Thread: 300 Win Mag-150gr vs 180gr

Got the Tikka T3 in 300 Win Mag and wanted to hear some opinions/experiences with shooting a 150gr vs 180gr. I've read a bunch of mixed opinions of both. Not too concerned about the recoil difference, that's kind of inevitable with a +/- 7lb setup. Mainly curious about the damage on impact with each round. I bought the Rem 180gr Core Loc to start with. Any personal experiences? Thanks

Obviously target distance plays a factor too so if you've seen a notable difference at specific ranges I'd like to hear them. Also, what brand of round do you shoot and why?

bullet construction is more important than weight. it also depends a lot on what the gun likes.

+1 on what the rifle wants to shoot. That said, I've always leaned toward mass over velocity with larger calibers.

P&G,

Either way you got you a whole lot of gun!

Whatcha goin after? If it's bigger than deer you will want the 180's. If it's deer you still may want the 180's, they will ruin a bit less meat.

As far as recoil, what most folks don't understand is that a 12 ga shooting 3" magnum shells delivers more ft pds of energy to your shoulder than all but the largest bore rifles. Recoil - up to a point - is mental. We all grew up being told by the old men that a 12 ga was a man's shotgun, so we "manned-up" as boys and got used to it. But everyone talks about the scary bad recoil of big bores. Just my thoughts on the subject.

From Chuck Hawk's site:

12 gauge, 3" (1 5/8 oz shot at 1280 fps) 7.5 lbs = 52.0 ft lbs recoil energy

.300 Win. Mag. (180 gr at 2960 fps) 8.5 lbs rifle weight = 25.9 ft lbs recoil energy

.416 Rem. Mag. (400 gr at 2400 fps) 10.0 lbs rifle weight = 52.9 ft lbs recoil energy

And the famed .458 Win Mag
458 Win. Mag. (500 gr at 2100 fps) 9.0 lbs rifle weight = 62.3 ft lbs recoil energy

For more information on this (to me) fascinating subject, here are links to a couple of tables on Chuck Hawk's site.

SHOTGUN RECOIL TABLE

Rifle Recoil Table

Hat is going to be the biggest determining factor or accuracy is the twist rate of the barrel. A 1 in 10 twist will like the 150s a bit better and a 1 in 13 will tend to like the 180s better. Another thing that plays into accuracy is the velocity of the rounds. For the deer in Alabama 150 grains is all you really need. Now as far as drop rates go, anything out to a comfortable 300 yards with that gun isn't going to be noticeable. You will start seeing significant deviations at the 500-650 yard mark. At those distances you need to be proficient with doping your scope for windage an elevation to obtain a accurate point of impact

Thanks for the input, I'll experiment with some rounds and see the difference if any.

Flea, it is a lot of gun. Defiantly more than I need in Al or La but I'm hoping to eventually get a Elk tag in WA state.

I'd estimate that 90% of hunters have no business taking shots at 300 yds. The margin of error on a typical mature - 200 lb white tail buck - is huge at that distance. Beyond 300 yds, I'd make it about 98% and 400 yards or more, probably less than 1% should even think about it less than attempt it.

The primary factor in failures at distance is that most folks simply don't put in time at the range shooting at those distances. My longest is 358 yds on a fast walking buck on a pipeline. About 16" drop and to be honest, I was surprised to find him piled up about 50 yds away. However, he walked out at a spot that was a known distance and in fact I'd shot targets at that very spot. I used to spend LOTS of time sending lead down pipelines at distance and honestly estimate I'm a better shot than 98% of the people I've hunted with (and over 40 years that's a whole bunch of them) and I probably wouldn't take a 400 yd shot on a deer - elk is a different story.

As far as 500 - 600 yds - IMHO a hunter that doesn't make his living shooting at those distances has ZERO business taking that shot. A) Chances are overwhelmingly huge that you're going to miss. B) If you do manage to get lead into the animal, chances are huge that it won't be a killing shot. Hitting a piece of paper is one thing. Hitting an animal on the hoof, probably moving around or walking, when your heart is banging around and your breath is short is a whole different story.

NOW - I'm sure that plenty on here that have a rifle will squeal that they are THAT guy and can make that shot every day. My answer - show me your money.

PNG - here are the numbers on various .300 WM cartridges

Long RangeÓ Trajectory *
Cartridge	100 yds.	150 yds.	200 yds.	250 yds.	300 yds.	400 yds.	500 yds.
150 PSPCL	1.3	1.2	zero	-2.4	-6.3	-18.9	-39.5
180 PSPCL	2.7	3.1	2.2	zero	-3.7	-15.9	-35.5
180 NP	1.6	1.4	zero	-2.8	-7.2	-21.0	-42.8
180 NBT	1.5	1.4	zero	-2.6	-6.7	-19.3	-38.7
190 PSPBT	1.7	1.5	zero	-2.9	-7.2	-20.8	-42.0
200 SAFPSP	1.8	1.6	zero	-3.2	-8.0	-23.4	-47.8