300 for what you want
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The perfect rifle
- Thread starter Lionheart
- Start date
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- custom rifle build
Either will do it just fine. I'm partial to the WinMag cuz I tend to be old school, but I'll admit if I were trying to do what you're doing, I'd lean towards the WSM.
He wants to load VLDs, WSM would not be optimal for that
Hey you 2s:
http://www.longrangehunting.com/forums/f19/338-sherman-sherman-short-176775/
What Chu think?
Ok guys. I have had a real curveball thrown at me. I had pretty much decided on .30 Nosler or .300 RUM in Defiance Deviant or Stiller Predator action, Manners stock and Proof Research Carbon Fiber barrel...and a Jewell trigger.
While at my LGS shop I called Proof Research to talk to them about barrel contour and length.
After explaining my intended uses for the gun the guy on the phone asks me if I want to know what his current elk gun is that he took a nice bull with last fall.
Now, I'm talking to a guy who lives in Montana and works for a high end barrel and custom gun manufacturer...
So, of course, I'm all ears. He says that his current gun that he LOVES and took a bull with last year was .300 Win mag.
No surprise there...it's a classic elk caliber much loved by western hunters.
The surprise was when he told me that the barrel was 20".
And it was suppressed.
And that he would never hunt with a gun again without a suppressor! And that all his buddies who shot it were building or buying guns set up for a suppressor.
When I asked why...he obviously talked about the noise reduction but more about the felt recoil reduction and accuracy. In his opinion - verified by chronograph in the company basement - chopping a .300 WM from 24" to 20" only cost him about 110fps in muzzle velocity and that 40 fps were GAINED back by the suppressor.
With some faster burning powder he thought he could get almost back to 24" velocity. And in his opinion (which after some more research is shared by many) the shorter barrel was stiffer and MORE accurate than the longer barrel.
Now the reason this really caught my attention is that I have a very nice .30 cal suppressor that should come out of jail next week. It is 8.2" long and weighs 18 oz's. So I am doing the math. 6.5 lb rifle in .300 WM (Proof bbl, Manners, Defiance rebel or deviant action) with 3 lbs allocated to scope and suppressor...and I have a suppressed, accurate carry rifle that will slay 1,000 lb game at 500 yds.
What say ye?
(Oh and I checked with suppressor manufacturer....300 Win Mag is ok. .300 RUM is not. Forgot to ask about .300 WSM)
Actually, the thing I have not figured out is the balance of this gun. With a suppressor making the total barrel length 28.25 in...and the suppressor slightly over 1 lb...if I make the stock and action light enough to get the gun at 6.5 lbs...will it be too barrel heavy?
Or am I just over-thinking this?
300 WM with RUM magazines.
Do the Proof & whatever the 2 dudes above me recommend.
Why the RUM mags?
You know, I have gone round and round in my head over this.
The .30 Nosler sounds great on paper and my LGS really wants to build one of these. But I worry about brass availability and if Nosler will support this round 5 years from now.
The .300 RUM sounds great too. But more recoil for not a lot of gain.
But when you get on the western hunting forums and all the really experienced elk guides chime in...
the venerable .300WM is always the gun of choice. The new Berger 215 gr hybrids seem to be a deadly combination with this round.
So, I'm back where I started. I think.
Or I could follow SOCOM with the .300 Norma.
Load as long as you want with the RUM mags.
Leave the others alone: the WM will be everywhere.
The others are powder burning Rascals.
You should listen to Those Really Experienced Elk Guides.
Its hard to beat the Norma, and with a Dracos Barrel it will last you a lifetime.
