dallsheep
Member
+1 for 4831
Reloading question
- Thread starter UT_Hunter
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When I had a .300 and reloaded I did get good groups using Hornady bullets and RL 19 and 22. But it depends on the rifle but there is definitely nothing inherently wrong with the aliant powders. If you got good groups with other rifles and are using a good rest then it probably isn't you unless you think you are flinching. One thing I like to do is alternate between a rifle and load I know I can shoot well with the one I'm testing. That way I can convince myself that the difference really is the rifle and not me that day.
I'd try RL 19 or 4831 and Barnes or other copper bullets in the 165-180 range. I've had success with both RL 19 & Barnes in magnums.
I had a Ruger 300 WM Hawkeye that wouldn't get below 3 inches regardless of powder or bullet, so it went down the road.
I had a Ruger 300 WM Hawkeye that wouldn't get below 3 inches regardless of powder or bullet, so it went down the road.
I recently picked up a 300 WM myself and put seven different types of factory ammo through it with poor results. I switched my hold on the rifle in the bench so that I was supporting the forend with my left hand. The 180 gr Hornady interlocks I was shooting at the time went from about 2.5 inches to an inch and a quarter at 100 yards. This is my first magnum rifle so I didn't realize recoil could throw it off that much, but it made a pretty big difference in my case.
antelopedundee
Well-known member
Why are you using 4350 in a .300 Win mag? Try 7828 or even IMR 7977 or something slower than IMR4350.
one eye joe
New member
I had good success with H1000 and 180 grain bullets of several makes. I would suspect shooter error or bedding problems. Is there any pattern to the groups? Horizontal stringing? Vertical? Random?
Don Fischer
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I
ve never owned a 300 mag, shot a few but never owned! But I think I'd definately dump any bullet under 180gr and for myselfeverything under 200gr. That 300 mag is one powerful cartridge and the 165gr bullet I would think may hit like bomb's. Most people I read like the 180gr bullet in their 300 mag but I still believe that the 200gr is the way to go. The 300 can handle that bullet a lot better than a 30-06 can and the 30-06 handles the 180gr fine. my though is to get the most I can out of a cartridge, not just a lot of velocity. After all, your putting up with a lot of recoil just to do about what you can otherwise do with a 30-06!
ve never owned a 300 mag, shot a few but never owned! But I think I'd definately dump any bullet under 180gr and for myselfeverything under 200gr. That 300 mag is one powerful cartridge and the 165gr bullet I would think may hit like bomb's. Most people I read like the 180gr bullet in their 300 mag but I still believe that the 200gr is the way to go. The 300 can handle that bullet a lot better than a 30-06 can and the 30-06 handles the 180gr fine. my though is to get the most I can out of a cartridge, not just a lot of velocity. After all, your putting up with a lot of recoil just to do about what you can otherwise do with a 30-06!
antelopedundee
Well-known member
My shoulder hurts just watching people shoot that big stuff.
Millsworks
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Not everyone can shoot a big magnum accurately. But loading for a magnum can be a little finacky also. The bullet seating depth is usually high on the list of the things to play with.
The mags can like to have powder charges in the upper end of the capacity too.
I haven't seen a .300 win mag that doesn't like reloader 22 and 180gr accubonds.
I use a loading of 77 gr. Of 22 with 180s in my rifle and the same load has worked well for several of my friends.
Most factory .300s are a 1 in 10 twist. That rate of twist likes 180 and heavier bullets, but 165gr isn't too light for good accuracies.
What make of gun is yours?
Alot of mags out there are not good shooters without some bedding work and maybe even a stock replacement.
I feel a .300 win mag should always have at least a 24 inch barrel, but 26 is better for a more even and complete burn of the powder. The longer barrels help make the recoil more manageable also.
If your magazine won't allow for long seating of the bullet within 20 thousands or less from the rifling, then a crimp die would help keep pressure more even and aid accuracy
The mags can like to have powder charges in the upper end of the capacity too.
I haven't seen a .300 win mag that doesn't like reloader 22 and 180gr accubonds.
I use a loading of 77 gr. Of 22 with 180s in my rifle and the same load has worked well for several of my friends.
Most factory .300s are a 1 in 10 twist. That rate of twist likes 180 and heavier bullets, but 165gr isn't too light for good accuracies.
What make of gun is yours?
Alot of mags out there are not good shooters without some bedding work and maybe even a stock replacement.
I feel a .300 win mag should always have at least a 24 inch barrel, but 26 is better for a more even and complete burn of the powder. The longer barrels help make the recoil more manageable also.
If your magazine won't allow for long seating of the bullet within 20 thousands or less from the rifling, then a crimp die would help keep pressure more even and aid accuracy
antelopedundee
Well-known member
I guess you always want to be sure that is it the gun not shooting or is it the shooter not shooting.
Do people decide on a certain bullet and say that I'm going to pick out a certain bullet brand, style and weight and say I'm going to make this work? How do you decide which powder to use? Generally I make sure that the cases I'm going to use will chamber in the rifle. Next I start to seat a bullet and increase seating depth until the loaded dummy round chambers without resistance or if there is resistance until the round extracts from the chamber with the bullet still seated and look for rifling marks on the bullet. As long as the round goes into the magazine I leave it at that or if too long I have to decide to relegate the rifle to single shot status if it shoots best that way.
At some point you may decide to live with it being a so so shooter or sell it. I have no experience with a .300 Win mag, but I'd certainly look at slower powders.
Do people decide on a certain bullet and say that I'm going to pick out a certain bullet brand, style and weight and say I'm going to make this work? How do you decide which powder to use? Generally I make sure that the cases I'm going to use will chamber in the rifle. Next I start to seat a bullet and increase seating depth until the loaded dummy round chambers without resistance or if there is resistance until the round extracts from the chamber with the bullet still seated and look for rifling marks on the bullet. As long as the round goes into the magazine I leave it at that or if too long I have to decide to relegate the rifle to single shot status if it shoots best that way.
At some point you may decide to live with it being a so so shooter or sell it. I have no experience with a .300 Win mag, but I'd certainly look at slower powders.
Arch Stanton
Active member
Action screws torqued to 65 in-lbs?
All scope base screws torqued to the same amount as indicated by the scope base manufacturer?
Scope ring tops torqued to the same amount?
Good scope?
Is the trigger good? This is always my first modification on a gun. I use Timney or Jewell.
Barrel floated?
Action bedded?
Does the brass have consistent neck tension? Has the brass all been fired the same # of times and have consistent Case bottom to shoulder measurements? I bump the shoulder .002" after a fire
Are the brass pieces trimmed to the same length?
Do you measure CBTO (Case bottom to Ogive) when seating a bullet? Did you start .010" off the lands for all your trial loads?
Can you measure the maximum CBTO consistently to know "where" the lands are?
When shooting a group of 3 or 5 bullets, do all the bullets weigh the same and have the same measurement for bullet base to ogive?
I don't like lead sleds but some do when dealing with bigger magnums (a muzzle break seems nescessary)
The best advice I ever got was do hours and hours of research on loads and shoot smaller #'s of bullets in a session. After a bnch of research on 300 WM loads for the 180g Accubond, a lof of info circled back to 69g of IMR 4350 or 72.5g RL-22 (The 2 powders I had stock of). My gun ended up liking 68.5g of IMR 4350. I can't concentrate and make good shots 25-30 times in a row. I will shoot 3 groups of 5 with a 300 WM in a session. Or 3 or 4 groups of 3 shots. For one of my tests, I tried 68, 68.5, and 69g of IMR 4350. I was going to come back later and different charges but these 3 worked great. That's my limit for making good shots with that gun.
I'm missing a bunch, but this was a good start for me.
All scope base screws torqued to the same amount as indicated by the scope base manufacturer?
Scope ring tops torqued to the same amount?
Good scope?
Is the trigger good? This is always my first modification on a gun. I use Timney or Jewell.
Barrel floated?
Action bedded?
Does the brass have consistent neck tension? Has the brass all been fired the same # of times and have consistent Case bottom to shoulder measurements? I bump the shoulder .002" after a fire
Are the brass pieces trimmed to the same length?
Do you measure CBTO (Case bottom to Ogive) when seating a bullet? Did you start .010" off the lands for all your trial loads?
Can you measure the maximum CBTO consistently to know "where" the lands are?
When shooting a group of 3 or 5 bullets, do all the bullets weigh the same and have the same measurement for bullet base to ogive?
I don't like lead sleds but some do when dealing with bigger magnums (a muzzle break seems nescessary)
The best advice I ever got was do hours and hours of research on loads and shoot smaller #'s of bullets in a session. After a bnch of research on 300 WM loads for the 180g Accubond, a lof of info circled back to 69g of IMR 4350 or 72.5g RL-22 (The 2 powders I had stock of). My gun ended up liking 68.5g of IMR 4350. I can't concentrate and make good shots 25-30 times in a row. I will shoot 3 groups of 5 with a 300 WM in a session. Or 3 or 4 groups of 3 shots. For one of my tests, I tried 68, 68.5, and 69g of IMR 4350. I was going to come back later and different charges but these 3 worked great. That's my limit for making good shots with that gun.
I'm missing a bunch, but this was a good start for me.
Arch Stanton
Active member
Anyone got any 4831 powder charges for 180g Accubonds?
Thanks!
Thanks!
huntin24/7
Well-known member
It’s frustrating sometimes reloading. I’ve usually been fortunate to be able to find an accurate load relatively quickly. I’ve been working on a load for a new rem 700 in 7mm and almost everything I tried was 2-3” 100 yard groups, which was really irritating. I started playing around with overall cartridge length and yesterday shot back to back 7/8” then 1/2” groups with Berger vld’s. I followed Berger’s advice about picking a powder and charge and using the same charge at various overall lengths. I started at .020 off the lands and worked back. At .050, I found my sweet spot. Might be worth that for you to start to at least find what COAL your rifle likes and then start adjusting powders. Or, if your tired of reloading for now, there are a lot of great factory ammo options available right now.
ImBillT
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At 2” it could be anything except the load. Some bullets are that bad, but even then it’s few and far between. Most likely it’s the barrel/chamber, bad bedding, a loose screw or a broken scope...it could also be a die issue. When I got started had a rig that shot great, and bought some Wilson dies thinking I’d shoot even better.... than started getting HUGE 3”-5” groups! I was sizing unturned Winchester necks with a bushing die that DID NOT HAVE AN EXPANDER BALL. There’s nothing wrong with Wilson dies or bushing dies. You just have to realize that if you’re not turning your necks, you need to size the neck undersize and then expand back up. Anyway, bad dies, even seemingly good ones, can really give you fits(and they can have all sorts of small issues). Accubonds will shoot well under 2” at 100yds, they’re very tolerant of seating depth, and being off a node vs being on a node won’t make a .5” gun shoot 2” groups. You might be on the edge of maybe the possibility of tuning something acceptable out of it, but I’m 99% certain that the problem lies elsewhere. It could easily just be shot out.
Also, a high recoiling rifle with a stock that isn’t flat on the for-end, with a parallel butt is HIGHLY sensitive to gun handling and setup. You might actually try shooting it from sand bags in the front and rear, from the prone position. Shooting prone can remove a lot(but not all) of the recoil based gun handling issues.
Also, a high recoiling rifle with a stock that isn’t flat on the for-end, with a parallel butt is HIGHLY sensitive to gun handling and setup. You might actually try shooting it from sand bags in the front and rear, from the prone position. Shooting prone can remove a lot(but not all) of the recoil based gun handling issues.
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ImBillT
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It could definitely be bedding.
gotur6
New member
IMR 4831 over a 200 grain Nosler accubond or a partition. My Venture shoots sub MOA if I do my part. I can say the accubonds hit like freight trains at almost 300 yds. I came down to I think 65.2 grains of powder for the sweet spot. That is actually several grains off of MAX if my memory serves me correctly. Also, I use Hornady brass (new) over a CCI magnum large rifle primer. I have experimented with Winchester brass as well with decent results, but the Hornady brass just loads nicer.
I’m having the same prob with a new 300wm. Shot 8 loads last week. Two of them were two holers so will try them again. I only have three powders to work with and can’t find powder anywhere. Bsd is an issue because it is a tikka. I started with max loads and will now reduce by 1 grain. Also, match prepping the brass. 165gmx, 168ttsx, 175lrx. I’ll keep you posted And let me know what you find out.
std7mag
Well-known member
Pick your bullet.
Pick your powder.
Start at start load and SAAMI length, & go up in 0.5gr increments.
Shoot, looking for 3 closest vertical holes.
Middle is your powder charge for that bullet.
Take fired case & neck size till bullet finger tight. Leave bullet seated long.
Chamber.
Extract & measure. This is COAL to the lands.
Load 6 each at 0.010, 0.020, 0.030, 0.040 inch off the lands.
Shoot groups of 3. See which distance from lands your bullet likes.
Pick your powder.
Start at start load and SAAMI length, & go up in 0.5gr increments.
Shoot, looking for 3 closest vertical holes.
Middle is your powder charge for that bullet.
Take fired case & neck size till bullet finger tight. Leave bullet seated long.
Chamber.
Extract & measure. This is COAL to the lands.
Load 6 each at 0.010, 0.020, 0.030, 0.040 inch off the lands.
Shoot groups of 3. See which distance from lands your bullet likes.
