Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters 300 Win mag vs 300 WSM

But he didn't.

I shoot 2 different Win Mags. I know Derek and thought some would find it interesting in this discussion

Both of these calibers tend to be very accurate on average, almost as accurate as a .308 Win.

The win mag's felt kick is more noticeable according to my shoulder.

I have a 300WM and like it fine. I don't think I'd ever buy or chamber a rifle in 300WSM if for no other reason than I don't much shoot the 30 mag I have now.

I often entertain rebarreling it but never have.

It's a Howaguard and quite heavy with a fancy lookin' blonde stock. Maybe I'll find a lighter stock and load up some 150ish x's or scenars.

I have read this whole thread and agree that the difference between the two could be negated by a fast barrel or daily temperatures or a variety of things. Being Valentines day I just went in to my gun room and hugged my 300WSM Kimber Montana.

I like her short fat little cartridge body. I thanked her for her faithfulness in Newfoundland driving snow and rain, and NY sunny days in the stand together. She has only strayed once from her intended purposes of whitetail and moose when I tempted her to make a Starling disappear that landed on the 200yd target. She speaks and Moose and Whitetail fall in her presence.

She cuddled familiarly in my arms against my shoulder as I repeated the words "till death us shall part." There are prettier, sexier, taller, hotter, stronger, but she just continues to put meals on my table.

I really don't care if her sister may, in the eyes of others, be a little more desirable because, selfishly, I really like what she does for me... Thank God Love is Blind.

Jim

Have a Sako A7 that was a tad of a handful with factory 180's........

Got a mate to hand load some Barnes 150 gr TTSX's for deer and for smaller varmints the V Max 110 grainer......

Have the option of running a brake on it .... but with the 150's recoil is manageable.

The 110's are fun to shoot too!

Gus

Then just as you�re snuggling up to Miss Kimber your wife walked into the room and caught you. She said "I can't believe you, your such a Rifle Looney, I am out of here". Go ahead and get ready for divorce papers...........

I had an online chat about this subject with four other guys,all shooters/hunters a lot smarter than me ....they all said scrap the 300's and get a 30/06.

Good one Bob. For many of us the light bulb is slow to come on that all you really needed was a good 30-06 - oh and maybe a 270Win. for good measure.
Another site? I thought this one was "it"!

That's the concensus of the 'geriatric' class shooters.

One of the toughest decisions I have had to accept recently.

I already had several 280's, 7 Wby's & a jewel of a 308 when I bought the 300 WSM. But, it will outperform them all & performance is what I want.

Reloader -

Would you tell me how the 300 WSM out performs the 7 Wby?

A sincere question.

Maybe the same argument could be made for the 308 too. However, when I am on a sheep hunt ranging animals from one hillside to the other, I like my 150's running no less than 3250 fps. The top end of 3400 fps I get from my 7# 300 WSM allows me a lot of wiggle room to set velocities at the desired level.

I am only speaking of the 150 gr, my preferred bullet weight in both the 7 Wby & the 300 WSM. Try hard as I did I could never get my 150's to run at an average of 3250 in any of my 7 Wby's. Even so, I felt like 3250 was pushing them to the ragged edge of acceptability. I could obtain occasional spikes to 3250 but it wasn't the norm. Like BobinNH mentioned earlier, I can't leave well enough alone. I want what I want.

The 300 WSM (mine) will push 150's to 3400 fps. I don't run them that hot but it will do so. I love the option of having the room to set my velocity at the desired level Which I could not do with the 7 Wby. The 7 Wby does not limit its other weights.

How many of you have had feeding issues with the WSM in Rem 700 type actions?

I have a 30-06 and a 300 Weatherby and no use for any of the tweeners, though the right 300 H&H could find a home here on the ranch.

The most useful 30 I own is a 30-30, its advantage is it is low recoil so it is useful to my grand kids, and shooting with them is the most rewarding shooting activity in the universe. And, now and then I carry a 308 which shows I don't really think velocity is the be all end all of performance in the game fields.

F-class be dammed, if the current hot shots were putting their skill into shooting the 303 Savage then it would perform to the level they are getting out of whatever they are shooting now.

Bullets kill, not cartridges.

I am currently tied with a myopic orangutan for the title of the world's worst elk hunter, but, Jeez, guys, the learning curve on this is not so steep that it requires years of hunting and piles of elk carcasses to figure out.
The first requirement of an elk rifle is that it be highly portable. That is because public land elk hunting puts a high premium on the ability to cover ground; first to find the elk, and then to be able to stalk within shooting range before some other hunter gets there or before the daylight is gone. Some days you see the elk before you get out of the truck- Next year, they are two miles past the back of beyond.
The second requirement of a rifle is that you be able to hit a soccer ball sized target quickly from field positions. The accuracy difference between any two commercially available cartridges doesn't amount to one flying [bleep] in elk hunting- You can hunt all day and not see an elk track, and two bulls stand up at 50 yards in some junipers as you head back to the truck.
Reliability is important- That Jewel trigger adjusted to the nearest 1/100 of a miligram won't mean Shat if a wet blizzard packs it full of snow and it freezes up.
Another requirement of an elk rifle is that you are not limited to how much you can shoot it because of cost of ammo or recoil. And don't tell me that you "don't feel recoil when you shoot at an animal"- Flinches occur before any recoil is felt, and they are not something you have to remember to do, they are something you have to remember NOT to do, and that can be hard to remember NOT to do when you are startled out of your spats by the sudden appearence of a bull elk after five days of pee poor hunting.
A rifle that feeds well is handy, because sometimes follow up shots are needed. Fact of life in elk hunting.
That is why cartridges like the 308 and 30/06 are so popular among elk hunters. They can be made in light handy rifles, cases were designed for flawless feeding when the military spawned them, they have more than adequate power for elk, they are cheap and pleasant to shoot, allowing for lots of practice, and they are very easy to shoot well under field conditions. Never in 20 plus years of being around elk hunters have I heard of someone not killing an elk because they had a 7/08, 308 or 30/06 in their mitts instead of a magnum- Have seen and heard, A LOT, of people shooting the magnums and missing elk at distances that should have been within offhand capabilities.
Bottom line, pick a rifle, then cartridge.

Your entire post just described why I prefer the 300 WSM. In a nutshell you get 300 mag power, in the same light handy 308 sized package, with 30-06 recoil. I know the WSM doesn't quite match the best 300 WM loads, but it is close enough. If anyone can tolerate 30-06 recoil, they will never notice the difference with a 300WSM. Going to the other 300 mags will be a noticeable step up over 30-06.

28, I have noticed your comment on the 7 weatherby.. I use 140's in my 7 and often 150' in my .300s for light game and open country.. For me the 7mm W. has be a screamer... It will move a 160 gr. out at3250 fps. The 140's at 3475....... While I prefer the .300's of all the 7's the Wea. impressed me most.

bigwhoop: Not another site.....email gack




jwall: I am regrettably approaching geezer status like Ingwe. but I have always liked the 30/06.

Reloader28: I dig...that's why I have 7 mags, too...it's really all linked to testosterone levels.

Royce, I used to hunt a lot with a couple guys who used 06's..
They often killed an elk, but a most as often they didn't take as shot because it was too far... Most of the guys I know that carried .308's or 06's, practiced very little if at all... One group "sighted in"off hand at a box a fridge came in.. If the hit it they were good to go.. They liked these calibers because ammo was cheap...