After just a few years, shooters had several options for a .30-caliber magnum. Of course, if the available options include a wildcat, a foreign cartridge not chambered in any domestic rifle, or the new .30-caliber magnum that was being offered in the rifleman's rifle, the choice is obvious. The .300 Win. Mag. remains one of the most popular cartridges of American hunters.

It's worth noting that the case capacities of the .300 H&H, .30-338, .308 NM, and the .300 Win. Mag. are approximately 80, 79, 81, and 83 grains of water, respectively. Loaded to equal pressures and with the same bullet and chambered in comparable rifles, there's not a dime's worth of difference among them. Different barrel lengths and chamber/barrel dimensional tolerances can affect muzzle velocities much more than a grain or two of propellant.

The Combo At The Range
I fired nearly 500 rounds while preparing this review. The accompanying chart does not include several test loads comprised of components that are obsolete, discontinued, or otherwise unavailable. As more and more rounds were assembled and fired, the data clearly indicated the vintage rifle could deliver solid, 1.5-MOA hunting accuracy.

The first four rounds I fired were the remnant of an old box of factory ammo, and my chronograph recorded the 180-grain Dual Core bullets at 3,163 fps average velocity. Then I fired a five-shot group of Nosler ammo. Although velocity was indicated to be 2,975 fps, the ammo averaged nearly 200 fps less.

I fired three-round groups of four additional Norma factory loads, including a fresh box loaded with 180-grain Oryx bullets. They all averaged 2,918 fps--about 250 fps less than those first four factory Norma rounds. The extended freebore was serving its purpose quite well, limiting chamber pressures.

Then it was time to check out some handloads.

As you can see in the chart, relatively slow-burn-rate propellants are best suited for reloading the .308 NM. Either IMR or Hodgdon 4350 are the fastest recommended propellants, and the maximum charges of the slowest propellants exhibit nearly 100 percent load density with several bullets even seated out to slightly longer than 3.5 inches COL. The data indicates how easy it is to duplicate .30-06 ballistics if the quarry and terrain do not require magnum power. At speeds faster than 2,700 fps, Remington Core-Lokts and Winchester Power-Points delivered the best accuracy of the handloads tested.

One disturbing trend occurred at least 40 percent of the time. I would usually begin each session by firing 10 rounds slowly, and then I would set the rifle aside to cool. Then I would fire another five-shot group before setting it aside to cool again. The first bullet from a cold or cooled-down barrel would usually strike near the point of aim. However, three or sometimes all four of the remaining bullets would group close together but 1.5 inches or so from the first one. Most of the second five-shot strings from a warm barrel would often group with no apparent flyer. It probably is caused by how the barreled action is bedded, but the rifle shoots good enough, and I'm not about to mess with Biesen's stock.

All of my test loads used 180-grain bullets with one exception. I had heard that Berger was marketing its VLD Match bullets for hunting, so I ordered some 185-grain samples and assembled a box of test loads based on my previous range results and recommended load data for Lapua's MEGA bullet. The final group for record measured 2 inches. However, the last four Berger bullets fired in that five-shot string--from a cool barrel--grouped under a half-inch but low and left away from the first one.

Okay. So it's not a tackdriver, and for all intents and purposes, the cartridge is strictly a handloading proposition. But working with this rifle/cartridge combo has been the most fun I've had for a very long time. It has become my go-to big-game hunting rifle, the one I will choose when the choice is up to me because of its aesthetic qualities, its history, and the shear joy it brings to me.