What a ride!
Now, some people will surely ask........"Why would you want a 300 win mag in a handgun?" Several things crossed my mind in choosing the belted 300 winchester. I wanted a very powerful chambering that would work well for elk size game at yardages up to 250 yards or more. It will also work exceptionally on deer size game as well. And, did just that this past fall on two whitetail does. it will make a nice "big brother" to the 30-30 Ackley improved contender.
The 300 Win Mag was a logical choice. Especially considering the fact that money was tight and I just couldn't afford a nice custom barrel in some exotic wildcat chambering. The 300 Winchester is a factory offered chambering for the encore rifle in a 26" heavy barrel configuration. This made it an economical choice for me. I had the idea of having it cut and re crowned at 16.5" for handgun use.
A local smith did the initial cut and re crown, the initial crown was mighty unimpressive, so he did a copy of a Rem. 700 varmint flat crown. Just didn't look as good as it could have. I initially set it up with a Bushnell Trophy 2x6 LER handgun scope mounted in 3 Leupold vertical split rings. The finished package wore a standard factory walnut rifle forearm with a walnut pistol grip, (the walnut grip was to be a serious mistake).
"HotRodAl" and I scheduled a lil' shooting session at the Northeastern Wildlife Club in Boyd County Ky. I was unsure about what kind of recoil to expect from this setup. I knew it was pretty potent in shoulder fired weapons. I was just a wee bit apprehensive...OK!....OK!.... I was SKEEEERED! LOL
After the first shot I was in astonishment. Recoil was absolutely horrendous! The walnut grip recoiled really hard into my hand and the muzzle rose to a near vertical position. It was ALMOST kinda fun....LOL
As I proceeded to fire several more 180gr win factory loads downrange, the pain in my hand increased with each shot. I was actually dreading pulling the trigger even one more time. That afternoon I put 12-14 rounds down the 16.5" barrel and in the GENERAL direction of the target.
HotRodAl and I had a great time that afternoon, but deep inside I knew this was not gonna work as planned.
I was originally intending to use a 180gr bullet for all my large game hunting from deer to elk. Elk hunting is not beyond the realm of possibility since they have now been re stocked into my home state of Kentucky. I had hoped to achieve near top .308 to 30-06 rifle performance as far as velocity goes from the 300 winchester belted case in a handgun. As most shooters know, some velocity is lost in the short barrels.
It was now apparent that I may have to download for this caliber or at least go to a lighter projectile to make recoil more tolerable for more than one shot. Ya just gotta shoot your guns for practice and sight in. A dust collector doesn't have much interest here.
Here is where some great Specialty Pistol friends came to my rescue. They sneaked around and canived to slip my barrel away from me for a short period. They all chipped in and had Mike Sirois of On Target Technologies fame install his shark gill muzzle brake onto the 300 win mag barrel. This muzzle brake is threaded and screws onto the barrel and brings the total length to 18.5". It still handles and balances amazingly well and, I can now shoot it in offhand hunting situations. Mike can supply a threaded cap for use when the brake is not needed or wanted but, I can assure you..........I will always want the brake threaded on this barrel. LOL
Fit and finish of the OTT shark gill brake is excellent. I think it makes the handgun look really good. So far as recoil reduction goes?.... It is absolutely amazing!
I have no way of measuring actual percentage of recoil reduction, but I would guess approximately 70-80%. The same 180gr Winchester Super-X factory loads that were absolutely brutal before the brake was installed now only cause the muzzle to rise 2" at most. Usually less. Very little recoil comes back into the web of the hand and, I'm sure I could shoot it just fine with the walnut grip if I so choose. I would approximate felt recoil to be near 30-30 levels, and maybe less. I do know it recoils much, much less than my 15" 7-08 shooting 120gr bullets. to say I'm impressed with the brake and installation would be an understatement.
I tip my hat to those Specialty Pistols friends of mine that chipped in to give this "ol Kentucky boy" some relief here. A very special gift indeed! Thank you all!
After several months have passed, I finally got around to start load development for the 18.5" 300 Win Mag.
The first steps were to establish correct full length size die adjustments using the Bellm Headspace Indicator. See Wes of KTS Shooting Supplies for one of these invaluable tools for reloading single shot break open actions. The headspace indicator, coupled with a Stoney Point bullet comparator makes a good setup to take more precise measurements. The Stoney Point tool measures oal from the bullet ogive rather than the bullet tip. I have found that bullet tips vary several thousandths when measuring for oal from the tip. Even the plastic tip design bullets has been causing me grief in this regard.
These are just my personal reloading techniques and ideas. There are several ways to "skin a cat". This in no way implies I'm an expert, and other methods may work just as well.
I decided on seating the 180gr sierra game king bullet .015" from the lands. I usually will go with .010"-.020" off to start. Only if I run into stubborn barrels or powders do I change seating depth in small increments each way to find a barrel/load preference.
The bullet of choice is gonna be the 180gr Sierra spitzer boattail Gameking. This bullet has a ballistic coefficient of .506 at velocities of 1700-2700fps. This is per Sierra’s website. At a muzzle velocity of 2600fps, and with a 2” high sight in at 100 yards, the point of impact at 300 yards will be just a lil bit over 9 1/2” low at 300 yards. It will still be carrying 1668 ft/lbs of energy. This is still above the generally accepted minimum of 1500 ft/lbs of energy for taking elk size game. So if 2600fps doesn’t sound “fast”....plugging a lil bit of info into a ballistic chart will help to put a lil more pizzazz into your thinking. I’ll have to say the Sierra 180gr Gameking bullet is a sleek lil looker for sure.
I decided on 3 shot groups for initial testing. I may try 5 shot groups later now that I am close. I loaded 3 rounds each of 3 different powders. H4831, IMR4350, and H380. the H380 load was selected arbitrarily from a chart in the reloading section here at SP. I had some on hand and figured....what the heck?
69.0gr of IMR4350 gave 2609fps average velocity. accuracy was fairly good at 50 yards. I was all bundled up for the cold and not in top shooting form. I was still impressed with most groupings.
70.0gr of H4831 only gave 2413fps but, gave a nice lil cloverleaf. This is still 3gr under listed max in Hodgdons annual manual. Other manuals were showing lower max charges, so it's as far as I went with it at this time. Accuracy shows definite potential and it is worth working up in charge rate.
65.0gr of H380 was selected from the quick load chart in a thread in the reloading forum here at SP. It gave 2602fps in velocity and 3 shots were a hair under 1" at 50 yards. May not win matches, but would be very usable in the deer woods.
The Winchester Super-X 180gr factory load gave 2653fps and shot into 1 1/2" at 50 yards. This load is not gonna win matches either, and didn't shoot as well as the handloaded rounds. BUT, it has previously proven itself in dropping 2 Whitetail does this past fall at approximately 150 yards. This should tell you that bench rest accuracy is not required out in the hunting fields unless you are shooting several hundred yards. Although I do have to admit, I'm tickled pink to see little cloverleafs on paper.
This was also my first shooting session with my C&J machine handgun rest from "fuzz". It is one nice setup in my opinion and I'm hoping it will further improve my bench shooting. I am definitely impressed with the craftsmanship of this rest. It is solid as a rock!
The belted 300 Winchester Magnum has satisfied me in every respect so far. I highly recommend it in a long barreled 15"-18" handgun. Especially if it's wearing the very effective OTT shark gill muzzle brake, lol.
If efficiency is your concern, check out the chart in the reloading section. It was ran from a Quick load Program and shows loads giving 95-100% powder burn in a 16.5" barrel. This is where I arbitrarily selected the load of H380 that shot fairly well right off the bat.
I will continue load development a little further when time permits. I usually shoot groups at 100 yards but chose 50 yards as a starting point in less than ideal range conditions.
As it stands right now it looks as though IMR4350 will give me the velocity I need and the accuracy I want. Just a lil more 100 yard testing will be in order and possibly tinkering with powder charges a bit. I am really close on the first outing and many times that is not the case.
As a special note on whether or not the belt on the magnum case will be a problem going over the extractor.........so far it hasn't been here. Winchester factory loaded rounds and new winchester brass loads and unloads just fine. An occasional slight jiggle of the case as it enters the chamber may help if it does. I did try some Remington brass that wanted to let the belt hang on the extractor a lot worse. I have heard of some people slightly bending or adjusting the extractor to alleviate this problem.
All in All...........What can I say? In my opinion the 300 Win Mag is a surprisingly good handgun cartridge .
As I've been known to say.........Who woulda thunk it?
KYODE
