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

Lemme guess.....with three down they pinch at the shoulder?

If you bought a quality rifle like Sako you wouldn't have that issue. And they hold four in the bottom for those that issue with killing stuff with only three (two good ones and one pinched) in the mag...lol

Yeah, not accurate...

DF

BSA 1917 - maybe something happens if you jam 4 rounds into the gun, I've never tried it. One usually does the trick so I don't worry about it.

Jim

I wanted another 30 cal and decided on the 300 WSM again. Hope it shows up soon.

It's really ridiculous, the level of inaccuracy is discombobulating.

You evidently get rubbed the wrong way quite a bit, I'd venture.

And yes the mainstream hunters/shooters do vote on what's the best cartridge. They do it with their check books. The manufacturers set lower prices on the ammo most people by and it's a rolling stone. Go to a store, most any ammo store or even on line. The 06 and the 270 shells are cheaper than the less appreciated cartridges. The 30-30 ammo is dirt cheap. The 300 Win Mag is cheaper than the 300 Weatherby and so forth. The most popular cartridges are the cheapest thus promoting more people buying that cartridge. The same with rifles. Take a stroll over to Gunbroker. This is a perfect example of what I'm saying. You can buy a 270, a 30-06, a 7mm RM and a 243 cheaper than you can buy a 280, 338-06, a 7mm Weatherby or a 6mm. I recently rebarreled a 280 which was shot out. I'm part Norwegian (read that cheap). I could get a 270 new take off barrel for $75. Take off barrels in 280 are rarely new and in my opinion would be a pig in a poke. I'd rather have the 280, but it would have cost me at least $300 more. I still have another 280 BTW. And it shoots < 1 MOA with the three loads I like best in it. The 150 grain Nosler Partition is under 1/2MOA.

I also like 6mm Remington better than 243. But I just bought a as new Model 7 in 243 for my future daughter-in-law.

Roll with it.

Life's a bitch if you let these things get to you.

I thought a fad was something that was popular at least for a short time.

Don't the the 25WSSM was ever very popular. Prettying much a commercial bust. I have 2 of them and like them very much.

But I'm glad I wasn't the guy who convinced the Winchester brass to go with the WSSMs!

A different perspective.

Several years ago I was preparing for my first Moose hunt in Newfoundland. I entered Louie's gun shop in Bath NY and there in the used rack sat a nice T3 Lite Tikka in 300WSM. My reaction was "that'll work." Bought it. It cycled OK and shot under 2" at 200 yds. Shot two 180 TSX through bull moose diagonally. Moose went less than 30yds. It worked!

Traded it and some cash for a 300WSM Stainless Kimber Montana 8400 a slightly lighter rifle. (I have a thing for lightweight rifles.) I have enjoyed hunting and shooting it. "It Works." Sometimes I can shoot 1.75" groups at 200 yards and sometimes I mess up. Gun is fully capable. Mag primers - Win or CCI, H4350, 180 TTSX, 3000fps, Leu. 3 2.5X8, Talley rings, Titanium bolt handle - just for the fun of it, aftermarket recoil pad, adjusted trigger pull at 2.5#. Don't know the round count without going to my notes and doing the addition but I do know that I'm on my seventh pound of powder. Love it. NOT FOR SALE!

Why would I want a 300 Win Mag?

Jim

The old 300 mag rifles weigh a lot more than the WSM rifles and we carry those rifles all day.

A Kimber Montana WSM 24" bbl weighs only 7# 1.5 oz with it's 4.5-14X VX3.

The M 70 custom with a 22" bbl in 300 Win M. with it's 3-9 Conquest weighs 8# 11oz!

A pre-64 M70 300 H&H with its 3.5-10 Leu and 26" bbl. is 9# 4oz.

Here is the M70 300Win M.

I carried an 11 pound Sharps rifle and a 10 pound 400 Whelen for what must have been near a hundred miles in 7 days hunting in 90/100 degree African heat, I still don't understand this jenny craiging a rifle chit.

If I want a fat case, I want it fat and long.

Another different view is for those that want/can only have one .30 caliber hunting rifle. Now don't laugh, the laws in my country allow you to have only three hunting rifles and one for self-defence.

Anyway, after extensive analysis of the 30-06 / 300 WSM and 300 WM, I felt that the 300 WSM was the most attractive option for my needs. Some would call it a compromise of the three .... I would call it well balanced and the ideal all-rounder.

I now have to wait for 3 months before my license application is (hopefully) approved ..... you guys have it easy over there (for now!).

Why would anyone want a 300 WSM? I'd need more than one animal shot at short range,and some range tweaking to make a decision.




The OP asked a simple question and said he was aware of the short action thing, but were there any other reasons to choose one over the other.

- The 300 Win Mag is faster, with everything.And likely at less pressure as well.In other words it will easily equal a 300 WSM top end velocity but at lower pressure. Load it as hot,and t will beat a WSM substantially.

This may not be important if you have little experience hand loading but the WSM barely beats a warm 30/06 load. 300 magnums are all about speed with heavy bullets of 180-200+ grains.and if you don't want the speed you are better off with a 30/06. If a compromise cartridge is what you are after have at it. The 300 WSM has lots of "compromise". It will suffer velocity wise with any bullet over 180 gr because hit has less power capacity.

-High Pressure: The factory stuff as loaded by some companies is so damned hot that I personally would not trust the stuff on a hunt. This is characteristic of not only the 300 WSM but the 7mm and 270 WSM as well. I've seen WSM ammo loaded so hot there were ejector marks smeared on the brass,and the velocities were off the chart(Federal Premium). The brass was so ruined you couldn't get it to chamber again. It's been true of the cartridges ever since they were introduced.

Some rifles will handle this ammo and some will not. The factories have to load to those levels to get the velocities that everyone says makes it the equal of a 300 Win Mag (BS. Marketing hype). Get a stuck case or other high pressure problem at the range is one thing.....get it in Africa or Alaska or Wyoming on a hunt and its no joke.

So load it down for less velocity/pressure? Great. It's got nothing over a 30/06. Why bother?

- Feed/Function. Well know fact that short/fat cases don't feed through staggered box magazines as well as the belted standard cases. Makers have had close to 100 years to perfect feeding with belted magnums and problems are almost non existent. Not many 300 WSM rifles id trust on a hunt.

-The 300 Win mag is more popular world wide and proven for accuracy in competition and reliable function and game killing in the hunting fields....everywhere from Asian mountains to North America and Africa. The 300 WSM is too much gimmick for me. I gave the cartridge a fair shake in a few rifles, Can't love it.

I'd really rather have a 7 Rem Mag but that's not what the OP asked. Between the two....300 Win Mag no question.

had both, used both. Still have the 300 WM

Preference is acceptable reasoning. I prefer the 308 to the 30/06. I prefer the 280 to the 270 or 30/06. I prefer the small velocity edge of the 300 WSM to any cartridge it supersedes. I prefer the short action over the long action.

I understand the performance differences of short action vs. long action.

Still, I prefer short.

Very good Bob; exactly my experience.

My 26" .300 Win would actually slightly pass my 24" .300 WBY in ballistics.

Just as a point of reference, I've owned 6 in .300 Win Mag with barrels from 23" to 26". The 26" was the best performer and only weighed 8.5 lbs ready to shoot. I've also owned a 21" .308 Norma (custom) and the afore mentioned 24" WBY.

Four of the six .300 Win Mags were factory, an M70 (way too heavy), a Ruger SS (24") with the "boat paddle" handle (an excellent working rifle), a Browning A-Bolt SS in LH (26" - the best performer, and 1/2 MOA), and a Savage 111 (24") that would also shoot 1/2 MOA and sail the 200 AccuBond along at 2970 fps into tiny little groups from a book load (Nosler).

The .300 WM is my favorite of the .300s, and one of three BG rifles I'd always have in my gun cabinet. I've never tried a .300 WSM and really have no interest in doing so.

If I were to recommend one rifle cartridge to a serious BG hunter, it would be a .300 Winchester Magnum. And I've done that to a young man who wanted to hunt bear with me. It was his first BG rifle. The fact that he was 6'- 5" and nearly 300 lbs may have helped. But I've never found a well-stocked .300 WM to be any kind of problem in recoil. But then, I do shoot some pretty heavy artillery.

Bob

www.bigbores.ca

I would actually say your '06 is probably fine and you don't need the WM unless you really want to eek out a few more FPS.

There ya go makin' sense! It gets harder and harder to be impractical.

You guys have me halfway convinced to take one of my 06s on my elk hunt!