# Project Complete



## glenway (Mar 27, 2011)

Finished assembly on my Browning A-Bolt, .300 Winchester Magnum with new stock treatment and recoil pad. Has a long barrel, because I didn't want to sacrifice horsepower - and, it makes a difference side by side with shorter barreled guns with same ammo. Always has higher fps - usually around 200 fps more than others. Wasn't designed to be any brush gun.

Tuned up action, trigger, porting, Shepherd scope. Never got to really strectch it out, though. Extremely loud!

Stock was hydro dipped with some 15 coats of clear over the color and rubbed down with 000 steel wool. The idea was to complement the stainless gun and I like the finished product. Even if it has a scary face on the side.


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## knapper (Feb 5, 2010)

Looks pretty good and should really reach out there.


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## pokeyjeeper (Sep 5, 2013)

Looks great ready for all them chippies and red squirrels


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## catcapper (Feb 11, 2010)

Head for the mountains Glen--- .300 Win Mag is the best Elk round go'in.

awprint:


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## glenway (Mar 27, 2011)

Maybe next year. Too many irons in the fire right now.

Sure enjoyed my time in the West but probably wouldn't go for another DIY hunt without motorized transport. Too much work doing that stuff by one's self. Took two of us 2 days of hard work last time to get one out. In that thin air, it was about as hard as I've ever worked. And, that was in the mid 80s!


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## glenway (Mar 27, 2011)

"Looks great ready for all them chippies and red squirrels"...

Not sure if it would be enough horsepower.


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## glenway (Mar 27, 2011)

knapper said:


> Looks pretty good and should really reach out there.


Yeah, Barry. With the proper bullet at the proper speed, the scope's reticles are calibrated with circles to 1000 yards. I don't have room for it around my place but 200 yard shots are chip shots. Taken lots of woodchucks with it using 110-grain explosives. There is no wounding.


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## hassell (Feb 9, 2010)

A frigging awesome job Glen, well done.


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## glenway (Mar 27, 2011)

Thanks, Rick. It blew me away how easy it was to add a little flavor to the rig.


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## youngdon (Mar 10, 2010)

That's a real treasure now that you've personalized it.It really does contrast the stainless nicely. I'll definitely agree with Cat on the 300WM being potent elk medicine. RL-22 was my go to powder for 165 and 180gr pills. I wish I had not sold it.

How long is that barrel ?


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## glenway (Mar 27, 2011)

Thanks, YD. I'd have to check what load I was using with the 180-grain Winchester Combined Technology bullets, but it was probably IMR 4350. Used that powder for the varmint loads, as well - 79 grains if I recall for 110-grain zippers.

I left the barrel at 26 inches and the porting adds another 2 inches. Didn't want to cut the barrel down and cut horsepower.

Took elk and mule deer with a .300 Win Mag but it was a Ruger. Bought the Browning from a friend who needed some cash and sold the Ruger. I've had the A-Bolt for about 25 years and shot plenty of 'chucks with it.

Just about too much gun for our whitetails unless a guy downloaded it but that never made sense to me. I already have .30-06s and I like them for deer. Trouble is, a man has to go to the northern part of our state to legally use bottleneck centerfires for deer, so I've stuck to my home turf and lesser guns recently.


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## knapper (Feb 5, 2010)

You can get some good data for loads from the Hodgen web sight,they show data from winchester hodgen and IMR powders. Some of the new IMR powders are doing nicely for me in some of the rifles that I shoot.


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## glenway (Mar 27, 2011)

Now I'm going to have to check my supply. That should be fun.


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## glenway (Mar 27, 2011)

Here is what I found in stock:

50 rounds 200-grain Speer Grand Slam, 69.0 grains IMR 4350

50 rounds 180-grain Partition Gold, 67.5 grains IMR 4350 (This load is coordinated with the scope's ballistic reticle for long shots)

3 boxes (60 rounds) Factory Federal 200-grain Trophy Bonded Bear Claw (Won at an event)

96 rounds 110-grain Hornady V-Max with 80 grains of IMR 4350 for 3747 fps (good varmint round-can subtitute Hornady 110-gr spire point)

18 rounds 180-grain Bronze Points with 72 grains of IMR4831 (Extreme penetrators. Only round to go through my 5/8 steel gonger at 250 yards - gifted to me)

Other odd lots gifted to me and loads not marked

Looking at the dates of the loads, most are over 20 years old. Should be fun emptying some of the brass but I probably won't be loading anything for this gun in the near future.


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## hassell (Feb 9, 2010)

Haven't used the 300 since I moved South, 06 takes care of anything around here including elk, when I went to 165 spbt using 4831 for the 06 & 300 everything dropped right there including the big northern moose, very happy with that combo..


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## kiyote (Jun 15, 2014)

that gun is almost to purdy to take from the safe. :thumbsup:


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## glenway (Mar 27, 2011)

Thanks, Kiyote, but it's definitely a user. Not worried about a scratch here and there and hopefully the myriad layers of clear coat will protect the underlying paint. A few friends want to do some shooting, because we didn't have my Fourth of July shoot this year. Too dang hot to have fun. I'm itching to dial it in with something.

It's been a good shooter over the years. I was behind the scope and lined up on a groundhog with it in West Virginia and had already popped a few when my pal, Steve McComas, began singing this bluegrass tune:

Down in the wildwoood sitting on a log;

Finger on the trigger and eye on a hog;

_Pulled the trigger and the gun said go;_

_And, thar hog flew over to Mexico..._*Salty Dog Blues*

I'll never forget when Steve broke out a belly laugh watching over my shoulder with his binos on a 200+ yard shot that took a hog from the top of a log pile and sent it airborne to hog heaven. We had finished a good hunt and Steve took me to one of his gathering places (restaurant) where his friends would meet to chew the fat. He introduced me to the ol' boys this way, as he pointed his finger at me: *300 Win Mag, 110-grain V-Max, 3775 feet per second.* No name. That was it. And, when we sat down with the group, I felt like one of the boys. They all spoke guns. Sure miss the ol' boy.


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## youngdon (Mar 10, 2010)

Good memories with good friends. They’re hard to beat.


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