Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting 325 WSM or 338 WM?

Brad, well you nailed that. The 338 would be a better choice. Ammo selection and availability.

The 338 Winchester Mag. has been provin a winner.
No contest for me. YMMV.

HD

One of the mao reasons to use a WSM is for the rifle wrapped around it- like a Montana or my BLR. When you can get WSM performance from a light short handy rifle, you've got sumptin'.

If you DON'T get the lighter shorter handier rifle you are left with a little less power, and a little less recoil than the 338 WM. I would agree that's probably not enough reason to get me to choose the .325 over the excellent 338wm.

Jeff,
Exactly.
The big reason I own that 325WSM is the Kimber Montana.

Jeff, the point of the thread is the man is going to build on a left-hand Model 70... talk of Kimber Montana's is pointless. I've had WSM's chambered in the M70... they leave a bit to be desired for me.

An M70 338 WM and elk go together like peas and carrots IMO.

Whoops, Brad.
I made the same mistake...
Should have read the original post closer.

Is your SA M70 a WSM action or standard (308 Win) action?

If it's for the 308 Win, it'd be a big mistake trying to adapt it to the WSM. If it's a WSM action I'd recommend building a 350 RM on it rather than a WSM.

They are both great choices. If I didn't have a 338 Win Mag I would have a 325 WSM.

Or of course you could just do a 338 WSM...grin

Dober

I am afraid that I may end up with two projects or even three.
If Kimber made a Left hand action I would be done with it.

Now I am leaning towards a 270/325 WSM switch barrel Edge stocked light weight and a classic wood stocked 338 but not too fancy to hunt with. Also considering two configurations for the 375, a wood stocked African and synthetic Alaskan iterations, guess that makes four projects.

I am still wandering is if the 325 a real step up from a 300 WM? And if there is too much overlap between a 338 and a 375?

I love ballistic onanism.

My personal opinion is that no, a 325 is not much of a step up from a 300 WM. They drive equal- weight bullets to essentially identical speeds. Obviously the 8 mm bullet is a little fatter, but in term of SD and BC, that has it's disadvantages too.

The point of a WSM really is the rifle around it, as Brad points out...

If you;'re still wrestling with this one I can help you out, no the 325 is not in any way a step up from the 300. What one will do the other will...

And for the most part the same can be said about the 338 vs 375 as well.

Dober

What Mark said. If you want .338 performance, why get a faux .338? Get the real thing.

Though in general I have found the .338 WM itself kills quicker with lighter bullets of around 200 grains, which make it a sort of faux .300 magnum....

Mule Deer

Like you and I have cussed and discussed b4 any of the 338's (338/06thru the 340) with the 200 NBT is one heck of a quick and capable killer!

Dober

Yes, indeed! I also just got word that Nosler is bringing out another plastic-tipped 200-grain .338. Guess what model?

You da man! Me thinks though however tween you and me we most likely have more of them stuck away than they can make...grin

Dober

(unless you mean the Part with a plastic on it...?

MD, some months ago an industry insider told me that Nosler was fast-tracking an 8mm e-tip... Since they chamber their rifle in it... Have you heard any recent news about that?

Not that the 8mm Accubond has given me Reason One to cheat on it <grin>...

Nothing like that has appeared on the radar recently....

Why did Winchester do the 8mm instead of the 338 short mag? I remember reading something about it when the 325 came out but it escapes me.

Pretty darn sure it had to do with an extreme case of cranial anal summersion....isn't this the compact this went boobs up anyway. So much for their thought process...grin

Dober

And course they did the 25 WSSM instead of the WSM modle, oh yeah real smart guyz!

Dober