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300 Win Mag
bperdue21
Member Posts: 1,457 ✭✭
Not having the greatest success in getting my Savage shooting like I want it to. Have tried 180 gr hornady SST's and 175 Gr Berger Hunting VLD's. Best groups are about 1.5" at 100 yards. Would you move up or down in bullet weight or what else would you try first?
Comments
I've shot the same rifle for all these years and it still shoots better than 1"moa at 100yds. I've got a truck load of elk horns to back that statement up.
W.D.
Not having the greatest success in getting my Savage shooting like I want it to. Have tried 180 gr hornady SST's and 175 Gr Berger Hunting VLD's. Best groups are about 1.5" at 100 yards. Would you move up or down in bullet weight or what else would you try first?
Start from the basics
First- what kind of Savage rifle do you have?
Barrel length- IE heavy/Standard 24" 26" 28"
Twist rate- 1-10 1-12
Trigger?
All this stuff is in play with your reloads.
I've shot 300 Win Mag for 40 years, I've always had great results in accuracy and knock down with Nosler 180gr bullets and Hodgen H4831SC.
I've shot the same rifle for all these years and it still shoots better than 1"moa at 100yds. I've got a truck load of elk horns to back that statement up.
W.D.
Right On! (about the above powder and load combo) Try H4831Sc or H4831 and first load the minimum load, then a average middle load and a load 1/2 way between the min and the average middle recommended. Fire 3 shots and let the barrel cool down between the 3 shot groups! When you find the powder grains it likes start moving the powder back and forth by 1/2 gr load for fine tuning! When you find the 180 gr bullet load, you can reduce your felt recoil quite a bit by going to 150 gr bullets out of the 300 mag, but if it's a long tapered wimpy type barrel you may have to stay with the 180gr bullet for best accuracy groups! If the H4831 is not working with either the 180 or 150 bullets try H4350 or IMR4350. H4350 seems more consistent in the larger calibers, SOMETIMES instead of IMR4350. (the 4350 powder load grains will be more touchy weight wise usually as compared to the H4831. (you can miss the load easily by just 1 grain when using 4350, so test 1/2 grain at a time) Just go by the reloading manual for correct OAL instead of trying to determine the jump! After you find a load it likes then you can play with the jump, which is usually about .020-.040 for a hunting rifle, but on some guns you sometimes have to live with what will feed from the magazine box! (Length of magazine box limits the max OAL of reloaded ammo)
You can waste a lot of time testing for OAL then the gun won't feed shells from the magazine box if it has one, so go by the reloading manual OAL when first testing. When you find the right load for barrel tuning accuracy, the bullet jump will not be very critical for 1 inch to 1 1/2 inch CONSISTENT groups on a 300 win mag hunting rifle!
Don't try 5 shot groups from the 300 mag, barrel gets too warm!
When you think you have a good hunting load, the final test for proof of the load is shoot a 3 shot group firing one shot each day from a cold barrel and this is the real world hunting group!
Do not clean or oil the barrel between the cold bore test shots!
I've seen several 300 mags (hunting guns) that would shoot one hole groups with the above powder, if the shooter could do his part.
If it's still not grouping with the above Hodgdons H4831 powder, change scopes and check the mounts! 300's will test YOU, your scope and mounting systems! If it's still not meeting your expectations you need to CORRECTLY glass bed the action to the stock!
In the old days, they used to cut barrels a 1/2" at a time until they got the group that was the tightest. Now the BOSS tunes the barrel without having to cut it on Winchesters and Brownings.
When my MKII77 started opening up with Nosler 180 Partitions; I tried the same load with the 220s (POINT BEING MADE HERE-I SHOOT FOR ACCURACY; NOT RECOIL!)but down 10% from the reduced load I was shooting the 180s at.
Not certain why, but those blunt noses grouped better than the pointy 180s.
I try to use whatever powder I have the most of, usually RE22 or Hodgdon 1000, 414, etc. and the lighter loads usually give me more accuracy than full-on "hunting" loads.
My TRG prefers bullets in the 180-220gr vicinity; never did shoot well with 168s or 170grn Sciroccos.
are you seating out near the lands?
Unless that plastic stock has a bedding block, or at the very least, pillars, that could be your weak link. Just grab the stock and barrel in your fist and sqeeze, you will likley see the stock flex with very little pressure. If so, it could flex while simply sitting in the rest.