Hi all! I was hoping to get some suggestions for a hunting load for white tail deer in Easter Washington. I would be hunting in wooded farmland outside of Davenport and would expect shots to be anywhere from 50 to 250 yards. I have a .300 Win Mag and was thinking of shooting 165 grain bullets. From what I gather that weight of bullet should be adequate for deer and give similar velocities to 150 grain bullets and higher velocities that 180 grain bullets. I was also worried about 150 grain bullets breaking up at close range.

What bullet and what powder would you suggest? I was considering Nosler partition or hunting ballistic tips and which ever powder that gave the highest velocity with the minimum load.

Thanks
Ben

Hey'
I have had very good success with 165 grain bullets.I have been shooting the Balistic tips,but am getting away from them.Too explosive,ruin meat,and hardley ever get an exit wound.If I can get Partions to shoot,I will use them in the future,as I did many years ago.
1geejay
www.shooting-hunting.com

I've used 165's before with good results in the .300 Winchester for deer-size game.

I have to say, however, that I've given up this practice and stick with 180's for everything from deer to moose. I've leaving today for New Mexico and an antelope hunt, and I'm taking my favorite .300 Winchester with handloaded 180 gr. Nosler Partitions zeroed for 250 yards, which is the same load I used last year in Africa for a full range of plainsgame animals. One load, one rifle is a great way to go!

AD

Many .300 mag hunters stick with just one load and it's the 180.

But with one .300 that I have now I am loading 165's and the recoil is less. For the game I am going after this fall it's plenty. You don't need to load it to max either.

I am shooting Sierra BT's and Rem Corelokts. I shoot too much to use Ballistic Tips.

I reload for an Eastern Washington hunting buddy of mine. His .300 Win mag really shoots well with 165 Ballistic Tips at about 3200 fps. Has made some really dramatic one-shot kills with them but for some reason he calls these loads his "exploding bullets." I'm glad he likes them but they are a bit fragile at that velocity.

Can't beat Hornady 165 btsp,75gn rl 22,fed215
3150 fps .Ive killed every thing from Elk.deer,hogs out to 375 yards and havent lost
any game yet. And allways have a exit wound
and dont tear the meat up too bad.
Reloaderlen

I've taken 4 very nice KS bucks and several does with a light load in Ruger 77 300 Win Mag using 68 gr of IMR 4350 with 165 gr. PSP (Core Lokt) Remingintons and WW STD/Mag primers. It is a bottom load around 2800 fps in some books and under the starting load in others. In my rifle is shoots a ragged 3 shot hole @ 100 and is not all that abusive to shoot. (I started this load combo before I learned bulk bullets won't shoot ) All 4 bucks were between 150 & 200 yds, bullet entered the rib cage, through the vitals, crushed the shoulder on the off side, two passed through and two stopped just under the hide. On all the does the bullet passed through. It works for me, Mike

I've used a number of different loads and bullets in my Rem 700 300 Win Mag.
Here's a few 165 B-tip,71gr IMR 4350,rem 9 1/2M
165 B-tip,75gr RL 22,rem 9 1/2M
180 B-tip,70gr IMR 4350, rem 9 1/2M
180 BarnesXLC 74.5 RL 19, rem 9 1/2M
150 BarnesXLC 76.5 RL 19, rem 9 1/2M
All shot well and did the job! It's hard to beat a B-tip on whitetails.

mbk took the words and load right out of my mouth. I really like my 300 but with full power loads it isn't very nice to shoot from a tree stand. With full power loads it can be extremely destructive also.

IMR 4350 loaded down a little with 180gr Sierra Pro-hunters are not destructive and shoot extemely well out to 300yds!

I took a nice buck last year with 165 hpbt gamekings last year. Sierra says the hpbt gamekings are their toughest bullet. The load is IMR 4831, Fed 215 primers, Win brass and partial sized brass. I have gone to the 180 gamekings on everything now. They shoot very nice. I took my largest bodied bull a couple years ago with the 180's and I'm sure they'll do fine on deer.

If you only want one load for everything it'll be very hard to beat the 180 grain partitions.

I have been use this load for the past 8 years
165gr. Hornady BTSP or Nosler BT. over 78.0grs. of H-4831 SC now with a WLR, I am getting 3167FPS out of this load. I have taken lots of Deer,hogs and 4 goats. All being 1 sho kills.

Hope this helps.

Doc in Texas

The last whitetail I shot with a .300 Win mag was with a 150 grain Nosler solid base at 3400 fps. It was a doe that was running across an opening at about 45 yards. The bullet hit her right on the point of the right shoulder. When I got to her she was dead as a hammer and the only things holding her right front leg on were a sliver of skin about a quarter inch wide and part of a nerve. The bullet blew up just inside the chest and made mush of the heart and lungs. Almost all the meat on the leg was lost. That's when I went back to .270's for deer.

Good Hunting,

I've used Sierra 165 grain HPBT's in my .300 Win. Mag. to take a number of whitetails. It puts them down quickly with some meat loss, but any bullet will, under some conditions, do that. The load is 79.0 grains of H4831 SC, CCI 250 primers in Winchester cases. The MV is 3180fps.