300wsm or 270wsm

270widowmaker

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Im planning on buying my father a precise superior rifle he can really enjoy. Originally wanted to buy a .7mm wsm but I know bullets are getting scarce. So looking at the 300wsm or 270wsm Ive been looking at the Browning A bolt Medallion and the Savage 14/114 American Classic. Im looking for a strong name, accuracy, and seldom need of capability with knockdown power at 400yds. All we hunt with rifles are Whitetail with this being said I want him to enjoy the best rifle for our application, no matter the brand or price but, it must be wood grain.
 
I hunted everything including coyotes and other varmints with a 300 win mag and 180gr bullets for years. While it did a great job of anchoring them, I developed a pretty good flinch shooting it so much. I decided to go to a smaller bullet & case that offered similar ballistics to my 300 win mag using 180gr ballistic tips with a BC of .507 and a velocity of 3000fps. I currently use 140gr accubond bullets from a 270 win or 264 win mag with similar BC (.496 and .509) at the same velocity. You can get the same ballistics from many other 6.5-7mm rounds, but those are what I use. They kill big bodied whitetail or muleys quickly from any reasonable angle and are much easier for me to shoot well. I shot a Browning A bolt in 270WSM for a couple hunts and it performed very well. A plain old 270 win or 280 Remington, as well as the 6.5x284 would also be excellent choices, preferably in a 24" barrel. These offer plenty of power and speed with light recoil. Stepping down again in recoil the 260 Remington or 6.5 Creedmoor are also capable. Any of these offer plenty of punch at 400yds as long as he is capable of putting the bullet in the right place. The lighter recoil makes practice more pleasant, hopefully making it occur more often. 400yds is a long shot and one that should be a very high percentage shot in practice before being attempted in the field.

As for rifles, I have owned 2 Browning A bolts that both shot very well, and one Savage that shot as well, another that didn't. I really like the tang safety that Browning and Savage use, with the 3 position like Winchester or Ruger use as a second choice. I personally don't like the slide safety like the Remington 700 has because I've had it rub into the fire position on my pack. That safety rules out Howa, Weatherby, Remington, Tikka, and other great rifle companies for me personally unless I install an aftermarket safety. I don't think any of the companies mentioned are really putting out a out a bad rifle now days. With budget rifles like the TC Venture and Ruger American shooting so well companies higher end lines are under pressure to at least match that. Without knowing your Dad's hunting style it's hard to recommend a specific rifle. If it is a rifle that will be carried 400yds to a stand or blind where shots may be long but you have plenty of time to get set up I'd go with a heavy rifle with a long barrel and big objective scope for low light. If he is in a treestand with tight quarters or still hunting a trimmer, faster handling setup may fit him better. If it's a little of everything a 22-24" barrel sporter with a scope somewhere between 2.5-8 and 4-16 is a good versatile hunting rifle. Lighter rifles are harder to shoot well and less forgiving of shooter movements, but are still plenty capable at 400yds if the shooter is.
 
I have both and both shoot great. The 270 has a lot less recoil and MOI is more pleasant to shoot but the 300 has a lot more versatility as far as bullet weight goes. Can't go wrong with either one.
 
You will be very well served with either.

I love my 270WSM launching 140Accubonds.
In fact it started my love affair with the WSM case, & I now have a semi custom being built in 300WSM for a bit more range on bigger critters.

The 270WSM is very versatile, & has plenty of power, & shoots flat as a laserbeam. I've killed multiple Deer, & multiple Bears with mine, & my cousin has stacked up quite a few Deer, & Elk with his. ALL with handloaded 140 Accubonds over RL-19, shoving 3100fps.
Plus, there have been a lot of new, high B.C. bullets introduced lately that really make it shine, but depending on elevation, require a faster twist than factory offerings, to take advantage of.

As OrrHunter1 points out, the 300WSM is obviously going to offer the widest selection of bullets, from 55 grain accellerators to 230 grain Target bullets, & is also sufficient to smoke anything in North America if the opportunity ever arises. Maybe a once in a lifetime Alaska Moose hunt, or Colorado Elk hunt. Who knows. The 270WSM would also work just fine for this.

Recoil is a complete non issue. If you don't care for the recoil of a 300WSM, the 270WSM is not going to be enough less to hardly be noticeable. Plus the muzle brakes offered today take all the bite out of most any cartrige offered. Heck I've watched video of 12 year old girls, that Might weigh 90 lbs max, shooting deer past 600 yds from a 408 Cheytac based wildcat, thanks to a good muzle brake, & heavy barrel.
Recoil comparisons of WSM to WSM cases, loaded to thier full potential,(270-140 thru 160gr/300-165-200gr) as to say that one is So much less recoil, is rediculous unless your comparing a light loaded 270 bullet of extreme light weight (say 100gr @ 2900fps), to a hot loaded 30 cal of extreme weight, (like a 230 @ 2900 fps). In that case, a brake would tame the 300 dramatically.

For your intended purpose, & stated range your golden with either choice. Both offer Way more performance than the needs you stated. Kinda like driving a Corvette to the grocery store, but they're both Sooo cool, it doesn't matter. Both are capable of putting much larger game, at much longer distance in the freezer if the opportunity ever arises. You just can't go wrong with either cartrige.

Id recomend the Winchester Model-70 or REM-700 for nice wood, fit, & finnish, & accuracy, as well as buildability for future use, & Both offer a HUGE selection of aftermarket support, & have good factory tuneable triggers. Fit & finnish tend to lack a lot with many other manufacturers that offer only accuracy. You can find parts, & smiths willing to work on Win-70, & Rem-700 platforms or accurise them anywhere. That's not the case with many other factory guns. Both also offer a bonus over magazine fed guns like Browning etc that severely limit cartrige overall length for handloads of a veriety of bullets.
As stated earlier by Mcseal2, I prefer the 3 position Winchester safety for the exact same reasons, & dislike the REM safety for the exact same reasons. But, my style of hunting includes covering massive amounts of country of all types, thick, open, steep, flat buttes, timber sagebrush etc.
Tree house hunter, or ground pounder spot & stock, REM-700 or Win-70, All of it is subject to personal preference, hunting style, & filling those needs to the satisfaction of individual taste.
 
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I think the key word to your post was "enjoy". In my opinion no one can shoot a 6-7lb Magnum rifle and "Enjoy" it. It may shoot well and you might like to shoot it if it is accurate but lets be honest nobody likes being kicked in the sholder by a mule no matter how accurate the mule might be. I have a 300wsm in a savage that i have in a heavy stock that shoots MOA to 1000 yards but it weighs a little over 10lbs and still kicks very hard. THat being said if you are set one of of the two calibers you have mentioned then go with the 270WSM. Personally i would go with a Savage but it looks like they only have one model in the wood grain in 270WSM.
Good luck on the one you choose.
 
I believe both are great cartriges, and I have been behind both. As far as recoil, i can hardly tell a difference, between those two or even a 30-06. To me it it kinda boiled down to...do i want to optimally push140gr 3000+- or 180gr 3000+- feet per second. I don't do a whole lot of target shooting, maybe 20-30 rounds a year and probably 10 rounds a year hunting but I've always felt like the heavier bullets fly straighter, and with these two the difference in recoil is marginal at best. My wife can shoot the 300wsm all day, and she is a California girl. Like I said, they are both great cartridges. I like the 300. It's been very lethal for me.
 
Im planning on buying my father a precise superior rifle he can really enjoy. Originally wanted to buy a .7mm wsm but I know bullets are getting scarce. So looking at the 300wsm or 270wsm Ive been looking at the Browning A bolt Medallion and the Savage 14/114 American Classic. Im looking for a strong name, accuracy, and seldom need of capability with knockdown power at 400yds. All we hunt with rifles are Whitetail with this being said I want him to enjoy the best rifle for our application, no matter the brand or price but, it must be wood grain.

To be more specific to the post, both cartridges would be great for white tail. The 300wsm will offer a hair more authority at any range, especially out to 400yds and more. If you are worried about destruction you could drop the 300wsm down to 150gr for the flatter trajectory. I once used Hornady Interbonds(soft) with H4350 for 3200fps and had great accuracy out to 600 yds(as far as Ive ever shot or will ever need to). As far as damaged I can't tell that my white tail were any worse off than the ones that I used my 25-06 on and I don't track wounded deer anymore.

As far as rifles, I love the A-bolt. I know that Savage makes some excellent rifles but the A bolts are, or were, built like Les Baers....Tight!!! And I've been killing deer with my A-bolt for 23 years....minus 2 years that I've used a Model 70. I was given my A-bolt 25-06 when I was 13 years old and it's about to go in for a Cerakote and a new scope. I love that gun.
 
Winchester Model 70 Featherweight in 270 WSM here, one of the nicest guns on the market in my opinion.
 
I have several 300 wsm the 150 grain BST or TTSX is flatter than the 270 wsm and does not kick much more than the 140 gr 270 wsm. I have one scope zeroed for 150 bst for deer/antelope/goats and the 180 for the bear/elk/moose.
300 wsm is faster, flatter, hits harder and good to any reasonable range one should be shooting.gun)
 
I have several 300 wsm the 150 grain BST or TTSX is flatter than the 270 wsm and does not kick much more than the 140 gr 270 wsm. I have one scope zeroed for 150 bst for deer/antelope/goats and the 180 for the bear/elk/moose.
300 wsm is faster, flatter, hits harder and good to any reasonable range one should be shooting.gun)


What powders are you using in the 300WSM, and at what velocity?
 
For the 300WSM;
RL-17 & a 180 Accubond gets close to 3100 fps.
RL-19 & a 180 gets close, but a touch less velocity than 17.
H-4350 is a performer too.

I'm told that IMR-7828ssc is a solid performer with 200 grain Accubonds.

For the 270WSM,
If your launching 140 Accubonds, look no further than RL-19. It has been the best performer in all three 270WSM's I load for, & countless others on this forum. 3100 fps is Easily attainable in most rifles.
If your looking at launching the Matrix bullets, or the new Bergers, Magpro, Retumbo, & even H-1000 have been noted for velocity.
 
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