Why don't you see more .300 WSM?

K

KCode

Sergeant of the Hide
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Minuteman
Mar 25, 2019
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#1
Being a short cartridge I would imagine you could safely load it down quite a bit safely over say 300 Win Mag

It's a 30 cal

It's magnum power in a short action

So what am I missing here? I've hardly ever heard of this cartridge but I absolutely love 30 cal rifles! Seems like this would be the end all be all cartridge within 600 yards.
 
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#2
It’s a great cartridge and used in long range bench rest or at least was I’m not sure how common now.

For out to 600 yards a 308 will do just about any job. And a 6.5 will take care of paper well enough

Fitting long bullets in a short action mag or action may present issues I’m not positive though. Bench guns are single feed

I’ve thought of buying a bolt to covert for my ATX to run a 300 WSM on
 
#3
hafejd30 said:
It’s a great cartridge and used in long range bench rest or at least was I’m not sure how common now.

For out to 600 yards a 308 will do just about any job. And a 6.5 will take care of paper well enough

Fitting long bullets in a short action mag or action may present issues I’m not positive though. Bench guns are single feed

I’ve thought of buying a bolt to covert for my ATX to run a 300 WSM on
Click to expand...

I'm honestly surprised the 300 WSM isn't a military round.
 
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#4
I would imagine that to get the best out it, you would need a long action. But then other options open up. Thought about getting a barrel chambered for one myself a few times but never have, the 308 just works so well inside of a couple hundred yards.
 
#5
Probably the single biggest detractor I’ve seen foisted about these magnum cartridges to unreliable feeding of the rebated rim. I don’t know how true it is, but “rebated rim” was (and maybe still is) a source of derision.
 
#7
Two reasons:

1. Finding brass can be a real bitch. (Lately it's been a little better)

2. Newer, shinier stuff came along.



Here's an opinion.
So many people bitch and complain about the recoil from 308, 6.5 Manbun and even the 6 Creed.

They would cry like little Karens if they shot an 8# rifle in 300 Wizzum.
 
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#8
KCode said:
Being a short cartridge I would imagine you could safely load it down quite a bit safely over say 300 Win Mag.
Click to expand...
KCode said:
So what am I missing here? I've hardly ever heard of this cartridge but I absolutely love 30 cal rifles! Seems like this would be the end all be all cartridge within 600 yards.
Click to expand...

If you load it down, doesn't that just make it an expensive 308 Winchester?



600 yards? Yeah, that's 308 territory.
 
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#9
With the trend towards heavier high BC bullets, the WSM starts to suffer compared to even the WM.

And since Magnums really start to come into their own at 1500+, more modern designs to take advantage of the long high BC bullets (think PRC).

And have you ever shot 100 rounds of a 30 Magnum? It takes a toil whether you admidt it or not. Hunting, not a prob. Matches--yeah you better be in shape.
 
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#11
Mike Casselton said:
Two reasons:

1. Finding brass can be a real bitch. (Lately it's been a little better)

2. Newer, shinier stuff came along.
Click to expand...


This is what hurt it for long range highpower. It had a pretty good following with guys like Whidden cleaning up with it. Then, we went two+ years with no brass available. Same thing happened with the 7RSAUM, which is another awesome round. Brass dries up and you’re about to start a season you have to make a choice.

Once most of us went to lighter recoiling rounds (regardless of where we started, I started with 6.5x284 in custom rifles) and realized we could shoot the same scores for less money with less recoil with a touch more wind reading, it’s tough to go back.

That said, somebody will tweak the round a bit or some new bullet will come out, then someone will practice and do really well with it for a season if X discipline , and a shit load of guys will scramble to build one. We see it over and over and over….
 
#12
I feel like the 300wsm is coming back into popularity. It's a really good round that does well with a huge variety of powders that are found fairly easy.

I've gone back to the 300wsm on a few different hunting rifles this last year. Only of my favorite calibers. Hard to beat it if shooting the 180-200gr class bullets. The current rifle I'm taking to Alaska next month is a new 20" 300wsm build. Shooting the 205 EOL bergers. RL-26. ADG Brass. Gm215m's. 2815 fps average is the load I settled on. Single digit ES. Shoots in the .3s pretty consistently.

My RL26 quick workup for the other week is attached. Had not used RL26 so just did a pressure test workup and only pressure I saw was at 70 and above with slight ejector marks. No hard bolt though. Verified the 68.8 load now a few times with 3 and 5 round groups and held the same accuracy. Rifle has about 140 rounds on it now. Taking it out to 1000 next week to verify dope and should do well on AK caribou.

I don't use 300 WSM other then hunting and when I want a shorter barrel. It does decently well for short tubes and keeping pretty good velocity.
 

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#13
FatBoy said:
This is what hurt it for long range highpower. It had a pretty good following with guys like Whidden cleaning up with it. Then, we went two+ years with no brass available. Same thing happened with the 7RSAUM, which is another awesome round. Brass dries up and you’re about to start a season you have to make a choice.

Once most of us went to lighter recoiling rounds (regardless of where we started, I started with 6.5x284 in custom rifles) and realized we could shoot the same scores for less money with less recoil with a touch more wind reading, it’s tough to go back.

That said, somebody will tweak the round a bit or some new bullet will come out, then someone will practice and do really well with it for a season if X discipline , and a shit load of guys will scramble to build one. We see it over and over and over….
Click to expand...

The 7-6.5 PRCW comes to mind.
Brass is easy and cheap, and now you can actually buy it with the proper headstanp.
 
#14
DocRDS said:
... have you ever shot 100 rounds of a 30 Magnum? It takes a toil whether you admidt it or not. Hunting, not a prob. Matches--yeah you better be in shape.
Click to expand...

Yes, yes I have. In hunting weight rifles. 7-mag, 300 Win, 338 Win and 375 H&H.
Then, throw a 45-70 on top.
We've used the 338 to shoot prairie dogs. Because we could...
 
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#16
I have a 300 wsm, but a lot of that has to do with owning a tikka that doesn’t play nice with long action magnums. You can probably fit up to 200 grain bullets in a short action and still get decent speeds. Definitely an awesome all around hunting round. I run mine on a tikka long action with 212 eldx at 2760 and ADG brass. Only feeding issues I have are if I don’t push the mag in all the way.
 
#17
DocRDS said:
Its ok, your penis is small and you need to compensate.
Click to expand...

While I may be of Irish descent, I'm pretty average. 😆

None of the long day of shooting was done to impress anyone. It was simply my dad and I being knuckleheads and wanting to see just how much we could tolerate. The bruising was awful. In fact, I switched to left handed, which didn't help at all. It just gave me bruises on both shoulders.

Those rifles stayed in the rack for a couple of months before they saw the sun again. I stuck to shooting my Contenders and 223s for a while.


What does all of it mean?

Just this:

Yeah, you CAN shoot over 100 rounds of magnum shit in a day.
Is is smart? Nope.

Would I do it again.
Well, I have. And each time my shoulder paid for it. Honestly, the worst was the 7# 7mm Mag and the Wood stocked 7.5# Browning 338 Win.

Have I done it lately?
No, because I only had 50 rounds of 300 WindBag with me, and keeping the barrel cool was the single biggest issue. The current rifle is also much longer, heavier and it wears a supressor, so, it ain't as bad as a hunting weight rifle. In fact, I want to add about 5# to the setup.

Some people drink and do stupid stuff. I just do it without getting drunk. 😄
 
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#18
To take advantage of the smaller amount of powder capacity of 300 WSM(for a magnum) the F-class and 1000Y benchrest guys would throat this cartridges chamber waaaay out to use the longer heavy bullets while gaining more speed from long heavy barrels. This gave the cartridge new life.

300 WSM in a lightweight short action hunter unbraked is a bit harsh so not a great steel shooting gun that'll be shot more than a few times a year.

I did the same thing to 6.5 Saum in a long action sending 140's at 3240 fps. It's a sweet low recoiling long range repeater with some oomph but more of a long range steel gun. Reminds me of my 6mmBR but with much more thwack.
 
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#19
300wsm is a great cartridge but brass/ammo have become harder to come by and what you can find is expensive. I like it because I can run it from mild (308 power) to wild (hot 300 winmag). I even have an ar10 in 300wsm. With 130 to 168 grain projectiles it is FEARSOME
 
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#20
Have 2, 300 wsm’s. Great round, hangs with the win mag up to bullet weights around 200 gr., after that the win mag has the case capacity edge. Unless you run a long/med action, throat it correctly, and seat the bullet where it should be. So far, 200 eldx at 2800-2850 has killed like a switch is flicked off. All high lung shots, animals drop straight down.
 
#21
Mike Casselton said:
They would cry like little Karens if they shot an 8# rifle in 300 Wizzum.
Click to expand...

Built two of them. One, a 7 pounder for my son with a #2 contour...
About 30 rounds for load development and I didn't want to shoot the fucker any more.

Then a heavy 15+ lb'er for myself for long-range target. Pussycat, I can run 50+ in a range session and spot my hits because of the brake.

Brass is a bitch- not to mention 215 primers (but that goes for any magnum). That said, since the 2k yard range shut down last Xmas and all I've got is 600-700 yards, it's been the 7-08 and I'm going to build a Dasher. No point burning all that powder at those distances.
 
#22
Yeah, we've been going to Manatee and immokoli since JTAC closed.
I miss the 18 minute drive to JTAC.

I built the 300 for our trip to Arena this September.


I mostly shot the 6 BR at JTAC, even out to a mile a couple of times.
 
#23
I like my two 300wsm's. I mostly use mine for hunting with factory ammo. I ended up trading for a bunch of factory ammo. So still been working through my stash.

I have a bunch of ADG brass to play with and now that Lapua is making brass it'll probably gain a little popularity.

The factory ammo is 200gr running 2800fps. Tried a load with the 178gr eldX and I think it was running 3043fps have to check my notes.
 
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#25
I did the 6.5 and 7 saum deal for a while. Ultimately switched to a 300 wsm. Factory ammo is a thing for me. And 30 cal bullets smack so hard. I had a few 6.5 and 7 saum game shots pencil through and lost animals. Not a knock on those cartridges at all, because shit happens. But since going 300wsm NOTHING has flinched. There's been a noticeable audible impact difference when the 185 Berger Classic Hunters smack game vs. a sleek VLD 6.5 or 7mm. Pics attached of 300 wsm entry hole devastation 😈

I stay around 64 grains of H4350 and get 3,000+ fps. Kinda want to do a 7saum again though
 

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#27
The 300 wsm has been a favourite amongst the f-class crowd for years. .284’s have been most popular but 300 wsm has been there for a while and has shown its capability time and time again.

A light weight 300 wsm does have some serious snap. I shot a 7lbs 300 wsm unbraked for years for hunting. While manageable it was borderline. I wouldn’t want to be target shooting with it in high volumes. I switched to a 10lbs 300 win mag and while it was great the wsm was easier to load for, and stayed in tune longer. I now run a Norma and love it but do need to build a slight more compact lighter carry rifle and the wsm is on the short list now that Lapua has brass again. Would be on a long action though
 
#30
300wsm is like a 30 cal BR in load development. The reason it's not talked about much on the hide is because it does nothing not done with less recoil for PRS style shooting. It's pretty popular in F class and hunting of large game like elk, moose, big bears and the like. But a 6gt, 6.5 creed and a lot of others will out do it in steel shooting to 1000 yards with less recoil, less powder and less expensive bullets. In ELR it lakes the capacity for long VLDs and solids at Mach Jezuz speeds.
 
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