Accurate Reloaders, I have been doing some reading the last few days on the web about the Great Debate on .30-'06 vs .300 Win mag. First there's the recoil discussion. Then, of course, your magnum enthusiasts will claim a heavier bullet advantage in the .300 Win mag. Its proponents will also say that it shoots flatter than .30-'06. The .30-'06'ers will say, "Hold on there, it's only one point some-odd inches lower at so-and-so yards, hell, the animal won't know the difference." The magnum guys then say "Yeah, but you can always load the .300 down to .30-'06, but you'll never turn the .30-'06 into a .300." This last part is the point I'm curious about. It is my impression that the most accurate loads in any cartridge are that way at least in part because of optimum case filling by the powder charge. If you go backing off to a charge in .30-'06 ranges, is the load now not quite as accurate because the case is not optimally filled? Or are there other powders that will give lower velocities but fill the case as well as the full loads? Maybe I'm all wet here, but without getting into the Great Debate, I'd like to hear from somebody who has experience with this. Do your reduced .300 Win mag loads suffer in accuracy, or have you found that magic combination of accuracy in .30-'06 velocity ranges? All advice/insight appreciated. Thanks, MMM.

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It is my impression that the most accurate loads in any cartridge are that way at least in part because of optimum case filling by the powder charge

Yes most reloader try and fill the case. While the most accurate load often is with a full case or at or next max pressure nothing to say you cna't find an accurate load at reduced pressure.

I've found over 40 years of reloading anytime you try and say something will always happen you are asking for the next one to blow your theory.

If you look at the results of someone using a ladder to determine a accurate load you will often see more than one velocity range were the bullets group together.

I wanted to shoot some deer and pigs with my Blaser R 93 300 Win Mag barrel, and on my lease I just do not need full power 300 Mag loads as all of my shots are under 100 yards, most under 50 yards...

So I used Sierra 180 gr Round nose bullets as I already had them and it made it easy to tell the light loads from full power pointed bullet loads.

I used IMR 3031, again because I had a bunch of it on hand.

In my old Lyman No. 45 Reloading Book with a 180gr bullet, the starting load is 50 gr for 2493fps, with MAX being 56gr for 2717fps.

These loads were plenty accurate enough for hunting and killed several deer, including a nice buck.

Remington has some Reduced Recoil 300 Win Mag loads with a 150gr bullet, loaded to 30/06 velocities. They shoot good in my gun, but I have not taken any game with them.

my experience with my ruger #1 in 300 winmag is that if i want reduced recoil I just shoot a lighter bullet. I also notice that the charge tables for the lighter bullets use powder that fills the case to 3/4+ capacity.
I get a kick out of the lighter bullets in my blaster. I get high speeds and often find sometimes that I get one and even two combinations across the min/max powder range that shoot as well as the high powder/full out loads with the heavy bullets.

Some years ago, I tried reduced power loads in 2 accurate rifles in .300 Win Mag and .22-250. In both cases I could'nt approach normal accuracy as obtained with regular level ammo. The lesson I learned was that if I want smaller loads, I'd rather step down in caliber.

When I've loaded down my 300 Win Mag I've gone to lighter bullets and slower burner powders. The slower burning powders don't reach maximum velocity as well as when the burn rate/capacity and pressure are all at optimum.

Accuracy has been ok. Not an improvement and a whisper less than the normal 180 grains loaded to higher velocities and pressures.

Another thought would be, as mentioned, to step down in caliber. I would do this with a major step down like to a 257 or better yet to a 243 to create a wider gap in the performance of the two calibers. I've used the 300 Win Mag to 243 step successfully so far. Good luck.

Not a Winny, buy I download my 300 Roy to about 2800 with a 165gr. SGK, using 64gr. IMR4064. This load was given to me by Hogkiller, but it's actually a book load in one of my old Speer manuals. Most others start out around 66gr for 4064. Recoil difference is very noticable. As for accuracy, it holds between 3/4" and 1-1/2" groups at 100. That's in a Vanguard Sub-MOA. I can live with that easily. I downloaded mine because of the meat damage I got with a full-house load with a 180gr. TSX.

The Winny shouldn't be a problem to download, and I doubt you'll have much trouble finding something that is accurate. In mine, 68gr. (3000 fps) was accurate, 66gr. (2900 fps) was not, 64gr. (2800) was accurate.

David

Edited to say: My 300 is now only a back-up deer rifle, as I hunt almost exclusively with my 257 Roberts.

I agree with Paul...you CAN'T generalize...I keep trying to get the point across that EACH RIFLE has it's own requirements and what works for one doesn't necessarily follow for another.

While many rifles of the same caliber will shoot the same load combination into similar "hunting" accuracy...accuracy itself is a function of the person shooting and their concept of "an accurate rifle", not necessarily the rifle or the load.

If you study several reloading manuals you will see there is a range of velocities for each bullet powder, rifle, barrel length...and all the rest of the parameters surrounding a particular caliber.

A simple comparison from a Barnes manual with a 165 gr bullet 30'06 and 300 WM lists by Hi/lo velocity gives ~2500fs/2900fs for the '06 and ~2750/3200 fs for the 300WM...so loading to 2750 fs in the 300WM put you just about the middle of the '06 range.

Besides when you ask about "loading down to '06 velocity"...just where/what velocity do you want???

Most reloading manuals use a loading range somewhere between 60% and 110% of case capacity, the larger capacity cases starting at a higher persentage.

With the 300WM larger belted case "I"/YOU want to keep the volume of powder above 80% so I would use a slower burning bulkier powder that will fill the case yet still be withing the correct burning range.

My Load from a Disk gives a 75% density load of H4831 of ~2400 fs/30KCUP for a 165 gr Nosler all the way to ~3200fs/52KCUP for a 100% load. The low velocity is in the 300 Savage/308 Win range of velocities.

If you are really interested in "downloading" and staying safe you really do need a chrono, some software programs like Load from a Disk or Quickload, and be very careful about what you do, plus I wouldn't much trust that you read on the web even though a lot of the information is accurate and true...it is your gun and YOUR skin you are playing with.

Loading a lighter bullet, adding some weight to the rifle, using a better recoil pad and generally just practicing and learning HOW to handle the slightly heavier recoil is one of the best ways to mitigate recoil.

I'm fortunate in having a stack of shooters so I can pick and choose and match to the game I'm hunting...NOW...that wasn't the case for many of the early years. I did make do with a 30'06 and I have uploaded and downloaded several calibers so I know what you are going through...MANY of us "elder statesmen" have done the same.

Somewhere along the way I stopped doing anything by working up a heavy weight bullet for the caliber. If I was hunting ligher game and wanted a lighter bullet I went to a smaller case size or smaller caliber...but for the most part I found that the heavy bullets killed heavy game AND the ligher varieties and left more meat to eat...so why futz around wasting time/money/components etc with multiple weight bullets...I just whack'um with what shoots the most accurate in that particular rifle and call if good.

Just check several reloading manuals/resources, pick the velocity you feel comfortable with and go shooting....

You should be able to find some unknowing that would swap a 30-06 for your .300 mag---then you'll save about half on powder and a bunch on recoil and blast---and still get the job done as effectively.

My Speer #9 gives the lightest 300 Win Mag as 19.0 gr SR 4759 with 100 gr plinker, cci-200 primer and ww case delivering mvs of 1626 and energy of 177 fp.

This is a published load.

The same manual calls for 23 gr SR 4759 as the starting load for the same bullet in a 300 Weatherby Mag. Too funny.

rc