I love shooting mine but it weighs 14lbs and has a brake.

My 300 WM only weighs 6 lbs. but it is a pistol. Love shooting it

After whitetail hunting with everything from 22 Hornet to .375 H&H I can say that you can’t have too much fun for the animal, but you can dang sure have too much for the shooter. If you’re 69 and honestly don’t anticipate chasing larger game the rest of your life than whitetail I’d say it’s more than you need. Now I’m a firm believer in the answer is always yes when there’s a question about a new gun.

I do on the other hand believe you can have too little gun to be ethical. I’ll never hunt whitetail with less a .257 something again, but that’s just me. I never lost an animal due to a poor caliber choice, just poor choices.

I've been hunting with a 300 now for 25 years. I started with a Savage in 1991, went to a Sendero, got a Browning X-bolt and this weekend I'm going to get a Benelli Lupo in 300 wm. I've shot whitetails and muledeer with this caliber using a 150 gr bullet. I think if your confident in your abilities and your gun, any caliber will do. I'll be shooting a 180 gr this year on our Colorado elk hunt.

Is it necessary for medium sized big game? No. Is it too much for medium sized big game? No. And it’s more versatile because you can use it with confidence on larger game.

I think many people are intimidated by the .300 Win Mag for no reason. It’s not a cannon by any means. It doesn’t vaporize animals. It has slightly more recoil than the milder calibers (.24s - 27s) but it’s not punishing by any stretch.

I always get the feeling when I read these threads that many who post about it as a vicious shoulder-eating meat destroyer have little to no experience with the caliber.

Have hunted with the caliber for 40 yrs, and absolutely love it. Has great knockdown power, and I have never ruined any meat. The recoil is modest. Outside of Dangerous Game, I would recommend for anything else.

The vicious shoulder-eating meat destroyer reputation IME comes from one thing...a lightweight or poor fitting rifle.

I look at something like a Ruger American with a 24 inch lightweight barrel in .300 Win Mag, 7 pounds or thereabouts, and my shoulder hurts just looking at it. Add a pound of weight or more and a good recoil pad to that rifle and it is a much easier to shoot rifle.

Something heavier, like a Remington 700 Sendero or heavy barreled Savage, is not only much easier to shoot but fun to shoot. If it is fun to shoot, you get more proficient with it, and when Muy Grande walks out at 400 yards he is toast.

I personally am not a big fan of Muzzle Brakes, but they can make something like a .300 Win Mag much more tolerable to shoot, at the expense of more noise and muzzle blast.

Just my .02,
LeonCarr

Gots a Kimber 8400 300 win mag. It weighs 7 lbs 4 oz I believe. Personally, I thought it was even heavier, but that's what google tells me. Put on a sling and 40 mm Leupold and it adds more. No muzzle break and it shoot just fine. Shoot 180 grain bullets time after time as they fly true. A friend told me that was what should go through a 300 and boy, he did not let me down.

My Sako Finnlight in .300 WSM weighs 7 1/4 lbs “all in”. I don’t notice its recoil any more than my Sako .270 Win. I have no doubt it’s more but it simply doesn’t register as a lot more. IMO rifle fit to the shooter is paramount.

I also prefer 180 grain bullets in both my .300 Win Mag and .300 WSM.

So much great information on this thread about the 300WM.

And I couldn't agree more with the poster who says it has a very undeserved reputation for bad recoil because that is certainly not the case at all.
Yes, if you get it in some kind of ultralight mountain rifle that weighs 5 lbs it is gonna buck a little.
But if you are wanting it for a blind rifle why not get one in a heavy barrel that weighs 13 pounds, sits on a rest better because of that weight, and will likely have about as much recoil as the average 270 rifle does!

I also agree about it not being some kind of cannon that destroys meat by the ice chest full. It is simply not the case when shooting good bullets and I promise you I had a 264WM that would destroy a hell of lot more meat than a 300wm does. Man that 264 was nasty when that bullet hit.

"And I couldn't agree more with the poster who says it has a very undeserved reputation for bad recoil because that is certainly not the case at all.
Yes, if you get it in some kind of ultralight mountain rifle that weighs 5 lbs it is gonna buck a little.
But if you are wanting it for a blind rifle why not get one in a heavy barrel that weighs 13 pounds, sits on a rest better because of that weight, and will likely have about as much recoil as the average 270 rifle does!"

Yep and that's why my Tikka T-3 Stainless Lite chambered in .270 is being sold. That thing kicks more than my 300 WM.

I've had a Ruger 77 for 30 years. Sent barrel to Magna-Port to try help with recoil but didn't. Took a lot of deer but got 7-08 and hadn't been out of the safe since.

That would be me too. I’m a recoil wimp

Three guns people need, 30/06, 300 win mag and 375 H&H, hunt all over the world and never look back.

lol

Hey Pine knott, I had a 7mag in a ruger 77 and I swear that thing would absolutely kick the living daylights out of you....and I'm a pretty big boy!
In fact, I shot my brothers 300WM one day at the range after checking my 7mag and it felt like a 270 comparatively speaking. He then asked to shoot my 7mag and of course I obliged....with a little head turn and a smirk. He was older than me but not nearly my size or body mass. I of course stood to the side and watched his face as he squeeze one off and his reaction was priceless as were the choice words he let out. roflmao

I don't know what it was about that rifle but I'd have folks shooting 3 tables over ask me what the hell caliber I was shooting because they could feel the muzzle blast from it.

I never minded it out in the field because it was deadly but if you had to shoot more than 7 or 8 at the range to dial it in with new loads it certainly wasn't pleasant.

Recoil is funny. My father and I had matching 700 BDL’s for a while. His had recoil but isn’t unpleasant to shoot 15-20 times and mine shooting the same factory loads from the same box and equal weight rifles was straight up nasty. I wanted no part of it after 3 shots, it beat the everliving snot out of me. My dad thinking it was in my head and he even noted that it was quiet uncomfortable to shoot. I very quickly traded the rifle off for a 7mm-08 and haven’t wanted a big magnum since

Don't give up on the 300 Win Mag. I have a Browning A Bolt in 300 Win Mag with the BOSS system (muzzle brake) and the recoil is less than my Remington 700 30-06. On the downside, the vented BOSS is the loudest muzzle brake that I've ever heard. Any 300 with a muzzle break should tame the recoil for your shoulder, thus you're less likey to flinch and pull your shot off target. Mine shoots great, is deadly on deer and bigger game, has low recoil, but just don't forget your hearing protection.

I wouldn’t use it I just don’t see the point. I have shot deer from 6.5 to 300rum and on whitetail the bigger gun offers no advantage to me. Straight through the lungs they can run with that range of calibers and hit in the shoulder they will drop with the same. The powder and recoil increase isn’t worth it on whitetail

Op- Older I get more I personally see no point in a 300 mag under 500 yards, Especially when considering that you are comparing it to a 270, the 300 is twice the recoil factor(per chuck hawks tables speed x energy) of a 270 or 257wby etc. not sure I want to carry hearing protection every where with me for a break either.

If you enjoy the recoil more power too you. I hated my Browning 300wm, I killed a pile of stuff with it but it never killed anything more quickly then any of my other calibers. Still remember the great day I sold it. Now if you want to shoot or hunt extended range where the addition k-energy numbers make sense compared to others, absolutely, it’s hard to agrue against it. If I was building a long range hunting rig 300wm, 30nos, 300 PRC or 28 Nos makes a lot of sense.

I would say .270, .300 Win Mag, and .416 Rem Mag, but that’s just picking nits.

I also like the .338, so can we throw it in there too?

And the .257 Wby?

Heck can we just say a medium game rifle, a large game rifle, and a large dangerous game rifle?

I’ve never had a big mature buck run away from a well placed 130gr. bullet from a myriad of calibers much easier on the shooter which means more time shooting at the range which means high confidence in well placed shots FME...

Are you shooting 130s in the .300 Win Mag? A buddy has a Winchester Model 70 in .300 Win Mag and it shoots its best groups with handloaded 130 Speer HPs.

Just my .02,
LeonCarr

This right here is where most have their problems with the heavier recoiling calibers. I love the 300 Weatherby but sitting down and putting 9 to 12 rounds down range from a 8 to 9 pound rig is not something I look forward to, but it's just something that has to be done. If all i did was shoot 300's from the bench it most certainly be with a different rig a little more suitable to taming it down a little. In a hunting situation I don't pay any attention to the recoil. Recoil is the price you pay for the performance you get, so far the price hasn't run me off yet. If a person is going to get a 300 make sure you get one that fit's, that goes a long way in taming recoil. If you bring it up to your shoulder and have to fidget to get it just right, it's wrong.

Not that I'm biased but I would go with.

240 Weatherby

257 Weatherby

300 Weatherby

340 Weatherby

Lord help me if I ever get in a situation where I have to carry a 460 Weatherby, put 9 rounds through one for a buddy of mine, took me 45 minutes. I had to wait for my shoulder to stop trembling.

I've put 110's and 125's through a 300 Weatherby.