300 Norma would be fine on a 700 action, especially if you don't run it too hard. Although to build the action correctly means spending money, and the main reason for using a 700 in the first place is because it's cheap!

The 300 WM is really not a bad choice. With a 28" barrel you can get great performance with the 200-215 grain bullets. Brass is inexpensive and not hard to find. I have loaded for several belted magnums and have never had any problems getting good accuracy. They are not harder to load for if you have a match chamber and know how to set up your dies. You always hear they're a pain to reload but that's partly myth and partly because of excessively roomy factory chambers.

The bigger rounds are cool though. You may want to decide on an action first since that may influence which cartridge you choose. I would personally stick with the 300 WM in a Rem 700 action. If you go custom you have plenty of good options in the 300 Norma, 30-338 lapua, 30-378, and others.

 

[eshorebwhntr]

Nothing wrong with the win mag except that my dad has 2. So I've got to do something different just for the hell of it.

I did that with the stw in 08 to counter his 7 mag. In 08 brass was no problem for me...nowadays I'm glad to have what I have. Guess I haven't learned my lesson very well...