i know the obvious answer for one bullet to hunt everything in the lower 48 from ground hogs to bear with a 300 Win Mag is a 180gr Nosler Partion, but with all the new bonded super bullets on the market is there a better answer?

I'm fond of X bullets. The new Accubond and/or Interbond bullets might be worth a look too. I understand that the Accubond has the best attributes of the Partition and the Ballistic Tip in one bullet.

I would say the 200gr NP or Speer Grand Slam. You stick one in one side and it comes out the other leaving something dead behind. What more do you want?
I would hate to use one as a steady diet shooting varmints but my .300WM is amazingly accurate. As mine wears a Burris 1.5x6, I don't know how I'd do on 300 yard shots at P dogs.

Nosler 180 Accubond or a Barnes 168 TSX.

I have shot many different bullets down two tubes in my 300WM. Either the 200 grain or 180 grain bullet weights whichever is most accurate!!! Like beem, I prefer the 200 grain partition. My new tube didn't like them as well as other bullets though. I would definitely try the accubonds in both bullet weights as well as the barnes TSX 180 grain (168 grain should be alright). I have found better accuracy when sticking with bullets 180 grain and heavier. Try RL22, H1000 (200 grain bullets in my opinion), IMR7828, and my personal favorite H4831SC. I am a believer that sticking with a bullet with a sectional density greater than .27 is optimal for penetration. Bullets at 180 grain or better will do this for you, but for bear i would say go with the 200 grain bullet unless it is a 180 grain barnes TSX. I personally think the accubonds are an excellent all around bullet and should do well for you, but they were finicky for me though would give accuracy of .5MOA on good days.

165 gr nosler Part...
165 gr barnes XLC

just about any other 165 gr... I know someone folks like mags to throw heavy bullets as fast as lighter rounds throw lighter weights... but, hell, it's it's a .308... if you want heavy bullets, go with a .375

the 165s seem to be acdcurate as all get out, doesn't give much on the way of speed to the 150 or loose much on energy with the 180... good all around bullets.

jeffe

165 grain Interbond.

Great BCs and Great performance from small lope' to big African game.

Reloader

I have killed a lot of animals with the Nosler Partition down through the years, either the 180 grain or 200 grain, with a .300 Win mag. Brown Bear, Elk, Caribou, Whitetail and Mule Deer. The only bullet I have found that will do as well accuracy wise and is considerably tougher is the North Fork, it is now my "go-to" bullet. I have shot most bullets extensively except the GS's. Good shooting.

Nobody mentioned the 180 grs Nosler Partition again. Why be different if there is no reason?
- mike

I use 200grn Partitions in my .300 H&H. Why change when it works so well?

My load for everything in my .300 Win Mag is the 200 grain Accubond propelled by a healthy dose of H1000...Wonder what it will do to the praire dogs

i'm more of a fan of the nosler 125gr ballistic tips.

flatter trajectory over longer ranges, i group about 100mm at 500m, and the velocity at that is still enough to get at least 1/2 way through a pig's chest. and you dont really need to go more than that

also the lighter load kicks less for faster target aquisition for a possible 2nd shot.

Hornady 190 btsp from grouse to moose.

If one bullet qualifies for "do everything" use in the .300 Win. Mag., it's surely Winchester's 180 gr. Fail-Safe, and I speak from experience when I make this recommendation. It works much like the Barnes "X", only it's shorter due to the lead-filled steel cup in the base. Because of this, I like the design better than the Barnes X.

I've used the 180 gr. Fail-Safe extensively in the .300 Win. Mag. for elk, mule deer, whitetails, black bear, etc., in N. America, and for all manner of African plainsgame from tiny dik dik to 2000 lb. eland--not to mention lion, leopard, and even cape buffalo. Just about everything has dropped right away, and neither penetration nor expansion is a problem, no matter how big or small the animal. This bullet doesn't blow up small animals, nor does it lack in terms of expansion and energy transfer. It's just one heck of a bullet, maybe the best ever for big game hunting, and if I had only one bullet to choose for all big game hunting for the rest of my career, it would be the 180 gr. Fail-Safe in the .300 Win. Mag........

AD

I have stayed out of this discussion...but I can't any longer.

Do you wear "one size fits all" underwear? "One size fits all" shoes? Or do you buy a "one size fits all" automobile? How about a "one size fits all" screwdriver?

A "one size fits all" bullet is a rediculous supposition...

A "one size fits all" bullet is a rediculous supposition...

no it's not
while one bullet may not be the best choice "rediculous" it is not.
i have built what i concider a "go to" rifle that may not be the best choice for everything it "will work" for anything i hunt! now i'm trying decide on a bullet that "will work" for anything hunt!
hell i've got a rifle for hunting crows when it's cloudy and another for sunny days.
a one size fits all i'm not, but as long as the pants cover my ass they'll do!

What's ridiculous about it?

AD

I tend to think it more ridiculous to have one gun with many different loads/bullet weights. Pick a slug, work up a load, learn to shoot it with proficiency and whatever you choose (within reasonable parameters) will do the trick for you. I think oft times that I/we get so caught up in theory that we disregard reality. For what its worth I have used 150's, 165's, 180's, 190's and 200's out of several different .300 Win Mags. Could I tell the difference in the performance on game? Not only no, but heck no. The game is still dead. Some stay on they're feet to bleed out, others flopped over like being hit with a frying pan. Bullets did their job, I did mine.

Now, with that said, I believe there are bullets better suited to different types of game. A 200 grain partition is a better bullet for elk/moose than a 150 grain power point given many different scenarios. However, that does not mean that the 200 grain bullet is not a good deer bullet, or that the 150 grain bullet won't kill elk/moose...it will...I have.

There are many posters here with far more experience than I have. Learn from their real life, on game experience and you won't go wrong.

My .02

I like having just one load for a particular rifle, applicable to all I want to use that rifle for. Saves a bunch of time, components and barrel life in load development. Gun stays sighted in with the one load, and just needs to be checked (briefly) before going hunting.
- mike

Okay, so you want to hunt everything in the lower 48...from a 1600 pound bison to a half-pound prairie dog. From ranges of a few feet to several hundred yards.



And you want to do it all with one firearm, one caliber, one bullet, one load...and one shot.



So you load for the largest, meanest animal, at the maximum range you will be shooting. Then you come across a 40 pound antelope at 35 yards...so what happens?



The bullet you selected for that 300 yard bison shot, or the 75 yard grizzly shot, passes right through that little 'lope, small hole in, small hole out. And you spend the rest of your hunt trying to find it.



So after ruining this hunt you decide that you need a bullet for lighter animals...



You are out hunting your mule deer, and have the "perfect" bullet for that game at the expected range. And you wake up to a gawd-awful racket, and find a 600 pound grizzly tearing the wall of your tent down, and he has either hunger or love in his eyes.



Remember, one firearm, one caliber, one bullet, one load and one shot...and probably one undertaker.

I load 180 gr. Barnes XFB w/ 73.5 gr. R22. I get approximately 3000 fps. I used it in Africa on everything from kudu/zebra to warthog/impala at ranges of 75 to 275 yards. They worked flawlessly. This is the only load I use for the 300wm. I'd use a different caliber for whitetail and dangerous game. But for everything in between this caliber and load has been just the ticket.

ricci, thats a bad desk jockey answer.

First of all, I hunt varmints with varmint rifles--not general-use big game rifles such as the .300 Win. Mag.

But yes, for big game I would absolutely use the same load for all North American hunting, except for coastal brown bear, in which case I'd use a much bigger rifle, such as my .416 Remington. But for everything else, from any species to deer up though elk, moose, and mountain grizzly, I would indeed use just one single 180 gr. premium bullet load in the .300 Winchester, zero for 250 yds., and be set to go. There is absolutely no need for any other bullet weight, except, as indicated, for coastal brown bear, and this is pretty-much a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for most hunters--if they ever get to hunt them at all.

I'm not spouting theory or bullshit here, I'm talking practice. I've walked this particular walk, and so have a number of other guys I know. I've taken well over six-score of big game animals with the .300 Win. Mag. cartridge, and almost all of them have been taken with premium 180 gr. bullets, and this spans a gamut, from animals that are the size of a dog, to animals they weigh over a ton, and all on the same hunt with the same load in some cases. Also animals that can kill you, and also with the same load.

In fact, I've stuck with the same 180 gr. Nosler Partition load in my current .300 Win. Mag. for the last four years (current rifle doesn't shoot Fail-Safes well), and I've used it on everything from Coues deer and pronghorn at long range to elk and eland. Works the same on all of them..........

One of my friends has taken just about all of the world's big game animals (and has the hunting awards to prove it) with the .300 Weatherby cartridge, and also with the 180 gr. Nosler Partition. The few animals he hasn't taken with the .300 Weatherby have been taken with the .458 Win. Mag.

I'm not sure why people insist on making their lives more complicated than they need to be, but for some reason, they do. Maybe they think it's FUN! Personally, I think it's a theoretical hassle than I don't need.......

AD

I have also had good results just using one load for widely varying game sizes. Africa is one place where one has the opportunity to take the whole range of game in terms of weight and toughness. Last time I went, I hunted all my plains game with a .30-06 with a 180 grs X-Bullet. Worked a champ from the heaviest to the lightest. I would not hesitate to do the same with a .300 Win Mag with either a 180 or a 200 grs Nosler Partition. There are so many great choices these days.
- mike

I too am a one load per rifle sorta guy. And I use that load on everything I hunt with that rifle. Thus, if my elk hunt includes antelope/mulies, I still take a one gun battery that will handle it all. I have shot antelope with a 200gr bullet @3000fps. If you make sure your shot is going thru some vital stuff inside of the animal rather than shooting for the big middle, they work fine. With a minimum of meat damage I might add.
I think the idea of having several different "speciality" loads for a given rifle is a sour idea as I can guarentee if I were to be confronted by a grizzly, I would be found with a rifle loaded with some sort of pissy-assed little bullets in it that would go really, really fast but would do little to save my ass.
I do feel however this thread is akin to the old "if you could only have 3 rifles.............." The thought of having only one rifle or three for that matter, gives me the willies.

I'm with mho. It gives you an excuse to buy another rifle. I have convinced my wife that you must have different calibers for each type of game. Works for me.

Sure are a lot of "ifs", "ands", "buts", "usuallys" and "sometimes" in the replies...



The man said he wanted to hunt EVERYTHING in the lower 48 with a single load...period...



Sure it CAN be done...but should it be done on a regular basis? Nope...



I have taken elk with a 6mm Remington shooting a Sierra 85 grain HPBT, I have also taken prairie dogs with a .458 Winchester and a .375 H&H. Two opposite extremes. Neither of which would I make a regular activity.



You want to hunt sheep, goat, antelope and deer, then you can get away with the single load...but as I said earlier, if you want to hunt 1/2 pound critters to 1600 pound critters, from a few feet to several hundred yards ... you should have at least 2, better yet 3, different rifles.



Hell I take 4 rifles with me just to shoot prairie dogs...

No "if", "ands", or "buts" about it. Find me one thing living on the north american continent that a person would be undergunned using a .300 Winchester Magnum loaded with either 180 grain or 200 grain premium projectiles. As far as the other side of the spectrum I doubt you will notice whether you shot a ground squirrel with a 200 grain accubond or a 55 grain ballistic tip...pretty much lights out

As far as carrying 3, 4 or 100 guns with you...the post referred to the .300 Win Mag with one bullet for everything.

I should state something I did not in my last reply. My loads have been most accurate when seating to the lands or close to, and if you have a standard long action magazine (max oal near 3.38"), I would go with the protected point partition (180 gr) or grand slam (grand slams get you a little closer). However, most of you know you can take out the magazine spacer for the M70 (I don't know about other makes). I actually replaced mine with a 375H&H magazine box and follower. In this case, no constraints. Go with a good bullet that is accurate. I strongly believe in becoming intimate with 1 load for a given rifle, but I couldn't imagine not having my 22-250 for varmints and .270 for whitetails.

I have not found a good load for my 300WM --yet; however, after trying 180BT's from Nosler, I have settled on 180 Partitions in my 30-338. It is accurate, available, and it will go through anything you are likely to shoot it at side to side, and most things end to end. I've had nothing walk away from it, and recovered very, very few. Ku-dude

After many years I finally settled on two bullets for my 300 H&H and 300 Win....The 200 gr. Nosler for most anything and the 220 Nosler for big stuff, shooting in the timber, and I like the 220 gr. in Africa where I might run into something that hurts humans.

I sure don't have a thing against the 180 Nosler, its a dandy bullet for most everything..The Barnes and Failsafes are sho nuff good bullets in most weights...

Pick one that shoots best in your particular gun is my advise....

The best thing for you to do is grab a broad selection of premium bullets in the 180 - 200gr range. Experiment for the best accuracy, and go with that load. I have had two NP that didn't expand on whitetails, but both died like Thors hammer hit em. I feel that the Trophy Bonded Bear Claw is one of the best bullets out there, but really, any high quality bullet will do. You can't go wrong getting anything from Hornady either. Accuracy should be your primary concern unless a specialized bullet is called for (solids at close range).

Perforator,

Just a heads-up: take cover. I have a feeling you're about to get a lot of feedback, some nice and some not so nice, on the last sentence in your post (Accuracy over bullet quality).

Of course I sit at the range and try to squeeze ever last bit of MOA out my rifles, but I've come to realize that I must balance that with velocity and bullet construction. As an example, I recently decided to go with a slightly faster than most accurate load for a 200gr AccuBond because the faster one was still more than accurate enough.

On the other end, I've selected loads that are nowhere near max with both 168 and 190gr MatchKings because the slower loads were by far the most accurate.

Perforator,
I'm going to leave you alone on the accuracy/performance issue based on the fact that you said to pick several "premium" bullets to try. I am going to assume that you were talking premium hunting bullets. Nuff said on that issue.

What intrigues me is nosler partitions that failed to expand. Can you give some more details on this...were the whitetails in a different county?

I guess I should have qualified that sentence with the most accurate premium bullet out of the selection chosen.
I have shot around 15-20 Whitetails with a Nosler Partition.
It's a great bullet and anyone using it has made a solid choice; but I put one through both lungs of a 120lb doe and it took me by surprise that the exit hole was just about the size of a pencil. Same thing happened a few years later on a 165lb buck. Now I say they didn't expand, but that is based on the exit hole being very small. Still, they both died abruptly. So, dead is dead. In fact, I hunt with two loads for my rifle. One is loaded with the Partition for stands in the woods because these loads are just absolutly dead on accurate and if a very precise shot is presented, I have a lot of confidence in this round.

The small entrance and exit hole is almost a trademark of the NP. If you had followed the bullet path, you would of (probably) found an increasingly larger wound channel for a bit and then a tapering off of size as the nose sloughed away and the jacket petals folded back against the base of the bullet.

In many cases the Nosler will blow the front portion off and you wil get a caliber size entrance and exit, but when this happens such as in your case the kill is clean because of all that material slicing and cutting like a buzz saw inside, the exit was made by the base of the bullet..If this is not the performance you want then simply go to the next heavier bullet weight that Nosler offers and then you can collect nice mushroom type picture perfect Nosler against the skin on the far side or get bigger exit holes, but the results will still be about the same...Noslers don't fail, just some folks think they do because the do not understand them....

I agree on the Nosler and how it works.I use the 180 and 200 in my 300 WM.Mostly the 180 when after Deer and Elk.I also use the Nosler in my 45-70 and handloaded 130's in my .270. But I am also a fan of the Bear Claw in my .270.It's a top notch bullet also.

Best of luck..Jayco.