Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Help me decide 30-06 vs 300 wsm

I'm smack dab with bsa on this one - good post bsa!

I've done the same and have both in my safe at the moment. I've relegated the 300 WSM to 200 gr Partitions and for things that really need killin'. I find my 300 WSM (M70 EW) kicks more then my 30-06. As I've grown older, I've migrated to smaller cartridges. I used to have the "trio" - 7 RM, 300 WM, 338 WM and hunted them exclusively for a few years. I discovered the 7 RM was a bit much for deer and the 300 didn't kill any better than my 30-06 at the ranges I shoot things. It wasn't until I had had shoulder surgery and was forced to shoot something smaller one year that I discovered that little epiphany.

I think if you're worried about recoil, then get a sporter weight rifle with a good soft recoil pad.

I used to have a husqvarna 30 06 that was real light with a plastic pad,
and that thing kicked the daylights out of me. Everytime I shot it I
would flinch.

A friend of mine has a 338 win mag in a Browning Abolt.
I've shot that many times and the recoil is noticeably less
than that old 06. So make sure the rife fits good, has a nice recoil pad, and enough weight to soak up some recoil.

years ago i bought two model 70 classic s/s, one in 30-06 and the other in 300wsm. killed deer and elk with both. after 3 years i decided the wsm didn't ill elk any better or farther than the 06 so i sold the wsm. the wsm did recoil more when using 180gr failsafes for elk. good cartridge though. a fella could do a lot worse than a 300 wsm for his "all around" rifle.

My .300WM came before any .30-06 or .308 rifles, so the first thing I did during load development was to buile .308 and them .30-06 level loads. The.300WM loads came later. Your recoil numbers are pretty much what I calculated for the .30-06 and .300WM. The .308 came in at about 18 ft-lbs. Now tht I have .30-06 and .308s, the numbers still agree.

I definitely feel a difference between the .308 loads and the .30-06 loads, though, even though the diff is only about 4 ft-lbs.



These days I own one .300WM, four .30-06 and two .308 rifles. My son-in-laws have received .30-06 rifles as wedding presents. If choosing between the WSM and WM I'd go WM for various reasons, including brass cost and availability of factory loads. (My son-in-laws don't reload.)

I have a 30-06 and two .308s. I like them all and would give the edge to the 06, only for heavy bullets. The brass for both is inexpensive and plentiful. The wsm is a great rifle also, but you will deal with a bit more recoil and higher-priced brass. If you want a wsm for a range session, just get a lead sled and go shoot all day!

^^^^ This.

"Spending a day on the bench" with either, as per the OP, would be right up there with getting a root canal as far as things I like to do.

my titanium rem 700 300rsaum kicks less than my titanium rem700 30-06. the 300rsaum has a muzzle brake .

I have two 6.5-284 awesome. I suggest you get a 6.5prc

30-06! memtb

Yeah, the 6.5x284 might just be my all-time favorite cartridge. The 6.5 PRC sure is intriguing .... lighting up 140s at around 3,000 with about 16 ft lbs of recoil should make it an amazing performer on game.

The 300 WSM uses 6-7 gr's more powder than the 30-06, and is 200 fps faster. If that means something to you, by all means get the 300 WSM. Really, it's a fine cartridge. Not made for plinking, but then neither is the 30-06. The 300 WSM kicks more to my shoulder, all things being equal. I've taken antelope to mature bull elk with each - both work. But then so too does the 308 Win...

Aside, the 300 WSM, like the 308 Win, is one of the easiest-to-load-for cartridges I've worked with. Accuracy is typically superb.

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6.5 whatever and puke all over your key board so it don't work no more. For a new guy your pretty arrogant. M B

Lol

Well Vinootz glad to see your a petty hater. I like rifles, have more than a few, enjoy all of them or they go down the road. I find the recoil of different 30 caliber cartridges more of a function of bullet weight and how well the stock fits you. Can't beat a really good recoil pad to reduce felt recoil either. Never had a 300 Weatherby but in a Mk V I'll bet it's not too bad. When I want to get some practice pre hunt season I load them down a bit only takes a few grains reduced to get 30-06 loads out of them. If you want a 300 wsm buy one, but if you don't handload that will get expensive as hell they run 2-3 dollars a round compared to 65-80 cents for 30-06 or 308 ammo. If you don't shoot much the cost of the ammo might be insignificant to you, but if you don't shoot enough the advantage of a magnum chambering will also be insignificant for you. MB

He should get fired just for that comment!

LOL

My .280 is definitely a lighter kicker than my .30-06 rifles and more than adequate for elk at most common ranges. Still, a .270 or .280 would not be my first choice for a day at the range.

I have the .308, 3006, and a 300wsm.....

Shoot factory stuff out of all 3. The 300 wsm is tough to group shooting 180 gr ammo due to the snappy recoil and unpredictable bounce off the rest. Dropping down to 150 gr can really change POI while velocity reaches 3200 .

I found some more affordable hornady whitetail 165 I want to try out........but in all likelihood the wsm will stay home.
It's a nice rifle, win model 70 extreme sporter just haven't figured out a bench technique to finalize zero.

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Given those two choices, I would usually agree. Might make a difference if I found a really once WSM and a great price.
i chose .30-06 three times so far and have had as many as 4 at one time. And I have a .300WM. When elk hunting my .300WM gets th call more often, although I've killed about equal numbers with a -06 and WM. When headed to the range, I grab a -06 way more often than the WM.