Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters 7mm or 300 win mag

Jwp475, well done! I've found that sometimes the things we do when our ass is on the line are our most successful and gratifying accomplishments. Will you please fill in the details of how it went down?

Yup, standing guard is the thing to do, I stand guard and my cousin does all the work, just the way I like it.

To go back to the original question of the thread if I were to choose between the 7 or the 300 it would depend on the rifles magazine constraints. When buying a new rifle I choose a cartridge that fits within the magazine constraint. If the magazine is 30-06 length, I tend to have a harder time getting the 300 to shoot well because of the lack of flexibility in bullet seating depth . With the 7 rm, this is generally not a problem because the cartridge case is shorter than that of the 300 . This isnt an absolute, but ive noticed the.trend. but, if you buy a 700, the mag lenght makes this.a moot point.

I'd be happy just to have a rifle with a reasonably decent bullet.

Spot ON !

My .300 Win Mag is an Ed Brown Damara and has a magnum length box, allowing much better flexibility with COAL. To me the longer box mag adds a lot to the .300 WM.

DF

I have one of those 700's with the wonderful long magazines and shoot 200 grain partitions seated all the way out on top of a hat full of R22. Doesn't really matter. Had to chase a big black bear up a hill just outside Prince William Sound in September that was gut shot by a friends son. Visibility was all of about 20'. Under field conditions with adrenalin pumping I didn't even feel the recoil and deep down in side wished I had something with a bigger hole in the end of it. That kid scared 10 years off the end of my life. Sure glad we didn't run into any of the brown ones.

Secretly put up a second stand somewhat off to the side of your other, about 75 yards further back, to the side with the most quiet access. Hunt the regular stand a few times so that he knows you're there, then wait for perfect wind and weather, sneak to the back stand, and take him by surprise when he circles behind your original stand. You might even hunt with two people, one in each stand.

I'll add my two cents to the conversation.

To me this is a question about rifle portability. I've never hunted sheep but have hunted elk in steep terrain at 11,000+ feet a couple of times. I used to carry a 9lb rifle (M700 338WM) but after the first year of elk hunting up high, I traded it for a Kimber montana 300 WSM the first year they came out. That rifle weighed 6lb 15 oz with Talley's and 3-9 Leupie. I hated that rifle. With 180 Partitions and a full load of H4831, it clocked at 2975 - 30000 ft/sec and kicked like a mule. It was hard to control.

Contrast that rifle to one I created a few years back - M70 SS classic in 7 RM and its twin, a M70 Featherweight in 7 WSM. Both dropped into McM Edge. As expected the M70 7 WSM weigh a few ounces less than the 7RM. The 7 WSM weighs 7lb 6-7oz with Talley's and 3-9 Leupie. I've shot everything from 120 TSX to 175 Partitions in both at max velocity (2950 in the 7RM and 2850 in the WSM). Conclusion: the 7's can be made much more portable and recoil much less than the 300's.

If it was me, I'd run a 7RM and load it with appropriate bullets for the task. I'm not sure I'd be quaking in my shoes with a magazine full of 160 Partitions if an interior grizzly showed up. Hell we got black bears in PA bigger than many interior grizzlies. I've hunted them with a 280 - loaded with 160 Partitions.

I would hunt with a 270 and strap an 870 with slugs to my back.

W

If you substitute .280rem for 7x57 that fits me to a "T".

I would go with the 300 win mag each and every time over the 7mmrem mag. Recoil is stiff with either, if your going to have to deal with it you might as well go .30 cal.

7mm........

7mm mag

While certainly not unmanageable, I find that the recoil of the .300 WM is significantly more than with the 7mm RM. This is especially so with lightweight rifles. I have owned several of both in the past, but have pretty much stuck with the 7mm RM for everything now.

As for the OP's question, imo there isn't much need for a .300 WM for sheep. And the funny thing is that my best friend, who is a very avid sheep hunter, sold his .300 WM last year and had a 7mm RM built.

As to will the .300 do more? I don't know what a 180gr Partition will do that a 175gr Partition out of a 7mm won't.

The 7mm shoots flatter and has less recoil. Win/win........

Thats would depend on the load.

I am pretty sure that the .300 cannot shoot flatter with less recoil.

When looking at practical ranges and real life situations then I don't think there is any difference between the two, trajectory wise.

When looking at extremes, you need to use a +200gr bullet in the .300 WM vs a 168gr bullet in the 7mm at similar velocity to get similar trajectory. That also means you need much more powder + recoil

Maybe so but once you go to a magnum round recoil is significant.
I have done enough shooting of the 300 win mag and the 7mm rem mag back to back to know that while the rem mag does kick less, it still has a significant amount of recoil over something like a .270 or .280.
I agree on the trajectory
I do believe that the 300 win mag rocks em harder than the 7mm weatherby. I dont have any experience hunting with the 7mm rem mag, but the weatherby is nearly the same thing.

IME a 300 Win Mag gives about the same velocity with a 180 gr bullet as a 160 gr bullet in the 7 Rem Mag,about 3050-3080 or so with a 24" barrel(yes I know some rifles will show more velocity but that's a weighted average for me over quite a few rifles).

The trajectories are so similar out to 600 yards you can't tell the difference;with both zeroed at 300 yards each will show about 4 feet of drop at 600 yards.

You will get kicked a bit less with the 7mm because not only are the bullets slightly lighter in 7mm but powder charges are also less and that figures into the recoil equation as well.

Nevertheless both have some recoil; the effects are sort of cumulative...a 300 Win Mag will catch up to me sooner in a string than a 7 Rem Mag.

These are the two bullet weights I have used the most in both cartridges. I have also used the 15 gr in the 300 WM and its' speed and trajectory match pretty closely with the 140 gr in the 7 Rem Mag.

These days I mostly shoot the 150 gr BT and NPT in the 7 Rem Mag at velocities of something over 3100 fps....there is the width of a hand in difference in trajectory to 500 yards between them.

Course, there is that wind thing to consider, too.

I hunted with a 7 RM for 10yrs and owned it for 20yrs, good on game for sure. I hunt mainly with a 30-06/200gr NAB's, and a 9.3 for big animals. I have a 300WM coming in a Tikka/Tac, with a brake ( I'm already deaf) not my preferred choice in caliber but there are few (</= 1 moa)if any rifles available off the shelf that I like for the type of fun shooting that I do, if it was available in 7mm, either standard or mag I would get that. The rifles I like usually come in 308win,300WM, or 338LM. The 300Win is least objectionable.