Where is all the .300 Win Mag Brass?

[Hanzy4200]

I somewhat unexpectedly made an deal on a Bergara B-14 HMR chambered in .300 win. First order of business, find brass. I wanted Peterson, but could find none. Next best thing is Lapua. Nope. Ok, Starline? Norma? Winchester? SURPLUS? Nothing! The only thing I can find is Nosler, and I've heard mixed reviews. At over $2 apiece I'm not inclined.

I know brass has been spotty, but this is worse than anything I've encountered. What is happening? Has there been a mass exodus from this caliber? Or the opposite, has it's gotten insanely popular?

As this is a precision rifle, I don't want to resort to mixed head stamp junk brass.

[MUSTANG]

Manufacturers are focused on Big Number Rifle Brass production: .223, 7.62x39, 7.62x51, 30-06 (and maybe some 30-30 tossed in for good measure). Everything else is pretty much on ignore.

For my Remington 700 in .300WinMag; I have it being fed on brass I picked up over the last few years that was left on the ground or in the trash (once fired). I swage 175 Grain RBT (Rebated Boat Tail) bullets from 5/16 copper tubing. Currently I still have primers on hand, but will consider reloading for it with "Home Made" primers if needed. I am going to work up some loads for it using WC-860 (50BMG) or WC-872 (20mm Vulcan) powders; they result in velocities similar to 30-06; and with a Duplex load - just a little more than 30-06 velocities. Loose velocity with those powders; but more velocity than same powder in a 30-06.

Look on the ground or in the Trash at the Range; and reload if you can until more sane conditions return to the market place.

[Winger Ed.]

I don't think new sales of it have been very strong since all the 'short Mags' have come along.
They're still out there of course, but not like they were 15 or so years ago.

[BLAHUT]

Get on starline back-order list every time i need brass it is listed out of stock yet usually,
i get the order in short time>>

[Hanzy4200]

Manufacturers are focused on Big Number Rifle Brass production: .223, 7.62x39, 7.62x51, 30-06 (and maybe some 30-30 tossed in for good measure). Everything else is pretty much on ignore.

For my Remington 700 in .300WinMag; I have it being fed on brass I picked up over the last few years that was left on the ground or in the trash (once fired). I swage 175 Grain RBT (Rebated Boat Tail) bullets from 5/16 copper tubing. Currently I still have primers on hand, but will consider reloading for it with "Home Made" primers if needed. I am going to work up some loads for it using WC-860 (50BMG) or WC-872 (20mm Vulcan) powders; they result in velocities similar to 30-06; and with a Duplex load - just a little more than 30-06 velocities. Loose velocity with those powders; but more velocity than same powder in a 30-06.

Look on the ground or in the Trash at the Range; and reload if you can until more sane conditions return to the market place.

I read up a little on the 50 BMG powders, as I've seen it available. Opinions were divided at best. Then, as if ordained by God himself, the heavens opened up this evening at Powder Valley. I got 3 bricks of CCI primers, 3 lbs of 4064, a keg of W748, and above all, a keg of H4831. Might want to go peek. Don't know What happened, but they got a crap ton of inventory tonight.

[mnewcomb59]

Most of the people shooting magnum 30s are shooting the WSM or PRC. Most of the people shooting magnum 30s nowadays are shooting steel at 1000+ yards and the 300 Win Mag can't take the aerodynamic bullets. The ammo manufacturers are starting to treat it like an obsolete round. Have you noticed the price creeping way up when 308 and 30-06 has come back down? Same with the 30-30. A few years ago 30-30 was still 30% cheaper than 30-06 but now it is 50% more expensive. Core-Lokts in 30-30 are going $35-40 and same time, same place, same website, 30-06 Core-Lokts are now around $25. Be prepared for it to become even more scarce and expensive as the market forces move demand to newer 30s.

The main magnum 30s in demand are for long range shooting and steel-shooting magnum 30s are probably are outselling 300 Win Mag hunting ammo 10:1.

In fact, a 30-06 shooting the new 180 grain bullets will be 200 fps faster at 600 yards than the 300 Win Mag shooting basic Core-Lokt or Power Shok 180 gr flat base JSPs (even though it starts out 200 fps slower). The newer cartridges like the PRC allow much more bullet outside of the case before hitting max OAL for the magazines. This gives a longer, sleeker, more aerodynamic ogive than what the 300 Win Mag can handle within its OAL restrictions.

[ak_milsurp]

.300 Win Mag is a very popular hunting round in Alaska. It's been near "unobtanium" up here for the last few years, much to the chagrin of Alaskan hunters and shooters! I've kept my supply by range pick-up over the years... That, and I rarely shoot it. It still amazes me that shooters will leave at the range or toss it in the trash.

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[Hanzy4200]

Most of the people shooting magnum 30s are shooting the WSM or PRC. Most of the people shooting magnum 30s nowadays are shooting steel at 1000+ yards and the 300 Win Mag can't take the aerodynamic bullets. The ammo manufacturers are starting to treat it like an obsolete round. Have you noticed the price creeping way up when 308 and 30-06 has come back down? Same with the 30-30. A few years ago 30-30 was still 30% cheaper than 30-06 but now it is 50% more expensive. Core-Lokts in 30-30 are going $35-40 and same time, same place, same website, 30-06 Core-Lokts are now around $25. Be prepared for it to become even more scarce and expensive as the market forces move demand to newer 30s.

The main magnum 30s in demand are for long range shooting and steel-shooting magnum 30s are probably are outselling 300 Win Mag hunting ammo 10:1.

In fact, a 30-06 shooting the new 180 grain bullets will be 200 fps faster at 600 yards than the 300 Win Mag shooting basic Core-Lokt or Power Shok 180 gr flat base JSPs (even though it starts out 200 fps slower). The newer cartridges like the PRC allow much more bullet outside of the case before hitting max OAL for the magazines. This gives a longer, sleeker, more aerodynamic ogive than what the 300 Win Mag can handle within its OAL restrictions.

I agree with much of what you have said. I do not know all the finer details of new vs old projectiles, ect. I do know the US military is still pounding away with the Win mag, and making very effective use of the caliber. Even with the .338 and others stealing the spotlight, there are a lot of win mags still being deployed overseas. My biggest attractant is the common diameter. I've already got oodles of different .30 cal pills. I think this will be my 5th 30 caliber rifle caliber. Everything from 90 gr up to 230 gr. Plus, I just might be itching to stuff in a a few M2 AP pills. I'd love to see what one of those can do at 3,200 fps.

[mnewcomb59]

Keep in mind that they are in the business of selling you stuff, but check out this article. https://www.shootingtimes.com/editor...e-30-06/359132

"Let’s examine just how much performance you can gain by switching to low-drag hunting bullets. To foment interest, let me make a brash statement: At 400 yards, the .30-06 loaded with one of today’s superb high-performance bullets actually outperforms the .300 Winchester Magnum loaded with a traditional flatbase, softpoint bullet. Past 400, it positively shames it."

I agree for target shooting for the most part, but a lot of the new game bullets have some bad reviews. The tried and true flat base bullets with a thickened portion of the jacket to mechanically lock the core, such as Core-Lokt and Interlock and Power Shok have about a hundred year track record. The newer hunting bullets have a lot of things working against them. First they have a boat tail which makes straight line penetration and core retention less reliable. Second, they have plastic tips, which make the bullet walls around the mushroom very thin and more likely to shed weight or mushroom unevenly compared to the hydraulic expansion of the jacket with an old school JSP. Third, they are designed to expand down to 1400 fps instead of the 1900 fps of the older JSPs which makes them much more fragile at woods distances.

Edited to add: The new hunting bullets really shine when you can interchange them with an old school JSP for when you know you will be shooting close. I don't have any personal experience, but it seems like the new bullets shine from 400-500 yards on game, where they hit just as hard as the old school JSP at 200-300 yards. Not many people shoot game that far, but the amount of people that can shoot that far is growing every year due to all the civillian long range shooting leagues. Our recent civillian shooters are surpassing the limits of what was thought possible by Vietnam era thinking. Lots of people are pushing 30 cals into previously thought of 50 cal ranges.

Now your 308 or 30-06 can hit 400 yard velocities that 20 years ago was only for 300 Win Mags. If you you were a milennial shopping for a rifle and planning to shoot game at 300-400 yards, and you knew your rifle could do it, and you had a laser range finder, would you rather : shoot a 8 pound 30-06 with a new fancy bullet $35-40/box for factory ammo or a 9 pound 300 Win Mag with 2x the ammo cost and more kick?

The new shooters taking over the competetive scene grew up min/maxing video games and look at all the math and stats and gun rags and the new 30s are replacing the Win Mag and the smaller military 30s are having a revival. They think if they're not shooting 1000 yards then they don't need a magnum, and if they do need a magnum they want the new space age bullets. The modern demand for magnum 30 cals is people shooting super long range target stuff and the aerodynamic bullets let the 308 and 30-06 hit very hard at 400 yards for hunting.

[Budzilla 19]

Pm sent.

[lightman]

300 Winchester brass was scarce even back before the pandemic hit. I had hopes that when Lapua started making it things would get better. I guess not?

[Pirate69]

This appears to be a valid comparison; if you want to compare different projectiles in different rifle calibers. A carefully selection of different projectiles can lead to predicting one caliber in inferior to another, when it may not be. Lets do a different comparison. This time, a using a Nosler 190 gr ABLR in each caliber. Also use a powder charge that represents the maximum muzzle velocity published for each caliber. For the 30-06 that would be 58.5 gr of Norma MRP with a muzzle velocity of 2,770 fps out of a 24" barrel. For the 300 Win. Mag that would be 86.6 gr of Magnum with a muzzle velocity of 3,064 fps out of a 24" barrel. Both loads are compressed charges.

Calculations of each caliber's ballistics were done at 60F and sea level elevation. At 60F, the speed of sound is 1,117 fps.

The 30-06 velocities at 1,300 yards and 1,400 yards are 1,131 fps and 1,035 fps, respectively. The 300 Win, Mag. velocity at 1,500 yards is 1,117 fps. This is about 150 yards longer than the distance that an identical bullets from a 30-06 goes subsonic.

At 1,000 yards, the total drop is 357"for the 30-06. At 1,000 yards, the total drop is 284" for the 300 WM.

For this type of comparison, the 300 WM is superior to the 30-06. Beat the data hard enough, a you can get any answer that you want.



https://www.nosler.com/30-06-springfield

https://www.nosler.com/300-winchester-magnum

[mnewcomb59]

How many old guys do you know with their 300 WM antelope/elk gun that buy one box of ammo every 10 years whether they need it or not? Those guys shoot the most basic, cheapest ammo available every time. Every guy I know with a 300 never shoots it, and when they do they shoot it once or twice with the cheapest blue or green box available.

Of course the 300 Win Mag with an aerodynamic bullet will have more velocity than the 30-06 at any range. The real comparison though is comparing the WM to the PRC at extended ranges because the PRC has higher BC still.

People nowadays will shoot game at 400 yards with a 308 and be happy with their range finder and aerodynamic bullet. They only want a magnum for shooting really far, and if they want a magnum they want more aerodynamic bullets than the WM can offer.

Video game players nowadays look at the stats and decide to get premium 308 or 30-06 hunting ammo for cheaper than basic 300 WM ammo. Plus the guys who reload for long range hate belted brass. Non belted brass lasts much longer.

[dannyd]

I loaded 300 Win Mag using cast bullets for about 5 years. Still have a pile of brass but traded the gun.

[Electrod47]

Had the same issue 15 years ago. Pony'ed up and bought 5 boxes of Premium Winchester Ballistic-Tip 165 grain and 3 boxes Remington 180 grain SP's. Hunted with the Winchester and used the Remington for zeroing. Still have 3 boxes of the Winchester unfired and now have 100 brass casing with which I make my fav load with Sierra BlitzKings. You may need to take a similar route while your looking for more.

[todd9.3x57]

i was given 80-100 pcs of 300wm brass(also had 7-08 brass) back before Trump came out. i don't have 300 wm or anything else that has magnum in it(44 mag i have). so i gave it to my friend and he gave me some 7x57 brass.

[waco]

Here you go.
https://normashooting.com/shop/calib...-brass-50-qty/
$63 for 50pcs of new Norma.

[dannyd]

That's a good price unless your shooting cast bullets that should be all the brass you will ever need. I used a rcbs 165 sil and 16 grains of unique shoots like a 300 blackout. But the real rounds are not much fun to shoot.

[Mal Paso]

Here you go.
https://normashooting.com/shop/calib...-brass-50-qty/
$63 for 50pcs of new Norma.

That's great! I did not see it listed on Starline. I seem to remember more Starline rifle calibers than are listed now.

[Gunor]

I just barreled a rifle with a 30” tube - heavy Palma…because I have 300 WM brass and 2000 Sierra 190’s…

Not enough brass - but some. Winchester seems to be my favorite

Geoff in Oregon