Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Pros and cons of the 325 wsm What’s your take ?

Thinking about trying one What rifle would you recommend ???

I have owned two different rifles chambered for the 325 WSM. A Kimber Montana, and Nosler M48 Custom Sporter.

I mainly shoot pigs and deer, and for those critters the 325 WSM is a thumper.

The Kimber followed someone else home. The Nosler I still have.

If I could find a Browning High Wall in 325 WSM, reasonable, I would jump on it.



I loaded 180 Gr. Ballistic Tips in the Montana.



For several years the Nosler M48 was my go to Pig Thumper.



The 200 Gr. Accubonds work well in the M48.

Ya!

GWB

The great thing about the 325 is that a few years back so-chambered M70s no one wanted were dirt cheap. They turn into really nice 7 Whizzums, or will when I get around to it. The con to it would be it's easily one of the dumbest cartridges ever introduced. Seriously, what was the thinking here? "Let's put something out that does nothing the 300 WSM won't do, only with more limited bullet selection.", was meant to be a funny make-'em-up around the office, wasn't it?

I have 325's in the Kimber Montana's & New Haven M70 stainless Classics. I have only shot the Kimbers at paper and the M70's are unfired by me. The 200 grain TSX is the bullet of my choice. So far I have only shot the DoubleTap factory loads. I have to put together some hand-loads soon.

I like both types of rifles. Particularly one of each that I had the barrels cut to 22-1/4 & 22-1/2".

The Kimber Montana is definitely lighter weight. It would likely be my choice if I were doing lots of walking.

Was just shooting my Browning white gold medallion in 325 the other day. Absolutely love that rifle. Most accurate big game rifle I own. Luckily I stock piled ammo for it when it was only about 57 bucks a box. Had same rifle in 300 WSM. Sold it because 325s are rarer and didnt need em both.

With handloads the 300 WSM shoots the same bullet weights to the same speed. The 300 shoots flatter, hits harder, recoils less, and is likely more accurate. The difference in bullet diameter is .015". That is about 1/4 the thickness of a dime. The 300 out thumps the 325.

That's not to say the 325 won't kill the same game just as dead. But I can't think of a single reason to spend money on one.

When you make comments like this everything else you say now sounds like superlative bullshit.

I know what you mean. My 8mm Mauser trumps a .338 Win Mag.

Careful there JMR, there are people here that think .007" makes ALL the difference in the world!

Woodleigh still lists a 250gr 8mm bullet. That and the decent selection of 220gr bullets still gives the .325 a slight edge over comparable .300's for bigger game.

I'm not a fan of the reduced magazine capacity of the fat magnums but if I found a nice .325wsm I'd probably try to buy it.

The .325 WSM is a fine cartridge, IMHO. Unfortunately, .325" is a bit of an oddball diameter in North America, not to mention the .338 Win Mag enjoys widespread popularity for folks wanting more than a .30 caliber, and so the .325 WSM never caught on the States. But, that doesn't mean there is anything wrong with the ballistics of the .325 WSM.

The .325 WSM's main advantages over the .300 WSM is for shooting bullets in the 200gn-and-above weight class, and for shooting the less-dense all-copper bullets (which, again, are long for their weight), both due to less intrusion by the bullet into the case. Meaning, the advantages of the .325 WSM only matter on bigger game, which most North Americans will never hunt, anyway. And, while the slight increase in diameter is indeed a benefit, it is usually not enough in the minds of most folks to tip the scales in favor of the .325 WSM over the highly effective and ubiquitous .300 WSM and other .30 cal magnums. I am not saying the .325WSM won't shoot the 180gn bullets well, it is just that the advantages of the .325 WSM disappear in the lighter bullets.

JMHO

It does if you're a .284 diameter fan.

My Kimber Classic 325 WSM recently became a 7 SAUM. Nothing wrong with the 325, but I like the rifle more better with the new tube...

I got one of the M70’s off of CDNN for 500-600 bucks when they were blowing them out.

Didn’t need it at all but it shoots really well with 180 BTs and 200 ABs. Always figured I’d try the 220 Sierra or 220 Swifts one of these days.

It’s not a barn burner by any stretch but I would think it’d hunt just like 75 other cartridges in the same class.

I almost bought a like new Winchester model 70 extreme weather last year for $600. It sat on the shelf for more than a month, so that tells me the "con" to having one is resale. Pro would have been it was a great deal, for someone like many of us here that load their own. The other con is it's an 8mm. Now that I think about it, I wish I would have bought the damn thing because I pulled about 250 8mm bullets out of some loaded military ammo about 10 months ago!!!!


That EW would have slung these just fine..

I would’ve caved on a 600 buck EW in about any cartridge.

I picked up one sitting in a McMillan for dirt cheap. I bought it to convert to a PRC one day. It shoots pretty good and I have killed a couple deer with it.

I have several 8mm already so have several bullet options.

Yep, I should have bought it. The reason it was so low was because of the cartridge it was chambered in.

I'm a fan of pretty much anything with a .32 bore. My .325's are a BAR ShortTrac and an 1885 single shot.

I agree.
I don't consider it too big nor too small for most North American game. Particularly at 300 yards and under distance.

I have cartridges than certainly have higher muzzle velocities and higher bullet bc's, but this short action 8mm is not too shabby.

I have pretty much given up on a back order of 220 A-Frames. I was curious to see if I could get close to the 2800 to 2860 fps loads that Swift shows. I have a pretty good on hand supply of 200 gr TSX's. I just need to load some.

If one likes 8mm's and short action combinations, they will like the 325. Otherwise not. But on its own merit, it is not a shabby cartridge. Certainly not lack of comparisons for it to large and smaller diameter cartridges.

Quoting IDmay375

“ If one likes 8mm's and short action combinations, they will like the 325. Otherwise not. But on its own merit, it is not a shabby cartridge. Certainly not lack of comparisons for it to large and smaller diameter cartridges. ”

Pretty much sums it up. I like the 8mm / .323 bullets which are in fact .015 “ larger than the .308.

I’ve killed more game with the .325 WSM than any other cartridge. Largest was an eland. I found it an easy cartridge to load for. In my experience I would stick to Nosler, Barnes and Swift for hunting bullets. The sierra and Hornady did not thrill me.

If you want one, go wild it’s a capable cartridge.

It has always sounded like a great cartridge, but seldom see ammo for it

I had a hunting buddy who loved the .325 WSM, his rifle was a Browing A-Bolt. He used it for damn near everything, I know mountain goat, moose, elk, mule deer, and wolf all fell to that rifle. He also used the .270 WSM a lot in another A-Bolt rifle.

He passed on a few years ago, his nephews got the rifles. I hope I get to see one of them use it someday on a hunt for, Uncle Rick's rifles deserve to be used.

Great cartridge! Good for elk and moose out to 600yards. A 220 grain 8mm projectile moving
2700 fps. from the muzzle is a thumper.

The differences are extremely negligible due to the fact they virtually have the same performance-lol.
I got say, I’m a gun guy, but reading some comments on these forums sometimes makes one think they don’t want to be bundled in with some of these knuckleheads. Who knows, maybe they are just trying to sound smart. Or maybe get a life. Lol

I have 2 friends that have them and have done a fair amount of handloading for their rifles. Pretty effective round. Better than some others? Maybe not but works well for big game. One friend took a large brown bear in Russia and the other a couple of dandy bull elk. Pretty much a handloading deal though.

No doubt about it.

I like mine the only cons I can think of is it's a bit much for tiny game and is a handloading proposition. Other than that my limited experience is that it has been great for anything I want to get steaks from. As boons permit I intend to acquire a few more rifles in the chambering while they are still available.

Projectile support is adequate though haven't seen Nosler accubonds much. Apparently Midway has the accubonds for $1.50 each so that's a pass for me, makes me wonder if that is old stock. Hornady has pushed out SST's which should be great for medium game when loaded to hot-mauser power. Then there are the good ol' standby C&Cs.

It looks good on paper. I know a guy who deer hunts with one and loves it. I would imagine ammo and components aren't plentiful. Seems like an answer to a question nobody asked.