Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Winchester Model 70 Featherweight in .300 WSM

Has anyone out there ever shot a featherweight in .300 WSM? I have shot one in .308 Win. and I loved it. I am not overly recoil sensitive but wanted to get opinions on recoil and accuracy of a featherweight in .300 WSM.

I had one that shot nearly everything sub moa. I didn't like the "feel" of it and sold it. I'm not the one to ask about recoil.

Can you compare the recoil to say a 30.06 in a light rifle?

my "old" LH 300 WSM fwt was less in the recoil area than the 300 win LH sporster i had too.

both shot with 180 grain Federal Nosler Partition.

I had a New Haven M70 Featherweight in 300WSM - it had a regular sporter weight barrel. Not sure if the new ones do or not - would guess they do. With that in mind, it was not really any lighter than a sporter.

I kept the 06 Featherweight. The 300 WSM has more recoil than the 06 but it's not bad.

That's about right.

I've got a FN/SC Featherweight model 70 in .300 Winchester. It weighs in at 7.5 lbs bare, and around 8.5 all up. Its not terrible to shoot. I am not sure what the weight difference between the short action and the standard length action is though.

Just looked 'em up - website says the WSM's are 3/4lb heavier than the other short actions, so guess they still have the sporter weight barrels on the magnums.

I have the stainless in .300 WSM. It will get your attention. I have whacked plenty of game with it. Best ever day was a 5 point and broken off 7 point over cutover chasing a doe. Bang. Bang. Bang. 3 hits. 150 yards x 2 and 200 yards.

Define 'light'.. If you mean a rifle at about 5#, yeah..

The FWT in 300WSM is indeed a bit heavier than say, a .270.. But that's mainly due to the heavier barrel contour - especially in the shank area.

I did all the load work up for my ex-son-in-law's M70 Featherweight in .300 WSM. Roughly over 150 rounds of top level hunting loads before I found one he would be satisfifed with in a three week period. He's one of those very anal types and knows exactly what he wants. One little ding on a stock and it's back to the gunsmith for a refinish job. Hey, it's his choice. Who am I to argue?
Anyway, he wanted loads using 165 gr. bullets at "X" velocity and one inch or less groups if possible. I did have my work cut out out for me but what the hell, I'm getting to shoot for free.
Frankly, I like the rifle. His is a New haven gun and it shot fairly decently for an out of the box gun. He later had it glass bedded, the barrel floated and a decent trigger job done on the gun and it's a solid sub MOA gun with the load he decided to go with. I did not find the recoil to be objectionable. probably due to stock fit and a decent recoil pad more than anything else but the kick was slightly more than my 30-06 and definitely less than my .300 Win. mags.
FWIW, I also got to shoot an M70 in the somewhat heavier Classic (not the FWT) with factory loads one day at the range in in the standard weight rifle, recoil ws about like a 30-06 I had that has a steel buttplate. There, but not bad. YMMV.
The question now is would I buy one? I'm not sure. I have four rifles in .300 Win. mag. now, an extremely accurate Winchester M70 that was made for Walmart and came with a very lousy Simmons scope which I replaced. All I did was a half ass trigger job and it's been sub-MOA ever since. The others are Ruger #1's which I collect. One is a #1B and the other two are #1S models. One of the "S" models is a "Year of American Liberty" gun and I haven't shot it yet. The other two are very accurate, the "B" is sub-MOA and the "S" model is at least MOA based on the limited shooting I've done with it.
So, the need for a Featherweight in .300 WSM is rather moot. No, I don't need one. Do I want one? Well, maybe. Just a little bit anyway. The only time I use the .300' I have now is if I draw an elk tag, which I failed to do again this year.I failed on antelope again as well.That's 31 years of not drawing for antelope here in AZ. No elk and no goat. Now all I have to do is hope and pray I draw a deer tag.
Paul B.