This is addressed to those of you who shoot anything .300 Weatherby-sized or larger. You know, .300 RUM, 30-378 Weatherby, .300 Tomahawk, 30-338 Lapua, 300 Pegassus, 7.82 Warbird, 30-8mm Rem Mag or Jarrett.

There are three types of people who use these Super Mags:

1. The "Efficient Minimizers"- those who want all the performance in a fairly small package- 26" and less than 9.5 pounds. They usually practice a lot from bench and field positions with Handloaded ammo and have high-end factory or semi-custom rifles. They are experienced hunters and want to maximize performance in a relatively small package.

2. The "Professional Long-Range Hunter"- those who have semi-custom to custom rifles with min. barrel lengths of 26" but often between 28-30". They practice religiously with handloaded ammo both on bench and field positions and out to ranges where you can't tell if the deer has a B&C head or just large ears-heck you can't even see the animal with your naked eye They also tend to be very experienced hunters and shooters.

3. The "Wannabe Super Elite"- those who get caught up in the marketing hype and are fairly new to the hunting game. They use factory ammo and get some range practice in a few times a season, mainly from the bench. They purchase off the shelf factory rifles in super mag. cals because they feel it will extend their shooting range and skill and kill trophy animals better. They like attempting to impess folks by dropping "Yeah, I carry a_________ Super Magnum- you know, THE only heavy hitting big .300 MAGNUM that guys with large p_ _ _ _es should be carrying to shoot em far across them there valleys. It blows-up milk jugs like crazy man!"

Yes, there are shades of grey between types 1-2 or between a type 3 and types 1 or 2.

This was spurred by the 300WSM vs. 300 Win Mag. discussion.

Anything larger requires at least a 26" barrel to optimize performance from the cartridge.

Types 1 and 2 can make the case for the need of an extra 100-300+fps. If you admit to being a type 3, you may not have a large pe_ _s but certainly have a lot of balls

Type 1. My 300 Win. is the largest "magnum" I'll need. And my P----- is plenty big

300 RUM. I bought a box of factory shells when I bought the rifle and shot one over the chronograph for reference. It was the only factory round I have fired other than rimfires in 35 years. My freind's nickname is "Shorty".

EX-type 3. Had a 300 RUM and found it to be fun for about 30 days. Found it to be useful if you don't know the range of something way out yonder but found the 338 Win Mag to be better if you do. For distant deer, Nosler 180 gr BTs do 3250 fps, drive tacks and use 30% less powder. For bigger game, the Nosler 210 and speer 225 drop 'em at 400and I rarely will shoot that far.

I guess I'm closest to type #3, although I do load my own, prefer a 26" (actually a 24 incher and that's the beauty if the 300 Win mag) and practice on and off the bench but I'm hesitant to take shots past 300 yards ( my personal best is 354 measured). I did fall to the "Weatherby hype" as a yougster, but I'm glad I did. In my view the 300 Weatherby is about as close to the most versatile caliber around (yep, I read about Elgin Gates too) and ALL the Weatherbys I own (five) far exceeded accuracy expectations.....but call me a pre-64 Model 70 man please! jorge

Definitely #2.I shoot 7mmstw's and 300ultramags in custom rifles shooting carefully developed handloads.I do limit my shots to 500 yards or less and my farthest kill on a game animal has been 480 yards measured with a laser rangefinder.I practise virtually every week and fire several hundred rounds per year of centerfire ammunition.

I'm a .300 Win. Mag. guy, and if I didn't shoot the .300 Win. Mag., I'd shoot a .300 H&H. I don't need anything bigger or faster, I don't want a 26" or longer barrel, I don't want or need anything newer, I don't want a .300 that kicks harder and makes more noise, and I don't want something weird that I have to form cases for or can't find factory ammo for and brass in a store.

The .300 Win. Mag. has nothing left to prove to me. I've used it on everything from Coues deer in Sonora to moose in B.C., and all manner of African stuff from dik dik to eland, plus lion, leopard, and Cape buffalo. The closest shot I ever made with has been something like 17 feet, and the longest was a measured 518 yds. No matter what I've shot with the .300 Win. Mag. or where, said animal has gone down post-haste.

I've been past the experimental, inquisitive stage on this subject for over ten years now. For me, the verdict is in............

AD

The .300 Win Mag also.Factory ammo wherever you go if you use it and the 24 inch barrel is long enough for stalking through the timber and brush(sometimes to long) and it has enough power for anything I will ever hunt and shoot as far as I will ever shoot.Just about any bullet you would ever want is loaded in .300 Winchester Mag.

She's a keeper for this ol' hillbillie from Ideeho.

Jayco

I knew there was a reason. The male enhancement pills didnt work. All I really needed was a .30 magnum. That would have done the trick. Guess I'm stuck(no pun intended) with what I got as I think if the 30-06 wont do it,you need a larger cal and not a faster .30.

I second what Allen Day has to say about the .300 Win Mag. Give me one of those any day of the week.

Count me as another 300 Win Mag fan since the 80's. Shot out the original barrel , had Shilen install another in the summer of '92. Yeah, it's 26" and chambered for my handloads. Roosevelt elk, mulies, blacktails, whitetails and hogs sure hate it.
Sako

i quess type 1 the 308 norma mag is my choice gun i hunt bean fields with it where the deer are out as far as 750 yrds.I just received a 300wsm for christmas i think i'm bringing that out with next week the shots in this field are within 200 yrds.But this hunting is for meat and to get rid of nuisance deer

I'm a one and a half with early tendencies toward a #3. Had a 300/8mag 28" on a Whitworth 375H&H action for years and got an honest 3200 with 200 gr bullets. Gave it up for a 300 Win. because all my #2 days are long behind me.

quote:

Originally posted by Paul J Langevin:
Type 1. My 300 Win. is the largest "magnum" I'll need. And my P----- is plenty big

I will 3rd what you said and my Wife knows that my P----- is plenty big and she is the only one that counts.

I guess I am a 1 and a 3.

I fell to the hype of the 300 RUM and bought one. I wanted the increased performance and beltless case. I hand load all my own but other than a timney trigger and a bedding job my rifle is stock.

I don't shoot as much as I should but I do know what my rifle will do and I am very comfortable with it. I do not take LONG shots, but neither do I need the extra power. Even though I have been presented with some fairly long shots I am sure I could have made I have no problem passing up a shot at a deer. Its not worth it to even risk wounding something.

I fell to the hype and now have more gun than I need. I will not sell it though. It was my first rifle. When the barrell is burnt out of it it may get rebarrelled to a 300 RUM again or perhaps something closer to 300 Dakota.

I don't pack it to make a statement or try to impress anyone.

I like to think I'm a #1 with shades of #2. I use the Weatherby flavor of .300 Magnums

im with Stubblejumper here but type#1 as well I guess as the description fits some of my Rifles. For me its not about need its about interest and im interested in guns/hunting/shooting so I got a few as im sure alot of people on this forum do as well. 300 wby,30-378,30-416,300 RUM,and a few more and they all provide what I need, hell my 30-06 is my Favorite 30 cal. but I enjoy working with different calibers,loads,ballistics etc.

Just getting started on Swaging bullets and thats alot of fun as well:-)

Good Hunting and Shooting!!!

I guess I am a type one. My .300 of choice is a D'Arcy Echols Legend in .300 Weatherby with a light contour barrel and a short throat. I had D'Arcy lighten the action, scope rings and bases some, so with a 3.5x10x40 Leupold it weighs about 8.75 pounds. I'm not so much a gun collector as a hunting nut, so I use this one rifle for about 70% of my hunting.

30-40 Krag!

Weatherby Vanguard in .300 Weatherby. I bought it (used) because I needed something bigger than my 30-30 for a hunt I had scheduled. I really didn't want a .300 magnum but it was a deal I couldn't pass up. Man I love this gun now. I can't tell you what kind of velocity or energy I'm getting because I don't know and I really don't care. It shoots Federal Premium ammo to MOA and I'll work up handloads for it during the summer. I now own exactly 2 long-guns. My Vanguard and a 12ga pump. Until I make it to Africa for DG I really don't see where I need anything else. (just don't tell my wife that.).

#1. I shoot a custom .300 Jarrett, with a brake because I don't like heavy recoil too much. The rifle weighs 8.75 scoped and ready to hunt. I wanted a 500 yd elk rifle and I got one, but if I were building the rifle again, I would use the tried and true Win mag. No case forming and I think it would probably be just as fast in the 24" barrel. 200 gr accubonds @ 2980 fps. I shoot around 6-800 handloaded center fire rounds annually.

I would say I am a #1 except that the 300 ultra I had was not high dollar. It was a mod 70 classic blued with a synthetic stock and I put a 3x9 leupold compact on it. total package was ($720 with scope). I worked up a few loads for it and was impressed with the numbers anyway . 200 grainers at 3200 FPS , 220 at 3050 and 240 at 2850. I shot maybe 150 rounds through it . I thought it was accurate, powerful and didn't kick too bad either and was fun to shoot period. I ended up selling it before I was able to hunt with it.

Now I am in the process of replacing it with another Mod 70 classic sporter LT (blued wood) but I am not sure what Leupold I am going to put on this one. This rifle is a 300 win mag which is a caliber I have used and seen used on a few critters. There are no flies on the 300 winny thats for sure. I still have 500 bullets left over from when I had the ultramag and I already have dies too.

I plan on getting another 300 ultra in the not too near future. No rush with a 300 winny to hunt with now.

I must be a type 4.

Between 1 and 3 probably closer to 1 now. Have a sako 75 .300 RUM and have tried probably 15-20 different powder bullet combos's in it. Only hunt about 6-10 times a year but practice quite a bit more. When I bought it I was a number 3 without question. Mainly bought it for Nilgai hunting on the south Texas coast.

I'd have to say #1 for me.

For about 20 years I shot a 308 Norma Magnum, that is until one day my groups @ 100 yards went from 3/4" to over 2" which was totally unacceptable to me. I tried everything I could to get better groups again but finally gave up on the rifle.

My 30 cal mag is now a Remington 700 s/s synthetic stocked BDL 300 RUM Leupold Vari X 3 4.5-14 scope which I shoot with my reloads of 180gr Scirrocco's @ 3350fps and 200gr Swift A-Frames @ 3150fps.

Most of my shots on game animals are between 40 to 300 yards but now that I always carry a laser range finder I am able to do a lot of practice shots out to 600 yards.

In the last 2 weeks I have been to the range 5 times and fired about 45 300 RUM's, 60 375 Rum's and over 120 top 45-70 loads as well as 22LR's to 454 Casull SRH etc.

Until 5 years ago a Lee Enfield .303 my Marines bought for me when I left the service was my only rifle. 5 years ago, I had the oppty to rifle hunt, and decided I wanted an accurate all-around rifle.

A friend had a .300 WinMag Remington PSS. It shot small groups at the range, and I was impressed with that ugly black rifle. With some difficulty, I located a dealer that had some PSS's. All his .300 WinMags were out, and he wasn't getting any more for 3 or 4 months. He had the shorty .308's and a .300RUM. Feeling faintly ridiculous with the super-duper ultra magnum caliber, I bought the rifle.

Boy do I like it. Partially because it shoots well with almost everything, but mostly because I took it on my first trip to Africa last year and it performed so well for me, even on some really long shots. I'm sure there are lots of other calibers that'd do well for me, too. But I've got a lot of confidence in that rifle and that caliber.

I've bought lots of rifles over the last 5 years, and hunted with lots of them. But if I think I might shoot a long way, I pick the .300RUM.

I'm thinking of spending the money to buy or have built a left-handed rifle in an all-around caliber. I am leaning towards the .300RUM, though I am tripping over the 26" barrel and world-wide ammo availability a little bit.

Still, put me down as a .300 RUM fan, type I, II, or III.

Steve

Type 1 for me. Mine is a Rocky Mountian Rifles .300 Ultra Mag. The way I look at it is if I need the extra power it's there, and if the range is not long enough to require the extra firepower...oh well; there is only one stage of DEAD!!

I was given a 338 lapua as a gift from a person who cannot have any decent iron (works in England) as a gift. Worked up loads with Reloader 22 and Barnes 160 grain X bullets. I shot it just to see what it would do on deer. Good for about 3.5k fps. if I remember correctly. Two sub 100 lb. does. One at 170 yds., one at about 30. Would have tried at about any range. Does not leave much to the imagination. Doubt if the super 30s are much different. Have gotten where I like open sights as of late.