300 WSM vs. 300 win mag ?

[mkg]

I have been looking at ballistic tables and it " appears " that the 300 WSM has equal if not better ballistics than the 300 win mag . After trying to search for ".300 WSM" and "300 WSM" I found no posts .

My question is this....

If the 300 WSM has equal ballistics to the 300 Win Mag why aren't they used more in long range hunting ?

Mike

 

[CPerkins]

I dont think that the WSM has the case capacity that the Win mag does and cannot reach as high a velocity. I have seen several posts on the short mags though and think is is more personal preference than anything.

 

[MagMan]

http://www.longrangehunting.com/forums/f17/300-wsm-vs-300-win-mag-21234/

 

[goodgrouper]

Factory loaded, the WSM has better performance because it is loaded to higher pressures.

Hand loaded, they both are close but the win mag has more case capacity and will go slightly faster.

In a custom gun, I would build the WSM on a long action and have the throat moved out a bit so I could seat big bullets out of the case capacity and then it would be a real sweet cartridge.

 

[mkg]

Sounds like the 300WSM is at least equivilent with bullets in the 180 gr range, where as larger bullets 200 gr + take up case volume and let the 300 win mag shine. I would primarily be hunting whitetail with a target distance in the 700 - 800 yard range and I'll need to work up to that.
The WSM sounds like it would work just fine.

Thanks for the info ,

Mike

 

[WyomingShooter]

The beauty of the short mag is the short action allowing you to build a very light rifle approaching the big mag velocities. This is great for western mountain hunters where weight means a lot. It is also a very accurate cartridge. Very efficient with less recoil, powder and noise than the big mags. It wasn't designed to have 300 winny or wby velocities but to fill a niche we didn't have and it serves that purpose well. It is not equal to the larger case mags. I think that data was skewed. When the short mags came out a guy brought his new 270 short mag by the shop bragging to everyone how it would outshoot the 270 wby. We pulled one of my 270 wby's off the shelf and fired them through the chrony. Then he swore something was wrong with his gun because it came up about 200 fps shy of the wby. It wasn't designed to shoot with the wby but I sure wish I could get the wby into a short action.

For long range shooters loving to get the most out of those short actions they believe in so much it will probably gain a good following. I know my 243 improved is awesome at long range in that little short action. The last group I shot with it was 5/8" at 300 yards.