300 Winchester Magnum
- Thread starter 300WINMAG
- Start date
The good news is you CAN shoot it like it is if you want.
The bad news is - it won't work out very well. The ADL is a great hunting rifle, simple, light, easy to carry and plenty accurate. I regularly hunt with one.
Your cartridge is mighty powerful for the comps too - doesn't mean you can't use it, you certainly can - but consider this; a typical F-class match is three strings of fire, 20 shots each, plus a couple of sighters. 60 - 70 shots from prone. In prone you have nowhere to give with the recoil, and it will start to beat you up pretty good after a while. I hunt with lightweight 7mm & .300 mag rifles, but I'll be darned if I want to shoot one of them in a match. You can get great results from much lighter recoiling stuff, like a .260 Rem or a .308 Win for example.
Muzzle brakes are frowned on at F-class matches. Many tactical matches permit them. Very, very loud for the competitors on either side of you on the firing line. I hate it when I have to set up next to some guy and his thundering, muzzle-braked magnum. Just about the time I'm settling on target and about to press the trigger... WHAM! I get hit with a blast of expanding gasses from the braked magnum... Sorta throws a fellow's shot a bit.
Then there's the barrel... Remington's factory sporter barrels are just fine for hunting. Reasonably accurate and lightweight. Typically however the bores are rough, and mine often foul pretty badly after a few shots. Often there is absolutely no time to clean your barrel in a match - this is where I've found a quality barrel to be a real advantage. After 60 or 70 shots, my Krieger barrel is still shooting great. After half that many, my Rem factory barrel was screaming for a cleaning.
Barrel contour plays a huge role too. A little heavier contour is nice when target shooting. Helps in several ways; heat doesn't get to it as much, recoil is reduced because barrel/rifle weight is up, and for me, it hangs steadier on target. I've seen barrels from fairly light to straight no-taper barrels do well in various competitions. Lighter is often nice in some of the tactical matches where a guy has to haul the rifle around and shoot from some "interesting" positions. Heavier is great for F-class, shooting from your belly at known distances.
Then there's the stock... I like Remington's sporter stocks on their ADL, BDL and CDL rifles - especially on the CDL. They're great! Good all-around, lightweight stocks. And an area where a huge improvement can be made. Check out the stocks by HS Precision, McMillan and Richards - their competition stocks are a huge help to the competition shooter.
Remington's trigger will need to be massaged before it's comp ready, or replaced with an aftermarket trigger. Don't try to take the factory Rem too low, because of safety issues. I've got one set at about 3# and it's just fine. If I want to go a lot lower than that, I'll go with a Jewell.
So... The other good news is that your Rem 700 action is a good one to build a competition rifle from! With the magnum bolt face, you can take your pick of big powerful, flat-shooting cartridges. Kent Reeve did a bang-up job with a .300 magnum this year at 1000 yards at Camp Perry, but it wasn't with a factory rifle.
I hope I didn't discourage you too much. A long time ago I figured out that my hunting rifles were not good match rifles, although the reverse isn't necessarily true - I have hunted with the same rifle that I shoot in tactical comps and have also shot it in NRA highpower prone matches.
Best of luck, Guy
The bad news is - it won't work out very well. The ADL is a great hunting rifle, simple, light, easy to carry and plenty accurate. I regularly hunt with one.
Your cartridge is mighty powerful for the comps too - doesn't mean you can't use it, you certainly can - but consider this; a typical F-class match is three strings of fire, 20 shots each, plus a couple of sighters. 60 - 70 shots from prone. In prone you have nowhere to give with the recoil, and it will start to beat you up pretty good after a while. I hunt with lightweight 7mm & .300 mag rifles, but I'll be darned if I want to shoot one of them in a match. You can get great results from much lighter recoiling stuff, like a .260 Rem or a .308 Win for example.
Muzzle brakes are frowned on at F-class matches. Many tactical matches permit them. Very, very loud for the competitors on either side of you on the firing line. I hate it when I have to set up next to some guy and his thundering, muzzle-braked magnum. Just about the time I'm settling on target and about to press the trigger... WHAM! I get hit with a blast of expanding gasses from the braked magnum... Sorta throws a fellow's shot a bit.
Then there's the barrel... Remington's factory sporter barrels are just fine for hunting. Reasonably accurate and lightweight. Typically however the bores are rough, and mine often foul pretty badly after a few shots. Often there is absolutely no time to clean your barrel in a match - this is where I've found a quality barrel to be a real advantage. After 60 or 70 shots, my Krieger barrel is still shooting great. After half that many, my Rem factory barrel was screaming for a cleaning.
Barrel contour plays a huge role too. A little heavier contour is nice when target shooting. Helps in several ways; heat doesn't get to it as much, recoil is reduced because barrel/rifle weight is up, and for me, it hangs steadier on target. I've seen barrels from fairly light to straight no-taper barrels do well in various competitions. Lighter is often nice in some of the tactical matches where a guy has to haul the rifle around and shoot from some "interesting" positions. Heavier is great for F-class, shooting from your belly at known distances.
Then there's the stock... I like Remington's sporter stocks on their ADL, BDL and CDL rifles - especially on the CDL. They're great! Good all-around, lightweight stocks. And an area where a huge improvement can be made. Check out the stocks by HS Precision, McMillan and Richards - their competition stocks are a huge help to the competition shooter.
Remington's trigger will need to be massaged before it's comp ready, or replaced with an aftermarket trigger. Don't try to take the factory Rem too low, because of safety issues. I've got one set at about 3# and it's just fine. If I want to go a lot lower than that, I'll go with a Jewell.
So... The other good news is that your Rem 700 action is a good one to build a competition rifle from! With the magnum bolt face, you can take your pick of big powerful, flat-shooting cartridges. Kent Reeve did a bang-up job with a .300 magnum this year at 1000 yards at Camp Perry, but it wasn't with a factory rifle.
I hope I didn't discourage you too much. A long time ago I figured out that my hunting rifles were not good match rifles, although the reverse isn't necessarily true - I have hunted with the same rifle that I shoot in tactical comps and have also shot it in NRA highpower prone matches.
Best of luck, Guy
Just for the heck of it here's a picture of two of my Remington 700's:
The wood-stocked sporter on top is just about perfect for deer hunting just the way Remington built it. All I've done is adjust the trigger on that .25-06, and it works great for a hunting rifle. Accurate, lightweight and effective.
The camo rifle on the bottom is my "tactical" rifle and used in both "tactical" matches as well as NRA prone matches. It's also been used on hunting trips, from varmints to big game. Started life as a simple Rem 700, now most everything on it's been changed; trigger and action are still Remington, but worked over. Stock is McMillan. Barrel is Krieger. Scope base & rings are Badger Ordnance. It's a much heavier, much more accurate, much more comfortable rifle to shoot now, and in a simple .308 Winchester.
Hope this helps. Regards, Guy
The wood-stocked sporter on top is just about perfect for deer hunting just the way Remington built it. All I've done is adjust the trigger on that .25-06, and it works great for a hunting rifle. Accurate, lightweight and effective.
The camo rifle on the bottom is my "tactical" rifle and used in both "tactical" matches as well as NRA prone matches. It's also been used on hunting trips, from varmints to big game. Started life as a simple Rem 700, now most everything on it's been changed; trigger and action are still Remington, but worked over. Stock is McMillan. Barrel is Krieger. Scope base & rings are Badger Ordnance. It's a much heavier, much more accurate, much more comfortable rifle to shoot now, and in a simple .308 Winchester.
Hope this helps. Regards, Guy
Thank you for taking the time to reply and yes it was very helpful. I am on a limited budget as far as guns go. I am looking at shooting in some local matches if I can find any,not to much around here) I will probably never get the chance to shoot a real F-Class match, but I figured a rifle along those lines would work for local comps if I could find any. The recoil for me is not a problem I have been known to shoot several boxs of ammo at the range. I do not have a muzzle break on my rifle, and I have been looking for a new "Bull" Barrel in 300WM, as well as a new stock,the Mcmillian is way out of my price range)I am currently looking at the Choate Ultimate Sniper/Varmit stock.
Once again thank you For your time and advice
Once again thank you For your time and advice
Well, I gotta tell you... With a box-stock Rem 700 VS in .308 Winchester and a 4.5-14x scope in Leupold STD rings & base - all very basic stuff - I did real well in a few matches in the mid 1990's.
I still see some guys show up with factory rifles, and they often do rather well.
Best of luck to ya! :thumb:
I still see some guys show up with factory rifles, and they often do rather well.
Best of luck to ya! :thumb:
There was a time when almost any match of any kind was won by a shooter who was using a factory rifle or a somewhat modified version of the factory rifle. I hate to be the bearer of bad news but it just don't work that way anymore. If you wish to be competitive in any of the shooting sports it costs money, and lots of it for the most part. The equipment is so good these days that if you show up at the firing line with sub-par gear, you simply don't stand a chance. Custom actions, barrels, stocks, triggers and even rests are the norm in prescision rifle shooting sports.
Win Mag
Tightneck is right, as usual. You can compete in just about every shooting discipline with a factory rifle and factory ammo. Just don't expect your name to be called when they are giving out the awards. But you will win one very important thing - experience. And that can be worth more than the price of your rifle.
M700 is right too. There are times when a guy shooting a factory rifle has done very well against the custom guns. He is the guy that you have to watch out for. When he comes back next year with better,and more expensive) equipment you are probably in for some good old fashioned butt kicking.
Ray
Tightneck is right, as usual. You can compete in just about every shooting discipline with a factory rifle and factory ammo. Just don't expect your name to be called when they are giving out the awards. But you will win one very important thing - experience. And that can be worth more than the price of your rifle.
M700 is right too. There are times when a guy shooting a factory rifle has done very well against the custom guns. He is the guy that you have to watch out for. When he comes back next year with better,and more expensive) equipment you are probably in for some good old fashioned butt kicking.
Ray
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