.300 Winchester Mag

[Mello-Yello]

I'm gearing up for my Idaho hunt. Take my dusty old Remington 742 Woodsmaster .06 to a local gunsmith to give a quick look-over (I doubt I've shot a box of shells through it since receiving it from my Dad for High School Graduation, some....28 yrs ago??sheesh!) Mr. Gunsmith notes some big problems with it's action. Uh oh, unreliable? Ain't going on no Idaho wilderness hunt with an unreliable gun....so now, having been loaned a really nice ..300 Win. Mag, I'm curious to how folks sight theirs in. Most of what I hear is, about 2" high at 100 yds.
What do you do?

M-Y (bowhunter turned rifle hunter? Isn't that a new twist...) :shocked:

[SeanD]

Sight in dead on at 200 yards. I dont have any ballistic tables handy, but im pretty sure that puts you (depending on the load and scope height) less than 1.5 inches high at 100, about 6 inches low at 300, and 18 inches low at 400. But i dont have a 300 win anymore, so its been a while since i looked at the numbers.

I think you should look at loading or buying some premium ammo. It is much more inportant to use a controlled expansion bullet in the 300 win mag than your old 30-06. Standard bullets dont hold together too well at 3000 fps+, and that severely limits penetration. Just a suggestion :grin:

[puddles]

2" high at 100 yds is what i do.

[Grits]

Depends on the average lenght of shot you think you will get. If it is an area where long shots are the norm you might not want to be 6" low at 300 yards. But if your average shot is 100-200 yards then 2" high at 100 yards is the way to go.

[Mello-Yello]

I guess before I go further, I'd like to add an additional question.

When sighting in at 2" high at 100 yds;
Where do you hit at 200 yds? 300 yds? etc.

I'm gonna be shooting Federal Classics, Speer Hot-Cor SPs at 180 gr.

[Flatfish]

2" dot at 200 yards. Shoot it.

Go hunting.

Mark and the dog.

300Win Mag, 180gr bullet 300fps
These # are close

100 yds +1.5"
200 yds 0.0"
300 yds -6.5"
400 yds -19.0"


Mine is set 2" high at 100 yds and 200 gr handloads.

[ 10-22-2003, 11:24 PM: Message edited by: Keta ]

[Firedog]

I have always gone with 3" high at 100. Keeps the trajectory nice and flat and keeps you in the kill zone out over 300 yards. Just a personal preference. What ever you go with make sure you look up some ballistics so you know where aprox. you will hit at diferent ranges. Here is a link that talks about this. Sighting in your Rifle

[Bait O' Eggs]

I am 3" high at a 100

[Fish4Fun]

We have been shooting 300 Win Mags since 1966. So I have seen lots of game put on the ground with this caliber. Rule #1 is to shoot good bullets. For factory loads it is hard to beat Federal Premium 180 grain Noslers. They are a bit pricey, but well worth the money. Here is a good idea of what a 300 is doing.

100 yards + 2.7"
200 Yards + 2.0"
300 Yards - 3.5"

[tailchaser]

Drop me a note M-Y, I have a great handload for .300's that I use with mine. I have the ballistics chart and everything for it with 180 gr. Nosler partitions. Just a great load for every type of game. I'd lend you mine already to go but the wife hopefully is going to shoot one on the 7th of Nov. and I need it around for that. I sight it in at 2" at 100 yards, and it puts me almost dead on at 275 yards. I'm 17" low at 400 and 29" at 500. Anyhow, if you have the capability for handloads it's hard to beat this combination, but we can compare factories with this by conograph also to get pretty accurate drops.

tc

[StickFish]

Good luck on your hunt. I took a look at the Federal Premium Web Page and catelog for you and here is what they claim for the 180 grain Nosler load they offer.

50 Yards +0.6"
100 Yards +1.6"
200 Yards "0"
300 Yards -7.5"
400 Yards -22.1"
500 Yards -45.4"

That is assuming an initial muzzel velocity of 2,960 Feet Per Second and a ballistic coefficient of .474.

There is a freeware program called Point Blank that does a great job calculating trajectory and stuff. Here is what happens when you're 2.6" high at 100 yards. This places you zero at 250 yards and puts you 2.97" high at 150 yards.

50 Yards +1.08"
100 Yards +2.6"
200 Yards +2.14"
300 Yards -8.48"
400 Yards -15.15"
500 Yards -33.79"

As someone else posted 3" high at 100 yards will get these results. That places your zero at 268 Yards and your 3.57" high at 15 yards.

50 Yards +1.28"
100 Yards +3"
200 Yards +2.94"
300 Yards -2.26"
400 Yards -13.55"
500 Yards -31.79"

To make you choice decide on the height in inches of your target to determine your point blank range. That meaning no hold over on what size target. (i'd be glad to run any numbers you want).

Lets say you choose an overall target height of 6". Meaning you willing to be as much as 3" over the target or 3" under the target. If so sight your rifle for 251 yards, or 2.62" high at 100 yards. Your point blank range is now 296 yards.

Obviously you can take shots longer, but abything within 296 yards hold dead on the vitals and pull the trigger.

Get some Fed Premium or whatever the owner says works in his rifle and head to the range to get used to the rifle.

Hope that helps. Oh and to answer your question I don't shoot a 300 Win Mag, but My 300 Win Short Mag which drives the 180 grain bullet to the same speed is sighted in for 2" high at 100.

[Flatfish]

The win mag is a fine cartridge. But you need to be a wonderful shooter to prove it is any better than a 30-06. At long range it's higher speeds with heavy bullets equal shorter time of flight and less wind deflection.

Trajectory is overrated. Unless range is extreme. In which case, sneak up a couple hundred yards closer and shoot. Trajectory becomes campfire talk when you handload an '06. Why? Because it needs to be very windy to prove the magnum has an edge. And if it is that windy, and the range( time of flight) is long, the wise shooter will wait. Or get closer.

Again, the man releasing the trigger is the single most important factor in cartridge selection.

Mark and the .473" dog.

[pdxkevin]

I use the chart in the back of the 2003 Percentage Tag Book. It sets up you up for a virtual point blank from 25 yards out to +/- 300 yards depending on load. I can get the stats tonight. But I like the idea of setting it so that as long as my shot is inside the roughly 300 yard range I can get a clean harvest without having to try to remember how many inches to hold it up... you still need to factor in the wind and slope but at least it is a little easier to remember.

Make sure to zero your scope with the same rounds you will hunt with. Nothing like using an underpowered round to scope the rifle than have the larger kick throw off your bullet when in the feild.

[ 10-23-2003, 08:25 AM: Message edited by: pdxkevin ]

Flatfish,
What you say is true, for a 180gr bullet.
What I do is shoot a 200gr bullet out of my .300 and it does have an edge on the '06. The 30'06 works good though.

Tuesday Nerta and me went out and did some cross canyon shooting. What we do is pick out a rock and hit it in the center. Then we use the hit for a target. You wouldn't believe how well a 225gr .338 does at 350-400 yards. The '06 w/180gr bullets has a bit more drop but once this is figured it hits well too.

[ 10-23-2003, 09:40 AM: Message edited by: Keta ]

[Firedog]

You can go to this page on Remingtons site and compare Remington ammo. Will give you a basic idea of Trajectory and Ft Lbs and you can compare how diferent Calibers react to the same loads.Remington Ballistics

[ 10-23-2003, 10:32 AM: Message edited by: firedog ]

[Flatfish]

Keta,

I have done some rock shooting myself. Good practice.

I would not be too suprised how flat a .338/ 225 grain load shoots. Not at all. Especially if you pushed them about 2900 with a bit of RL-22. 250 Sierrias at 2800 are fairly impressive when you consider how hard they hit once they get there. Maybe from an original batch of 4831( H not IMR). The original batch.

200s are a fine thing in 300 mag( any of them). Hit hard too. Wind don't toss them around as much either.

Mark and the dorky gun lovin' dog.

[Killertraylor]

I'm suprised nobody has suggested sighting in dead zero at 100 yards. That's what I do with all of my rifles, including the 300 Win. I like to know that if I have a head shot through a small opening at 100 yards I'm going to hit where I'm aiming, not the branch 3 inches above where I'm aiming. It's just a confidence thing. If you are zero at 100 yards, you are only 6.4 inches low at 300 with a 180 grain moving at about 3000 fps - still in the kill zone and you gain the confidence of hitting right where you are aiming on a close shot.

Of course, if you have laser rangefinders like most of us do these days, and know your bullet drop, then the whole 3 inches high at 100 is of little benefit anymore assuming you have time to use the rangefinders.

[StickFish]

Originally posted by Killertraylor:
I'm suprised nobody has suggested sighting in dead zero at 100 yards.

<font size="2" face="verdana,arial,helv">I've only seen people do this is they have range estimating scopes with bullet drop compensation. And I've never seen a hunter at sight in days with one yet. I've also never seen a hunter suggest sighting in their rifle to be zero at 100. I've also never heard a coach at our club recommend that either. Course to each his/her own.

Just for your information, zero at 100 yards puts you 3.06" low at 200, 11.25" low at 300, 25.54" low at 400, 46.78" low at 500 using the Fed Prem 180 load discussed earlier.

This trajectory makes range estimation very important. The bullets angle of attack at the longer ranges is getting steep. For instance between 300 and 400 yards, there is a difference of almost 15". That can easily take you out of the vitals for a ranging error and result in a wounded animal that is more than a 1/4 mile away. While I don't recommend taking long shots at game I don't consider 400 yards to be beyond the realm by any stretch

The idea of sighting a rifle to shoot so many inches high at 100 yards is to maximize the point blank capabilities and reduce some of the things to think about when the trophy of a life time is 275 yards away.

[KingFisher85]

Mine "was" dead on at 200yards

Stick,
Whatever works for Killer is good for him. He should know his rifle and shoot it well.

[Killertraylor]

Stick - I agree that for the majority of hunters, the 3 inches high at 100 is a reasonable recommendation. All it does is prevent shooter error if you don't know the distance. However, of the 20 or so deer and elk I've shot, only 2 were killed past 150 yards. I grew up in Klamath Falls shooting the eyes out of coyotes to sell the skins - I'm just used to having a rifle that shoots where you point it. And before you claim that long shots are the norm out east, I've hunted big game out east almost exclusively killing all but one deer on the east side. I've spent hundreds of hours at the rifle range fine tuning handloads for each of my hunting rifles. I don't keep a rifle that won't group 5 shots less than an inch with good handloads at 100 yards and with that kind of accuracy, I want to know that the bullet is going to hit right where I put the crosshairs out to 150 yards. I know some very successful hunters who are excellent shots who sight in 3 inches high at 100, but I have the most confidence in my gun when I know it's dead on in the range where I'm most likely to see an animal.

[ 10-24-2003, 09:53 AM: Message edited by: Killertraylor ]

Mine is set for close to a 200 yd zero but I agree with you totaly Killer. Know your rifle (rifles)