I went to the range yesterday to continue an ongoing experiment w/ my Savage Mod. 16 WW in 300 WSM. I haven't been able to achieve excellent groups w/ 165 or 180 grners so, I decided to put some 150s down range.

I loaded 56 grains of H 4895 pushin' 150 grn. Hdy SSTs and the results were great. The combo shot around .4-.5" groups at 100 yards (Haven't had the chance to mike the groups but "one ragged hole" kind of sums it up).

I think I am going to zero this combo @ 200 and take it on a few Whitetail hunts this fall. I may even take it Elk hunting in Colorado.

Reloader

That load should just about blow a deer in half. I've never tried 150 grain bullets in my WSM, just because they are too fragile/frangible to be a good choice. Especially the SST.

Your velocity should be around 3200 fps. If it was more like 2800, the 150 SST would be a good choice.

Id do a deer with it, but not an Elk. Maybe with an interbond, but not an SST.



I thought those short/fat's were supposed to be accurate with anything..

My favorite .300 WSM load is 68.0g of RE-19 behind a 180g Partition with a Fed Mag primer. 2900+ fps and well under an inch in my Browning A-Bolt. YMMV, but you may want to try working up to this load.....

MKand160 aka BigDogMK

Got the cal. on the groups last night, best one came in at .392". Not too bad.

Grizz, The 150 grn corelokt has worked for years in the 300 win mag. The SST has far better construction so, it will be just fine for deer or elk.

I have been able to really tell the diff. between the CLs and the SSTs in my 30-06. When I used to shoot the cheap CLs I would hardly ever get a pass-thru but, the SSTs go right on thru.

Reloader

rldr, I too thought the SST would be a good performer in my Browning A-bolt. I switched to the SST in most of my hunting groups deer rifles. We had fragmentation even in .308 loadings. A failure to penetrate with a 154 out of a 7 mag through both shoulders in a 2 yr. old spike buck. Range 35 yds. No bullet failures in that they all dropped in their tracks. BUT I like exit wounds in case I have to track them.

I shot a small whitetail, with my WSM, with a 165 SST at a little over 3000 fps, the deer was at 200 yds. The bullet did pretty well, exiting and dropping him in his tracks. However there was massive bloodshot meat throughout.

Here's a pic or two of the post mortum of that 7mm 154.



This is what's left of the core. Jacket was under the scapula.



The jacket held just under where it was found.



Entrance wound with the resulting shock damage.

As for the core-loct, it is a much better bullet than the SST.The core-loct has a heavy "hourglass shape" that traps the core from slipping out of the jacket.

Hornadys "interlock" is not worth a hill of beans. I have several jackets recovered from deer, the interlock ring is tiny, it does not hold the core well enough to prevent it seperating from the jacket. If you insist on a 150, a much better choice would be the Hornady interBOND.

I wish you good luck with your rifle. Just trying to provide you with some info from personal experience.

Grizz,

It does seem that the Core-loct would be a good performer but, I have shot at least 10 big game animals that the CLs didn't even come close to exiting on. The SSTs have exited for me in some of the same situations so, From my experience they are far better than the CLs.

I think we both agree that the sst may not be as tough as the bonded or partitioned bullets offered today. Some of us just like alittle more internal damage than others. I try to shoot every big game animal thru the ribs and I have not had a problem w/ the NBTs and the SSTs failing to perform. Even on a few shoulder and spine slip-up shots, the bullets performed for me.

I appreciate the info.

Good Luck and God Bless!

Reloader

If you are looking for a 150 gr bullet for the 300wsm that will hold up try the 150g TSX. Mine loves them pushed with 71.5gr of IMR4831, under moa. I have not put a chrony on them, but this will be my load in Alberta this year. Always 2 holes!

Simdow

Reloader-

My .300 WSM likes 70.5 gr of Reloader 19 and the Hornady 150 grain Interbond bullet. I am getting .5 MOA out of mine.

Good luck!

My abolt 300 wsm likes 76 gr of Magpro @ 2930 with a 180 Interlock flat base. Last week shot a .5 group at 200 yards with it when zeroing a new scope. First 4 shots group well, then start to open as barrel gets hot. If you don't get him after 4 shots, either gun or shooter needs some serious attention.

Three powders that work best for my A-bolt 300 WSM are 1 Rel 19, 2 H-4831 SC, and 3 AA XMR4350. All give top velocities and excellent accuracy. WW760 is too fast, runs into pressure before top velocity can be reached. Haven't tried any of the mag pro.

30 caliber Mag Fan,

Have you tried that load on game yet?

Reloader

Grizz and others,

Does your 300 WSM shoot a good bit faster than published loadings?

Most of the rifles I have loaded for have been semi close to published data. There is an occational fast barrel or a slow barrel but, usually not too far off pub. data.

My Savage Model 16 WW w/ 24" factory tube shoots a good bit faster than published data. For example w/ 71 grns of R19 I was getting 3250-3300 fps w/ 165 grners and over 3200 w/ 70 grns of R22, Whoa! I had to back down to about 68 grns before I met the Published velocities. W/ H4831 my results were the same (100-200 fps faster than it should have been).

Chrony is in check w/ all other rifles so, thats not it.

I'm not complaining, I would rather it be fast than slow, but I didn't think I would be able to push em' that fast out of this little case.

These loads were worked up to and there was no pressure signs.

I guess It just allows me to save alittle powder.

What have your experiences been on this issue?

Thanks,

Reloader

My rifle was a 300wsm model 70fwt didn't shoot tried all different loads etc and using a 35p I never did get over 3000fps with a 180 gr bullet. So got a mcMillian stock, new barrel(1/12 twist 5r), bedded got a nice trigger pull at 2lbs. Now I got a shooter and so far my best 5 shot group at 100 yds is in the .4's with 165 gr. I've has it over 3200fps with 165 gr bullets. I plan on using it this year for elk and deer more than likely with a 165gr rem core-lokt or the 180 gr rem bullet. I'll get it out later and try some 300/400 yd shooting just to make sure on the load I use. I've found R-19 and 22 best in my rifle. I plan on hunting the first bull only season then got a buck for the first combination and late dec cow hunt. Depending on which unit may even be able to get another cow tag. Heard they are going to come out with some either-sex tag in aug when they do the left over tags.(Colorado) I like the 300wsm and consider it a good addition to my hunting rifles. I've taken alot of deer and elk here in co with the rem 165 and 180 gr bullet and see nothing wrong with using the 150 gr also in fact on my rifle the spread in velocity is about 100fps between the 150 and 180 gr bullets. Found the same thing with my 30-338 must be something to do with the case capacity. I've been hunting elk along time and for me I want an 165/180 gr bullet doing at less 3000fps that way if I see one out a ways I can take him. If I hunted more around the timber watching a clearing and my shot were in the 100/200yd range I'd shoot a 30-06. Well good luck to all

My abolt shoots just about where the data says it will. However I have an abolt 300 win mag that shoots a full 200 fps faster than the published data. I had 2 of these and the other shot below what was listed, and showed pressure signs with the same load, which wasn't max. 75.5 gr of RL22 and 180 sierra. Manual says 76.9 is max. The fast barrel shot 3150 fps while the other one that showed pressure signs would only do about 2900. I also have an abolt 270 wsm and it shoots right at specs also, but only with IMR 7828, which my 300wsm doesn't like.

grizz

I am using Ram-shot "Hunter" a new powder that seems to work just find. I have two loads so far each with winchester brass and federal primers F215 the bullet is Horn 150 gr Interbond and my load is 73.1 gr out of 24" tube at and ave 3302 and 73.6 same rifle at 3389 ave. the first load .5 at 100 yrds and the other .6 at the same distance. The chron-o graff was a crony and it was set at 12'.
I have loaded the same loads only with standard primers f210M and have not been able to get to the range yet.
Shot two Bucks last fall both 1 shot kills both bullets entered about the size of a dime or smaller and exited about 1.25" one was shot at 100 yrds the other 220 yrds
Old timer

Reloader-



Have not tried my loads on game as of yet. Will in the fall.



I am using WW brass and Fed 215M primers. Bullet is 150 grain Hornady Interbond.



I could not get WW 760 to group at all. Best group was probably 1.5 - 2.0 MOA.



I don't have a chronograph so, I don't know muzzle velocity.



Should be fun, good luck!!

My A-bolt will equal or exceed what the book says, or what winchester publishes as factory velocity. That doesn't mean the fast ones are the best for accuracy though. I've been fortunate with two loads that ARE the top velocty AND the smallest groups.

One such is the last load workup I did for my expansion tests with the 180 interbond and accubond bullets. When I got the bullets, I glanced at the Sierra manual for loads for their 180 grain bullets using R-19. The max load was 70.5 grains. So I backed off to 68.5, then 69.5, to the max of 70.5. After getting done loading both bullets that way, I checked what Hornady said on a downloaded sheet I printed from their website. 67.8 was max for their 180 sp. Another source, Speer,(again a printout from their website), says the max is 68.5. Okay a dilemma, now what to do? Oh these were Norma cases, wlrp standard primers. Seated so they would just go in the mag, which in my rifle puts them around .050 off the lands.

Since I very seldom shoot test loads when the chrono ISN'T set up, I decided to shoot these while watching velocity closely. I also took along my micrometer capable of measuring to .0001 to measure pressure ring expansion. I got steady increases of velocity up to where the pressure ring got to factory measurements for the 180 power points. That was at 69.5 grains, so I stopped, did not fire the 70.5 loads. 3103 fps with any 180 in a 23 inch barrel is going some. Best accuracy was at 68.5 with the interbonds and 69.5 with the Nozlers.

The 165 interbond, my hunting load, is not quite 3100(2987), but it too is above what Hornady says is max with H-4831 SC. But with groups of.400 and.500 on two different days, I'll keep it! It's for puny Wisconsin whitetails, so it's plenty of power.

OT, is that hunter powder a ball type or extruded? The Western handout sheet doesn't list it. I'll have to check at Sheels today to see if they have it.

In a previous post I said a 150 SST would be destructive. The interbond 150 would be the only one I would consider loading in my WSM. It would hold together and still penetrate well.

The only time I used magnum primers in mine was with a load from the Nozler manual for the 125 BT. They make a mess of a milk jug full of water!