Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles I need feedback on 2 calibers

I think the Winnie recoils more than the Wizzum - that might make a difference if you are going lightweight on the rifle...Of course I'm partial to the Montana in a 300 WSM.

DJ

If you need to ask then buy a 30-06.

Already have one! Well my wife has one that she loves to shoot. Don't think she'll let me play with it!

264 Win Mag!!! YEAH!
Aloha, Mark

How's the old saying go?... I'd rather say nothing at all.

g

Of the two you mention I would chose the 300 WM without question. It's been around for ever and can easily outperform the WSM. If I need a 300 magnum, I want ever ounce of performance. The only reason to go with the WSM is if want a short action. Lou

I agree with Dr Lou.

Well then, you need to amend your short list to a not as short short list. :-)

.300 Win Mag. Performance-wise they are close, but you can find the win mag ammo anywhere. That is always one of the things I consider when getting a hunting rifle. If I am out of town hunting, can I find the ammo there? For less than a new Buick? Go with the common, proven one unless you need the short action.

-Mb

Well Id guess that one is a short action and the other is a STD/Magnum action depending on the model of rifle your looking at. There maybe also differences in barrel length and countour. I

In some rifles there is a significant difference between the 300wsm and 300wm, examples of rifles like these might be the ruger 77 and Kimber Montana. In other models there might be very little difference.

The practical differences between the two cartridges are very slight, but if there is no practical advantage to the rifle in which the 300wsm is chambered I would choose the 300wm because its more common and has just a little more umph.

If you don't handload, the older 300 wm has a larger choice of available ammo, some brands like Hornady don't even load for the WSM.

But I like the WSM because I like short action rifles.

It has been my experience that the WSM has a little more oomph in factory loads than the WM. I recently went through the same exact question. I ended up with a Sako A7 in .300 WSM and couldnt be happier. First run at the range and it was less than 1" MOA. It has a little less recoil and a little more velocity than the standard WM. I am not the type of guy who will ever need to buy ammo out of town, therefore that is not something that matters to me. If you are a reloader there may be some differences, but I cannot help you on that front. Good luck, you will like either. But the big difference to me was a little less recoil in a light rifle.

Smoother feeding and one more in the mag, I'd choose a........

I've loaded for 3-4 300 WSM's and several 300 Win mags(I forget how many of each).The 300 WSM is an easy cartridge to get to shoot,very much like a 300 H&H,and in some instances the loads and velocities are almost identical.The 300 Win Mag takes slightly heavier powder charges,and depending on the rifle,produces a bit more velocity,but this can vary a good deal, rifle to rifle.I see no accuracy advantage or magic associated with short powder columns etc, as has been proclaimed for the WSM's.In hunting rifles assembled correctly, there will be no difference in accuracy between the 300 Win amd the 300 WSM.

I'd take the 300 Win mag simply because I'm ambivalent when it comes to short actions, and prefer M70's,which have been feeding belted cases since 1937,so you can pretty much count on the rifle behaving. My experiences with WSM's on M70's have not been happy one's.

The action that has handled the WSM cases better than any other I have experience with is the Kimber, which I think was designed from the ground up to handle them, unlike the M70.

Bob , I think Winchester had figured out WSM feeding in the M-70 before they went tits up.....at any rate we have a couple of the later M-70s in WSMs in the family and they both feed very well .

Sounds quite logical to me, although I don't shoot any mangle-ums!

But consider where you'd buy ammo on a hunting trip if you forgot your supply at home or needed more ..... The fact the .300WM is still the more popular of the two is very significant to me, unless I just couldn't live without the WSM (whatever silly reason that would be).

sd: Yes the ones I had FED ok; the problem was they would "porpoise" on me,ie the magazines seemed too narrow for the chubby cartridge,and in rapid fire,as I ejected an empty,the next round would fly out of the magazine before I worked the bolt forward to pick up the next round,placing a cartridge in the magazine opening before you wanted it there.Naturally as you work the bolt forward,the bolt face picks up another cartridge. Result: JAM.

I work a bolt pretty hard and fast from the shoulder and this might have contributed to the problem.I have seen some folks work a bolt action like they're handling Chippendale China,and I tend to be a bit rough on them.

I never discovered a cure for the double feeding problem as I got rid of the rifle(s) rather quickly....could be that it was fixed later.Others I know had the same problem; but many others did not.I was not willing to experiment further.

The only WSMs I own are a couple of Kimbers and they feed reliably, if not smoothly.

In my limited experience with 300WMs(Winchester, Ruger, Steyr) they feed very well indeed and I would take a 300WM over a 300WSM for that reason alone.

My one first hand experience with a 300wsm is a Ruger and it feeds as well as my 338wm ruger does. The 300wsm holds one less in the magazine but if I can't get it done with three shots of 300 mag..I not very confidant that the 4th shot would help.

When I bought the 300wsm I was worried about feeding there was so much internet talk about WSM feeding poorly. I wonder if it was just the first winchester WSM's that gave the WSMs a bad reputation that has stuck to everything since.

Bob , we've not seen the jumping cartridge problems with our guns , though I admit 2 rifles is not a big sample....I like to run the bolt hard and fast myself .

I think the "short" M-70 was well matched to the WSM line , not really a short action but more an intermediate length .

But if a guy wants more speed , the handloaded 300 Win certainly has it over the WSM .