doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion Classic & Custom Single Barreled Sporting Rifles @ doublegunshop.com OT - Need help selecting ammo for deer hunt

Barnes bullets have literally re-written the books on bullet weights and high velocity cartridges. By that I mean you can now take advantage of the ridiculously flat trajectories associated w/ low for caliber bullets weights w/o the fear of insufficient penetration.

I shoot Barnes TSX bullets, both tipped and not, from .300 and .270 mags regularly. My favorite deer load from either, regardless of species, is the 110 gr TTSX from the .270.

I'd suggest you get 2 boxes of the 130 gr TTSX .300 Wea Mag, have him sight in 2.25" high @ 100 yds, which should put him ~ +3" @ 200 yds, dead on @ 300 yds, and -4" @ 360 yds, should he be confident out that far. These are also the lowest recoiling .300 Wea Mag loads you can purchase OTC, too.

I agree. I use nothing but Barnes either the TXS or the newer TTXS in all my deer rifles: 22-250, 243 and 7 08. Drop down to a lighter bullet as recommended. I shot the 7 08 with the 120 gr TTXS eight times last year and killed nine deer.

PA24 -
In this case, NBT = Nosler Ballistic Tip, a poor choice for deer @ the velocities you get from a .300 Wea mag, IMHO.

Old rules of thumb for twist and bullet weights are also being re-written by the very long for weight bullets comprised totally of copper, ie the Barnes TSX...

Mike, I can't give you any good advice on bullet weight, but I do know that if you've raised a son who wants to use his Granddad's rifle on his special hunt, you've done a your job. For some reason, after reading your posts here since 2005, I'm not surprised. I'd think anything you could shoot out of a .300 mag. would be fine for a Muley...Geo

When I owned .300Magnum my three buddies and I each bought box of ammo to determine what shot best in each of our rifles. Trick is to use what shoots best in your gun because assuming quality bullet with good ballistic coefficient difference in drop between 150 grainer and 200 grainer is about 3 inches at 400 yards.

In my experience, 180gr Soft Points have shot very well in several Weatherby built rifles I've had experience with. The stock design of Weatherby rifle handles recoil very well, I'd much rather shoot a 300 Wby than a pre-64 Model 70 in 300 Win mag.

YMMV

I would recommend staying on the lighter side of the range of bullets. Any of these will kill a mule deer.
Further he should shoot that gun from a few different positions and be sure that the scope is adjusted to his vision. I have had a number of hunters over the years shooting larger guns that they are not familiar with "scope" themselves. Ending up with a bleeding eyebrow and much embarressment at camp. Usually not being able to make a followup shot.

I had a friend buy a Mk V 300 back in the 70's. He had me work up the loads. It was the lighter version with the 24" bbl. I made up some 150g loads. What a cannon at the bench. I ended up shooting near 100 rounds to get that load and verify it. I got part way thru the load development and started using a sandbag on my shoulder between the gun.

That gun changed hands from one friend to another and resides with a real elk and muley hunter friend now.

Question: Does anyone know how loud and 300 Weatherby is in the cab of a truck? I do.
I will caution you about the Mk V action (Japanese). The safety is a side mount on the aft of the action. When the safety is engaged, it blocks the striker from falling, but also has a pin that engages the bolt handle to prevent lifting/openning the bolt. This pin is small in diameter and is an investment casting as near as I can tell. The story goes... the current owner borrows it the gun from the second owner friend and takes it elk hunting in New Mex with me. I return to the truck early and sit in the passenger side and fall asleep. Friend returns later, opens driver door, stands between door and truck cab, trys to lift bolt handle and it won't open. Being big and dumb (read this as related to caveman), he sets butt of gun on thigh, muzzle up (thank you Lord), grabs bolt and gives it the old best effort...several times. Finally, the bolt handle flies up quickly, this allows the bolt to move aft slightly under the striker spring force bearing against the safety striker block, the cartridge is captive in the boltface with the extractor,...well the end result was that the gun fired with the bolt unlocked, blew the bolt open of course, split the case, and of course, the two of us shit our chonies. Amazingly, the bullet cleared the barrel and there was no damage to the gun. I was able to recreate the event with a primed case several times. Unfortunately, the gun owner of that time that wasn't present, but was informed of this, also recreated the event (by forcing the bolt handle again, but without wanting to and with a loaded cartridge. Weatherby replaced that safety part twice. Just a little story, but I was there, dirty chonies and all. If the bolt won't open on a Mk V, TAKE THE SAFETY OFF FIRST, then lift the bolt.

I used a .300 for everything for a few years when I couldn't afford a selection of firearms. The .300 with 150gr - 168gr bullets is generally going to ruin a lot of your meat. Almost all of these bullets were designed to expand properly with .308 and .30-06 velocities and the .300 just expands them too fast. Use a tougher (less expansive bullet) if you want something left to eat. I used 180gr bullets suitable for heavier game after the first couple bad experiences on deer. Found same 180gr Nosler partitions used for elk loads worked well.

I have a .300 US made Mark V. Accumark model.

Excellent rifle. The trigger is superb.

It shoots very well, and I can understand why this was the best selling Weatherby cartridge...

But... the only thing that makes it shootable is the muzzle brake.

Do that. Have one put on. It tames it down to about the same as an unbraked '06.

My rifle shoots Hornady Custom better than anything I've loaded for it, the only rifle I've not been able to load more accurate cartridges for.

Hornady Custom is excellent ammunition.