You can't put "modern powders" in a WSM? Who knew....
In factory ammo... the lawyers have to be careful with the .300 Win Mag loads... you never know what kinda rifle that stuff will end up in. The WSM fodder can be (and often is) loaded to the gills... there's almost no difference in velocity between the two rounds when factory loads are shot from factory guns... at least that I've seen.
Just read an old post where 3000-3100 was pretty common with 180s in the .300 WSM... out of 23-24" barrels. Seems 66 grains of RE17 (a "modern powder") was running 3060 with 180 NBTs. Giving up only 75-125 fps to the .300 Winny loads MD referenced above... and using as much as 19 grains more powder (25-30%).
I have a 17" barreled .300 WSM that'll run 2850 with a 180... which bests about any 24" 30-06 with the same bullet.
I was in Cabela's yesterday... they had as many varieties of .300 WSM factory loads as they had .300 Winchester.
What factory rifle holds 5 .300 Winchester rounds in the mag... but only holds 3 WSMs in the same guise?
The .300 Winny is a bad ass round, and deserves its place as one of the preeminent big game cartridges of the world... as does the '06... something right in the middle of the two ought to do pretty well in the field... even if it is 60-90 years younger....
PS.... here's the link to that old .300 WSM thread....
http://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/topics/5000039/all/R17_and_the_300_WSM[/quote]
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After an extended hiatus of over 3 1/2 years, I find upon my return that little has changed in regards to discussing the pro's/con's of the 300WSM......LOL. I do notice however, that, even though 11 pages have already been dedicated to this subject, that the posts have remained much more civil and informative than several years back.....and that's a very good thing.
Since the 300WSM's inception, I have found it to be very terminally effective, easy to load for and very accurate. My particular recipe consists of a compressed load of RL22, Fed. GM215's, Norma brass and 180gr. TSX's from a 24in. barrel. Since many here are handloaders and do so for many reasons, which includes safely attempting to get the most accuracy, reliability and velocities out of our firearms, I am certainly no different. After 40+ years of doing so, I enjoy it as much today as I did when I started handloading in the early 70's after my separation from the USMC.
As stated above, the 300WSM using 180gr. loads was touted to be able to achieve velocities very similar to that of standard 180gr. 300WM loads. Not having owned a 300WM nor any .30 cal. offering except an '06, I had no preconceived notions about what I was to really expect from handloading for this particular cartridge. Having handloaded for several decades prior to purchasing my first 300WSM, I felt pretty confident in my handloading abilities and set forth to put together as reliable and terminally effective a round as I could without running afoul of even the slightest of pressure signs.
After several range sessions using numerous different combinations of components, I settled on the aforementioned recipe. It gave me all that I could have hoped for without the slightest sign of excess pressure. I also did my testing in 75-80 degree weather so that any possible pressure signs had every opportunity to reveal themselves. The temps that I actually hunt with this particular rifle range from 8-49 degrees (an average of some 30 years of hunting this particular area at 5,500 ft.).
I shot 25 rounds over a high-end chrono, measured the distance from muzzle to chrono, GPS'd the altitude
(800ft),noted the temp. just prior to each cooled barreled shot and averaged all that info to find that my MV out of that 24in. barrel was 3,130fps.
I hope that the civility will remain as I had earlier observed and mentioned, but I also know that some will be pushed beyond their limits to not respond 'productively'. Sure.....I can take it as many here might remember from several years back, but my point being, my results were gleaned as honestly and accurately as possible for several reasons. I don't just assume as I'd like that all other accounts of such things are definitive and as we all know, every rifle/chamber/scale/batch of powder, primers and brass are all different. And how many articles or posts on such sites give us the actual temps/altitude/etc. that were in play during their gathering of such information. I also 'range proof' my loads as to drop up to the range that I am confident shooting, but I also always like to compare those results with those on paper after all of these calculations and range sessions have been completed.
Do I advocate any others search for 'their load' as I do......nope. Do I expect to wring out any future purchases as I did this load and all others for decades......yep. Was I expecting to observe pressure signs prior to the load I ended up with......yep. Had I purchased commercial loads or accepted only the loads printed in the very, very few articles printed at that time for the 300WSM, I would have been left with would have duplicated a healthy '06 load (not that there's anything wrong with that.....LOL). But that's not why I bought the 300WSM and purchased another one shortly after taking my bull with it that same season (my son hunts as well).
Sooooo....in my experience, the 300WSM with my load in my rifle shoots a 180gr. TSX out my rifles muzzle of a 24in. barrel at 3,130fps...........very, very accurately and with, in my estimation, less recoil than my 'ole '06 did with a healthy load.
Good to read all of your posts as I'm still always learning and willing to listen and I expect will continue at least throughout today, at a minimum......LOL.
