I would like to develop a long range deer load in 300 WSM

[wildcat284]

Hey guys,

Looking for some advice please.

My 300WSM is coming back from the gunsmith end of this month and I would like to develop a suitable long range load for deer. Long range I'm talking out to around 500-600 yards, as one of the areas I hunt is very open and last couple of deer I saw on a clearing were at 550 yards. I am going back to this area in late October.

What projectiles have you had experience with for shooting deer at this range, and suitable powders?

I have seen some video of guys making extended range shots using Berger VLD's, and there are guys down here in NZ using Hornady A-Max's to do the same thing, but I also hear from some hunters that VLD's are not always relaible expansion wise.

I presume the 180gr and heavier are the ideal for long range because they have higher BC's.

Regards,

Michael.

 

[MOO1072]

Hi Wildcat,
I would steer well clear of any match, target, hollow point or polymer tipped bullets.

Go for a dependable time proven bullet such as a Remington Core Lokt, or Speer Hot Cor, Nosler Partition etc. If you insist on a polymer tip then a Nosler Accubond would be the way to go. 150, 165 or 180 grains, your choice. BC means little if the bullet dosen't do its job or is poorly placed.

Finally, I don't know your marksmanship skills or what experience you've had hunting. I don't want to insult or offend but I think you have to be shit hot to hit a deer in its vitals at 550 - 600 yards. I strongly advise going to your local rifle range and practice shooting at those ranges with the load you intend on using in the hunt. Have your rifle zeroed for that load. Shoot on both windy days and still days. Practice judging distance. Practice shooting up hill and down hill. Get to know your rifle and its capablities and its limitations.

I've never shot a deer,hoping to this winter)so if I've provided wrong advice, then I stand corrected.

Best of luck.
Moo

 

[bohemR13]

I use my 30-06 for similar ranges with 178 and 208 Amax bullets. Berger claims good things with their VLD hunting bullet. The Amax has been very reliable for me. The 300 WSM has some serious clout to it, unless you can't place the shot you should have no issues dropping a deer in its tracks with that rifle at those ranges.

As was mentioned it is an utmost responsibility on your end to make sure you can put the shot on the vitals at those ranges. If you can't do it every time, then don't bother trying until you can punch a paper enough to hit those groups.

I use RL-22 on the 208 grainers and H4350 for the 178's, sometimes RL-22. From a 30-06 I get 2850 fps with a 208 Amax and 3000+ on a 178 Amax. Barrel is a 26' 1:10 twist.

The RL-22 is temp sensitive so be mindful of that and take into account that you need to go shoot over the chrony in a varying amount of temperatures with the exact same load to see what you get.

I'm planning an identical hunt this year with a friend of mine from grad school. We're looking to setup in an old strip mine area with shots to 800y. I've been working on shooting positions and loads at my club for those ranges since early May. I probably won't try anything past 600 unless the conditions are super nice.

 

[j_22250]

i would rather shoot a tipped bullet or berger hunting vld over any kind of soft point or hollow point for longer than usuall shots. berger is the only match bullet that is supposed to give you dependable expansion at any distance. stay away from partitions and solids for deer; i would rather have a bullet that comes apart more and dump more of its energy into target, but still have good penetration; instead of punching a clean hole all the way thru. the way i see it if it comes apart halfway thru it will have gone thru one lung and devastated the other. this is usually the performance you get with soft points or hp gamekings, but for extended shots i would go with a ballistic tip type bullet jst for the better ballistics factor. really tho, i doubt you can tell any difference in wound channels of deer shot out to 200yrds wiht either ballistic tips soft points or hp's.,i'm not talking about ballistic tips for varmints either. more like amax, nosler,bigger cals.) accubonds and accutips).

I'm currently shooting nosler ballistic tips in my 270wsm. even tho they are a ballistic tip the have a thicker jacket and are designed to give good expansion and penetration. proly one of the better deer bullets out there. i wouldn't hesistate to use for elk either.

go to any ammo website and check out same weight bullets in same caliber jst sp and ballistic tips and see the advantages for yourself. also check out the berger website for some cool videos of their bullets. even barnes has done penetration tests using berger and nosler bullets. if any thing else it would be some good reading.

 

[1000yardstare]

The chaps who responded before me have stated their opinions on long-range deer shots so I won`t belabour the point. I use a Savage 12FVSS in .300 WSM as one of my F Class guns. Very accurate out to 1000 yards with the 178 AMax. This bullet has a thin jacket that will deform if seated over a compressed powder charge. My load is 65.0 gr H4350 which chronos at 3000 fps. The DCRA V-ring at 600 yards is 6.5 inches in diameter and I hit it with pleasing regularity with this load but this is under very controlled conditions - raised firing mound, bipod, rear sand bag, wind flags. I would only consider a 600 yard shot at a deer if I was in a sturdy blind which contained mechanical aiming aids and I would want a rifle that I knew was perfectly zeroed at that range. My charts show that a 10 mph cross-wind can move the 178 AMax 25 inches at 600 yds which is a whole other story that has to be considered.

 

[jb1000br]

Please DON'T shoot Remington Core Lokt, or Speer Hot Cor, Nosler Partition, at 600yd deer...

I agree, with those bullets you may have trouble hitting the vitals...hah!

I'd be running A-max, Accubonds, or Berger VLD's for your purpose.

No need to go real heavy for only 600yds...

H4350 should take care of you fine

178AMAX would probably be my first choice for your purpose.

YMMV,
JB

 

[BountyHunter]

+1 on what Jason,JBR1000) said!

No need for magnum primer either. Go with standard and it will work just fine and give better ES and SD.

BH

 

[MOO1072]

A colleague of mine was recenlty talking about his new Kimber Pro Hunter in .223. He was new to hunting and in his opinion the .223 was the bestest deer killer ever and there was no need to go bigger to shoot a deer. A few weeks later he told me of taking a shot at a fallow stag and having it run off wounded.

In my limited experience with other game species, bullet construction and shot placement are more important than plastic tips, sub MOA accuracy and BC.

There is a lot of marketing out there in the firearms industry. Its easy to get distracted by some of the shiny products out there. My advice would be to go with a bullet you can trust. Visit the Midway USA website and check out the bullet reviews.

There is a consensus on opinion on this thread that the 178 AMAX or Nosler Accubond are the bullets of choice for your task. I am in no position to disagree, but my view is that 600 yard shots should be limited to paper targets because when things go pear shaped, its the poor deer that suffers from your decision making.

Best of luck
Moo

 

[britz]

I like h4350 and standard primers. I have had good luck with the 180 accubonds but I'm going to try the 200's for some testing too. The ONLY reason I am staying away from the A-max and the bergers is the fact they seem to prefer to be seated close to the rifling. I have a factory chamber and a fair amount of freebore so I'm going to give the accubonds further testing.

 

[Dgd6mm]

I've used 180 Nosler Ballistic Tips in my 300 ultramag, 4 deer 4 shots they died in their tracks. Shot 1 with a core-lokt 180 out of the same rifle, will not use that bullet again. Too fast to expand. Also the Nosler shot great out to 1000 yards.

 

[cliffy]

.300 WSM is out of my recoil realm regarding whitetails. I should GUESS 150 grain Swift Scirocco IIs should be your fare at the incredible ranges you mentioned. Mostly practice with this fare at these ranges would serve you best. Good Luck, cliffy

 

[Dgd6mm]

Stick with the 180's they'll serve you better at 500-600 yards.I shoot often at Manatee Gun Range at 8 inch steelplate the 180 Nosler Ballistc Tip is very accurate and does an excellant job on killing. The .300 wsm will work fine with this bullet. I shoot a lot of magnums out to this range and farther, they are very capable of taking game at these distances if the shooter is. Practice makes perfect.

 

[wildcat284]

Thanks guys for your responses! This has given me alot to work with now.

I have access to a property that will enable me to practice at up to 1000 yards, and I intend to be getting plenty of practice in before I try a shot at the distances I'm planning.

Best regards,

Michael.

 

[jb1000br]

Michael - You need to find Eric Stecker's post about testing their Berger VLD's waaay off the lands. I also heard the other week up at Williamsport about someone running a Berger VLD over 0.100 off the lands...and it worked WELL.


JB

 

[cliffy]

I consider the .243 Winchester absolutely perfect, with 100 grain fare, for taking Whitetails and Mulies. .223 Remingtons can do the same with aplumb, but only with 60 grain MOXY-BULLETS. .300 Winnie Mags can do the same, but only with recoil issues to be considered. A flinch is a miss, so it truly takes a macho-man to subdue a .300's massive jolt to his shoulder at the moment of truth. A .308 Winchester can truly put power back into perspective. Since shooting at a deer-sized target beyond 300 yards, is iffy at best, stick with a caliber you know you can easily handle with aplumb. Just a suggestion, since I weight less than 215 pounds. cliffy

 

[gbp]

Sierra 210SMK - 61.0grns H4350 - Fed 215M

178grn Amax pushed by 66.5grns H4350 set off with a fed 215m primer. 3202fps out of my ga precision

 

[cliffy]

Although I tried to talk my son into a .30/06 Springfield, he seems quite insistant about buying a .300 Winchester Short Mag. Okay, I will load it downward at his request, but limits of lightness govern recoil minimums and detonation minimums. One could play more velocity games with a .30/06 than a .300 WSM. Cliffy

 

[wapiti25]

I have used a lot of nosler BT's and accubonds to kill at long range. I have a friend that used the scirocco II 165 to take a 6x6 bull elk, large mule deer(180 +) and his antelope this yr. 30-06 the elk wqas shot in the shoulder and dropped at 410 yds. use what shoots good out of your gun and practice. The 200gr 338 accubond did not over-penatrate on an oryx that I killed this year ( 225 yds) but expanded well (135 grs.) .

 

[cliffy]

ANYTHING a .30/06 Springfield can do well, a .300 WSM can do more potently! Is the added RECOIL and FLINCH-FACTOR worth the added KNOCKDOWN POWER? Some say "yes," while some merely flinch. Downloading a .30/06 for whitetail usage is easier than downloading a .300 WSM due to potential detonation problems when loading TOO LIGHT. I can knock the snot out of, and socks off a Whitetail with a .243 Winchester, so one must realize that a .300 WSM can do the same with lots more guts presented. A good load for .300 WSM for deer might begin with a 130 grain .308" bullet backed via 60.0 grains of Alliant RL-15 powder. This is a minimal load for a mighty .300 WSM, so it should not massively over-power, over-destruct a mere 200 pound deer. Cliffy

 

[wapiti25]

I hunt as much as I can get tags for. Last season I killed a cow elk w/ muzzel loader, antelope with a 25-06, oryx ( gemsbok) w/ .338. Use the bullet that will group a 300 or longer ranges with your gun. I would not use any bulk bullet. I have also sorted the bullets such as Noslers BT's and Accubond's and I think it made a difference. I killed a hog at about 400yds with a 139 Hornady FB, one shot kill with a 7-08. I have used a fair number of the Hornady SP's with good results. Dont rule out the sierra's both the flat base and BT's. I have shot competition (national match course) to 1000yds. you have to learn to read the wind and mirage at different types of terrain, grass, gullies, trees they all act some what different. you have range finders for the range, up hill, down hill ect and wind meters from the shooting point. 200 rnds at 300yds or more is just a start. I also think shooting on multiple is better than one long session. A zero will shift because of the condtions. Bullets from different lots can show change when you get beyond about 300.

Good Shoot'in, Wapiti