Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Again, Why The .325 WSM?

steve1,

Good post. You made some excellent points. So much of the "cartridge vs. cartridge" stuff is just nitpicking.

-Bob F.

According to an article written by Boddington in Safari magazine, he shot his Grizzly bear using the new 220gr. TSX by Barnes.

It is not available yet, but if popularity warrants it, I might expect to see it announced at the SHOT Show 2006!

That would be a great bullet, if it proves to always expand in game (unlike some stories of the TSX hollow-point getting smushed and not opening up).

That would be a great bullet, if it proves to always expand in game (unlike some stories of the TSX hollow-point getting smushed and not opening up). [/quote]

WTH--never heard or seen anything to this effect?

MD

I shot a 325 WSM today. A friend was doing the last minute thing as he is on his way to Africa Thursday. One of the rifles that he is taking is a new M70 Super Shadow in that cartridge.

He had two rounds left and had me shoot them at 100 yds to get a feel for the rifle. This rifle has that awful ugly black plastic stock with the sticky rubber panels on the forend and the pistol grip. The stock also has a very soft recoil pad.

The ammo was the 180 gr Ballistic Silvertip factory loads. The rifle had a good trigger and was scoped with an old Leu 3-9. The recoil was nominal. I held the forend with my hand and rested my wrist on the front bag. No rear bag was used .
The first shot hit the top of the 1" bull at 100 yds and the second shot did too for a one hole group. The very light felt recoil has to be due to the stock design and the way that I held the rifle.

He is going to shoot an eland with his 9.3X62 and some smaller plains game with the 325. He also does a lot of shooting there of large varmints.

Brad: The 250-grain HE shoot almost as fast from my rifle as the advertised velocity. I tried a few rounds (too expensive to shoot too many), and they clocked an average speed from 5 shots of 2770 fps. The 225-grain TB-HE were right on the money.

However, one of the bullets I like the most is the 250-grain A-Frame, and reaching past 2600 fps with it is very difficult to achieve with my rifle and RL-25, unless I go over maximum powder charge. I will have to try RL-19 or another faster powder and see what happens. Partition bullets have always shot fast from my Ruger. I could not get accuracy from the 225-grain XLC, but one of these days I will try the 225-grain 3-Shock to see how they shoot. I will be happy with 1-1/2" at 100 yards, which is plenty for a moose at 300.

Hey guys......something we might all have been overlooking.
I have probably had 25-30 '98 mausers go through my hands one time or another......if the bedding was right they always shot well,even when the barrel didn't look that swell.
Most that didn't shoot well at first were missing that tang or action screw bushing they originally came with,but some civillian couldn't see the need for when he reassembled it after playing with it.Put the five cent bushing back and you remembered why '98 was such a world reknowned military rifle........Anybody else smell inexpensive (comparatively) rechamber job on readily available,cheap(comparatively) barreled actions,with lots of (comparatively) inexpensive stocks floating around? What's the head size of a WSSM?
Just a thought!

Hawk makes 323 bullets , i even have some 250 grain round nose for my 8mm mag. It will spit them out at 2800 ft per second. Reloader lists a load with ( reloader 25 ) that is 3175 ft per second with a 200 grain bullet. I shoot 180 grain nosler BT out at 3300 ft per second.Blue Mountain bullets even made me up some 235 grain bullets.
I am aware that the 325 wsm is supposed to do all the 8mm rem mag will but i doubt it. I live in alaska and the 8 mag performs.

It's pretty obvious that the 338 Win. Mag. is a more potent and versatile cartridge than the 325 WSM. I agree with Mule Deer that the newish 230 gr. Fail-Safe and 225 gr. Barnes X bullets do the same job out of the 338 Win. Mag. as conventional/premium 250 gr. bullets such as the Nosler Partition.

The accuracy, in particular, of the 225 gr. Barnes TSX is really incredible, and in both of my 338 Win. Mags. shoots well under 1 MOA out to 300 yds. In fact, the 225 gr. TSX has proven so agreeable that I'm going to make it the focus of much of my hunting for at least the next couple of years, including all of my elk hunting and bear hunting, plus African plainsgame. This bullet has taken 338 Win. Mag. performance to the next level in my opinion.

I think the 325 WSM has a place, especially if someone wants a really potent and especially light and accurate rifle, such as the Kimber 8400 Montana. There are quite a few hunts I can think of where such a package would be just about ideal, Craig Boddington's spring grizzly hunt being a prime example. Also for any steep mountainous hunt for tough game such as elk, goat, grizzly or black bear, etc.

I'm personally going to stick with my 338 Win. Mag., but I do hope the 325 WSM sells. It sounds like a useful cartridge to me...........more so than something like the 25 WSSM!

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I'd just like to say that I think the naysayers are wrong, and that the .325 WSM will do just fine. It may not explode in popularity like the .300 WSM did, and like the venerable .30-06 Sprg. always has sold, but I think it can hold its own.

The best thing about the .325 WSM is that it is a short action, which a lot of people (like me) really like. Short action is one reason I prefer the .308 Win and 7mm-08 Rem to the .30-06 Sprg., for example.

IMHO, the biggest negative to the .325 WSM is that the .300 WSM came out already. If I didn't own a .300 WSM, I would probably get a .325 WSM. I still might get the .325 WSM, but it's not a high priority item.

But there's no reason to believe that the .325 WSM will *fail*. That '325' number definitely sounds cooler than "8mm", even if it is the same thing. And I think as people wring out the possibilities for the cartridge, it'll find at least a strong niche market. Over the last few years, one almost never heard of the 7mm-08 Rem. Now it's beginning to grow in popularity. I can believe that the .325 WSM will be at least in that category for larger calibers.

You wanted a .338 WSM like I do? Blame Winchesters corporate cousin Browning and thier A-Bolts short magazine. With the longer ogive .338 bullets they would have had to set the shoulder back .125 in order to fit in the A-Bolt, and then they couldn't match the .338 WM like they needed to for advertising. So they sidestepped and went 8mm instead. They could have gone bigger to .35 and beat the Whelen, probably figured the sales wern't there though.

Just stumbled on this thread this morning and was surprised that although I started it several months ago it is still breathing.

I started this with the attitude the .325 would soon be unemployed and sipping coffee with its cousin the Rem 8mm mag. But I'm hearing the gun salesmen in Scheels, Cabelas mention it more and more to new prospects.

My friend who just purchased a Kimber Montana in .300 WSM about had his arm broken by the sales clerk in Cabelas trying to push the .325 on him as the absolute end-all of all bullet engines.

Why the 325WSM? I say why not? In reality, I think it will die a slow death, for the same reason US hunters only buy a limited number of 338win mags, 'cause most of us don't really need anything that big and they are not so much fun to shoot. I think the 325 is even more limited than the 338 simply because the 338 is so well established.

It is my prediction that all of the WSSMs will languish, the 7mm WSM, all of the Rem SAUMs and the rem long action Ultra Mags will all slowly fade away. The 270 WSM has a chance as the 277 cal is popluar and we do not have a good 270 mag except for the weatherby (and somewhat expensive rifles). The 300 WSM will make is simply because it is a 30 cal and the performance is good with tolerable recoil for most.

I know a host of deer hunters and most of them own one rifle and it is either a 270 or 30-06. Most hunters simply do not have the "fever" that many of us here at the campfire do. Also, rifles (and necessary optics) are expensive so most folks don't have too many laying around collecting dust.

I am all for new product development and like to read about the new stuff and it is obvioulsy good for the manufacturers as they need to sell rifles but the market is only so big and not growing much.

This brings up another subject. I have always liked the little 25 cals for new hunters, especially the 250-3000 and 257 roberts. I shot the rem managed recoil stuff the other day in my 270 and it made me reconsider this subject. If I were buying a rifle for my son who is now 12, I would simply go with a 270 and let him shoot the managed recoil stuff until he is ready for full power stuff. the 270 will last him a lifetime and handle everything up to elk. for the handloader, you have even more options.

a good friend just bought a "elk rifle", he has been shooting a 270 for over a decade and his new rifle is a 300 rem ultra mag. (yes, bought used, in mint condition, with a box of ammo with 19 of the original 20 cartridges left). he is sighting it in one week prior to his elk hunting trip. he has no idea what he is in for and I did not have the heart to tell him. I am guessing this rifle will be up for sale in the near future.

Why a 325WSM? May not be everyones cup of tea but I can say that my Winchester Model 70 Classic laminated rifle shoots like a house afire! See my post under the hunting rifles forum for details. I am well taken with this rifle and straining at the bit to shoot some game with it.

Good Luck and Good Hunting,

Rob