300 WM vs 300 WSM .... continued ....

[Augustus011]

300 WM vs 300 WSM

Moved for the wrong section... Thank you for the good info. One more question to pose?

On barrel length. The best length for these is 24 inch? I have been told that the WM and WSM loose speed on the 26 inch barrel cause it burns out powder before it gets to the end of the barrel. Therefore the velocity drops?

Hunting - Deer and Elk mostly

 

[winmag]

24" is ok. 26 really shines tho! You can take advantage of slower burning powders.
I'm having a long action 300WSM with a 26" pipe being built right now to launch 200 gr Accubonds at about 2900, & 180gr Accubonds at about 3100.
That gives me the "magic 1500 ft lbs" for Elk, & plenty of speed for full expansion of a bonded bullet.
Just for referance, those speeds meet or Exceed my 24" piped 300 Wby! (which is why I sold it) plus its more efficient component wise. Now if I had a 26"+ pipe on my ol 300Wby it'd be a different story. But that lil 300WSM will basically match or squeak past a 300 win mag with bullets up to the 200gr class, with the same or less powder consumption. I read a post in the classifides where somebody stated the 300WSM had 1/4 or 1/2 the barrel life. Id like to know what he was Smokin! That's a Complete Crock!
Some folks need to be educated before they post B.S. on a public forum. I just didn't bother to post an answer there due to the question being posed in the wrong place.

If you want to launch 210, 215, or 230 gr Bergers, I think the Win Mag has the upper hand, & its an Awesome cartrige. When you get right down to it your basically splitting hairs on the two. Depending on the rifle (not cartrige) you could load either one up to edge out the other. You just can't go wrong with either.
Best of luck to you.

 

[brentc]

300 WM vs 300 WSM

Moved for the wrong section... Thank you for the good info. One more question to pose?

On barrel length. The best length for these is 24 inch? I have been told that the WM and WSM loose speed on the 26 inch barrel cause it burns out powder before it gets to the end of the barrel. Therefore the velocity drops?

Hunting - Deer and Elk mostly

The information you got is wrong. They will not lose velocity when you go to 26" from 24".

You can get great velocity with a 24" in both cartridges, but you can get better velocity with a longer barrel, especially if you're burning slow powders.

I consider 24" a minimum for a 300 Win and 22-23" a minimum for the WSM.

 

[Augustus011]

Being left handed I am going with the Tikka stainless. Which carries a 24.4 inch barrel in both calibers.

 

[Augustus011]

Why is there so much difference in everyones research on this matchup? I am on the fence leaning both ways.

 

[Bart B]

Why is there so much difference in everyones research on this matchup? I am on the fence leaning both ways.

Differences happen because one persons barrel may shoot the very same ammo faster than another. And if they're the same length, then one's got a different bore and groove diameter; tight barrels shoot the same load faster.

Then there's the huge spread in peak pressure folks use for a given bullet in a given barrel length. Us humans are a poor judge of peak pressure looking at primers and measuring case bulge. And no two humans shooting the same rifle and ammo as the firearm is hand held against ones shoulder while the fore end rests atop somthing on a bench. As much as 90 fps spread's been measured.

SAAMI's web site has good data on what one can expect for an increase in muzzle velocity with different barrel lengths. They use identical barrels differing only in length shooting the same load having the same peak pressure. Check it out from page 22 in the link below....

http://www.saami.org/specifications_and_information/publications/download/206.pdf

.....then make your own decisions as to how long you want your barrel to be.

 

[TOM H]

Why is there so much difference in everyones research on this matchup? I am on the fence leaning both ways.

I've had couple 300mag and 300WSM build as hunting rifles (deer/elk tag). My first 300WSM used a Broughton 5c 1/12 twist barrel @ 24" long and latest used Kreiger 5r 1/11.25 twist 26" long barrel. Both 300mag use Lilja 1/11 twist barrel one was 26" other 26.5" long and I also build a 270WSM used a Lawton 26" long barrel.

Like Winmag said 24" is OK but 26" is Better.

This is a long range hunting site and my interest are just that and that's what I have build and most of us aren't building SAAMI spec rifles.

 

[sp6x6]

Can some one clarify the differnce in the CUP pressure.If you have like actions,can you have like pressures, if you had the equip to measure. I see the posted difference in manuals,but these so similar?Hodgon shows a 10,000 spread for same bullet?