Whats the best .300 WBY bullet for Namibia?

[JSmart]

I am going to Namibia on May 30, 2004. I will be taking my .300 Weatherby and plan on using 180 grain Nosler Partition Gold bullets. I have some friends who say they are loading there .300 Remington Ultra Mags with 150 Nosler Partitions. Is the 150 enough for Kudu, Gemsbok or Elan? They claim the 150 grain will shoot flatter and give more range. Whats your thoughts?

[JJHACK]

For my money I want a minimum of a 180 premium bullet. That 150 grain will not shoot enough flatter to be of any benifit. Here are some numbers from the Ballistics Hornady puts out:

180 grain 3200fps
100yds 3467ME +3.2"  200yds 3012ME +3.9" 300yds 2567ME "0"

150 grain at 3500fps
100yds 4079ME +2.7"  200yds2795ME +3.4" 300yds 2294ME "0"

If you can hold your rifle on the target to manage that tiny little difference in flatness your from another planet! Look at the difference in energy too. Just for kicks Here is the 400 yard difference:

180 grain 400 yards 2176ME -9.3"  500 yards 1832ME -25"
150 grain 400 yards 1867ME -8.5"  500 yards  1505ME -23.1

Now if you're shooting little animals who cares but with a 300 weatherby your hunting big game with a big kill zone. Use the bullets that buck the wind and carry the mass of their energy better. Don't get me wrong I'm not a ME fan but you can see from the numbers that the ME stays with the bigger bullet much better.

The other side of this is what happens on that 50 yard point blank shot with a 150 grain bullet at 3500fps? Upon impact you will have a wisp of smoke as the bullet explodes into schrapnel on the surface! The slower and heavier bullet will always work better in this situation.

Bottom line for big game the 150 out of the Weatherby has no advantage

[JSmart]

Thanks for the info. This is what I was thinking also. But after looking at the data on a 150 vs. 180 grain would a 200 grain bullet be even better or would there be too much drop. I hear that most game is taken between 150 and 250 yards.

[Paul Sumner]

The general advice that I hear is that the heavier the bullet (within reason), the better.  African hunters like the heavy for caliber bullets.  They have found that penetration is better with a heavier, even if slower, bullet.  Some experienced reloaders for African hunters even suggest that reloaders load down cartridges so as to slow the bullet.  They state that penetration is better with a little slower bullet.  Personally, I feel that this is a holdover from times when premium bullets were not available.  The slower non-premium bullet  held together better at slow speed than at a faster speed.  I feel that premium bullets from the leading companies seem to do just fine with a little more horsepower.  I goose it up with my Barnes X-Bullets and Nosler Partitions.  Regarding the brand of bullet... I use Nosler generally.  But that is just my opinion and like noses, everyone has an opinion.  I would suggest that you not be swayed too much by "expert" opinion as to the "only suitable brand" of bullet to take African game.   Stick to your guns and stay with the premiums that you and your firearm like.   Do, however, consider going to the heavier bullets.  From ballistic tables, the reduced speed should not affect an accurate shot within reasonable shooting distances and virtually all agree that the heavier (within reason) bullet penetrates better.  Although not really an accurate example, some suggest, "A sledge hammer swung at reasonable speed will always penetrate better than the framing hammer at fast speed."  Remember, in any case, hunters have been taking plains game for centuries with less suited rifles and cartridges than what you will be packing.  It is just easier to use a premium heavy-for-caliber bullet in a good caliber which you are comfortable shooting.

[mikeh416Rigby]

In .30 caliber go with at least 180 grains as the minimum. I personally like the 200 and 220 grain pills as they will penetrate and keep on going. Make sure it's a premium pill though.

[PAHUnter04]

Hi JSmart:

The 300 RUM is my favorite African Plains Game Caliber. I have shot 13 head of African game from Impala and Warthog on the small size to Kudu, Wildebeest, hartebeest, Zebra  & Waterbuck on the large size. I am a handloader BUT use factory ammo, Remington 180 grain Nosler Partitions. At over 3300 FPS... They hit very hard.

I am lucky in that my rifle, it shoots both the 180 grain and 200 grain factory fodder in the same POA.... sub MOA @ 100 yards.

Even though I have had great success with the 180 grain, I think I would opt for the 200 grain. Again you give up very little drop in velocity. I sighted my rifle in for 1.5 inches high at 100 yards.

Like I said I just got back from my second Safari in Zim and some of shots were sort of long. All were one shot kills.... but my Kudu was shot at 227 yards in the open. It was a heart shot, with no exit, and no blood. The Kudu turned and ran about 60 yards in the dense brush and fell dead. It took a while to find him though. I have recovered five of my bullets from different animals, at different ranges. The Nosler partitions 180 grains retained 60% of their original weight. The impact and wound channel was devastating. But I think a little more reatined weight would of helped. You might all ready get this by using the new Nosler Partition Gold Bullets, but I would still go with the 200 grains. Just my humble opinion... :lol:

Regards Jim P.

[dumazuri]

In .30 caliber go with at least 180 grains as the minimum. I personally like the 200 and 220 grain pills as they will penetrate and keep on going. Make sure it's a premium pill though.

What has your experience been, or what have you heard, about the .308 200 gr Nosler Accubonds?

[Questor]

Because the Accubonds are in their first year of production, I would let others work the bugs out of them.

[Camp Cook]

I have the same question for my 300 Rem Ultra Mag,  but was also wandering about bullet tips in the magazine deforming during recoil.

If you where to pick a bullet where you don't have to worry about the tips deforming  which one would you choose then?
Cam

[SoDakhntr]

Trophy Bonded bullets will not deform, are very accurate and have held together at close range for me.  I would post a picture of an extremely damaged heart of a brown bear that was taken with a 300 RUM if I knew how.  It was a frontal shot and the bullet lodged deep in the hind quarter.

[JJHACK]

The Hornady Interbonds have plastic tips so they will not deform. The Swift Aframes are a better option at the higher velocity though. They also have a protected tip with the jacket going to the edge.

Deformed tips play no role in accuracy. When Nosler Partitions were the best we could get years ago most would have tip damage, some severe tip damage. I often worried about that too. Then I wrote an article for a national hunting magazine about those deformed bullet tips.

I used a pair of side cutters to bend them over and snip them off completely. What I found was great accuracy even with the tips cut off or bent completely over. The tip damage was not relevent to hunting accuracy. By that I mean 1-1.5" groups at 100 yards.

If you're a bench rest shooter(not likely with a 300RUM) then that is a different story.  I did pinch off a bit of the base of a few bullets before loading them. Those bullets shot wild and out of control.  Moral of the story: tip damage not a problem, base damage big trouble. Thankfully the bullets base is very well protected.

[Camp Cook]

Then I must ask about Nosler's Partition 180gr Protected Point, it has a far lower B.C. rating than a Spitzer Partition. Is there any B.C. difference once the Spitzer tip has been damaged during recoil in the magazine?
Cam

[JJHACK]

I'm sure there is but out to 300 yards the difference in trajectory is nothing to concern yourself with. I don't shoot much further then that so I never worry. Actually as a serious hunter I don't think I can count all that many shots in a long career as a professional that have been further then 300-350 yards. That is a very rare and exceptional shot.

If bench rest accuracy is what is on the menu or phenominal distance shooting then the tips may play a roll. However for real hunting within responsible distances the tips are a non-issue. Africa hunting can provide some longer shooting in the free state, or Namiba. Even the eastern cape has moslty longer shots. Even so a 300-350 yard shot is long. Further then that there are a whole lot of things that need to be considered. As I have always said to my hunters. There are about 1000 things that can happen when you shoot over 300 yards and only one is good.

[Camp Cook]

If you don't mind I have one more question.......

What about these new 30 cal Barnes TSX bullets with thier very high B.C. and will they expand at all distances you refered too, with a muzzle velocity of 3300+fps? Are people still having copper fouling problems or has the TSX grooves corrected this?
I tried Barnes X's years ago and got fantastic performance from them but when I ran out of that box I bought another box and the bullets turned out to be a different length and grouped completely different. I also had a problem with a lot of copper fouling with those bullets. I've dabbled with them on and off over the years loading .243, .308 and .375 cal bullets coated or not and was not all that happy with those experiences.  
Cam

[JJHACK]

I have only one rifle that shoots the X bullets well. I don't prefer them for hunting. I much prefer the bonded core bullets which seem to be far more consistant and less of a struggle to work with were high temps, over pressure and barrel fouling are concerned.

[Camp Cook]

Right now I am loading 180gr Scirroco's @ 3380fps and 200gr A-Frame's @ 3200fps but was just wanting to load one bullet instead of two. Thier point of impact horizontally is the same with the 180's grouping only about 1" higher @ 100 yards. With all of the comments here I'm just going to stay the way I am for now.

Thanks for the answers....
Cam