My brother is considering getting a new big game hunting rifle. He has a Remington 700 stainless synthetic 30-'06 that he bought new in 1993 but it is getting long in the throat and he is thinking that he would like a flatter shooting cartridge. I have suggested to him that he give a serious look at the Savage Weather Warrior in 300 WSM. He is concerned about feeding issues though with its short/fat case. I believe the Savage rifles are single stack magazines and as such probably feed just fine but would like some confirmation and comments on this issue.

I have several WSM chanbered rifles by various makers. I see no difference between the CRF and push-feed actions when it comes to feeding issues. Some of the factory stocks are a little soft, Remington for example, and can bind the magazine making it difficult to get 3 down and one in the chanber. Sometimes the feed rails are a little sharp, and the fat cases will rub harder than a standard size case, leaving small scratches on the brass. Feeding problems have not been an issue with any of my rifles, and they are all factory set ups.

I like the WSM's. If you or anyone is looking to purchase a new magnum-chambered rifle, don't look past the WSM line-up. If you currently own a good rifle in say 300 Win Mag, I wouldn't run down and replace it with a WSM.

The push feeds actually feed the WSM's better than the CRF. (I've had 3 rifles of each in the short mags.)

I have not has such issues with pushfeeds or control feeds..If an action is timed correctly it should feed 110%...

I have had no problems with WSM in short actions..the one and only problem was one in a 700 long action. Never did get it right and eventually rechambered to .300 ULTR and the problem went away.

Lefty C

......................I have found that due to its 35 degree shoulder, all cases should be fully sized to avoid hang-ups. In my experience, the full length sizing die must also be adjusted correctly barely touching the bottom of the shellholder, then screwed down clockwise another approx 1/4 turn to avoid feeding problems in which the case shoulder hangs up before the round is chambered. That additional 1/4 turn or so, sizes down the shoulder when using casings with high degrees of shoulder angle.

When I first started reloading for my new Ruger M77 300 WSM three years ago, and after I adjusted my die correctly as above, I have never had any feeding issues with the 300 WSM.

If he`ll be using only factory ammo and not reloading, he won`t have any feeding issues using factory rounds. Originally, I bought 5 boxes of 300 WSM factory ammo and never had a feeding problem.

I have a .300 WSM and a .270 WSM (and had another .300 WSM that I traded off recently)--all in CRF actions (MRC, Winchester and Kimber). All fed factory new hand loaded brass, as well as fired cases that were reloaded, without a hitch from staggered box magazines. I have also developed loads for two friends that have 7mm WSMs in CRF Win M70s--again, no feeding problems. I simply adjusted the sizing dies according to Redding's instructions and everything has worked as it is supposed to.

I am sure that there are folks who have had problems, but we tend to hear about those, and not about the hundreds (or thousands) who have not had any problems.

I have two Rem M700s chambered in .300 WSMs, and both had feeding issues (the bullet would get "scuffed" with one, and it was virtually impossible to load 3 rds into the magazine of BOTH rifles). A trip to the gunsmith solved these issues (covered by Remington Warranty), but as I live in the Canadian artic, the fixes still ended up being very costly.

does not apply to my Kimber 300WSM. I size the cases so they are a snug fit in the chamber, the die is an 1/8 turn out. No feeding issues, ever with that gun, cycles well and works for that quick FU shot . The Ruger's may be different.

The only 300 WSM I own is a Weatherby. Zero feeding issues.

One Winchester and 3 Rem 700's in WSM's and no feeding issues here.

A friend has *gasp* a browning and no feeding issues here either.

My 300 WSM is a Savage Model 10, purchased new in March of '04. It's a pre-accutrigger "package gun". It has now digested a total of 452 rounds. All handloads except for two boxes of factory rounds early on during barrel break-in and the sight-in of a Leupold scope to replace the Simmons that it came with. So far no feeding issues whatsoever. Haven't even noticed any feeding differences with neck sized versus full length sized stuff. The real test came in the fall of '06 when I missed my first shot at my first ever mule deer. In an adrenaline crazed rush I worked the bolt so fast my buddy said it sounded as if I had a semi-auto. I filled my tag with shot number two. So I figure that if it fed OK in that frenzy then I guess I shouldn't worry about feeding problems.

I too have a Savage 300 WSM. It feeds both factory and hand loads just fine. Tell him to get one and start shooting and hunting........

Bob

i have a winchester classic and no issues with it.
i do also have a winchester p/f l/a that i had a lilja barel screwed on and the bolt face opened chambered in 300 wsm.
if i put 2 in the mag, sometimes when ejecting the hand loaded round out of the chamber, the top round pops out of the mag.
never could figure out why, but it sure runs fine as a single shot !

any help how to solve this problem to get it to stop popping rounds up out of the mag ?

I had a custom 270 WSM built on a Remington 700 short mag action and two different 'smiths could not get it to feed properly. The round on the left side of the mag box would invariably hang up.

rufous,
I had a M70 that got stuck feeding a WSM a few years ago. The gunsmith at the warranty station said, contrary to rumors it was not the cartridge but was quality control issues because he was making a lot of money fixing all different calibers in the Winchester rifles. This was when the WSM lineup was new and contributed to rumors about the WSM feeding.

I since have a Tikka WSM and Rem SPS WSM with no feeding issues and the Rem 700 holds three down in the magazine.

I have read many reports that the new FN M70's do not have WSM feeding issues.

That 300 WSM is a fine and accurate round and I think most people who want a mag would like it the more they shoot it.

I had that issue on a M700 7RM the gunsmith that fixed it said he rebedded it. I was a bit defense in the conversation because I had bedded several rifles without a problem.
But him rebedding it did fix the problem even though I still don't understand how.

Bigsqueeze,
I think you may have misdiagnosed your proplem..More likely your gun is a tad out of the 1/3, 1/3, 1/3 rule of feeding..the resizing should not effect feeding..Most folks neck size or go with a crunch fit with the 300s and without any problems such as you describe..

I understand what your saying is correct and fully resizing the case apparantly works in your case, but the reason does not apply to a properly set up or timed rifle.

Also the shoulder should not be problematic to feeding as you describe..I suggest that perhaps you could get by with simply polishing the area where its hanging up, at least its worth a try..If that does not work then have the rifle tuned with neck sized only loaded cases..Give your smith the loaded rounds that hang up and tell him to make them feed..

OR continue to do as your doing since its really not much of a problem to just resize as you do, and its working for youl....Add to that that I have never seen the need for neck sizing only. I full length resize everything as I put feed and function above accuracy, but then I'm primarily a hunter, not a target shooter. I don't really need that extra silly milimeter.

Just a bit of information for whatever it's worth..

..........Atkee! Appreciate the feed back. All I can tell you is that after I made that simple die adjustment, my feeding problem was immediately solved and have never returned since.

My die`s bottom was "only" barely touching the shellholder. When I tried feeding my very 1st batch of five 300 WSM reloads, they wouldn`t chamber properly going from the magazine when cycling the bolt. There were scratch markings on those case shoulders. Those were eventually fired by loading one at a time.

I knew then, that the case shoulder wasn`t quite being sized down enough. So I screwed the die down another approx 1/4 turn and waa-laa!

Hunting or range loads, I`ve always full-sized my casings anyway and prefer that to neck only or partial sizings.

Ray, could you elaborate on this "rule." I don't know it or what it stands for.

Your rifle's rails, ramp and follower/spring are probably configured for the original cartridge. Properly altering the rails and ramp, and a new follower/spring would be the fix--just be careful, it's an art that even many otherwise good gunsmiths aren't all that familiar with.


Casey

I have 2 300 WSM's, 7mm WSM, and had 2 270 WSM's. Never had a feeding problem.

i am happy with it being a 2 shot.
1 in the chamber and 1 in the mag.
haven't needed more than one shot with it yet.
i took the spring and follower out of my classic and tried it, but the same thing still happens.
so it has to be something with the rails.
do they need opened more or ? because measuring the widths, they are the same between the 2 rifles.