Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters 300 Win mag vs 300 WSM

I agree 100%. I have owned a few win mags that were tack drivers and currently own thats just a hair under MOA , but with just about any ammo you throw at it.
It might also be pointed out that the 300 win mag has won more wimbeldon cups than any other round and that the military uses it extensively.

OTOH if the bullet companies and the BR guys say the WSM is more acccurate I tend to believe them

The difference is so minute as to only matter to a high level compititon shooter

I tend to think the average FACTORY chambered 300 WSM is a bit more accurate than the average FACTORY chambered 300 WM.

Custom, all bets are off...

Shooting only factory ammo, I'd roll with the 300 WSM.

I'm another fan of the 300 Win Mag,I have 2 a M700 ss and a M70 PF they both shoot better than I can. I have put quite a bit of meat on my table using them. Can't see the need to discard either one for a 300WSM .What either one won't do I'm sure my 03-A3 in 308 Norma or my M70 in 30-338 will do. Now maybe if I didn't have any 300's I'd look at the wizzums closer. Read a lot of nitpicking on this thread without hearing any whining about long bolt throw of a LA gun, sure glad if people are getting over that phobia..
A while back I was at a favorite gunshop at the cleaning bench working over a barrel of a shotgun I was considering ( they let me clean any gun I want to as they allways come out a winner on that).A dude walked thru the frt door saw me working this gun over and assumed I worked there. He walked over and asked where the 300 WSM ammo was and I pointed out the places where it could be found. He picked up 3 boxes of ammo and a 30 cal brush. When he went to pay for it I was standing by and watched him pull a couple of c-notes from his money clip ,he didn't get much change back. Well I know all you guys are high rollers and dropping $145+ dollars for 3 boxes a shells don't phase you any but the idea of it sure don't appeal to me period. Yeah I reload everything I shoot cept rimfire but still If a guy wants a 300 mag you can get 300 win mags at any Walmart for about $23-25 a box period any day.Not so for 300WSM. My common cts worth all 2 of them. Magnum Man

To hand loaders, cost of ammo is secondary, but I appreciate your comments.

Both rounds, the WSM and WM are great performers, both very easy to work up precise performing ammo. The short, fat WSM may have some advantage over the WM, but from what I've read and seen, it's minimal. And, for hunting rifles, to me it depends more on the individual gun, how it's set up and how it performs.

If I was starting from scratch, I'd for sure take a look at the WSM. The .300 WM rifle I current have scratches my .300 mag itch very well, now and for the foreseeable future.

DF

I've had, loaded and shot both a lot. The wsm is kinder on the shoulder - in similar weight guns. A 300 wm can be made lighter but after having shot a 7lb 300 wm, I'll pass. A 7lb wsm ain't a picnic either. I think a guy can build a lighter wsm that won't beat you to death easier than the wm. I've toted my m70 extreme in 300 wsm around in a lot of high steep and/or ugly terrain. For me, its right close to perfect for what I do. I'm done playing with middle magnums.

My 7wsm fits my 'smaller fast bullet' small magnum niche for the same reasons. Their isn't much smaller big game that a 140 at 3200 can't solve.

Brad,

Actually, my experience is the average factory .300 WSM isn't any more accurate than the average factory .300 Winchester Magnum, probably because the imperfections in factory rifles don't allow for the best out of the .300 WSM. Even with custom rifles, the .300 WSM's edge is so slight it's not enough to make any difference on 99.5% of hunting shots, even at extended ranges.

And a year or so I did an article that involved research into what cartridges various military and national police organizations around the world use for their sniper rifles. Most use the .223 or .308 for shorter-range stuff, and cartridges from the .338 Lapua to the .50 BMG for super long-range shooting. But for general long-range shooting the overwhelming choice is the .300 Winchester Magnum. In fact only one used the .300 WSM.

This may be partly because the .300 Winchester has been in use for so long (it's now 50 years old), which means ammo and rifles are easier to come by, and somewhat standardized. But they also apparently have plenty of faith in the .300 Winchester when it comes to hitting people at 1000 yards.

In fact last fall I accompanied a semi-retired Navy Seal sniper while hunting on a ranch in Texas (semi-retired because he still gets called on for occasional special jobs). The ranch not only offers hunting but does classes in long-range shooting, and this guy does some of the teaching, and also once in a while takes out a cull animal, usually so they won't breed with other animals. But the ranch also really represses the pig population, so that's part of the deal too. His own rifle for this work is a custom .300 Winchester Magnum.

Now, the accuracy advantage of the .300 WSM can be quantified in indeed labs and in long-range target shooting--though these days most long-range target shooters use something that kicks less. But in the real world the difference is slight.

Which publication did this article appear in?

All of the 300 Win Mags I have built have turned out to be quite accurate. The same goes for the WSM's I have built. I dislike both cartridges because I don't like the designs. If I want a magnum to fit in a standard length action, I like the 308 Norma better than the 300 WM because it fits the magazine better. If I want to fit a short action, I think my first choice would be the SAUM and second the RCM. The WSM is just too fat. Nothing but prejudice on my part but there it is. GD

M D -- thanks for real data. I say that NOT just because I like the W M, I'm not prejudiced against the WSM.

Regardless of WHICH one is/was more accurate, I appreciate facts.

Jerry

Funny you should bring it up. I've always preferred the SAUM design over the WSM. Really, a more true SA design, whereas the WSM is more of a tweener that's too fat and has too sharp a shoulder.

But that's picking nits for sure... the WSM's work fine in the right action.

John, good to hear your opinion.

I've never had an issue getting good groups in a variety of factory 300 WSM's (something like 9 of them), but have far less experience with the 300 WM, so I bow to your obviously more substantial experience.

I'm aware of the military's reliance on the 300 WM, but I frankly believe they tend to spec something and stick with it. And rightfully so, it works.

Besides, the 300 WSM SUCKS in an M700 action!

MSG's Boucher and Lambert, at SOTIC in the mid 80's, put the M24 together for the Army. Both thought the 300 win mag was the way to go, for some missions, but they realized training troops with it would be more difficult. That is why the M24 was built on a long-action, is so it could be re-barreled in 300mag.

SOF units tend to favor COTS (commercial, off-the-shelf) gear, as they can use unit funds to purchase gear and ammo. Big Army can and will put your azz in jail for doing so.

Also, officers make money decisions, and rarely are they shooters, in any sense of the word.

I've shot and loaded for multiples of both. In hunting weight rifles (the only type I have owned) I have never noticed a difference in accuracy that could be attributed to the cartridge.

I've got both.The 300 Win mag has many advantages over the 300WSM.Longer mag box to work with,bigger case,can squeeze a little more velocity out of it,feeds better.Now here's my kicker,in terms of performance,both can get the job done.If my 300WSM wasn't so easy to find a load for and so accurate,I'd probably say it sucks compared to the 300 Win mag.Maybe I've just got a good one and maybe I've just been unlucky with three 300 Win mags.They shoot good,but my 300WSM is just easy to get to shoot good.It's much like a 308.It just flat shoots and kills with authority.

Derek Rodgers won the 2010 F-Class National Championship with the WSM.

Somebody needs to break out a 20mm and whoop those .30s in F-class.

To me the benefits of a 300 Win mag are slight but could theoretically be the following:
1. better performance with 200 grain bullets
2. longer case provides more reliable feeding in high pressure situations where the bolt is cranked rapidly-whether for dangerous game or non-dangerous game
3. the belt could theoretically give better bore alignment when the cases are full-length sized with some slop for maximum feed reliability in dirty/dusty feed conditions

I realize all these points can be trivialized--but we are talking trivia-so this is my viewpoint on the trivial advantages of the standard 300 WM.

It would be hard to prove that he could not won this match with a well-tuned 300 WM--all things being equal.