300 wsm or 7mm mag

[nond4v8]

I am looking to get another long range gun for hunting in North America- mainly Deer and Elk. Give me some opinions. I am thinking the 7mm has superior ballistics across the charts.

 

[matt_3479]

I own both, and there both fantastic. Depending on the terms of long range they both have there advantages. Depending if your going custom, reloading, and your experience. My guns are both factory but shoot extremely well. My 7mm is holding around .75" at 100 yards right now, and my 300. wsm is holding around 1" at 100 yards. I dont hunt extreme long range, but would be more then happy squeezing the trigger at anything within 500 yards. I bought the 300. wsm for black bear, and moose and the was given to me from an uncle.

 

[texan79]

nond4v8,

This always turns into a 30 cal vs 7mm thread. Ive started them and researched it till I couldn't retain any more information. Ive always been a 30 cal guy and still hunt with them, but my long range gun is a 7mm Mag. Based on the criteria that I established, ( 1000 lbs of energy on impact and still supersonic, with no muzzle brake) the opinions I got here, and the research that I did, led me to the 7mm choice hands down.

** Im not trashing the 30 cal here guys, or arguing the effectiveness of putting meat in the freezer, just my train of thought on my recent purchase.

Here's some of my reasoning:

1. Recoil -- to push a 30 cal bullet at the initial velocity needed to meet my criteria, I feel would have produced a rifle that was not "fun" to shoot, and therefore my level of proficiency would suffer due to not shooting as much. I dont want to have to use hearing pro in the field, so the muzzlebrake was out for me.

Energy/ velocity -- Run the numbers on a .284 168 Berger out of the 7 mag, and will retain more energy and velocity than the .308 180 Berger from a 300 win. ( I know the 300 Ultra and 30-378 will get them there, but remember my muzzle brake criteria?)

I guess the deciding question is how long of a shot are you wanting to take? If its past 700, i say go with the 7, otherwise, the 30 cal has served me well thus far out to 500.

Goodluck and let us know what you decide.

 

[nond4v8]

It seems that the 7mm bullets have a higher BC and they have greater velocities meaning better results at longer distances. You can get BC's over .600 from a couple of different companies. With the .308 you have to go over 200gr to get anything comparable, then the velocities and energy will suffer as they get further out because of the heavy bullet, not to mention the recoil of the magnum.

 

[dirtboy]

I just got a 300wsm, there's seems to be alot of ammo out fo it. I'm getting just ove 1/2 groups at 100 from a factory browning x bolt.Both will kill the same things. I do like the gun in a box bline or walking better short, light, accurate and packs one heck of a hit for that short fat litlle shell.

 

[bb204]

I must have missed the OPTICS part of this thread.......

 

[LouBoyd]

I must have missed the OPTICS part of this thread.......

That's probably because any scope that would be good for one would be work ok for the other. Personally I MUCH favor the 7mm Mag over the 300 WSM. It's not because of the cartridge. It's because nearly all gun manufacturers keep putting the WSM cartridges in short actions so you can't shoot low drag bullets. At least some companies like Remington and SAKO put the 7mm Rem Mag in rifles with 3.6" magazines so it can shoot low drag bullets. In my opinion both the SAUM and WSM series rifles should have at least 3.4" magazines, not the piddly 2.825" SAAMI spec magazine if they're to be used for long range shooting.

I don't own any WSM rifle for that reason. I do own a 300 SAUM in the form of a DPMS LR-30S but the short magazine really cramps it's performance.

 

[Brentster7189]

Time to take out the paddles and jump start this thread from the grave. Only my second post here on this forum. What brought me to this forum was every time I looked up long range shooting, posts on this website came up. So it makes sense to me to ask the experts. Maybe there are some new thoughts on this topic, maybe the availability of ammo, or maybe bigger magazines to accommodate larger grain bullets on the wsm? I am by no means an expert, so looking for those that are to give their insight.

Looks like based on what I've read that if I planned on shooting 500 or less then a 300 wsm would be a good rifle (elk, deer, bear?) And if I wanted to touch out farther then a 7mm rm would be the go to rifle. I can't really afford more then one, but I would like it to be able to cover at least the bases I'm interested in, deer, elk, bear, antelope, coyotes, possible moose, but thinking that moose will not be long range, 100-200 yards I'm sure. Versatility with bullet grains seem to weight better with the wsm as I don't know about blowing a hole through medium sized game.

Another question I have would be recoil, seems like a 300 wsm is between a 30-06 and a 300wm? Lets say you had 180grain bullet, in your opinion or those that have shot...which has more recoil, 7mm rem mag or 300wsm?

Any insight would be helpful! Thanks in advance. Looking to hopefully make this decision soon...tax money is my friend till it gets spent on other things, cause I wait too long to make my decision.

 

[Pons]

Time to take out the paddles and jump start this thread from the grave. Only my second post here on this forum. What brought me to this forum was every time I looked up long range shooting, posts on this website came up. So it makes sense to me to ask the experts. Maybe there are some new thoughts on this topic, maybe the availability of ammo, or maybe bigger magazines to accommodate larger grain bullets on the wsm? I am by no means an expert, so looking for those that are to give their insight.

Looks like based on what I've read that if I planned on shooting 500 or less then a 300 wsm would be a good rifle (elk, deer, bear?) And if I wanted to touch out farther then a 7mm rm would be the go to rifle. I can't really afford more then one, but I would like it to be able to cover at least the bases I'm interested in, deer, elk, bear, antelope, coyotes, possible moose, but thinking that moose will not be long range, 100-200 yards I'm sure. Versatility with bullet grains seem to weight better with the wsm as I don't know about blowing a hole through medium sized game.

Another question I have would be recoil, seems like a 300 wsm is between a 30-06 and a 300wm? Lets say you had 180grain bullet, in your opinion or those that have shot...which has more recoil, 7mm rem mag or 300wsm?

Any insight would be helpful! Thanks in advance. Looking to hopefully make this decision soon...tax money is my friend till it gets spent on other things, cause I wait too long to make my decision.

I have both and like both.

Ammo selection and price for ammo: If I did not reload, I would not have a 300wsm, the prices for most of the ammo is laughable.

Reloading: I slightly prefer reloading for my 300wsm vs my 7mm rem.

Ballistics vs recoil: I give the 7mm the edge.

Recoil: IMO both can be made to be manageable. A good recoil pad will make a big difference in felt recoil for either of them. With a good recoil pad (for instance limbsaver) on my 300wsm, I would compare the felt recoil to a 30'06 (if the '06 had an average recoil pad).

Ballistics: It depends more on the specific rifle (how fast the barrel is without pressure issues) and the bullet selection. There are some great 160 to 180 gr 7mm bullets out there (and yes, many others weights as well). Take a look at some of the 30 cal bullets from the 208 to 230 gr range.

Mag: I give the 7mm the edge. More mag capacity. Still, I can load up to 208 gr amax close to the lands with no mag length issues for my 300wsm (savage 16).

The debate between various cartridges could go on forever. The 300wsm and the 7rem are a couple of my favorites. In my experience they are similar enough to pose the question back to you, what do you want to use for a while? I don't know which one I would give up if I had to choose.

Oh, and regarding your comment on bullets blowing up.. Possible with either. You need to pick your combination of bullets, fps, and game to go well together.

Happy Hunting,

Pons

 

[clifton]

i have a rem 700 270 wsm. i also have 3 boxes hsm 130 berger vld ammo will those fit in my gun?

 

[longrangehunter300wsm]

i have and have shot both many many times! both are really great! both have there advantages! but the better one i would have to say is diffinatly the 300 wsm! it is a tack driver! but they are really close to the same youll be hapy with both! good luck!

 

[MHO]

Both are excellent rounds. I like the 300 WSM just a hair more. A very small hair. You will be happy with either one.

 

[Dalebow]

I have owned 3 300wsm, my latest being a mcwhorter. I love the round, recoil is not bad, about like my dads 3006 with a 180gr round. good recoil bad and your fine

 

[longrangehunter300wsm]

yeah its an amazing calibar alot of people really dont like it i havent found out why yet?