I've been thinking alot about buying this rifel.. Do any of you owen one if so how do you like it. Jave you ever killed a deer with it? how did it pafrom? these rifels are said to have a drop of less than 3in at 300 yds. and can esley take the largest of game at 500 yds. if any one had any input on this gun then lets hear it.

 

As far as input to the gun; which one do you plan to buy?

What are you going to be hunting with it, cape buffalo? Seriously if white tail is your target then a .300 Remington Ultra Mag is mucho overkill, it'd be like killing a fly with a 12 gauge. I use a Winchester model 70 in .243 Win and its does the job perfectly, on occasion it has even torn up more meat than I would have liked.

As for your ballistic information it is far from correct, a .300 RUM will strike the target 13 inches below the crosshairs if zeroed at 100 yards. A little more information on those ballistics; muzzle velocity is 2860 fps with a velocity of 2210 fps at 300 yards, muzzle energy is 4540 ftlbs with 2715 ftlbs at 300 yards (this information based on a Federal Premium 180 gr Trophy Bonded Bearclaw. Now compare this information to the ballistics for my little .243 (based on Federal Premium 80 gr Nosler ballistic tip); muzzle velocity 3400 fps and at 300 yards 2470 fps, muzzle energy 1795 ftlbs and at 300 yards 950 ftlbs, lastly if a rifle is zeroed at 100 yards the .243 will only drop 10 inches.

For whitetail hunting a .243 or 6mm will serve you fine just as long as you trust your shot placement possibly a better choice could be a .308 or 30/06, then there's always the venerable old 30/30. Possibly more deep have been dropped with a 30/30 than all other cartridges combined. If I can help you in any way just drop me an email, I make my living dealing with guns and ammo.

 

Everything muddhound said is true. For whitetail there are many rounds I would pick befor the 300RUM at anything less than 300yds. A few 243/6mm, 257Roberts, 25/06, 260, 270, 280, 7-08, 308, 30/06 well I could keep going but I will stop there.

I currently use a 45/70. I leave all my geegaw laser beam rifles at home. I perfer to get closer.

I also don't have any problem with someone getting and using a geegaw laser beam rifle. The 300RUM is as good as any else.

 

muddhound thanx for the info.
Ive taken deer with 12ga slug, 35remington, 3030, 50cal muzzel loader, and 270. All have done what they were suposed to do but were all guility of not waiting for that perfict shot and if you dont hit the deer perfict with the lesser calibers you might be in for a tracking job or might even loose the winters meat. What i was wanting was something that will drop em in their track's. not saying you havent droped deer in their tracks with your 243 I'm also thinking of buying my dads and see'ing how it peforms on deer. Can you tell me how yours does? I like to shoot them in the neck if I can to save meat and was wondering what the out come is when you do it with a 243. thanx for any info.
P.S I got the ballistic info on remington's web site.

 

Tommyboy, the ballistics I quoted are from Federal so I trust them to be true as they are not in the market of selling the new "trick rifles".

As to how a .243 Win does with a neck shot, I'm not sure. I generally aim for the shoulder or a heart/ lung shot. I use a 95 gr Winchester ballistic silvertip and if you strike a shoulder the bullet ain't coming out, it fragments and shreds the heart and lungs as well as crippling the animal so that it can't run. A pure heart/ lung shot will basically turn the heart to Jello and exit with about a 3.5" wound, some drop right there others will run 20 or 30 yards, its all depending on the animal. You see it really doesn't matter what you shoot the animal with be it a cannon or a pea shooter if you don't cripple it, brain shoot it, or sever it's spinal cord it has the ability to run even if the heart is pulverized, the animal's body will be able to function on the oxygenated blood that is currently in place throughout its system even if the heart isn't beating.

With one of those .300RUM or other BIG game calibers you will destroy massive amounts of meat by anything other than a through and through heart shot. If that bullet strikes a bone or dense muscle it will mushroom or fragment and do unbelievable damage in areas the bullet doesn't even come near just because of the energy it is transferring to the animal. (Have you ever seen bloodshot meat? Its nasty!) Unless you are trophy hunting shot placement is critical, possibly moreso with a magnum do to meat destruction.

If you want an easy to handle, light, hard hitting rifle for medium and large game (I consider white tail and black bear medium) I'd recommend a Remington model 7 chambered in .308 or 7mm/08. The model 7 is one of the handiest most ergonomic rifles out there and coupled with the power of either of those rounds its an unbeatable deer gun. However if you trust your marksmanship a little more I would definitely go with a 243 in the same gun, the .243 is damn near a lazer gun due to it's high velocity and flat trajectory but it doesn't cut brush well due to its light projectile.

Whatever you get I would advice you to look long and hard at the short actions, they handle better and just make for a more natural feeling weapon.

 

Hunted for several years with the 7mm rem mag, and have found that if the deer are hit in the wrong place then you got a long trail job, and if you use the lighter bullets, and get a close shot the bullet will blow up and not even exit, used factrory 140 grain, 150 grain balistic tip, and 139 grain sst at 3100 fps yes the deer is still dead but you would expect the bullet to exit at 50 yards when the same load will blow a 5" diameter hole on exit at 250 + yards. I am looking to go to a .308 or 30-06 in a bolt action with the barrell cut down to carbine length, so much lighter and handy for shots out to 250 yards. My hunting buddy bought a 300 win Mag Weatherby Rifle and since that purchase he has killed more deer with a .444 marlin with shots less than 100 yards. The only use for the 300 mag is for long shots that very few people can hit reliably at 300+ yards. Good luck with your decision.

 

muddhound
Can you tell me the differnce in a long action and short action rifel? Will a short action rifel have the same balisitics as a long action rifel in the same cal? does short action ammo cost more? Also I'm starting to look at the 7mm-08 can you give me any info on this cal gun?

 

OK, short action vs. long action

The term short action refers to the distance the bolt has to travel to chamber a round. Take a 30/06 and .308 for example, nearly identical ballistics however the 30/06 is a long action and the .308 is short. The .308 uses almost an identical powder charge and does use the same slug as the 30/06 however the .308's case is shorter and fatter allowing it to chamber in a rifle with a short bolt throw. Short action calibers can be found in long action guns but long action calibers can bot be made to work in a short action. Actually the .308 is the military offspring of the old military 30/06, it was designed to fire more reliably in automatics by shortening their actions and bolt travel.

The 7mm/08 is basically a .308 case necked down to accept a 7mm slug, where a .243 is a .308 necked down to 6mm, and a 22/250 is a .308 necked down to .22. The 7mm/08 is a flatter shooting cartridge but it doesn't hit as hard as the .308. Each time you drop the caliber with the same case you get a flatter trajectory but less energy.

Hey if you want I'll PM you my phone number and I'll try to describe this stuff to ya by phone so you can ask all the questions you want, I can even give you some prices for your gun options.

 

thanx for the offer but I'm still liveing at home and my parents dont like me makeing lond distance calls.
I have another queastion. where I live in eastren K.Y they releast elk a few years back so I'm looking for a gun that wont ruin to much meat on deer but will still take down a large elk. What would you sugest now? Sorry I dident metion that befor.

 

For elk and white tail I'd choose the .308, it seems to have the best balance of power and trajectory. The .308 will provide plenty of stopping power for white tails and will be adequate for taking down a bull elk. You could also fall back on a .300 Winchester short magnum but that is a hot cartridge and would have the same effect as other magnums on smaller game like white tail.

I don't know what your budget is like but considering you mentioned the Ultra I'm going to guess you've been saving your pennies for a while. A nice laminated stock Remington model 7 in .308 can be had for between five and six hundred dollars, you can also pick up an ArmaLite AR10 .308 that guarantees 1 MOA accuracy for between eleven hundred fifty and thirteen hundred dollars. You have options out there in every price range but those are my two rifles of choice with the ArmaLite being my first choice due to it's accuracy and it being an autoloader.