weatherby 300 mag on atelope

[eman98]

Hey guys, I was wondering if a weatherby 300 mag would be to powerful on antelope if so what type of bullet and weight? thanks

[Derrill Fox]

eman98 Welcome to the nation. No such thing as to powerfull. If it were me i would a bonded bullett like a swift sirocco or a nosler accubond. A barnes ttsx would be another good bullett. I would staway from a balistic tip or anything simmilar.
Derrill

[eman98]

Thanks a lot sounds perfect I appreciate your advise and will put it to great use

[terminator]

I agree with Derrill on all points he made.It will work fine and if you go to some 130 grain bullets it will be really flat also.

[hodgeman]

A partner of mine shot a small yearling caribou bull this year with a .300 Rem Ultra loaded with Scirocco bullets and I was amazed at how little damage there was.

I'd sure want to avoid bone though as well as close range shots.

[zonie]

It's a little much for Antelope, but if it's what I had I'd sure use it no problemo.  Be great for long range.   No fast opening bullets  you run the risk of making  mush if you hit large bones on this size animal.    Any of your better controlled expansion bullets is going to work fine and what I use anyway in this caliber.  Barnes, Swifts, Partitions, Interbonds, Grandslams,  Accubonds, haven't tried the E-tips or GMX but should work fine as long as the rifle shoots them.   

[DocHolladay]

Are you shooting Factory Ammo or reloads??

If Factory ammo, I would choose the 165gr Nosler BT, great bullet at whatever distance you decide to shoot. If reloading, I would choose an Accubond, Partition, Sierra BTHP, Speer Hot-cor, Hornady Interbond.... All 165gr.

[idahogrose]

Any bullet will work in that cal for speed goats, though little much if you plan on using the goat to fill the freezer.  Problem is, that round is going so fast, if you choose a poorly put together bullet, it will dang near grenade when it hits inside 100 yards. 

I use primarily nosler ballistic tips in 7mm Rem mag for deer and elk.  Longest elk shot was 375 yards, bullet was lying just under the skin on the off shoulder.  Shortest shot was 40 yards, and the bullet still didn't go through.  Clipped a rib on the way in.  I never did find all that bullet, it just exploded.  Severe, lethal, dramatic damage still though.  Shot placement is key with any shot, no matter what type bullet you go with.

IG

[dubyam]

I'd sure stick to something more robust than a BT for the 300Wby.  My experience with the 270Wby and 130gr bullets (hustling along at 3450fps mv) is that stout construction is the order of the day.  I've worked with E-Tips and bonded core stuff in my 300Wby, as well.  Check out the Nosler Accubond, Hornady Interbond, and Swift Scirocco if you're set on a polymer tipped bullet.  I think you could easily use a 150-165gr Nosler Partition, as well, with good results.  If you decide to shoot a monolith (E-Tip, TTSX, GMX) I'd stick to the lighter weights (150gr would be my choice) and find an accurate load.

Good luck!  Oh, and overall, there's no such thing as too much gun for medium to large game.  I know a guy who shoots antelope with a 416'bee, just because he has the rifle and can make the shots.  Plenty of dead antelope, and moderate meat damage.

[WildTigerTrout]

If I were to develop a load for Pronghorns with my Mark V 300 Weatherby I would handload either a Nosler Accubond or Partition in 150 Gr. Both bullets would shoot very flat for long distance without being too explosive if a close shot were taken

[DocHolladay]

I'd sure stick to something more robust than a BT for the 300Wby.

I bought my .300Wby second hand from my buddy and he gave me approx. 3.5 boxes of Factory Ammo loaded with 165gr Nosler BT's. No deer was shot past 100yds and all fell in their tracks, the closest deer was 40yds. From me looking at the entrance and exit wounds, it did a great job and didnt  "blow up" like a lot of the ballistic tips do. I also dont think Weatherby would offer ammo that didnt do what it was supposed to on any game. I havent hunted antelope, but I am sure that any  bullet that works on whitetails, will work on them. Just avoid varmint bullets and you should be fine.

[dubyam]

That's good to know, Doc.  I've always avoided BT's in magnum rifles, just because of the rapid expansion they bring, but it sounds like I may have been too cautious in some scenarios.

I agree - whatever works for white-tails will work fine for pronghorns.  For sure.

[300srgr8]

I will never use Bts again in my magnums. I shot a Muley buck one year with a 7 Rem mag and the BT glanced off his skin, traveled up his neck(on the outside), and blew off his lower jaw. I had to chase that buck up over the hill before I got another shot at him. I have never bought another BT for big game. They work great for varmints and predators though.

[DocHolladay]

Here is what Nosler says about their bullet....

http://www.nosler.com/Bullets/Ballistic-Tip.aspx

I downloaded the new Weatherby Catalog in PDF last night and if you look at the Nosler BT, it looks almost like a bonded bullet. I am not saying that every BT bullet will react the same as the Nosler, but there are good BT's out there. Alot of BT's need to be loaded at 2900fps or slower to get them to act right if shooting at 200yds or less. If you hunt longer distances on a regular basis, you can load them faster as they have time to slow down over the longer ranges.

Technically speaking, the Nosler Accubond, NoslerPartition and the Hornady Interbond are ballistic tipped bullets. They perform flawlessly at any distance. I know there are others, but I didnt feel like looking them up or trying to think of them.

[eman98]

Thanks you guys you shur are helpful with all of your advise. I live in California about 20 minutes away from Weatherby headquaters and have to use lead free ammo and I mainly hunt blacktail.