Correction please, I meant; 1K yards and below 2k yards my vote goes to 300 Norma and beyond 2K yards it's 416 Barrett or 375 Cheytac. I'm sorry for the confusion. Thanks.
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What is THE Ultimate 30cal Cartridge for ELR/Reloading?
- Thread starter SWATMedic
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WildRose
Well-Known Member
Except that when hunting medium and large game you need a lot more energy to bring them down quickly and humanely than you do a human.
WildRose
Well-Known Member
Take a look at the impact velocity and energy at 4000yds.
This is about shooting animals, not ringing a gong or paper. Just because you can hit it doesn't ensure a quick, clean kill reliably and repeatedly.
WildRose
Well-Known Member
The 300 PRC. The Rum is a longer case so you need a long magnum action for it.
With a lot of actions the only real issue is going to be magazine size and where the bolt stop is though.
The PRC was however specifically designed for an 06 length action.
An Official Journal Of The NRA | Behind the Bullet: 300 PRC
A beltless non-rebated .30-caliber magnum rifle cartridge designed for extreme performance at long range, the .300 PRC is the product of years of tinkering by Hornady. It will handle almost any game in North America and is fully capable of doing double duty as a long-range target choice.
If you have the long magnum action to build off of though it might be best because bullets are just going to get longer and heavier as time goes on.
You'll want to also do your build with a 1:8 or 1:7.5 tw barrel to take full advantage of the heavier bullets for better long range ballistics.
QuietTexan
Well-Known Member
300 WSM. 180gn@3k isn't very fast, that's less than factory 300 WM, and 8 of 10 Nosler book loads for 300 WSM exceed that with a 24" barrel length. You could probably get there with a 30-06AI, except it uses the standard bolt face.
IMO the barrel length you want/need would be more important to decide on first towards hitting that particular velocity target because a pretty wide range of .308 cal cases can do it.
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TheFishBox
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The guy said ultimate not your run of the mill 300 win mag,wsm,Nosler or any of those. Ultimate should start at 300 lapua and go up not only in velocity but diminishing returns.
WildRose
Well-Known Member
If your starting range is 1,200 out to 2400, yes some of the big case 30's will get you there but you're really into the realm of the .338's and 375's for optimal performance.
In case you guys forgot ... ELR is "Extreme Long Range" and that starts at 1 mile and beyond .. 1760 yards min ......
ELR is not measured by a given cartidges capacity/capability (or the shooters) and then range is applied to that certain cartridges max and called ELR ... you can do that nonsense to any cartridge and then ELR has zero meaning ...
A lot ot the cartridges mentioned here don't apply to ELR, some can barely make it much past 1k..... the 300 NMI & 300 RUM would be bare minimum to a mile and they even start to puke not much further than that
ELR starts with the 338's , h20 case capacity 110 + gr and up .....
ELR is not measured by a given cartidges capacity/capability (or the shooters) and then range is applied to that certain cartridges max and called ELR ... you can do that nonsense to any cartridge and then ELR has zero meaning ...
A lot ot the cartridges mentioned here don't apply to ELR, some can barely make it much past 1k..... the 300 NMI & 300 RUM would be bare minimum to a mile and they even start to puke not much further than that
ELR starts with the 338's , h20 case capacity 110 + gr and up .....
I look at this different. I picked a bullet that I wanted for ELR in 30 caliber then looked at what cartridge would give me the best return on investment while mitigating recoil return. I ended up with the 230 A-tip and a 28 inch barrel 300 PRC with a proof carbon M40 contour barrel. I run the 230 grain bullet at 3080FPS with RL26. My second choice was the 250 grain 30 caliber and the 300 Norma but the recoil and the mag length was a little bit of a deterrent. Using a extended box mag or something may have solved that but the recoil and spotting shots was a little bit of my concern. I use the Gen 3 Fat Bastard brake and I can watch the impacts.
I sold my 338 Lapua after I got this dialed in because of the recoil and being able to watch the trace. Just my input for what little it may be worth.
I sold my 338 Lapua after I got this dialed in because of the recoil and being able to watch the trace. Just my input for what little it may be worth.
Calvin45
Well-Known Member
Agreed but the op specified .30 cal so that's the discussion here.
Perhaps they'll invent a slow enough triple base powder to make full use of the 408 ct case. 40 inch gain twist HBN treated, using Peterson brass…a 7000 ft/lb 30 cal might be "neat" for 400 rounds.
But ultimately yes there's only so much you can do with a pill that small, much more efficient to go bigger.
Also yeah, what @FEENIX said, what crazy wildcats you working on these days?
QuietTexan
Well-Known Member
Not afraid, it's just a quaint little vestigial remnant, like 3 on the tree speed column shifters and carburetors. Nice to play around with, but sadly just not modern enough for real work anymore 
In more seriousness though, IMO it's unnecessary and limits using the round as a parent case, so it's kind of a dead end on the family tree. Doesn't make the 300 WM or 7RM bad at all, but why try to wildcat off them when you have better options to work off of? Belted cases shoot fine, and the belt does what it was meant to do great, there just hasn't been a need for what it does since shoulder angles exceed the IIRC 23* of the H&H. You can't stuff a 300 WM into a chamber far enough to lose it like you could a 300H&H in an old double rifle. In Africa with something that would eat you was running at you. Very solid reason to ensure positive headspace control with the belt!
Peterson got on board with their "long" brass. Great option to keep 300 WMs running, and a reason to keep making them in you like them, even more flexibility to something that works already:
www.petersoncartridge.com
I started with 30-06, so when I added 300 RUM the 300 WM and 308 Win became essentially useless to me in that I could cover anything they can do with the other two so why spend the money on more chambers there. If someone has 308/300WM I wouldn't expect them to add a 30-06 to cover a capability gap, because there isn't one there. They're all just tools in the box.
In more seriousness though, IMO it's unnecessary and limits using the round as a parent case, so it's kind of a dead end on the family tree. Doesn't make the 300 WM or 7RM bad at all, but why try to wildcat off them when you have better options to work off of? Belted cases shoot fine, and the belt does what it was meant to do great, there just hasn't been a need for what it does since shoulder angles exceed the IIRC 23* of the H&H. You can't stuff a 300 WM into a chamber far enough to lose it like you could a 300H&H in an old double rifle. In Africa with something that would eat you was running at you. Very solid reason to ensure positive headspace control with the belt!
Peterson got on board with their "long" brass. Great option to keep 300 WMs running, and a reason to keep making them in you like them, even more flexibility to something that works already:
.300 Win Mag
Shooters that reload .300 Win Mag casings have often wished they could get more reloads from their casings. Well now you can!
www.petersoncartridge.com
I started with 30-06, so when I added 300 RUM the 300 WM and 308 Win became essentially useless to me in that I could cover anything they can do with the other two so why spend the money on more chambers there. If someone has 308/300WM I wouldn't expect them to add a 30-06 to cover a capability gap, because there isn't one there. They're all just tools in the box.
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motrapper
Well-Known Member
300 WM is what you are looking for!!
