Hey guys, hope everyone is well.
Just curious about the 300 WSM and wondering why it isn’t more popular than it is. Ballistics comparable to the 300 Win Mag but in short action. Seems like this would be very popular.
All I can glean from the web is that barrel life isn’t great. Are there other factors?
When it was introduced, there was a lawsuit against all of the short magnum cartridges saying that they were copyright infringements. The companies that made them ended up having to pay royalties to the person who brought the suit. Some companies therefore decided they didn’t want anything to do with paying royalties and never ever loaded for the 300 wsm. So industry backing, while not bad by any means, was not all in either.
Nowadays everyone is about shooting long, heavy bullets. The 300 WSM only duplicates the 300 Magnum with the lighter bullets, unless you do some custom chambering and such.
Just listened to a podcast the other day talking about how the short fat magnums can have excessive bolt thrust compared to their longer skinnier relatives. Not sure if that’s got anything to do with the 300 WSM or not
Popularity is fickle in the firearm world.
Wow, that is helpful and interesting! Knew there had to be something along these lines. Thanks for sharing!
I am looking forward to hearing what Jim has to say. I am a devotee of the 300 WSM myself, shooting a Tikka Roughtech. As Carter mentioned, part of the issue with the popularity and adoption of WSM family was lawsuit by Rick Jamison who claimed Winchester infrigned on his IP.
The short, fat cartridge was certainly not a new concept when the 300 WSM was developed. Jamison did have several patents for a cartridge similar to the WSM. Maybe they did him dirty or maybe technically Winchester changed the final product enough to claim it didn’t infringe on Jamison’s patent. I don’t really know, and in the end, Winchester settled with Jamison. The whole business, along with the royalty requirement, discouraged other manufacturers from jumping on the WSM bandwagon.
When the WSM was introduced, it initially made quite a spash. I remember reading quite a few articles about it in the gun rags, but it faded with the controversy. Then things sort or went a different direction in the industry when the 6.5 Creed was introduced in 2007. Still to this day, it seems half the rifles on the wall in a given gun shop will be 6.5 Creed.
Hornady makes a 200gr ELD-X factory load in 300 WSM and offers the CX in a 180gr projectile. Also on the copper side, Barnes goes up to 212 gr with the LRX bullet, but requires a 1:8 twist rate, per their load data. I am currently shooting the 180 gr Barnes TTSX.
While I don’t have one (yet), I am very interested in the 300WSM. I know of several industry guys who say that would be their cartridge if they had to have only 1. For me, it’s the fact that it’s a simple barrel swap from being a 6.5 PRC. That’s all North American game right there between the 2 (outside of rabbit/squirrel and such).
Yeah. I think 300wsm is awesome. I would like to get one. I really think that the earlier comments are on the money. I think it was the lawsuit early on that scared the manufacturers off of it and then it was old news once the patent expired.
Thanks guys! I don’t own one, but man it looks tempting. It seems to offer so much in a short action but no one seems to use it. I have one friend who has one and he loves it.
What kind of velocities are you getting out of your 180s?
I’ve got a load with the 150 and haven’t shot an animal with it yet but I’m impressed with what it does on paper. I’ve been tempted to try the 130s
If recoil is a concern for a 300 magnum - how does a short action cartridge help this? If ballistically the same as a 300WM and being too light is a problem then why? A Tikka T3X in 300 WSM seems like even more punishment?
I do openly and proudly admit to being a 300 WM fanboy.
I pretty much consider them equal myself.
That being said, if you look at Hornady load data, for a 150 grain bullet and h4350 you can get the same velocity out of a WSM with about three grains less powder due to the cartridge design. Thus, The Recoil should be less with the WSM compared to the Win Mag for that particular load. Don’t know how noticeable that would be, or if that holds true for heavier bullets also.
Isn’t recoil based on physics? For every action an equal but opposite reaction? So a 150 gr bullet accelerating to 3000 in the same amount of time is the same regardless of the cartridge. I don’t know but I assume the accelerator to get to 3000 in a 24 barrel is the same. The wsm may be more powder efficient but the forces are the same. Then the variable is rifle weight.
The amount of material being forced down the barrel includes the bullet, as well as the gases/propellant material. So for a lower charge weight, less propellant.
I have no clue as to how much real world difference that really makes for a person. But that is one of the things people are advocating for with the 7mm BC. It recoils less than a 28 Nos because it uses less powder despite velocities being essentially the same for similar weight bullets.
I’m going out to the range next week and I will let you know. It’s a new load I’m working up with Ramshot Hunter.
the internet says WM 28 ft lbs vs WSM 25 ft lbs. If the WSM is lighter then the difference is offset. 3 lbs is not much - less than 10%.
Another thing is ammo availability. My hunting buddy shoots the wsm. Me the WM. He has a hard time finding ammo. I generally can find what I shoot - barnes ttsx - which are awesome. We are starting to reload again so that helps but for those that don’t probably 10 to 1 or more WM ammo vs wsm ammo.
Totally agree on ammo availabilty. I hand load, so less of an issue, but the WSM is definitely harder to find on the shelf.