Winchester engineers, at least, thought the 8mm bore had the advantage over the 338 in the shorter round...the sales team not as much.
I've always found the 8mm to be effective enough...my enthusiasm for the 325 is moderated somewhat by not seeing any real advantage in the field over the 30 cal, and is easily trumped by the enormous number of bullet choices for the latter.
So as long as you can get your hands on the better quality bullets you want to use, the 325 WSM will do exactly what you are asking.
I have a 300 WSM...it hits just as hard up close and is much better at long range with softer recoil...and more great bullet choices than I would want to test.
But then a few of my friends who have built custom long range rifles around the 270 WSM say the same thing about the advantages their 270s have over my 300.
With the expensive semi-custom bullets they are using they do have a point, and their longer barrels can send that little 130 GMX out at 3500fps if they want to emphasize it.
There's plenty of horsepower on tap with any of the WSMs... I think the performance you end up with is more about the bullet you choose and where you put it.
Hitting something hard out to 300 yards, or meters as you put it, can be done with a cast bullet from a 45-70 with irons, at least until they take your lever actions away.
