Anyone loaded the real heavy 30's.........I'm looking for a 220 and 240gr HPBT Sierra MK load

Please give me the bullet, powder and amount...and of course the velocities you consistantly acheived.
thx
jordan


PS I have a 22" barrel......what's yours?

quote:

Anyone loaded the real heavy 30's.........I'm looking for a 220 and 240gr HPBT Sierra MK load

The WSM is not designed for bullets of that length. You will have terrible velocity and could possibly have odd pressure spikes. Bullets that long will stick deep into the powder capacity.

The 300WSM was designed to shoot the lighter .308 pills such as the 150s, 165s, 168s, and 180s.

If you have a long throat and you're going to shoot it as a single shot, you could probably have descent results w/ the 190 or possibly the 200 MKs.

Good Luck

Reloader

I have good luck with 200 grain Sierra Gamekings and H4831SC (don't recall the velocity), but I load to about 2.95" OAL. I'm not sure where Reloader gets his info about pressure spikes and such...I've not ever heard of it. Low velocity, yes, that's heavy bullets. As a bullet advances during firing, the combustion chamber increases in volume the same amount whether it's a 300Whisper ot a 30-378...I just can't see the WSM design causing anything untoward in terms of pressure spikes that wouldn't also show in others using heavy bullets in short cases (308Win anyone?)

CDH,

Considering a 240grn MK is very very long and a 300WSM clip length is very very short, the projectile will have to be seated abnormally deep into the case and therefore creating a good bit of pressure. There are plenty of articles on seating bullets too deep and the increased chamber pressures that result from it.


Have a Good One

Reloader

As long as there is published data from a reputable source (Sierra, Hodgdon, etc.) for that combination, I don't see that unusual pressure spikes would be a concern. Yes you will run into a pressure ceiling before reaching the velocity potential of a 300WM. That's where the 300WM begins to really outpace the 300WSM...with bullets above 180 grains.

"Odd pressure spikes" sounds like your are raising a safety issue, and I just don't see using heavy bullets in this case as unsafe. Impractical and/or beyond the ideal, yeah sure, but unsafe, no.

QL says you can get up to 2700 FPS with the 240gr., sooo that means you can probably get 2500 FPS in your gun.

I tried some 220 MK's in my Browning 300 WSM. Just to prove to naysayers that you CAN load heavy bullets in them.



Though I never went beyond 220 graines, I don't see a problem with another 20 grains of bullet weight. Since it's real hard to read my henscratchin on the target, the bottom group says; 63.0 grains of R-19, 220 Sierra matchking, average velocity 2686, high 2700 low 2669, ES 31.2 Group size .832 @100 yds!

The load data comes from a handwritten set of data sheets I got from Hornady early on when I got one of the first WSM's to hit the local gunshop's shelves. Load data was scarce to non-existant, I e-mailed Hornady, accurate arms, Hodgdon and several others for data. AA sent some info as well, never heard back from Hodgdon.Oh, my Browning has a 23 inch tube.

I also did some work with some wc 860 in the same WSM. Dismal would be a good word to describe the results.



These groups were fired on the same day as the above, lets just say at least I know NOT to use that powder again! Data was supplied by a friend with a quickload program. A very dirty powder, lots of unburnt powder in the barrel/case. Dull BOOM not a sharp report like the R-19 loads.

So, yes give them a try, you might be surprised!

Grizz, yo udidn't actually shoot 220's! Gasp! Must be a figment of your imagination!

Some gunwriter said they won't work and other's, who have never tried them (let alone loaded for any 300 WSM), picked up the mantra.

Ya gotta love internet experts...

quote:

Originally posted by captjordan:
Anyone loaded the real heavy 30's.........I'm looking for a 220 and 240gr HPBT Sierra MK load

Please give me the bullet, powder and amount...and of course the velocities you consistantly acheived.
thx
jordan


PS I have a 22" barrel......what's yours?

Your barrel is a tad short to get the most bang for the buck from a 200+ gr bullet in a 300WSM.

Your best bet might be to take the chrono and some test ammo to the range and post up the results for the rest of us.

quote:

Originally posted by Brad:
Grizz, yo udidn't actually shoot 220's! Gasp! Must be a figment of your imagination!

Some gunwriter said they won't work and other's, who have never tried them (let alone loaded for any 300 WSM), picked up the mantra.

Ya gotta love internet experts...

Yah, just call me myth buster!

It occured to me that I failed to post the rest of the load particulars. I was using Norma brass, wlr primers, seated .020 off the lands,(don't have the actual COL. But they would not work through the magazine)---since these would be strictly a target load, I would be single feeding anyway!

S_F, he would only loose about 50 fps as far as a 1 inch shorter barrel is concerned. Longer barrels only benifit from their length IF you're using a slow burning magnum powder. I dunno, I thought 2686 was a fairly respectable velocity from a rifle that's not supposed to do that well with heavy match bullets!

"Myth Buster"... I like it!

I have shot the 200 & 220 gr bullets in my 300 WSM with great results. I loaded the 220 gr Speer bullet with 58.5 grs of IMR 4350 and got groups of .658" at 100 yds. Velocity was 2442 fps and had a standard deviation of 9.64. I got similar results with the 200 gr bullets.

I have these bullets loaded and stored for hunting.

I do still love the 165gr HPBT Gamekings. They shoot the best in my Winchester M70 Super Shadow.