Am interested in what people are doing to load .300 Weatherby with non-lead bullets ( TTSX / LRX / GMX )

I took my only elk with a Sauer 202 26" barrel in .300 Weatherby using 83 grs of 7828 and a Nosler Accubond going 3100fps which was a little below max load but the most accurate in my rifle. I have been looking a lightweight .300 weatherby rifle and also looking at .300 win mag again. A 165gr .300wm GMX in superformance billed at 3260

Is anyone getting good velocity from TTSX or GMX with a 180gr?

Hornady Superformance .300WM in 180 GMX are advertised to do 3070 with only a 24" barrel. Pretty close to my .300wby load.

I'm also curious if anyone is using Barnes LRX bullets

A 175gr LRX TTSX at max load is slated going just over 3100 too.

Wondering how fast .300 weatherby can be with unleaded and why consider it over .300wm. I think they are dumbing down the loads too. If you look at the Barnes data online their max loads in .270 are lower than in the book I used.

Unless you are required by law to use the unleaded bullets I'd stick to the Accubonds and live happily ever after. If you do have to use them, go light and shoot everything through the shoulders and hope for
the best.

Barnes data is typically lower than conventional bullets for a reason. Your chronograph will be your friend. I've got loads that made the max speed with the seemingly reduced Barnes starting loads, and others that took loads equal to conventional bullets. Every rife is a law unto
itself.

I've got a weak spot for .300s, and have all the usual suspects. I prefer the Win version to
all of them.

Since Mr. Browne is in California, lead may be a problem. Seems like the whole state has condors lurking behind rocks, trees and cactus waiting to eat leaded dead animal parts.

In my Vanguard .300 Weatherby, I've gotten the Barnes 200gr LRX up to 3000fps with both 7828SSC and RL25. Ended up about one grain under my Accubond load for the same 200gr bullet weight with either powder.

Hornady brass, CCI250 primer, COAL 3.58", 24" barrel.

81gr IMR7828SSC got 3023fps ave

82gr RL25 got 3010fps ave.

Neither showed any pressure issues, but I didn't go any higher since 3000fps was my bogey. Both loads shot just under an inch in that rifle. These loads are probably only a grain away from max in this rifle if I had to guess.

Jeremy

Thanks guys, yes live in CA where the sacred Condor must be saved. Even though they eat garbage and don't seem to have it in them to survive. Maybe like us CA shooters, yes I have to use non-lead bullets and will probably have to move out of state once when we're restricted to nerf bullets. Imagine the powder necessary! It's hard to stay too pissed at my native golden state having just drawn a CA Desert Bighorn tag. I will resume my routine bitching about 'standard capacity' magazines and micro stamping after I've taken my ram.

I definitely chrono my loads for CDS as my other rifles are an assortment of barrel lengths so you really need to know. Sako is like 22.5, my X-Bolt is 22, and the rest are 24"

Well your 200 LRX load looks good especially out of a 24" barrel.

I have a crap load of 7828 thinking I had a good thing going with my 180 accubond load. I may try the 175. Funny the animals I would want to hunt with a .300wby would most likely be out of state but if I want to kill a pig here, unleaded it is.

I use the 180 grain TTSX and 7828SSC in the 300 Roy to excellent effect. Everything just dies.

I'm playing a little with the CEB bullets, but not straying far from the Barnes.

I find it so interesting how much reloading manuals download cartridges today. Using Weatherby 180 grain factory loads I get all of the listed 3240 fps if not slight bit more from my rifle. So far I have only used their factory ammo in my .300 Wby.

Yes I know the cost is high but looking at how anemic loading manuals are today if I was reloading for this rifle and had to live with at least 150 fps less I would just use a .300 Winchester instead. The Barnes bullet by the way are excellent in a .300 mag of any flavor.

If anyone wants to try a different mono-metal check out Hammer Bullets out of Montana. They make two designs, a shorter for slow twist, and a VLD style.

I have not personally used them, but friends that I trust have and they say they are excellent. These mushroom like a Barnes, rather than fragment like the Cutting Edge, if that actually matters after the animal is dead.

Totally agree with the loading manuals. I built a .340 last year and wanted to duplicate the 250gr factory load at 2900+fps. Only the Sierra and Lyman manuals had anything helpful. All of the others didn't even get to the factory load velocity with any powder.

I ended up using IMR7828SSC and getting there without any problems. RL22 did well too.

Jeremy

Using the 168gn TTSX in my 25 inch .300WM Blaser loaded with H4831SC. 3212 FPS without high pressure and 5 shots into 0.715".
Used the 165 TTSX in Namibia last year and had good results on plains game.

quote:

I find it so interesting how much reloading manuals download cartridges today. Using Weatherby 180 grain factory loads I get all of the listed 3240 fps if not slight bit more from my rifle. So far I have only used their factory ammo in my .300 Wby.

One word, LIABILITY!!!!

As for the OP, I use 165 and 168 grain Barnes TSX in my .300 Weatherby and the last elk I shot was a cow at 190 yards. I spined her and she dropped in her tracks.

Check out Cutting Edge Bullets. Excellent bullets.

Another fan of 168 gr TSX with a max load of 7828 loaded long.

Also the recoil is reduced a great deal by going down in bullet mass.

Blaming the death of condors on eating of bullets is going over the top, lead comes in many forms, but that's neither here nor there and only a small win for liberal democrats that live life in the far left.

In the 300 win. the monolithic Hollow points have pretty well progressed to excellent bullets based on the internet, magazines and general public of hunters so your good to go and I suspect a fast caliber like the 300 works well with The Barnes bullets and Im sure with the GS Customs bullets

Im old school out of necessity of age and I still prefer the 200 gr. Nosler partition in a 300 Wby at about 3000 FPS in any good 300 magnum where possible, but if not then I will use a monolithic and drive it as fast as possible..

Im a fan of the Nosler Accubond, used the 225 gr, Accubond in my .338 Win on the last 4 elk Ive shot and its a dandy, used it in my 250-3000 Ruger on Mule Deer, used it in my 308 and 30-6 on deer and elk, but have not pushed it hard in a 300 WBY or any 300 so have no idea as yet how it will perform..Would like to hear from those who have. Im betting on it but ya never know until you try them. I would really like to hear about the use of the 200 gr. Accubond on elk in a 300 of any kind as that would be my pick.

I've been getting good groups with the 180 gr TTSX bullet and 7828. Tried some RL25 with the 180 TTSX and got even better groups. I have switched to RL25 but if availability becomes an issue 7828 will work. The new RL26 would also be worth trying.......if you can find any.

I've been loading for my .300 Weatherby for about 8 years now. My rifle is a Vanguard with a 24" barrel, and all of these loads have shot 3 shot groups less than 1".

With 180 grain TSX bullets my best accuracy/velocity was 3191 fps with 7828 powder. I have not hunted with this bullet.

With 168 grain TSX bullets my best accuracy/velocity was 3298 fps with 7828 powder. I killed Texas exotics, a bull elk, and 5 South African plains game animals up to Sable with these bullets.

With 168 grain TTSX bullets my best accuracy/velocity was 3250 fps with 7828 powder. I've used that bullet on bull elk, Mozambique Sable and Leopard, and 4 New Zealand animals up to Red Stag.

This year I will be hunting with 180 grain TTSX bullets at 3248 fps with RL 22 powder, starting with a Dagestan Tur hunt in Azerbaijan next month.

Any premium or super premium will kill well in a 300 WBY, you have a lot of room for mistakes with that caliber, its an outstanding killer. For Years Wby ammo used cup and core Hornady interlock bullets with success. Ive witnessed that, used them and never had a failure.

I have used all of the TSX weights from 130 to 180 grain in the 300 Wby. I have found that penetration with all can be measured in feet, not inches. I would not waste the case volume on 180s. 130 grains on anything 400 lbs and under works great and the 165/168 will do for everything under a light armored vehicle. it is very difficult to find enough flesh and bone to stop a 165 grain TSX.

What wasted case volume? A 180 grain bullet pretty much comes to the bottom of the neck on a Weatherby case so no volume is reduced.

quote:

Originally posted by Cougarz:
What wasted case volume? A 180 grain bullet pretty much comes to the bottom of the neck on a Weatherby case so no volume is reduced.

Yep, you've got all that freebore that Weatherby's are famous for.

quote:

Originally posted by Fjold:

quote:

Originally posted by Cougarz:
What wasted case volume? A 180 grain bullet pretty much comes to the bottom of the neck on a Weatherby case so no volume is reduced.

Yep, you've got all that freebore that Weatherby's are famous for.

What has that got to do with the bullet intruding into the case capacity? Beside concerning the mythical Weatherby freebore, which one? Old or new spec? The newer one which most are built with is about the same as any other .300 magnum and it certainly doesn't hurt the accuracy of the round.

I'd use the 170 Lapua Naturalis in the 300 Wby and hunt happily. It gives you a conventional mushroom unlike a TSX and the shocking power is better.

I honestly haven't seen a lot of difference in killing power between the 165gr and 180gr weights monometal in a 300 magnum either.

In a bonded lead core I have used the 180 Scirocco's to great effect in a 300 RUM in Namibia.

You could also look at the Peregrine bullet out of RSA too.

Any 180g projectile speeding 3000fps muzzle is easily effective against a bull elk at 400yds. Downloading the 300 WBY is going to effectively drop moose or elk

I'm using 83.5 grs of Norma MRP and TTSX at 3.56". Getting 3,255 fps from a 24.4" barrel in hot weather.

Working on some temp stable loads with newer powders. Losing about 1.5 fps/1 degree in temperature.

I just got almost home (I'm still in Denver) from my Dagestan Tur hunt in Azerbaijan.
The 180 grain TSX load that I mentioned in my earlier post performed perfectly.
Two sight in shots along the trail to base camp (one at 100 yards and one at 290 yards) and I was good to go.
The tur were very scarce, and finally just at sunset of the 5th day, two rams fed across the hillside above where we were hiding.

My guide said the lower ram was larger, and he ranged him at 328 yards.
I had my Leopold 3I CDS scope set on 6 power, so I turned the range dial to one click past the 300 yards mark, held the cross hairs on the center of the ram's shoulder, and squeezed the trigger.
The next that I saw was my ram tumbling/falling in a cloud on dust down the steep chute below where he had been feeding.

By the time we got to the ram it was pitch black, and with our headlamps I saw a .30 caliber hole in the center oh his chest.
We rolled him over and there was a 1" exit hole a quarter way down on the far side from the top of his neck.
When I shot, the ram was feeding with his head down, and he was about 20 degrees above me.
The 180 grain TSX bullet had killed him instantly.

I couldn't have asked for any better bullet performance.

Good deal. Congratulations!