RFI: Bolt-Action .300 Win Mag Rifles

Yesterday I mentioned seeing a lovely Browning A-Bolt rifle in .300 Win Mag for sale, and I think the reason I didn’t buy it on the spot was because I’m not really as knowledgeable about .300 WM rifles as I am, say, about WWII-era Mausers or WWI SMLEs.  Having seen how effective the .300 WM cartridge is on small game, I’m thinking of getting myself a rifle thus chambered at some point in the future, but I confess to being somewhat clueless about the differences between the different brands when it comes to how they handle the powerful cartridge.  I mean:  is the A-Bolt as good as the X-Bolt, and  how do they compare with the offerings from Ruger, Remington, Savage or Winchester, to name but some?

My budget will be modest (or else I’d just get a Mauser M12 for $$$$), and I can’t afford to buy twice, if you get my drift.

Hence this RFI.  All experiences are welcome.

12 comments

  1. Do you reload, Kim? 300 WM is pretty heavy, and would be limited if your only choice is factory ammo. If you reload I’d think 300 WM is like .45 Colt in that it could be loaded from mild to wild.

    Nothing wrong with the A-bolt, but if I were looking for value in a high power rifle I’d also look at CZ.

  2. .300 Win Mag on small game? What do you call big game – the occasional T. Rex roaming the back 40?

    1. If I were going after big game, I’d be looking at a .375 H&H or similar. The .300 WinMag is, in African terms, a medium-game cartridge.
      Also, I’ve seen how the .300 WM performs on deer shot at longer ranges in Scotland, and I’ve become a firm fan of the thing.

  3. Frankly, the Savage, as pictured here in your post, is a perfectly suitable rifle in this chambering. Accurate as all hell, stout, rugged and good looking enough in this walnut n’ blue steel iteration.

    Less money for the rifle, allows more money for some serious glass, too.

    As a fellow Mauser-action addict, might I also direct you to the Interarms Mk.X platforms, which several in .300 WM are available on Gunbroker right now, even as I type?

    Finally, this. Ruger makes a “throwback” style M-77 boltie, blue steel, fine walnut and patterned on the lines of the classic British rifles. It’s called a “Safari” model, and you’ve got to see one in the flesh to truly appreciate it.

    Jim
    Sunk New Dawn
    Galveston, TX

  4. Back when I had fresh eyes, I used to shoot competitively at longer ranges (600-1000 meters)… I used a .300 Win Mag.

    My experience was that the rounds needed to support those distances tended to burn the barrel out pretty rapidly…of course I’d shoot more than most. But, starting with a fresh barrel (and fresh glass bedding), I’d have to shoot a couple of hundred rounds to seat everything well, then work up a good load (another couple of hundred rounds), then I’d get perhaps 1000 rounds of competitive and practice shooting out of the barrel before accuracy started dropping off, then at around 2000 rounds total it would start throwing wild shots, so I’d get a new barrel and start all over again…

    BTW, my 6.5 Creedmore? None of that crap….

    But, not everyone shoots that much..

  5. +1 on the Savage. One of the best accuracy for dollar companies out there.

    Another you might look at is Howa. I used to tell my customers that in practical terms, the Howa is a Remington 700 with a better trigger and an AR style extractor, for half the price. The guy in this video talks about the lineage.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iofUTogn3L0

    1. I have to second the choice of Howa. Japanese quality. I picked up a barreled action on Brownells for …. believe it or not…250 bucks (clearance sale, plus periodic 10 percent coupon code ). Put a 300 dollar Boyds stock on it along with a 300 dollar Nikon scope. If you want Kim, I can send you a picture of finished product….glass bed, opened barrel channel for free float, Harris bipod. 24 inch heavy varmint barrel profile.

  6. Kim, I know many elk hunters in Colorado and Wyoming. 300 WM is good for elk, serious overkill for anything smaller. It takes a serious rifleman to humanely kill a deer at 500 yards.
    That said, my Wyoming friend has killed 20+ elk with his .308.

  7. My .300WM experience is limited to a Ruger 18-inch heavy barrel.

    It threw three-inch groups at two-hundred yards. Not bad for anybody else, but one of my mid-1990s Armalite AR-10 16-inchers in 7.62×51 is a consistent one-box one-holer at two-hundred yards, and holds two-inches at six-hundred yards.

    For elk, I prefer archery. My buddy Dodge Dave and I were stalking an Oregon herd; I glanced over my shoulder to check his lane, and saw a Black© bear stalking him. I hit the Black™ through the lungs, Dodge Dave deepthroated a broadhead into its gullet.

    Then some crackheads stole our meat from the freezer in the carport, but that is a story for another time, for friends sitting around a pot-belly stove on a sippin’ afternoon.

    PS:
    30.06?

  8. June 27th 7pm Pacific:

    I just came from Cabela’s in Springfield Oregon.

    Their museum vault has an early AccuracyInternational Winchester 70 .300WM with a 28″ (twenty-eight inches (approximately .7 meters)) Krieger stainless heavy for us$1349 with 10% off through July 4th.

    Offer them 8. Since it probably weighs as much as a orphan triceratops, I think this’s fair.

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