Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Ok. Now please tell me about the 300 wsm…

Ok thank you all for the conversations on the .260 rem.
I have also wandered into a 300 Winchester short magnum, on an ultralight platform. I have course I’ve done lots of reading and research and so far what I can tell is that it is basically a 300 Winchester magnum shortened up to fit short action rifles.

I have sworn off getting tied up in the “hype” of the wsm craze in the past… never was a glutton for punishment regarding recoil and never really needed anything bigger than a 270 Winchester for west Texas whitetails mule deer and hogs, but this one has me curious. It looks like you can buy custom loads 125 gr on up. And also it sounds like some long-range shooters/hunters use this round for thousand yards plus.

I had one person compare 150 grain 300wsm to a 358 Winchester and the one time I shot one of those it was quite pleasant. Anyway, seems like this round is more of a “big game hunting round” Elk, moose, bear, etc. but it might be fun to take out hunting mule deer and hogs from time to time.

Anyway, just wondering if you guys had anything to add about this round?

Dave

Ballistically it's a 300 H&H, rather than a 300 Winchester magnum.

I have one. Bought it primarily due to low price in a Winchester Super Grade. Took one moose with it at 300 yards (lasered), dropped it where it stood.

To me the recoil was similar to my .338 Winchester which has a muzzle brake. Nicely accurate without any tweaking. More than needed for deer sized game.

Jim

Upon a cursory look at data, you can even load it to 30-06 range if you want.

That’s kind of what I was thinking from what I was reading, you can load it down to 30 O6 And even then it’s probably more than I will ever use here in west Texas, but it might be fun to play around with for a little while? And maybe give me an excuse to go north to shoot something bigger

Ballistically exactly the same as the 300 H&H. And a pile of pressure tested data to go with that statement. If you are hunting, assume it does the same as its older sibling.
Charlie

Charlie,

I remember the John Barsness article where it was told how you chambered the very same barrel to both cartridges and arrived at this result.

CharlieSisk;
Top of the morning to you sir, I hope the day's been behaving for you and you're well.

I don't believe I've never thanked you for your contributions here, in this instance specifically working with John Barsness in the .300 H&H/.300WSM project which John wrote up.

Around that time there were some interesting claims being made by different folks regarding "magic case shapes" which just didn't make sense to me but with my lack of training I couldn't articulate why that was.

When John's article came out I read it multiple times, each time absorbing a wee bit more of what you'd found in the experiment. If I'm not wrong your comment about it raising more questions than answers made me smile too as that seems to be my experience whenever I go down rabbit holes in life in all sorts of areas.

Thanks again and all the best.

Dwayne

Love my 300wsm, been shooting it for many years now.
Heck I took a blue grouse with it one year, head shot and the meat was fine.
Great pronghorn rifle, have taken many hogs with it too.
I have also taken cow bison, moose and elk with it in addition to the elk and deer every year.

I find recoil to be no problem, my handloads are on the hot side but not quite max.

Nice flat shooting if loaded with the right bullets, I load 165-168 gr bonded bullets. Spouse shoots one also and loads up 180 gr accubonds.
150 gr bullets would be interesting loaded out towards max.

I shoot a Sako A7 and love the shorter throw on the bolt and the short action helps with weight.

For sure. All peas in the same pod mostly depending on the gun.

I really liked RL15 or Varget with 165's at 2950-3050... Easy to shoot and plenty effective for stuff..

It's short and it's fat. There's not much else to say. If you find short and fat to be appealing, there you go. It is a waste of energy to hate on a cartridge but I find it easy to hate on the WSM's. It might just be prejudice talking. GD

A friend at work asked me about the 300WSM the other day. I said it was a short and dumpy version of the 300H&H.

He likes short actions. I said that extra 1/2" was a killer.

The brass forms into 7 WSM pretty nice like.

Yup, and easly forms up to 8mm, which I had done a year before Winchester came out with the .325 WSM.

I do that too, although mine is a factory 70. Eventually I'll burn out the barrel and turn it into another 7.

It has a reputation for accuracy, which helps. It will kick harder than a 30-06 so I'd avoid it in a true ultralight, but it should be OK in a rifle that weighs 8 pounds loaded and scoped.


Okie John

That is my feeling also, yet I own a couple 350 Rem Mag's. The only reason for me to own such a thing is that I wanted a carbine with power.

Of all the short fat cartridges the 300 WSM is the likely one of the most successful, if not the most. I prefer the 300H&H.

MMM What steps do you take forming 7 WSM from 300 WSM ? False Shoulder ?
How much neck shrinkage is the result ? Genuinely curious.

I recall one of the writers ( JRS) chambered a 7x300 WSM in anticipation, but Winchester did something different, of course, and moved the shoulder forward, so you couldn’t accidentally chamber a 7 mm round in the 270 WSM.

That’s what I do.