300 Win Mag, Alliant 4000-MR, Federal 215 primers & Hornady 200 gr ELD-X

[375 Ruger Fan]

I just got back from a range session this morning, taking advantage of the cloudy, 82 F temps which rate as a cold snap for August in Louisiana. As the title to this thread states, I was testing some 300 Win Mag loads with Alliant 4000-MR and Hornady 200 gr ELD-X bullets.

Why this combination? Let me explain:

300 Win Mag: I don't own a rifle in this caliber, but I have two sons-in-law that do. One has a Ruger M77 MkII with a 24 inch barrel and the other has a Browning A-Bolt with a 26 inch barrel. Both are left handed actions. A few months ago, @Manny R posted a for sale note for a bunch of once fired 300 WM brass, so I jumped on that deal.

Alliant 4000-MR powder: @tarbe made some people happy by selling some of his powder inventory earlier this year at pre-crazy prices. I bought an eight pound jug of this stuff, as it looked like a powder that would work on 7mm mag, 300 WM and 338 WM. There isn't much info available on this powder, but Alliant had this on their webiste:

Federal 215 Magnum primers
I have a bunch of these in inventory, but I am embarrassed to say what I paid for them during the past year or so.

Hornady 200 gr ELD-X bullets
I finally found some of these on GB a few weeks ago. Got 4 boxes of 100 for pre-crazy prices. This bullet has a high temp resistant plastic tip and a sleek boat tail design, giving it a very high BC of 0.597. Also lots of good real world reports. I sort of view the ELD-X and an improved SST, another bullet which I have used to take quite a few critters.

Given the Alliant recipe info, I decided to load 69 to 72 grains in one grain intervals. Loaded 5 rounds each, so 25 round total. Since the 200 gr ELD-X is a fairly long bullet, I seated the bullet as max COAL of 3.340 inches and put a slight crimp on it with a Lee factory crimp die.

Velocity is from a Magneto Speed. These are the results:

The 68 grain group was the worst (could have been me) and the 69 grain group was the best. I could have stopped with the 69 grain group and would have been very happy, about half an inch group. The 72 grain group was very good too. I think for my next trip, I will load some 0.2 gr intervals around the 69 and 72 and see what happens. I am also thinking 72.2 might be my max, as I don't need the 3000+ fps velocity. I typically hunt 300 yards or closer.

Any comments or observations are welcome.

 

[Forrest Halley]

So you shot these groups through a left handed rifle? You just finished saying that you don't own a rifle and then we've got data. My curiosity demands that you fill in this void. Please.

 

[375 Ruger Fan]

@Forrest Halley, yes I used the left handed Browning A Bolt with the 26 inch barrel. I am actually left handed, but right eye dominate so I have shot right handed all my life. I shot these rounds today, right handed from a Lead Sled

 

[Shootist43]

Like you, I think I'd be more inclined to the 72 Gr. load. Velocity is approx. 150 FPS faster across the board. Ft. Lbs. of energy and penetration will be better as well.

 

[shootist~]

I think the better load is the 69 grain running 2,856 fps. It just seems ideal for a 200 grain non bonded bullet. Easier on the rifle, brass and shooter as well.

 

[375 Ruger Fan]

It was 60 F today in NW Louisiana so I loaded up and went to the range today and did a little more testing with 300 Win Mag loads. I might have found a magic load for the 300 WM! At least for the Ruger.

All previous testing was done with son-in-law #2 left handed Browning A-Bolt. It has a 26 inch barrel, 1-10" twist. I finally got hold of son-in-law #1 left handed Ruger MkII 300 WM with a 24 inch barrel, 1-10" twist.

I loaded 5 rounds each with 68.8, 69.0 and 69.2 grs of Alliant 4000-MR and a 200 gr Hornady ELD-X bullet. Shot them in the Ruger on a Lead Sled and used my MagnetoSpeed to measure velocity. These are loads 1, 2 & 3 in the table below.

After that, I had 10 rounds left of 69.2 grs. This load grouped the best in prior testing with the Browning A-Bolt, but not a huge difference in other loads plus or minus a few tenths. Today, I shot 5 rounds through each rifle and the 2 inch longer barrel on the Browning yielded 15-27 fps over the Ruger. (Comparing Loads 3 & 4 vs Load 5). Load 4 in the table essentially is a second 5 round test of same load as Load 3. Load 5 is the 69.2 gr load, shot through the Browning.

For the Ruger, the 69.0 gr load looks really good from a standard deviation and extreme spread from a 5 shot group.

My plan is to load up 20 more rounds with 69.0 grs and go shoot 10 rounds from each rifle. Maybe 5 at 100 yards and 5 at 200 yards for each rifle. If the groups are 1 MOA or better, call it good and go load 300 rounds with this recipe and give each SIL 150 rounds for birthday presents this spring.

I am trying to settle on one load for both rifles, but I might have to go with a specific load for each rifle. Not a big deal, custom loads in the reason for reloading.