I'm looking to get a rifle in 300WM. I am looking at the following.

BERETTA T3 LITE 300 WIN MAG (Stainless)

THOMPSON CENTER DIMENSION 300 WIN MAG

RUGER M77 HAWKEYE ALL-WEATHER 300 WIN MAG


Any recommendations for the above three? Any reason I should look at something else?

My own experience with the one Ruger Hawkeye I had was that it wouldn't group well and the group centers moved around, as well. And, when I searched on this forum, I found others complaining about this as well.

Over the years I've had such good luck with Savage and Remington that I couldn't suggest any of the ones specified.

quote:

Originally posted by swampshooter:
Over the years I've had such good luck with Savage and Remington that I couldn't suggest any of the ones specified.

Any experience with the Savage 116FCSS?

I have a friend with the Beretta/Tikka and it is a moa shooter and nice rifle. I have also had good luck with Model 70 and 700 Rem. Cannot comment on the other 2 in 300 win.

BigB

Been shooting a Ruger 77MK II in 300 Win Mag since 03. I really like it. Its consistant and extremely simple, and rugged. If your going in to the back country you would be hard pressed to find a rifle that will be any better.

Rich I have a stainless Tikka T3 lite in 300 Win mag. Just loaded up a box of starting loads and tried it at the range. Easily one inch groups @ 100 yds and I haven't started any load developement work. All the Tikkas I have shoot. I bought this rifle used from a guy who fired exactly 20 rounds through it. It is a very light rifle and he couldn't stand the recoil so he dumped it. On the other hand if you hunt in rough country a light rifle is so much nicer to carry than a 9 to 10 lb rifle. If you can handle the recoil I think you will be very happy with the Tikka.

In that caliber, I would like a nice simple Remington 700. Easy to upgrade with triggers or extra stocks. Hard to beat out of the box Remington in accuracy.

I do not own one, but have had the privilege of shooting a buddy's Tikka. It literally has the sweetest out of the box trigger I have ever felt, and I am 58. He asked me to load for him... I took an arbitrary load out of a book, and with proper judicious case trimming and scaling powder, ended up with a .5 MOA handload... all without ever having the rifle to work with.

I am not a synthetic stock guy, but you would really have to go some to beat the Tikka.

Many put some lead in the stock of t3 lite or go with the varmint version.

quote:

Originally posted by snowman:
Rich I have a stainless Tikka T3 lite in 300 Win mag. Just loaded up a box of starting loads and tried it at the range. Easily one inch groups @ 100 yds and I haven't started any load developement work. All the Tikkas I have shoot. I bought this rifle used from a guy who fired exactly 20 rounds through it. It is a very light rifle and he couldn't stand the recoil so he dumped it. On the other hand if you hunt in rough country a light rifle is so much nicer to carry than a 9 to 10 lb rifle. If you can handle the recoil I think you will be very happy with the Tikka.

I had one in the regular blued version and my experience with it echoes snowman's and Doubless. I recently sold it but only because I've wanted a M70 Super Grade forever and used the proceeds to get it. But I sold it to a friend of mine as I wanted to see someone I knew with this rifle.

Load development was a piece of cake with Accubonds, Partitions and A-Frames all giving a sub 1" group without a lot of work. I remember going to the range with 200gr A-Frames loaded up in RL19, RL22, IMR 4831 and IMR 4350 and all of the loads were at 1" or better with virtually the same POI. I never gave North Forks a go in this rifle.

One drawback on loads were trying to get 180 or 200 grain TSX/TTSX's to shoot. Neither would group well at all, I do believe the 1:11" twist may be to blame on this. My son's Tikka in .308 with the same twist rate will shoot the 165gr TTSX quite well.

Another drawback is the clip. It is cut such that you only have so much room to seat the bullet to get much more than SAAMI length. I had no need to do this however for accuracy purposes.

Other than that as mentioned in previous posts, the gun is light as intended, in a .300WM it will jump on you. Put a Limbsaver or Pachmayr on it and you'll be fine.

It's not much to look at, but I don't think you can buy a more accurate and smoother actioned rifle for the money. As mentioned my son has a .308 in the same model, a gift from me to him for his first adult sized rifle. I'm giving serious thought to "re-gifting" it back to me!!

quote:

Originally posted by Rich-:

quote:

Originally posted by swampshooter:
Over the years I've had such good luck with Savage and Remington that I couldn't suggest any of the ones specified.

Any experience with the Savage 116FCSS?

I have one (stainless, left-hand), and it is absolutely a 1-holer, from out of the box.

All my Savages including 300WM shoot great! With that said I like Ruger too and the one I had was a 1-hole wonder!

The .300 Win Mag needs a 24" or 26" tube. My chronograph has shown shorter barrel rifles that have not had much more velocity than a .30-06 with a stout load.
Remington, Ruger, or Winchester would be my first choices.

While I agree that you get better performance out of the longer barrel, I still get 3375 out of my 22" using 145 gr CEB raptor bullets. I shoot a remington action and it is accurate. I dont like remys, but seems to be the popular action to build one. My friend bought a savage bear hunter in 300 win. Tried several different factory loads as well as reloads, really could not even get to 1 MOA, quite disappointing as they seem to shoot great for others. You might look at Howa rifles, pretty inexpensive and I hear good things about them.

I Love my Sako m75ss 300WM - bought new along with my good hunting buddy buying the same rifle at the same time years ago......great shooters. Maybe look at finding a used Sako m75 or m85 rifle in 300WM.

Out of your choices, Tikka T3 gets my vote. Silky smooth action. Couple guys I know have them and they shoot great.

I'll go with Askins the elder who was way ahead of his time in the 1930s when he forcast that the semi-automatic would become THE hunting rifle as it became THE military rifle.

The growing popularity of hunting ARs has vindicated him but IMHO they are too heavy, don't handle well and are not tack drivers in larger calibers. Of course none is made is 300 Win Mag.

But all is good as Benelli make the wonderful R1 in 300 Winmag. It is accurate, handles like one of their fine shotguns, is reliable and handsome (if you like Italian design, if you don't send me your Enzo and I'll send you a Corvette).

It's only shortcoming is the absence of hi-cap magazines ...... if you get my drift.

Ruger 77s are the tank of bolt action rifles . Beauty is in the eye of the beholder , and to this beholder , that Benelli is some kind of UGLY !

I ended up picking up a Remington 700 in 300WM that I'm going to build up into something suitable. Thanks for the advice guys.

Rich,

It's not too late to trade that 700 for "Something suitable"

There are better designed actions such as the M70, Mauser etc.

I agree with "Bromley" above about the M77 Ruger as well.

Here is a 700 extractor that broke.

I have to say that I've tortured some 700s over the years, and I've not broken an extractor. I've even persuaded bolt handles with a hammer; they never fell off either.

quote:

I ended up picking up a Remington 700 in 300WM that I'm going to build up into something suitable. Thanks for the advice guys.

Good choice.

The only problem I've had that wasn't caused by abuse is getting a thousand miles from home and getting the bolt locked and the key was at home. I don't have that lock on my rifle anymore.

Mike sorry you find Italian design ugly. I feel the same about wannabe black bolt action sniper rifles with giant scopes.

One thing about the R1 ...... you'll never find anyone who actually used one who craps on it and if any bolt action guy want to bet the farm on who can get off 4 aimed shots quicker ..... well you know the outcome.

You'll notice the military is now seriously testing AR sniper platforms in 308 and finding that the best are as accurate as any bolt gun as well as a lot better if there are 10 or 20 bad guys surrounding your hide. Then there is the record of the Barret 50 semi-auto ..... rather hard to argue with.

Bolt guns and even single shots have their place (I own many of both) but for big game in the lower 48, used by an ethical hunter, the R1 has no peer.

American hunters are rather like the "old military" that put magazine cutoffs on the "new" bolt guns to prevent the soldiers from "wasting" ammo. The 10-22 dominates rimfires, the AR 15 is making big inroads in varmint hunting so things are changing. It's too bad we can't get the Euro version of the R1 in 9.3x62 as then nothing in North Ameria would be off limits. I solved that by buying a 9.3 Merkel. Rather plain but will hold 1.25 MOA, more than enough for anything one would tackle with a 9.3.





....

If you can pick up an SHR in 300WM, I'd think about it seriously. I have had several and everyone was a tack driver. I've seen tem in "as new" condition in shops for $450-500. Just grab Browning BLR bases and your good to go.

I'll bite. What's an SHR?

Rich-
I also agree that you made a good choice. PM me and I will help you make it shoot like a fine rifle should shoot.
Rick

I think the CZ 550 Ultimate Hunting Rifle may be my next 300 Win. Mag,
http://www.cz-usa.com/products...imate-hunting-rifle/

One of my favorite rifles that I own is a Ruger M77 Hawkeye. It is accurate and well balanced but, it is not a 300 Win Mag. My 300 Win Mag is a Browning X-Bolt Stainless Stalker. It is a fairly lightweight rifle and is very accurate and, although it kicks like a mule, I really like this rifle. It has a smooth, 60 degree bolt throw and is balanced and shoulders really well. Of the rifles you have listed, it is probably closer to the Tikka T3 which, IMO is a nice rifle and most say they are accurate out of the box.

Ruger or Winchester or Sako- practice then rebarrel with a match barrel if you need to rebarrel.I would stay away from stainless or all weather and just go with chrome molly.

quote:

Originally posted by 45-70 shooter:
I'll go with Askins the elder who was way ahead of his time in the 1930s when he forcast that the semi-automatic would become THE hunting rifle as it became THE military rifle.

The growing popularity of hunting ARs has vindicated him but IMHO they are too heavy, don't handle well and are not tack drivers in larger calibers. Of course none is made is 300 Win Mag.

But all is good as Benelli make the wonderful R1 in 300 Winmag. It is accurate, handles like one of their fine shotguns, is reliable and handsome (if you like Italian design, if you don't send me your Enzo and I'll send you a Corvette).

It's only shortcoming is the absence of hi-cap magazines ...... if you get my drift.

Great rifle...