300 Wsm

[gazzar15]

I have a HS Precision HTR in 300wsm. I have probably had the gun for a couple of years now and used Sierra 175 and 155 match kings with various combinations of Reloder22 and AA4350 with reasonable results (.75 moa.) However I think that the rifle has more to offer and I am wondering if anyone can throw up a pet powder or bullet , load that may help me get more from my rifle.

Thanks

Gary

[Elwood]

Gary, have you tried playing around with neck tension? This is something I'm starting to look at more and more. My 7WSM shot ok but not tight enough for my liking and with a extreme spread of 25 fps which I wanted to lower.

 

I made 15 identical rounds other than five had 1 thou neck tension, five had 2 thou and five had three thou. The results I got were a bit of an eye opener. At 300 yards the first five grouped 1 3/4 inches, the next five 1 1/2 inches with a reduced velocity and lower extreme spread and the last five shot a nice snug 1 inch group. I managed to get the extreme spread down from 25 to 14 but lost about 25 fps.

[qik1]

Gary, have you tried playing around with neck tension? This is something I'm starting to look at more and more. My 7WSM shot ok but not tight enough for my liking and with a extreme spread of 25 fps which I wanted to lower.

 

I made 15 identical rounds other than five had 1 thou neck tension, five had 2 thou and five had three thou. The results I got were a bit of an eye opener. At 300 yards the first five grouped 1 3/4 inches, the next five 1 1/2 inches with a reduced velocity and lower extreme spread and the last five shot a nice snug 1 inch group. I managed to get the extreme spread down from 25 to 14 but lost about 25 fps.

 

 

I'm starting to reload and getting good results in my 308 Sako using 44gr RL15 155gr SST's but what is neck tension and how do I adjust this neck tension when reloading??

 

thanks.

[Vermincinerator]

A few years back i had excellent results in my Win. Mod 70 Stealth using Lapua 155 Scenars.

best load was 69.2grns of H4831sc sparked off by a Fed 215M Large magnum match primer.

I hept the velocity around 3100fps simply this is where the top accuracy showed.

Most groups ran about sub 5/8" but now and then one group would drop under 1/2"

H4350 extreme also worked well at a grain and half less.

I did notice that max pressures peaked very quickly well before the max loads in the load data books, it was not a gradual build up with the usual signs but went straight off with heavy bolt lift and some pierced primers.

 

Ian.

[Elwood]

I'm starting to reload and getting good results in my 308 Sako using 44gr RL15 155gr SST's but what is neck tension and how do I adjust this neck tension when reloading??

 

thanks.

 

qiK1, it might be better to ask that question in the reloading section where I'm sure it will get a very quick and informative reply.

[Laurie]

No load suggestions Ian, but I'd query using 155s and 175s - a waste of the 300WSM's ballistic potential. It cries out for bullets weighing 185gn and above. There is some evidence too that you can push the 155s too hard and see groups grow as a result - at the end of the day they are Fullbore / Target Rifle and Palma bullets and optimised for the .308 Win at 2,950 - 3,000 fps.

 

Try some of the new Berger 185gn or 210gn Target BT Long-Range bullets, members of the new breed of long-nose tangent ogive bullets or the good old-fashioned Sierra 200gn MK. It doesn't matter over-much if bullets have to be seated deep in the WSM as you have a lot of case and powder capacity to play with.

 

I have a .300 H&H Magnum whose case has near identical capacity to the .300WSM and operates at the same 65,000 psi pressure max to give the same performance but needing a long action (not many people know - or believe - this, as Michael Caine might say). It performs very well with 185 to 200s with Hodgdon H4831sc easily providing 3,000 fps, small ES (12 fps or less) and third to half-inch groups. I would expect the WSM to do the same or better accuracy-wise because of a shorter stiffer action with much longer case life (the area around the belt expands at max loads on the .300 H&H and Winchester Magnum examples. The belt on the older designs is an anti-accuracy feature too, so anything they do, the WSM should do better and easier all other things being equal.

[gazzar15]

Thanks gents for your help and comments .I will go and get me some Bergers and have a play.

Many Thanks

Gary

[Vermincinerator]

No load suggestions Ian, but I'd query using 155s and 175s - a waste of the 300WSM's ballistic potential. It cries out for bullets weighing 185gn and above. There is some evidence too that you can push the 155s too hard and see groups grow as a result - at the end of the day they are Fullbore / Target Rifle and Palma bullets and optimised for the .308 Win at 2,950 - 3,000 fps.

 

Try some of the new Berger 185gn or 210gn Target BT Long-Range bullets, members of the new breed of long-nose tangent ogive bullets or the good old-fashioned Sierra 200gn MK. It doesn't matter over-much if bullets have to be seated deep in the WSM as you have a lot of case and powder capacity to play with.

 

I have a .300 H&H Magnum whose case has near identical capacity to the .300WSM and operates at the same 65,000 psi pressure max to give the same performance but needing a long action (not many people know - or believe - this, as Michael Caine might say). It performs very well with 185 to 200s with Hodgdon H4831sc easily providing 3,000 fps, small ES (12 fps or less) and third to half-inch groups. I would expect the WSM to do the same or better accuracy-wise because of a shorter stiffer action with much longer case life (the area around the belt expands at max loads on the .300 H&H and Winchester Magnum examples. The belt on the older designs is an anti-accuracy feature too, so anything they do, the WSM should do better and easier all other things being equal.

 

Hi laurie,

I tried 185grn Scenars unsuccessfully hence my use of the 155s

With the 185s pressure limits for my rifle were reached even quicker then with the 155s.

Hard bolt lift, pierced primers and noticeable case web expansion came about well before an acceptable velocity was reached.

To say i was dissapointed with this cartridge's performence (or lack of it) would be an understatement.

 

Ian.

[Laurie]

I tried 185grn Scenars unsuccessfully hence my use of the 155s

With the 185s pressure limits for my rifle were reached even quicker then with the 155s.

Hard bolt lift, pierced primers and noticeable case web expansion came about well before an acceptable velocity was reached.

To say i was dissapointed with this cartridge's performence (or lack of it) would be an understatement. [Vemincinerater]

 

 

Ian,

 

that's distictly strange! As I said in my previous post, the .300WSM is in effect the 90 year old .300 H&H Magnum in modern dress - case capacities are near identical, and both run at 65,000 psi max. People used the H&H, later the only slighter larger capacity .30-338 Mag in long-range target shooting for a very long time pre 6.5-284 Norma, always using heavy bullets, 200gn and up, Sierra MKs the norm in those days. What powder(s) did you try?

 

Simon Rodgers made his deerstalking and out of the box .300WSM Tikka T3 shoot a storm on the rifle range too (apart from the barrel and moddy getting red hot!) a couple of years back before he got bored with it. I'll ask him what he was using next time I see him. I'm pretty sure he ran 210s on the range as he had bought a load of them for a .308W Accuracy International that he used in the early days of F-Class, but decided they were on the heavy side in this cartridge.

 

Laurie