Handles

Just to add, my dad got a new 300wsm last year and ended up shooting the 165 fusions for deer (grouped the best for his gun). He took a buck at 364 yards, and that fusion passed right through both shoulders. Pretty impressive.

heinz57

165 gr. bullet is more than enough for deer ..i f ur 300wsm is accurate with that load use it ..i don't think that the deer will notice any differance between the .165 or 180 ..

ajstrider

As far as bullet weight goes, 150 to 180 is fine. My concerns would be a up close shot with a bullet traveling at that velocity, the bullet is very likely to have its jacket separate unless it is of premium construction. So you may want to look at the plethora of new solid copper bullets out there. The Nosler E Tips, Hornady GMX, and the first and best I think, the Barnes X bullets. If you are worried about a bullet not expanding on impact, use one that has a tip on it. The tip will induce expansion no matter what. The GMX and the newer Tipped Triple Shock would both fill this bill. If you are really looking at longer range shots though I think that a 165 grain loading would be my preference.

I have shot several deer with a .308 150 grain Fusion bullet and had excellent luck with that loading, it is fairly inexpensive and performs very well. I am just not sure how it holds up at such a high velocity though. Some previous posters said it worked great for them. You should take a look at the 165 grain loading in that maybe.

The Winchester XP3 rounds are wicked too, they will hold together at any velocity and expand pretty much no matter what velocity too. The Hornady GMX bullet has it listed as expanding properly at velocities between 3400 and 2000 fps. Unfortunately Hornady doesn't load factory 300 WSM rounds, so handloading would be required.

Big Z

Get yourself some handloading stuff. A basic setup will pay for itself in ~5 boxes.

heinz57

no for the WSM my partener reloads and the powder is very expensive ..i buy WINCHESTER SUPREME 180 GR. ACCUBOND and it cost me less [factory bought] than his reloads..

mphstigerfan

bullet weight will have much less effect on meat damage than disign. a bonded bullet, or copper solid will have controlled expansion and therefore a smaller wound channel than a non bonded bullet. for example a ballistic tip, ballistic silvertip, berger, etc... when fired from a 300 wsm up close may not even exit. they may just blow up at 3000+fps. dont get me wrong this can really put one down quickly because in most cases the eart and lungs will be turned to jello. but with a very good chance they won't exit inside of 150 yds a deer that does run will be hard to track. not to mention they can really make a mess of a shoulder in the process. I shoot 165 accubonds in handloads. wanted to shoot 180s for the higher ballistic coefficient but my gun didn't group as well with them. I am shooting .5 moa and less with the 165's. if it were me 165 would be as light as I would want to go especially if I wanted to take some longer shots as lighter bullets drift much more in wind, lose velocity quicker and lose energy much quicker than a heavier bullet of similar design. do your research, but know that a bullet of ligher construction will tear a wider yet shallower wound channel at 3000fps. the same bullet may expand normally and exit at 2500. think hard about what range you will be shooting as this may well be the determining factor.

mphstigerfan

the buddy who says powder is expensive is not being truthful. imr, hodgedon, and rl series powders are rarely over $30 a lb which will be enough for plenty of reloads. my handloads are just under $1 per bullet for a 300wsm. this is using rl17 or rl19. 17 being slightly faster and 19 just gave me a .40" group last week. if you plan to shoot 10 rds a yr I wouldn't bother. but if you want to squeeze every bit of performance out of your rifle, handloading is the way to do it. good luck whatever you choose.

DougE

Impossible.Powder is still around 20 bucks a pound and a 300 wsm uses on average about 8-10 gr more than a 30-06.

driftrider

Yep, unless you're really getting taken on the price of powder in Canada. I just bought a pound of IMR-7828SSC and the price was $24. Feeding my 257 Wby Mag at 73 grains/shot I'll get roughly 95 shots out of the pound. That's about 25 cents/shot, or $5/box for powder.

The question is not so much if handloading is cheaper per box (because it almost always is), but rather if you'll load enough to justify the up-front expense of the tools to get started.

To address the OP, I'd shoot whatever expanding bullet that's 150 grains or greater that groups well and suits your budget. The 300WSM has ample power to kill whitetails. Pick a bullet that shoots well and then just make sure you put it where it needs to go and the 300WSM will not let you down I think.

Mike

salukipv1

I'm of the opinion that a .300mag bullet is 180grains, I have heard some guys say the 165's are better in the WSM, but the 180's fly just as flat as the 150-165's do, so I'd just find a 180 that work'd well and use it for everything probably.