300 WM guidance for plains game - powder and bullet size

[Datchew]

I received some excellent feedback and guidance on the 375h&h cartridge for Africa on this thread:
375 h&h guidance
Trials are in development.

I'd like to ask the group for similar guidance on 300 WM.

Background:
Just last week, I shot a 148 lb wild pig with a 300 WM 178gr Eld-M. Entered right shoulder just below the ball joint and shattered the bone. But it stopped about 2" short of the (human terms) humerus bone on the opposite side. Absolute disintegration of the bullet. Not enough penetration for Elk, moose, bear, or Africa thick skinned plains game.
Thus, I'm looking at TSX or TTSX and A-frames for a more heavy bullet with more penetration. I'll try both in the rifle but here's the rub:
It appears that a 165/168gr bullet is best served with H4350 or RL22 whereas a 200gr bullet would be better with H1000.

Looking at the ballistic chart, they're about equal so typically I'm in the "bring enuf gun, son" camp and would lean toward the 200gr.
With barnes and other mono's, they are typically using smaller bullets and more velocity.

Any guidance so save me from buying 2-3 extra types of powder just to try it out?





Generally, I'm wanting a load that penetrates.

 

[62flint]

180ttsx, h4831sc
My load is right at 3000fps mv. Worked great

 

[Alex38]

With a mono-metal bullet such as a TTSX or E-Tip, 165,168, or even 180 grains would work great in a 300 WM. With a lead core bullet, 180-200 grains is the way to go. I used 200 grain partitions in my 300 this year to take 7 species of plains game up to and including Eland, and they worked perfectly. Mono-metal bullets work better with more velocity, and I killed a Moose 2 years ago with a 168 E-Tip from my 300, and that worked perfectly as well.

 

[dchum]

180 grain at win mag velocity seems to be the ticket with the tough bullets you are looking at.

 

[Jetjockey]

I used a 300wsm with 200gr Accubonds in Zambia last summer. Took a kudu, waterbuck, zebra, and puku. All animals were one shot kills. I killed a nice mature Colorado bull elk 3 years ago with 200gr Federal Terminal Ascent with the same gun. While I prefer the TA, the Accubond was great as well. I like heavy for caliber bullets with higher BC’s and think the 300wm begs for a 200gr pill.

 

[CoElkHunter]

180gr TTSX.

 

[62flint]

Two recovered 180 grain Barnes ttsx from African plains game this past summer. 9 animals we only recovered 2 bullets rest where pass through. Sable at 220 yards kubu at 75yards
Wildebeast at 100.
After the performance we got with them. Not sure I would want to use any thing else

 

[375 Ruger Fan]

180 or 200 gr Swift A-Frame

 

[Datchew]

Appreciate it. It seems that, like the 375, the Barnes & A-frames are tough to beat.

@Jetjockey - I'm a huge fan of accubonds. My primary white tail load in 308 is a 150gr accubond over varget.
However, they seem to disintegrate and drop a bomb in the vitals without penetration. But they group so damn nicely in many applications.

Sounds like a good start for trials will be:
180gr TTSX over h4831sc
180gr TTSX over H1000 (since I already have some)
200gr A-frames over H1000
200gr A-frame over h4831sc (looks like it might pressure out too soon for desired velocity but velocity is less critical with a bonded core)

I also have copious amounts of Varget and some RL15. I use Varget for all my 308 work and plan to try it in 375 along with the RL15.
Does anyone have any experience with these 2 powders in the bullets above in 300WM?
Varget to me looks like it might go too high pressure too quickly and I'm not sure what I think about RL15 in 300WM

If I can't get H4831SC, I'll try for H4350.

 

[Sika98k]

Never found anything wrong with Nosler Partitions. Oryx,eland,impala,warthog, blue wildebeest, wild boar, springbok, sika deer,fallow., . Might have overlooked a species or two

 

[Hunter-Habib]

I really think highly of the 200Gr Swift A-Frame out of a .300 Winchester Magnum. A 1:10 twist rate is ideal for the heavier 200-220Gr bullets.

 

[Shootist43]

Prior to purchasing a 35 Whelen for my youngest son, we'd planned on him taking a 300 Win. Mag. on a PG hunt in 2016. I asked IvW (who is a Professional Hunter) what bullet he would recommend. His reply was a 200 Gr. Swift A Frame. I doubt you will find many experienced hunters that would disagree. I'm contemplating a hunt on the Eastern Cape this year and strongly suspect this is what I'll be using.

 

[AimSmall]

What twist is the barrel? 1-11 will work with the 180 monometal, but seems the 190+ wants more twist.

TSX, TTSX, Swifts, Partitions, North Fork, all hit like a hammer and can be quite accurate. Find one your barrel likes.

RL22, RL26, H1000, are also options that have worked for me.

 

[Datchew]

There's a thread somewhere on this forum in a sticky that I've spent WAY too much time reading. Very valuable experience of people where they weighed and documented their bullets recovered from game.
That thread, plus commentary and guidance on my 375 thread really help me focus on these 2.

What twist is the barrel? 1-11 will work with the 180 monometal, but seems the 190+ wants more twist.

TSX, TTSX, Swifts, Partitions, North Fork, all hit like a hammer and can be quite accurate. Find one your barrel likes.

RL22, RL26, H1000, are also options that have worked for me.

1:11"
I'm also chopping to within 21" range for an ultra 7 tbac so ameliorating velocity loss (which is minimal) is at least something i'm thinking about with powder choice.

 

[Karl Johnson]

Have had great results in my 300 Win Mag with 168 grain TTSX, magnum primers, and Ram Shot Magnum powder. OAL slightly shy of book/let the bullet jump a little to the lands. H4831sc gives quality results also. Great groups at the range, but far more important is excellent on game performance.

 

[RR 314]

I am a big fan of the 180 gr. Accubond. Shoot it in .300 Win and Weatherby. I go with the 165 Accubond in my .300 Jarrett and cannot discern a difference.

 

[Jonathan Kashouty]

I shoot 185 grain Berger VLDs in my .300 Jarrett and all PGAs were DRT with one shot. Can not go wrong with Nosler ABs and Barnes TTSX as both are great bone crushing bullets.

 

[RR 314]

I shoot 185 grain Berger VLDs in my .300 Jarrett and all PGAs were DRT with one shot. Can not go wrong with Nosler ABs and Barnes TTSX as both are great bone crushing bullets.

I never hunted with the VLDs, but my rifle loved the 155s. . Shoots effectively the same with the accubond.

 

[Jetjockey]

Datchew. Here’s the one 200gr Accubond bullet I recovered from my kudu in Zambia. Roughly 60% weight retention. 180 yard quartering and slightly uphill shot. The lump on its right shoulder is the bullet. IMO, that’s pretty good performance. With that said, here is also a 200gr Terminal Ascent I recovered from a bull elk in CO. Roughly 90% weight retention on a quartering 70 yard shot. The red circle is the bullet on the far side after a quartering shot when I had to drive it through the shoulder. It had about 3 ft of penetration. I don’t like the TSX’s because you should size down to speed the bullet up to get proper expansion. If you don’t, they have been know to pencil through and not expand. Plus, in doing so, you lose the high BC’s of the larger bullets, thus allowing the larger bullets to way outperform the smaller bullets. That’s not a huge issue in Africa where most shots are under 250 yards, but where I hunt in CO, 300-400 yard shots are not uncommon, and the bigger bullets with higher BC’s really outshine the Smaller TSX’s and low BC A-Frames.

Edit. For some reason I can’t link the elk pict, so you just have to trust me.

 

[Datchew]

I don’t like the TSX’s because you should size down to speed the bullet up to get proper expansion. If you don’t, they have been know to pencil through and not expand.

Appreciate the details and pics!
Your above statement is my biggest hesitation on the solid copper bullets. Thus, I'm also looking at a-frames because they seem to almost have a cult-like following because of their success.

I'm very glad to see that accubond stick together so well. If i follow you, the ascent is the latter pic and it looks a little tougher. Those accubonds really are sweet boolits though.

In the end, I'll take counsel from all these inputs and then if things go as usual, i'll be unable to find what i planned for, try something that IS available, and be just fine.
Partitions, accubonds, and a-frames all seem to be pretty reliable with proven track records and I don't know yet what my rifle will prefer so I guess we'll see.