Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters The short magnums confusion

Jim,

How is the recoil on the Montana?

Wow, that gun is close in weight to the Sako Finnlight.

I really look to the guys on this site for guidance and appreciate the input.

I think I want to go at least 06 and more likel a 7mm or .300wsm in case I go west.

Of corse, I can always buy another gun!

Buy yourself a 30-06 and go kill a moose

350 Remington Magnum

........The original short mag

Ridiculous.

If a guy wants to use factory ammo, it's out there. Not hard to find. If handloading, .300WSM brass is a simple pass through the sizing die from being 7WSM brass...

I should have added that I'm a small man 5'6" and 160 lbs. I believe the Kimber Montana is about the same weight as the Finlight and I was comfortable shooting it and sure was glad it wasn't heavier to carry. You will do far more walking and carrying then shooting.

You don't reload so consider this: Barnes VOR-TX Ammunition 300 Winchester Short Magnum (WSM) 165 Grain Tipped Triple-Shock X Bullet leaves the barrel at 3130fps! WOW! What a mighty Moose Masher!

If I didn't reload this would be my 300WSM huckleberry.

Happy Hunting.
Jim

i'd steer clear of some of them but the 300 wsm is a winner. i always wanted them to come out with a 350 wsm but 35's ain't sexy enough for some folks.

If you're still thinking about a Sako 85 Finnlight do yourself a favor and do a google search on "Sako ejection problems". Lots of folks have experienced problems. Especially with 06 length cartridges. A friend of mine bought a Sako Finnlight in 7mm Mag. and had problems with the ejected rounds hitting the scope and dropping back into the action. He wound up selling the gun at a loss.

A properly executed short mag is a fantastic rifle. Kimber did it right. Remington did not; as delivered from Big Green they are hurtin' in terms of COAL and in feeding smoothly. Dunno about others as that's all I've owned.

I love short actions. Love them. Far prefer to a long action. The short mags give about the maximum performance you're going to get from a short action. If that lights your candle (it does mine!) then there ya go. Otherwise, buy a damn 30-06.

I have a 270 and a 300 WSM. The recoil is less than a 270 wby or a 300 Win mag with the same bullets loaded in each rifle. You could do worse than a short mag. I'm thinking about a 6.5 WSM. I guess it would be like a 264 Win mag in performance. Anyone have one?

Hanco, Smokepoke has a 6.5 WSM.

The hot short-mag 6.5 is the 6.5 SAUM aka 6.5 GAP 4s. Google it and settle in.

My 6.5 GAP will be done in a few weeks. Pretty pumped.

Here's an opinion, that is therefore wide open for the slaughter <g>. A properly-implemented Rem 700 SA WSM is one of the finest rifles you can build. Period. A huge key to proper implementation is to either run a DBM setup (like the GAP Extreme Hunter I'm copying for my build) or else an extended, single-stack magazine like the Wyatt's setup. In either case you fix the big reasons NOT to own a M700 WSM: feeding*, and COAL restrictions.

*the 270 WSM donor I built into the rifle below (7 WSM) literally would not feed 270 WSM ammo, and a 2.82" COAL is too damn short to get WSM's or SAUM's humming)



But given all the advantages of a short action it's totally worth the effort.

No matter what it's shot with, the moose will do its moosey thing if hit in the chest. Stand there and look pained, and then topple.

Although some have taken long shots, my friend and I shot every Newfie moose at less than 100 yards.

There's nothing functionally wrong with a short mag of any flavor. The problem lies with factory support of them, the same which can be said of the RUM's. Eight years of Obama have taught me that if I'm going to get another rifle it's going to be something with multiple brass suppliers in a common chambering. For a 30 caliber magnum that would mean a 300 win mag for me. I just got really tired of having to go months or years before components became available. I can't imagine how all the guys shooting the remington ultra mags feel, remington has basically disowned them. The WSM's aren't as poorly supported, but the last eight years have shown that ammo and component supplies can't be counted on when you get an anti gun administration in the White House. Right now things are getting better with Trump in there, but another let another hard core leftist like Obama get elected and we'll be right back at it.

IMO the best of the short-fats was the 7mm SAUM. It had an adequate neck length, something sorely lacking in the WSM rounds.

That said, I love my Kimber MT 325 WSM for larger critters. It's thumped two elk DRT and will be my plains game gun if I manage to get back to Africa again.

I also like the way my Mdl 70 Classic FW in 270 WSM shoots, but its a bit too heavy to hold up with my left arm now, so I'll be selling it and only for that reason. My lighter HVA 7mm AI still fills that niche.

Somehow the Montana stock makes the 300 WSM recoil very tolerable.

Light, 7lb 4oz with 2.5-8 Leupold, pretty compact package, shoulder nicely, easily adjustable trigger, great stock, usually great shooters out of the box not a bad way to go. Many have, just ask bigwhoop, he alone probably had a dozen! Says a member(twice) of the bigwhoop hand me down club!

They may have been steering you away from the Sako rather than a short mag.

What you shoot an animal with is almost the least important factor I think.

If you want light, and a short mag, the Kimber Montana is pretty sweet and in .300WSM it's not only capable but versatile and should not be hard to buy ammo for if need be.

For the record I don't have any WSM's, not because they a poor choice but I bought plenty of others before they came out and see no reason to switch.

I've got the 270 and 7mm WSM. Had a 300. All three of them were easy to load for and easily attained book speeds without murdering casss. Even with the 7mm WSM supposedly being dead I can go into my local Gander Mountain or other sporting goods shops and find 2-4 different 7mm WSM loads. I'm betting I could get by with them if I had too.

If someone feels the need for something more potent than 308 then the 300 WSM is an excellent choice. I've had the bigger belted magnums and wouldn't want one anymore. The 300WSM handily beats 30-06 speeds and comes close enough to 300 WM to not matter. But with enough less recoil to notice and it can be had in a more compact lighter package.

I have one and I like the round. That said anymore I'm starting to think of my 308 as a BIG gun.

I have 5 short mags. All Remington M700. (2)7 Saums, 300 Saum, 270 WSM, 300 WSM. If Remington chambered one in 7 WSM I would have it too. No problem feeding them. 3 are custom.

I have a .270 WSM and have been very pleased with it. It shoots factory ammo very well and has proven easy to load for. I liked the rifle and it just happened to be chambered in this cartridge. I wouldn't change a thing, and I like the gun and cartridge the more I shoot it.