300 win mag 22 inch 208 AMAX

[Mr45auto]

Assembling components right now for 300 win mag loads. My rifle when completed will have a 22" 1:10 twist. I'm planning to start off with the 208 AMAX. Powders are Win 780, H1000, and Retumbo. I'm wanting to maximize barrel life and it's most often going to be shot at 800-1000 yds and I'm more than happy to have a seperate, stouter load for further distances. I am running Norma brass. I've got some Winchester magnum LR and regular LR and benchrest LR primers. I'm not opposed to running another primer specific to this rifle. I'm looking for a good load to work from to get up to speed and have some ready to roll when the rifle is completed.

This is my first win mag and the first rifle I've really had to concern myself with barrel life on in load development. Where do I start with this? How many rounds should I load up for each charge weight to find it's happy place? I was planning to buy a Redding 3 die set, any input on the dies?

I've been a 20+ year pistol loader, only loading rifle for the last 5 or so. Never really concentrated on precision loading and would be happy to have any suggestions on what to read to get me up to speed.


If other powders might work better with the shorter 22" tube feel free to pipe up.

Thanks for any guidance or help you can offer.

 

[Pappasniper]

I run this 75grains of H1000. I would start at 74-74.5-75 and up. I use win large rifle primers. The regular primers sometimes are more accurate than the magnum primers. Several people told me that and it was true in my gun. Good luck Mr45

PB

 

[j-dubya]

I had good luck with RL22 and the 208 Amax out of a 22" barrel. It was running around 2880fps with Winchester brass and a Federal 215M.

 

[BobinNC]

I'm sure you've looked at this 300 Win Mag data from the Hodgdon Reloading Center, here Cartridge Loads - Hodgdon Reloading Data Center - data.hodgdon.com

Given your requirements I would try to keep your load in the 2700 to 2750 FPS range to get a little more barrel life. I would also recommend Dan Newberry's OCW method for load development here OCW Overview - Dan Newberry's OCW Load Development System If you follow it verbatim your road to finding a accurate load should be brief.

208 GR. HDY A-MAX

Hodgdon

Retumbo

.308"

3.420"

74.5

2717

50,300 PSI

81.0C

2915

61,300 PSI

208 GR. HDY A-MAX

Hodgdon

H1000

.308"

3.420"

71.7

2650

47,800 PSI

78.0C

2869

60,200 PSI

208 GR. HDY A-MAX

IMR

IMR 7828

.308"

3.420"

68.0

2635

47,400 PSI

74.0C

2899

62,000 PSI

208 GR. HDY A-MAX

Winchester

Supreme 780

.308"

3.420"

67.6

2641

47,000 PSI

73.5

2890

61,300 PSI

208 GR. HDY A-MAX

Hodgdon

H4831

.308"

3.420"

66.5

2671

53,200 PSI

72.3

2838

62,000 PSI

208 GR. HDY A-MAX

Hodgdon

Hybrid 100V

.308"

3.420"

61.4

2620

50,100 PSI

66.7

2831

62,400 PSI

208 GR. HDY A-MAX

IMR

IMR 4831

.308"

3.420"

63.7

2613

48,600 PSI

69.2

2832

60,500 PSI

208 GR. HDY A-MAX

Hodgdon

H4350

.308"

3.420"

60.4

2655

53,600 PSI

65.7

2813

62,000 PSI