My case length gauge doesn't have the 300 ultra. I don't have the tolerances, so I'm not sure when I exceed specs. Does anyone have the maximum/minimum length specs? Thanks!

Also, a couple of my brasses had rather deep, sharp dents just below the shoulders after their first firing. Inside the dented area was black, suggesting that the dent occured before firing (It looks like the magazine spring on my new a-bolt is pushing the round up into the bolt too hard, and it dents the brass on the way forward?). I fired two of the dented brasses after reloading with my operating load (96.5 gr of rl25 behind a sierra 180) and the dents were pushed out. What can I do to keep these brasses from being dented? And why were these dents not pushed out immediately (I started at 90 gr of rl 25--was there not enough pressure)?

Finally, what loads work the best for other 300 rum owners? I'm shooting an a-bolt w/ a 26" barrel, and have not worked out the best load yet (I've only shot a few groups). I don't have the time to try different powders--is the rl 25 the best bet?

Thanks very much,
Mike

Hey Mike,
Some one turned me on to rl 25 for the rum and 180's,They said that 95 gn would get good results
well i started out at 93 gn and worked up and 95 gn was it for me .325 inch for 3 shots at 100 yards.As for your mag ,if you will shift the bolt
fairly fast this should stop the denting. Most of the remingtons that i own will dent the brass or the bullets when shifted slowly but when i do it fast i dont have this problem. The smokey case is useally due to not enough powder.
also i had a problem with the necks spliting
on the rum ,A good gentelmen named AL told me to try anneling the necks,And sure enough it solved the problem. Good luck! Reloader len

Thanks!

I have been running the bolt pretty slowly to catch brasses. This is actually my first bolt action, so I have little experience with them.

I have achieved my best accuracy with 95 gr also. I'm trying some other loads as well, but I have yet to have a good day at the range (a day with time, no wind, etc). Have you tried other powders? What about retumbo?

Thanks again,
Mike

I have used Rl22 and H4831sc but rl 25 is the best,
retumbo is not in my area yet,I hear it is better
than rl 25,I can't wait to get my hands on it!
Hope you get some good weather,And Good luck

No properly designed bolt feed rifle should dent the brass when chambering a fresh round. I would have that rifle checked by a master gunsmith to be sure nothing is wrong. When reloading any centerfire cartridge you never guess at a starting or maximum load listed you know before you load or fire that first round. High volume cartridge cases like the 300 Ultra Mag gulp huge amounts of powder per round and extra care should be taken when loading. You can check the Hodgdon web site for loading info for your 300 Ultra mag.

remington when slowly feeding the round from a loaded mag will dent the brass in small amounts
not enough to cry about most of the time the dent is less than pin head and any thing greater
should be looked at by a gun smith,remington
even admits to this! And yes no one should start at max loads,i normally get 200 fps faster with my
300 rum over what the book said their starting load was,But that is only with my rum ,just the other away with everything else 200 fps slower.

Most of my brasses show no dent at all, but a few had small dents, and two had pretty severe dents (maybe 1/16" deep). Last night I fired 30 rnds and not one dent, so it was pilot error. All dents have been pushed out, and the brass seem no worse for the wear.

I had sub moa groups with 96.5 gr of rl25, as well as with 95 gr. Still not getting the accuracy you have, though (.6-.95"). Probably also pilot error! I'm not sure why anyone thought I guessed at starting loads!?

I'm using 2.85" as my max case length (from another forum). Is this what you have? I haven't had one neck split in the 300 yet, so I'm not taking extra precautions. I'm on my 4th load with most.

Thanks,
Mike