Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Africa How Does the 300 WSM Rank for Plains Game?

This choice is strictly for monolithic bullets. With 100 percent weight retention the higher velocity trumps starting weight.

10 plus years ago a heavier bullet were needed to give expansion and retain half the weight, we all know how we'll that worked right? Even partitions did not retain 50% in most cases.

Starting with 165 and getting 400fps more speed flattens trajectories shortens muzzle to impact times and still retains far more then any cup and core bullet could ever manage.

I've shot bull eland over 2000 lbs. as a follow up with the165 grain bullet and found it under the skin on the opposite side, 6" from the hunters bullet using a 375hh shooting bonded bullets. I can't go into all the examples of similar performance. It is however a compelling level of experience seeing these little 165 grain TSX bullets getting the job done with astonishing performance.

I agree with jj on this. The 300wsn is n fast runner and to use this to the best effect mono's is the way. Something like tsx or GSCustom. I wont think twice to use the 300wsm with 150grn tsx on eland

At 250 yards or less, I don't think any animal hit with a well placed shot from a .30/06, .300 WSM or .300 Win Mag (given appropriate bullets) would be able to tell the difference. Over 250 yards, either magnum would shoot a bit flatter than the .30/06. That said, my longest shot was a Gold Medal Springbok, facing me, at 315 yards with a 180 grain bullet from a .30/06. Boom-plop.

Easiest body shot on a Giraffe is to maneuver into a position where the animal is facing you and shoot it dead center in the chest, just above the two bones that look like "breasts". I have killed three Giraffe, for camp and bait meat whilst cat hunting, all with a .416 Rigby. Since the Giraffe is large, big boned and thick skinned, I don't recommend anything less than a .375 with strongly constructed bullets.

Whin70, I know you didnt invent this term, still I think this term was invented by salesmen to make US hunters bound for africa think they are undergunned.

LT Dan:

By your post, I assume you have personally killed giraffe. If that is the case and you were present for the necropsy, you must have observed that the skin was at least an inch thick, the bones are quite large and a big stink bull can stand about 19 feet tall and weigh around 3,000 pounds. If that doesn't qualify as a large animal requiring at least a medium bore rifle firing a heavy, well constructed bullet, than nothing does.

I maintain that a well placed shot from a medium bore rifle (9.3x62, .375 or better) is the prudent minimum when shooting giraffe. Of course someone will point out that Bell killed elephants with a 7x57, but no one will recommend that as sound practice.

Giraffe indeed have chest skin that is many inches thick. So thick in fact that it's difficult to salt cure properly. It requires lacing the skin with deep penetrating slices to get the salt many inches to the hair follicles.

I would not consider anything less then a 338 with a monolithic bullet, and that would be marginal in my opinion for a direct chest shot. The 375HH I have used for chest shots did not over penetrate by any means, not even with 270 grain TSX bullets, or the 300 TSX bullets.

After some of those difficult to believe experiences, I determined that the 30/06 with surgical precision of a head shot was prudent. That decision with the 165 TSX was an instant kill without a single step. With a gun zeroed or adjustable to 100 yards, you have a kill shot about the size of a clay shotgun "pigeon". If you cannot hit that size target at one hundred yards........... well maybe golf or fishing is a better recreational endeavor.

Giraffe are horribly complex to follow up wounded. They leave a blood trail above your head in the leaves, and see you coming a mile away. They have big feet, and are very heavy. However those big wide soft hooves do not leave great tracks even in dirt. They are not hard like the hooves of other smaller antelopes like Kudu or wildebeest.

The last Giraffe I shot was under 100 meters but in that ball park. It was a giant of an old bull. It was killed with a single 165gr TSX bullet from the 30/06. The head behind the eye had a .308 entry hole, and there was no exit The TSX bullet to not come out of the skull on the exit side! The giraffe skull from an old calcified bulls noggin is quite thick and heavy.

I have never seen a Giraffe shot in the chest head on or broadside that fell at the shot. every one of them ran some distance. A few very short, with a staggering gait and stumbling to fall within 50 yards. The way a giraffe moves everything seems like slow motion. The inertia to move that mass and those long legs just defies the reality of how much ground they are actually covering. A running giraffe is covering 20 meters in a single stride with a body that looks as if it's hardly moving.

They can look down at your approach when wounded from distances that you cannot comprehend. They know you're coming from a significant distance and wander the bush never taking their eye off of you. Closing the gap to find a clear shooting lane in the trees is often a near impossible effort!

I don't think Dan was relaying the statement in his post the a chest shot giraffe. I believe that it was a more general term towards standard Plains game. At least that was as I read this?

Yip, thats about it. Like I have said in the past, why wont a good hunter from the USA, that knows and trust his 30-06 not be a good combo for the plains game over here?

Two reasons:

1) Because we've been told for decades (mostly by other American hunters)that African plains game is much tougher than North American big game. This hasn't been my experience, but it's a common belief over here.

2) They want a new "African" rifle.

Timber totally cracks me up and that's one of my African fantasy's....<g>

Hope alls well in your camp this holiday season JJ (and all others)

Dober

This is just me and I kind of imagine that for some reason or another others may not agree (shocker...grin) but to me the 300 wsm kind of ranks like this. It'll do with the 180's what the 06 will do with 165-8's. Point being that there's about 12-15 grains diff tween the two and for the most part they'll run at the same speeds (or close enough no one game will ever know the diff).

Brads old 70/06/Bansner rig (cepting for sans irons ;), but with a back up scope) was about the most model perfecto 06 I've ever had my hands on. And for me JB's NULA/06 was same same for me.

Just my thoughts, and all feel free not to concur with me...grin

Dober

I concur.....What was the question again???

I've owned a 300WSM and several 30-06's. The 300 WSM does everything the 06' does just a wee bit faster and harder. The 300 WSM IMO is about perfect with 180's and I wouldn't waste my time feeding/loading anything else for it. It's much like a 06' AI in a short action. As many have said it will do fine. Most important is you. Shoot it well and place the bullet appropriately and you'll be rather content with it's performance. Partition, bonded or mono and remember the engine room in Africa is a little north on animals compared to NA big game bringing in the shoulder into play. So, don't bother with the poly tipped stuff.

PK, I have shot an eland (880 kg)with a 160grTSX 7mm WSM. Mistake was hitting humerus and reducing the amount of internal damage. As it was the bull went about 90 yds and piled up. It did require a finishing shot. An inch further back and it would have been down much sooner. Gemsbok, and kudu required followup shots also due to operator errors. Impala, bushbuck and zebra were down for the count. We also had a 300 WSM w/ 168 TSX, which gave equally good results.

Took a 300WSM on my first trip to Africa. Worked pretty good on 13 plains animals. 180G Triple Shocks.

Seems like a 180 grain .30 caliber bullet at 3100 fps works the same wherever you use it. I like Partitions or A-Frames....

Hey, that's pretty cool. Congrats on your trophy's. I love my 300 wsm's, but feel they are just like others have said ("30-06 AI" on a short action). I'm sure those triple shocks did the trick just fine. Do you happen to know the velocity you are getting out of them and what rifle platform were you using?

Fully the equal to the .30-06.

I'd have to dissagree swampy. In my experience it doesn't feed quite as nicely as the good ol 06....Hate to pick nits but just how I see it...

There is that I just meant ballisticly.

When the 300WSM came out I had a plenty of hunters come over with it right away. The feeding was the most common issue. For what ever reason there seemed to be a greater double feed problem, and often having the tip of the bullet jam into the top of the chamber rather then into the barrel.

I saw this with several rifles and hunters. I began to ask the hunters arriving with the 300WSM if they had ever had this problem. The answer was typically no. However when hunting these same guys would have a problem and then claim I jinxed them!

I'm no gunsmith so I cannot speak as to why this happened exactly. However it became something I remembered happening with this cartridge. It reminded me of how many people used a push feed for a life time of hunting without a problem, until hunting with me in Alaska or Africa, and then having a shell not extract or a double feed jam.

There are most certainly huge differences in the use and function of rifles while targets and practice are done, and when actually using the action quick and "sloppy" on the hunt! During my career I have seen many rifles jammed tight with two rounds trying to get into the chamber at the same time. Oddly enough the same comment follows 100% of the time. " I've never had this happen before, what could have caused this"

The 300 WSM reminds me of this same situation, not so much over the last couple years, but more when they were first on the market. I'm not sure that anything was changed in the design, I simply believe that people are not using them as often.

I don't see them as frequently any longer. Far more 300 win mags and 30/06 even 300 ultra mags. There was time when the 300wsm was very popular with 3-4 hunters or more a year with them. Now I probably only have one a year if that.