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

Thinkin a 375 Ruger would trip my trigger.

That 375 Ruger does look nice( as well as those two rifles Ruger chambers it in)

The 25-06 still needs to come first before any others.Can see some 100 TSX and a couple of deer tags for fall.

Can't forget the quarter-bore!

Yup might have to sell the 7?

ha!
I will believe that when I see it...

I have had two 375 Imp's, one 375 Wby, and a few 375 H&H's. After having those I gave up on the 338 Win/340 Wby of which I have had several (4 or 5). With 4895 or Varget or RL15 and 250 grain bullets, the 375's were much easier to handle than a heavy load of slow burning powder in the 338 bores. In addition the 375's flat crush game compared to the 338's. I sold all of the 338's. If you are going to get kicked more than a 277/284 class of rifle then the get some performance gain and go 375.

Mike: I think the 375 Ruger is the best new big game cartridge to come along in quite some time.With todays really good premiums running in the 235-250 gr weights(TSX/Aframe/Woodleighs, etc)moderate rifle weight and manageable recoil(for what you get),it would be a flexible,portable, powerful combination. Can't imagine anything better on a moose hunt in grizzly country.

With that and your STW,you can hunt the world!

Matter of fact,IIRC a guy named Warren Page did exactly that with a Mashburn and a 375 Weatherby(older versions of the same thing).Old Warren knew whereof he spoke.....

Have not tried .325WSM but have hunted elk for 30 years with .338. Have friends that use .340's and 375's. I will not hunt elk with anything but the .338 but this has more to do with the rifle - a Sako Finnbear. It, and a 210 gr Nosler Partition, has taken every elk I have shot. Performance is on a par with anything for elk. Plus, I am a traditionalist. If it works, I do not change. I do have a .300WSM and would not hesitate to use it for elk of i had to.

But, pick the caliber and rifle that you feel good about. Based on what I know about the .325, it should be more than adequate.

Wonder if Kimber will chamber a Montana in the .375 Ruger....

If I had a 338 Winchester, I'd keep it. If I was going to buy a new rifle, I'd probably go for the 325 WSM. Of course, the 338 is well established and will survive; the 325 is still relatively new and might not make the long-term line-up.

I already had a great .338, but I bought a .325 just to cement my position of King of Redundant Gunsafe Overlap.

Appearances and all that

I doubt .325 is a long term blockbuster hit. But 300 WSM seems to be. Come the Apocalypse, I'll just resize 300 WSM brass and rock on!

Ahem,
How about 325WSM, 338WM, and 340Wby??

Tim: You are bad.......

Thanks for the responses. Just put the 375 on a diet plan, with the help of a synthetic stock. Will keep the 325 lightweight project in mind for future gun safe overlap and redundancy.

Absolutely.

Thats my rig too except for bullet brand. I have found (for me anyway) the ideal rough country elk killer.

lodgepole, I forget, what bullet are you using?

My particular .325 Montana is brutally ruthless on steel plates out to 600 yards. Surprising to me that it holds up so well out that far, given how light it is- but it does really well.

Point being, I guess, that I see it as more than just a rough-country rifle. No flies on it, even for (say) a sedate stand hunt over a park with long shots possible.

I see very little except package to choose from. The Kimber 8400 with synthetic stock and 24 inch barrel weighs about 6 lb 3 oz. Add 13 ounces for scope and rings and you have a 7 lb rifle.
I have a .338 Win Mag in a Remington 700 KS Mountain rifle at 7.5 lbs, with scope and rings. The first load is a 200 grain Accubond at 2900 fps, BC of .477. I'm assuming a powder charge of 65 grains, using RL-15 at 2897 fps nominal for the 325 WSM. My choice of .338 Win Mags is a 225 grain AccuBond CT. I'll assume a load of 69.0 grains of 4350. Crunching the numbers the recoil is nearly identical at 39 ft-lbs for the Kimber and 40 ft-lb for the half pound heavier Remington. Recoil velocity is 19 fps and 18 fps respectively. If zeroed at 200 yards, the 325 WSM drops 39.9" at 500 yards and the 338 Win Mag drops 42.6", a difference of 2.7 inches. Some sources say five foot pounds is detectable to most shooters. If a person can pick their spot on a target within 2.7 inches, at 500 yards, then the difference could be significant. I keep my expectations more reasonable, 1.5 inches per hundred yards is super accuracy, over a back pack in a hurry. If a half pound of weight, one ft lb of recoil or 2.7 inches of drop are issues then the 325 WSM is the answer. Oh, by the way, velocity at 500 yards is within 20 fps, in favor of the 325 WSM and the energy difference is less than 200 ft-lb, in favor of the 338 Win Mag. The sectional density of a 200 grain .323 matches a 219 grain .338, so I chose a 225 grain as the most appropriate match, as the bullets are of the same construction. If you like the 325 Win Mag, buy a couple of hundred brass and some good bullets and shoot happily ever after. The inexpensive 8mm Mauser bullets are obviously the best choice for everyday shooting, saving the good stuff for the occasional hunting trip. I shoot 200 grain cup and core bullets for practice in .338, saving the Barnes TSX bullets for flesh and blood. A matched pair of .300 WSM and .338 WSM rifles would have possibilities. I'd go with a .300 Ruger (custom of course) and a .375 Ruger as my pair of anywhere rifles.

Carson, subjectively, recoil generated by my .325 Montana is noticeably less than my .338 Win M700 XCR. 200's in the former, 225's in the latter.

However, it is a sharper feeling recoil in the Kimber.

Both are very shootable once your numb yourself...err, get used to them. :-)

I finally had a chance to shoot my new 325wsm X-Bolt this weekend with factory Winchester 200gr Accubonds
So far so good.

She barks loud enough, but the bite was no worse than my 300 Win Mag.
Very accurate. After sighting in, she consistanly put them with in 2" groups at 200 yards.
Then after that we did some shooting off of sticks, knees, free hand, etc.
She performed just as I hoped.

In a couple weeks, we will stretch the yardages out a bit more and see how she does.