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.300 WM and the 180 grain bullet


Stevedigs04

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Hey Benelli fans!

 

Long time sbe 2 shooter when I was 16 (14 years ago) I got an sbe 2 and an R1 in .300 win for moose.

 

Over the years I have purchased many other bolt actions and become fairly proficient with rifles (usually no issue shooting moa at 100 yards off a bag).

 

That brings me to my R1, I have booked an elk hunt in BC this fall and my R1 HATES 180 grain bullets I’ve tried cheap blue box, Nosler partition, Barnes, accubonds and I can’t get this thing to group better then 4” at 100 yards, I put 150’s in it and I’m back to 1-1.5” groups.

Anyone else experience this with the R1 .300 mag? I can’t figure it out and don’t want to keep spending tons of money on boxes of 20 bullets to shoot 3 in a 4-5” group.

I guess shooting 150’s isn’t the end of the world but I would prefer 180’s.

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That seems unusual, but not impossible. My .300wm and .30-06 R1 barrels love the 180’s in most flavors. Maybe try 200’s, since it’s a moose gun? I’ve also had good success with 165’s, like fusions, blue box, and hornady interbond and interlock. All 3 of my R1 barrels hate copper and other non-toxic bullets however. Once you find the happy load for it, you will be satisfied. It can be an expensive experiment though.

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3 hours ago, Stevedigs04 said:

I don't think this is the case but could the difference in recoil between the 150's and 180's be the cause ?

I was actually thinking that. Does your R1 have the comfortech stock? My .300 has the wooden stock and recoil with 180’s is quite sharp. My .338 has the comfortech, and it soaks up the recoil some. They are finicky on ammo. If you really want to shoot 180’s (I would), I’d keep trying other stuff. Then go down to 165’s.

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  • 8 months later...

My 300 WM loves Hornady 165 gr SST. It's a tack driver at 100 yds. This guy wrote a really good post on the ammo, his methodology and his results. We should all be so compulsive. I have only shot this ammo from my R1 (after reading his report)  although now that Hornady stopped making this ammo, I may go to Winchester 180 gr next. My son loves this rifle because its accurate and powerful. We have shot deer and hogs with it. I haven't done any shooting at longer ranges, but if it gets 1/2 at 100 yds, it should be good for longer ranges with this ammo.  Hope this helps...

 

https://www.shootersforum.com/rifles-rifle-cartridges/31652-300-win-mag-benelli-r1-range-report.html

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  • 2 months later...
On 7/28/2019 at 2:20 PM, Stevedigs04 said:

Hey Benelli fans!

 

Long time sbe 2 shooter when I was 16 (14 years ago) I got an sbe 2 and an R1 in .300 win for moose.

 

Over the years I have purchased many other bolt actions and become fairly proficient with rifles (usually no issue shooting moa at 100 yards off a bag).

 

That brings me to my R1, I have booked an elk hunt in BC this fall and my R1 HATES 180 grain bullets I’ve tried cheap blue box, Nosler partition, Barnes, accubonds and I can’t get this thing to group better then 4” at 100 yards, I put 150’s in it and I’m back to 1-1.5” groups.

Anyone else experience this with the R1 .300 mag? I can’t figure it out and don’t want to keep spending tons of money on boxes of 20 bullets to shoot 3 in a 4-5” group.

I guess shooting 150’s isn’t the end of the world but I would prefer 180’s.

 

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On 7/28/2019 at 2:20 PM, Stevedigs04 said:

Hey Benelli fans!

 

Long time sbe 2 shooter when I was 16 (14 years ago) I got an sbe 2 and an R1 in .300 win for moose.

 

Over the years I have purchased many other bolt actions and become fairly proficient with rifles (usually no issue shooting moa at 100 yards off a bag).

 

That brings me to my R1, I have booked an elk hunt in BC this fall and my R1 HATES 180 grain bullets I’ve tried cheap blue box, Nosler partition, Barnes, accubonds and I can’t get this thing to group better then 4” at 100 yards, I put 150’s in it and I’m back to 1-1.5” groups.

Anyone else experience this with the R1 .300 mag? I can’t figure it out and don’t want to keep spending tons of money on boxes of 20 bullets to shoot 3 in a 4-5” group.

I guess shooting 150’s isn’t the end of the world but I would prefer 180’s.

 

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On 7/28/2019 at 2:20 PM, Stevedigs04 said:

Hey Benelli fans!

 

Long time sbe 2 shooter when I was 16 (14 years ago) I got an sbe 2 and an R1 in .300 win for moose.

 

Over the years I have purchased many other bolt actions and become fairly proficient with rifles (usually no issue shooting moa at 100 yards off a bag).

 

That brings me to my R1, I have booked an elk hunt in BC this fall and my R1 HATES 180 grain bullets I’ve tried cheap blue box, Nosler partition, Barnes, accubonds and I can’t get this thing to group better then 4” at 100 yards, I put 150’s in it and I’m back to 1-1.5” groups.

Anyone else experience this with the R1 .300 mag? I can’t figure it out and don’t want to keep spending tons of money on boxes of 20 bullets to shoot 3 in a 4-5” group.

I guess shooting 150’s isn’t the end of the world but I would prefer 180’s.

I also could not get 180's to group in my R1. I all most sold the gun and at last minute tried 165 Barnes Vortex TS and groups sucked right up. I felt the rifling twist was not fast enough to stabilize the longer 180's

 

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