I currently do not hand load, but will in the future for sure. I read a lot about best accuracy being at or near max load. If I load down my 300WM to 30-06 velocity for whitetails at close range. What can I expect for accuracy and can I simply just load it down to achieve lower velocities as far as safety is concerned?

Matt: I have had very good accuracy with reduced loads in a 270 and a 7Mag. You will need to use a "faster" than normal powder. (Slow powders can be dangerous with reduced loads. Hodgdon has some recommended reduced loads on their website that would probably work well for you. good luck!

"Best Accuracy" can be the difference between .90" and .75" you won`t know for sure until you try them.

I am looking for 2700 fps load with a 180 grain bullet. I checked the hodgdon site and see a load with H414 at 2845 fps. The heading for the 180 gr. loads says "Maximum Loads". So that means reduce 10% and start from there? H414 62.0 - 10% = 56 grains. This should be a good starting point and I am guessing below 2700 fps??

Speer in their #13 manual pg 318 lists a 180 gr bullet over 60.0 - 64.0 gr of H414 for 2647 - 2786 fps from a 24" barrel.
There is nothing wrong with starting loads for light recoil. Just be sure not to reduce slow burning powders below the recommenation in the manual. The threat of stuck bullets or possible detonation still hasn`t been settled to my knowlage with them.

A 150 gr. bullet around 2750fps with 45.5gr of4198 should get you what you want; no problem. roger

At least with cast bullets my experience has been that reduced loads are more accurate that full powered loads. With one 30-06 cast bullet loading the manuals recommended 16 grains of Unique. Every time I dropped the powder charge 2 grains accurate noticeable improved. When I got down to 8 grains of Unique the groups were excellent.

I do a lot of "downloading"....

As Roger put it, IMR 4198 is a great powder for that.. but you may find better accuracy out of RL 7 or RL 10....

But all of the midrange powders work well, and I actually use them much more than the slower powders for my reloading in my mags..

IMR 4895, 4064, RL 15, IMR 3031 are all great reduced powder charges..

check out Lyman's Number 47 manual or Steve Riccardelli's site....

I carry my 300 Win Mag loaded to 300 Savage velocities at 2400 fps with a 165 grain bullet quite frequently....

there are a lot of options out there...

but ANY 30 caliber rifle should be able to take a deer at 100 yds or less... sure some guys will argue against the 30 Carbine and so would I, but it will still get the job done if the shooter knows what he is doing...

Thanks for all the feedback everyone. That gets me headed in the right path. The cool thing is by doing "downloading" it makes my 300 even more versatile.