300 WSM Barrel Length Help

[Japes4]

Looking for some advise on barrel length for a Tikka 300 WSM. It’s going in next week to get threaded and will have a muzzle brake put on until I get a suppressor. Factory length is 24”, but I contemplated having the gunsmith cut it to 22” before threading. My thought is losing 2” will help with the length of rifle when suppressor is on and provide a bit more of a shoulder. Is there any reason this is a bad idea? Right now I shoot 168 TTSX @ 3050 FPS...I know I’ll lose small bit of velocity, but wondering if there is any other downsides?


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[Lawnboi]

Do you have the suppressor purchased already? If so check any barrel length restrictions on the can.

 

[Sadler]

My TBAC ultra 7 has a minimum barrel length of 18” for 300 WSM so that’s the length I went with. I won’t be setting velocity records with it but it’ll sure be nice packing around in the elk woods.

 

[Reburn]

Velocity loss is gonna be about the only downside. I went 20" on my switchlugs

 

[Japes4]

Thank you all for your input. I’ll tell the gunsmith to cut her down! I’m going with a Nomad 30, which doesn’t have a barrel restriction. I figure I’ll lose 80-100 FPS, but can def live with that. Don’t plan on shooting past 500 for now...need some more trigger time before I’m ready for that.


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[B23]

Stranger things have happened but I'd be very surprised if you lost more than maybe 75fps at the most going from 24 to 22.

Compared to many of the larger capacity 30's the 300 WSM is one of those Goldilocks size cases that doesn't need a whole lot of barrel length or it's just throwing it out the end.

A mid length action setup a 22-ish give or take length barrel and I think the 300 WSM is one of the best North America Hunting one gun do all cartridges out there.

 

[Japes4]

That would be great! I’ll def run it over the chronograph to find out for sure. I def have come to fully enjoy this cartridge and see myself using it for a long time.

 

[madcalfe]

im currently doing a custom build .300wsm and went with a 20" proof barrel and im in canada so cant run a suppressor. you wont loose much velocity going from 24 to 22. maybe 50fps but that can be made up with handloading

 

[SDHNTR]

My .300 wsm has a 22” bbl with a brake. I’m still getting 3000+ with 181 gr Hammers.

 

[madcalfe]

My .300 wsm has a 22” bbl with a brake. I’m still getting 3000+ with 181 gr Hammers.

what loads are you using to get that?

 

[SDHNTR]

Off memory, 63 gr of H100V

 

[madcalfe]

sounds good, I've always been interested in trying that powder out but its like finding a unicorn here.

 

[308ghost]

Looking for some advise on barrel length for a Tikka 300 WSM. It’s going in next week to get threaded and will have a muzzle brake put on until I get a suppressor. Factory length is 24”, but I contemplated having the gunsmith cut it to 22” before threading. My thought is losing 2” will help with the length of rifle when suppressor is on and provide a bit more of a shoulder. Is there any reason this is a bad idea? Right now I shoot 168 TTSX @ 3050 FPS...I know I’ll lose small bit of velocity, but wondering if there is any other downsides?


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Hello there I hope my results help you. First I hand load so I can kinda tweak things. I have a factory tikka super lite I had cut and threaded just in front of the flutes. I think it’s just over 21”. I lost about 85 FPS with my 168 Ablr load by dropping 3”. It makes a huge difference with a suppressed rifle. I would have gone 20” but the flutes were in the way. I have more room in the case and way more room before pressure so I feel confident I can get my velocity back up to 3050 were my node was. With the 24” barrel I had this bullet going 3200 FPS before pressure. So again I think 3050 is totally achievable once I add a little more RL16. The Berger 185 classic hunters were effected less by the change. I only dropped a fraction and added .1 to my load for a 3000 FPS suppressed monster. This bullet and load seam to be a consistent 3 shot 4” or less group at 600 yards. The 168’s ablrs are about the same but flatter with less energy. I also have a 1 moa load with 190 ablrs at 2900 FPS but I’m done trying to make this one better. The other two cover me to 800 yards and in on anything with four legs. I slapped a loopy mark 5 3.6-18 on it. Fun caliber to load for so far. Cut it at 20” if your suppresser is rated for 20”.

 

[Japes4]

Hello there I hope my results help you. First I hand load so I can kinda tweak things. I have a factory tikka super lite I had cut and threaded just in front of the flutes. I think it’s just over 21”. I lost about 85 FPS with my 168 Ablr load by dropping 3”. It makes a huge difference with a suppressed rifle. I would have gone 20” but the flutes were in the way. I have more room in the case and way more room before pressure so I feel confident I can get my velocity back up to 3050 were my node was. With the 24” barrel I had this bullet going 3200 FPS before pressure. So again I think 3050 is totally achievable once I add a little more RL16. The Berger 185 classic hunters were effected less by the change. I only dropped a fraction and added .1 to my load for a 3000 FPS suppressed monster. This bullet and load seam to be a consistent 3 shot 4” or less group at 600 yards. The 168’s ablrs are about the same but flatter with less energy. I also have a 1 moa load with 190 ablrs at 2900 FPS but I’m done trying to make this one better. The other two cover me to 800 yards and in on anything with four legs. I slapped a loopy mark 5 3.6-18 on it. Fun caliber to load for so far. Cut it at 20” if your suppresser is rated for 20”.
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This is absolutely perfect! Thank you for your insight here. I am taking gun in today for the work and will be telling him to cut some length.


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[Prairiekid]

I would be curious to hear your findings when you get the rifle back. I have a t3 that was cut to 19.5” by the previous owner. With 180gr Accubonds it kicks. I don’t have a brake though as I can’t still hunt with a brake. For me it’s actually less the kick and more the way it twists when you shoot it off hand.

 

[308ghost]

This is absolutely perfect! Thank you for your insight here. I am taking gun in today for the work and will be telling him to cut some length.


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Sure! Glad I could give some input on my experiences. If you have any other related questions I may be able to help. Cheers.

 

[tonechaser88]

I’m running a 20” with a side port brake. 212 eldx were going 2725 FPS. Pretty impressive for a short barrel. I mean I think I’d go 19” without hesitation.

 

[KG406]

For me a 22-23" barreled 300WSM is the perfect mountain hunting setup. It took me way too many rifles to finally figure this out. I don't use a suppressor though, if I did I would be wanting to cut it down closer to 20".

 

[gilby]

Hello there I hope my results help you. First I hand load so I can kinda tweak things. I have a factory tikka super lite I had cut and threaded just in front of the flutes. I think it’s just over 21”. I lost about 85 FPS with my 168 Ablr load by dropping 3”. It makes a huge difference with a suppressed rifle. I would have gone 20” but the flutes were in the way. I have more room in the case and way more room before pressure so I feel confident I can get my velocity back up to 3050 were my node was. With the 24” barrel I had this bullet going 3200 FPS before pressure. So again I think 3050 is totally achievable once I add a little more RL16. The Berger 185 classic hunters were effected less by the change. I only dropped a fraction and added .1 to my load for a 3000 FPS suppressed monster. This bullet and load seam to be a consistent 3 shot 4” or less group at 600 yards. The 168’s ablrs are about the same but flatter with less energy. I also have a 1 moa load with 190 ablrs at 2900 FPS but I’m done trying to make this one better. The other two cover me to 800 yards and in on anything with four legs. I slapped a loopy mark 5 3.6-18 on it. Fun caliber to load for so far. Cut it at 20” if your suppresser is rated for 20”.
View attachment 265034View attachment 265035View attachment 265036

Great looking rifle setup. I am looking at purchasing a 300wsm superlite when it becomes available and shortening and threading the barrel for a TBAC 7.

What COAL are you using to get that velocity?

 

[308ghost]

Great looking rifle setup. I am looking at purchasing a 300wsm superlite when it becomes available and shortening and threading the barrel for a TBAC 7.

What COAL are you using to get that velocity?

Thank you! I actually just swapped out the scope for a vortex razor LHT. Fits the hunting rifle better imo but I friggin love that mark 5. I’m not really sure what load your asking about because there is 3 different ones. I’m also not measuring my seating depth by its COAL. I’m measuring BTO and seating each bullet twice based on that measurement. So far the 168 ABLR hasn’t needed any adjustments other than adding powder to regain velocity lost by chopping my barrel to 21”. I never needed seating depth test. Yesterday I went back out to the range with 168’s ablrs to see what I could. It was too accurate of a shooter before I cut my barrel ignore this bullet. My bottom charge was 63.8 so I loaded 6 there for 3 sighters and 3 to test for grouping. Didn’t know that was going to be one of my loads. I shoot my first shot and it’s just left of spot and close to my support stick holding the paper so I dial one click right. Noted on paper. .36 at 600 is just over 2 1/8 inch so I rounded down. I then shoot two more shots to complete the string and let my friend Jacob begin his ladder. My next string of three, I make no adjustments and shoot at the same spot with the bottom load to begin my group tests. Here’s what we ended up with from these two 3 shot strings, 6 shots total. The green dots are on the ipad and target cam system.
The red dots are Jacob’s ladder test. The green are the 168 ablrs. 5 of 6 in a AA! Pretty happy with that one. It’s 3065 fps. I have another one that’s 3175 but it’s not minute of battery. It’s shooting about 4.5”. I want to retest the upper node a little more but I’m damn impressed with tikka!!!!






I hope you find this information useful and usable. This is a very versatile caliber and has been pretty fun to load for. It’s the most interesting rifle I own and also most affordable.