looking for some info on 300win mag and tc encore

[Kurt L]

Hi all.
I have never loaded the 300 win mag before and just looking for things to look out for and some good loads.
i have loaded the 7 rem mag alot in a bolt but nothing in a mag cal in the encore yet.
I would say they must be built to take it or they could not sell them L.O.L.
Any way, any good bullet powder combos you would like to share would be great and thank you in advance.

#1 this will be a T/C 26" heavy barrel with a brake installed.
#2 I am thinking on Hornady 150-168 gr a max or super shock bullets
   and maybe Barnes TSX tipped 150 or 165gr range of bullets.
#3 I have IMR 4350,4831 and AA3100 and could get REL 22 or ? if needed.
#4 I have some fed mag primers left from my 7mag days and can and will need more,what do you get the best results with?
#5 this will be used on deer and maybe elk that's why I listed the barnes bullets.
any other bullet and powder combos that you have would be welcome as the bullets I listed are not my final choice just a starting point.

the Barnes are 30 some bucks for 50 and would like to get some input on good loads I can work up to.rather than shoot a couple boxes to try and find a good load.
Kurt

[Dand]

I can't speak to the Encore rifle but I have a lot of experience with my bolt 300 win mag.  IMR 4831 is my all time favorite with 180 gr bullets - usually Speer Hot Cor and Nosler partitions.  I have had great accuracy and velocity with these.  Also good luck with 4831 ( IMR and H) with Sierra 168, 165, and Speer Grand Slam. I have had good luck with AA3100 but don't get as good a velocity as IMR 4831. What I really liked about te AA3100 was its price - I have used it more in the 30-06 and 348 Win.

Recently I tried 180 Nos Ballistic Tips and H450 and got phenomenol groups  - don't know how they perform on game. I'll have to try IMR 4831 with this bullet.  I found the H450 at a store closing and bought it cheap to build practice loads.

I have had excellent accuracy with the old Barnes X bullet - can't remember the powder but I do recall that I followed the Barnes manual and did not load as much powder as I would for more conventional bullets.

I have been happy with Fed 215, CCI Large Rifle Mag, and Win Large rifle primers in the 300 win. I haven't noticed a lot of difference in performace among them.  I mostly use CCI and Win because I could get them more easily.

Follow the basics in any good manual and you should be fine.  I generally prefer Remington brass but have had good performance with Winchester too.

[Kurt L]

Thanks very much for all the great info Dand.

[huntswithdogs]

H4831, IMR7828 and H1000 ,180gr bullets and Fed Mag primers was what I loaded the most. H4831 ended up being my only powder after lots of trial & error. The other powders work fine ,but didn't give the consistency and accuracy. I loaded some 150gr stuff(Nosler BTs, I think) but don't remember the powder. Off and on, I played with some 110gr(Sierra) and 130gr(speer) HPs and 125 Nosler BTs. Accuracy was a heck of a lot better than what I would have expected. I experimented with a lot of different powders. I need to find my load log and verify what powder worked the best for me.

One bit of caution...When loading for my boltgun, I could load the shells a time ot two, trim and load some more. Maybe 8-10 times.  With my Encore, I wasn't getting but 3 loads before the shells came apart(case head separation). Watch this closely with yours. I've read a number of different posts, here and on other sites, concerning this same thing, so It wasn't just me and my rifle.

Don't start out with top loads on this rifle/cartridge combo.

Good luck and lets us know how it does.

HWD

[Kurt L]

thanks for the heads up and info if you find your i would still like info on 150-180 gr loads.
this will only get shot a few times a year after i get some loads that work .
thanks kurt