Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles 270 WSM vs 300 WSM

Even if you just run 130s and 140's now, I would encourage you to twist the barrel fast enough to run long heavy bullets. A few years back I bought a Kreiger barrel in .277. They were like, you want it faster than 1:10? I was like, nah, I have my 7mms and 308 bore rifles to shoot long range.

But now I'm like, [bleep] it I should have gotten a faster twist. Probably within the life of your rifle and barrel, we'll see long skinny .277 bullets that will match the long heavy .308 bullets. Same reach, less recoil.

You asked about recoil and my shoulder finds the recoil to progress in these stair steps 30-06, .270 WSM, 7 RM. 7 WSM, .270 Wby mag, 300 WSM noticeably more but OK with a quality pad, then the bruiser and uncomfortable to me 300 Win Mag.

Regarding your original question the 300 WSM is noticeably more than 270 WSM.

I have both the 300 & 7 WSM’s. No use for a 270 anything.

In the discourses of 270 vs 280 vs 30-06, if you have one you have the other. It extends to the WSM’s too.

Once your bullet weight exceeds 150 gr’s the recoil is exponential no matter the cartridge.

I bought a 270 WSM in 2007 after looking at the ballistics of all the WSM's. Of the bunch, the 270 WSM gives the most improvement in performance over its "parent" cartridge, with the least recoil penalty. The 300 WSM is the best of the bunch for overall performance, IMHO, but you do pay for it at the shoulder. I've had several of both calibers, as well as a 7mmWSM. I have a pair of 270 WSM's now but sold the others.

I've killed more medium game with my 270 WSM's since 2008 than all my other rifles combined. If I didn't have a 338 Mag, I'd probably have kept the 300 WSM, but for the increased recoil and weight I might as well shoot the 338 and hurt myself properly.

Have killed a bunch of big game, up to around 750 pounds live weight, with both the .270 Winchester and .270 WSM.

The WSM doesn't shoot significantly flatter out to 300-400 yards, or on average kill any quicker. The biggest difference is it kicks a little harder.

But hey! We all need some sense of adventure in our lives.

I’m a 270 WSM lover

It’s actually a true step up from the 270 Win and bridges the gap between the 270 Weatherby Magnum.

I agree that 7WSM reloading bullet selection will be better, but the 7 and 300 WSM’s are very similar to its cousins.

As far as 270 WSM recoil... doesn’t bother me honestly. Of course the vast majority of my hunting rifles weigh 7 pounds all up (no brakes).

I have a Browning Ti and a Kimber Montana both wear the same scope (Leupold VX3i 4.5-14’s.

I have and currently own several WSM’s. I currently shoot 130 and 140’s out of all of my 270wsm’s and 150 or 165’s out of the 300wsm’s. I don’t notice a difference in the recoil of the 2 calibers but I am 300lbs + and have shot magnum calibers all of my life, mostly 7RM. Then again I sight them in and hunt with them. I don’t shoot hundreds of rounds with them target practicing.

Over the last 2-3 years my Sako A7 Stainless fluted 300wsm (acquired from Sako76 on here) has easily become my favorite and go to rifle. I can’t pin point an exact reason but when I go in my hunting room that’s the rifle I pick up 9 times out of 10. Maybe it’s just a confidence thing with it. I know it’s not killing whatever is on the other end any more dead than any of my other rifles.

If you’re looking for something with significant less recoil than a 300wsm with a short action I would give the 6.5PRC a good look. Nosler is coming out with 2-3 factory loads this year so Hornady will no longer be your only option that way and there’s plenty of 6.5mm projectiles to chose from if you handload/reload.

Good luck with your decision.

I sure like the short action and lighter weight of my 270 wsm, hanco.

I have a light weight Nosler Custom 270 wsm rifle with 24 inch tube, MD and I feel it kicks less than my significantly heavier Weatherby 270 Wby Japanese gun with a light 24 inch bbl.

The Rem 700 30-06 seems to kick more than them. The 300 Rem Ultra mag is not fun on the bench and is worse than the lighter 300 Wby lightweight with fluted bbl, even with the softer add on Rem pad.

Threads like this give us subjects to fuss and discuss. I’ve been giving some thought to a 280, never owned one.

When the WSM cartridges came out, I was not impressed. The 300 WSM is "almost" as powerful as the 300 WM, the 7mm WSM is "almost" as powerful as the 7 Rem Mag. BUT! The 270 WSM is a keeper! It is considerably faster than the 270 Win, and tends to be quite accurate in most rifles. I have a 270 WSM built by Bill Wiseman, the TSR (Texas Safari Rifle) in that caliber, and it is a laserbeam.

I settled on a load for my 300 WSM shooting 155 Scenar's. I won't likely shoot any other bullet in it for the rest of my days. That would include Elk if I ever get to hunt one.

The 270WSM is a great round. But, for your intended purpose, it may be too close to a 300WSM to justify the cost of the 270WSM.

Since you already have a 300WSM for larger animals, and the intent is for something with less recoil for smaller animals, my personal thought would be to go to a 25-06. The 25-06 would be great for open country deer and antelope (probably not the best choice for close-range heavy-cover hunting, though), and has low recoil, shoots flat, and hits'em hard. That'd be especially true with a good 100gn all-copper bullet.

JMHO

The 25-06 is a great round, but I'd probably go first with a 243.