Looking for experience with 300wsm or 300 Win.

[Brianc74]

I am looking for some help deciding on a 30 cal setup. Building a lightweight LR rifle. The barrel is a Schneider 5p 28" finished, Pierce LA, Manners EH2, Jewell trigger. Just got a couple of boxes of the new Hornady ELD-X 200 grain bullets.

My question is what would be better for accuracy, barrel life, velocity, and the one with possibly less recoil.

Brian

 

[BountyHunter]

IF you already have the long action, then go to the Win mag.

I say that as a long time WSM fan, but to take advantage of the WSM the short action is the way to go for lighter weight.

 

[LoneTraveler]

Accuracy is a toss up between the 300 WM vs 300 WSM. Velocity will go to the 300 WM by 100 FPS or so. Barrel life and recoil may go to the 300 WSM with its shorter fatter powder column. The only thing you do not mention is the action configuration. If it a Pierce Single shot action it would be a toss up, either one. If it is the Pierce repeater action. Which cartridge is the magazine lips cut to fit the 300 WM or 300 WSM's fatter cartridge? If they are cut for the fatter 300 WSM case it may not feed 300 WM proper. If the lips are cut for the 300 WM they may have to be opened up for the fatter 300 WSM if you chose it. Just something to check. Good Luck and happy shooting with this build.

 

[el matador]

IF you already have the long action, then go to the Win mag.

I say that as a long time WSM fan, but to take advantage of the WSM the short action is the way to go for lighter weight.

x2. WSM brass seems to be quite a bit more expensive as well.

 

[IdahoCTD]

Brian,

I was in the same boat as you and chose the 300wsm. I still have to send JGS my dummy round for the reamer but my mind is made up. The reasons I chose the 300wsm is 1) the velocity through quick loads is less than 50fps difference if you compare the normal H1000 load in a 300wm to the top loads with a 300wsm. 2) I talked to a guy that competes with one at 1000yds and he said the 300wsm is starting to take over because it is more accurate, brass life is phenomenal, and the barrel life is nearly 50% longer. 3) The recoil difference between those two loads on Quick Loads is about 15% less for the 300wsm. 4) I've never built one for myself so it's worth trying out. The dummy round I made up was with a 215 Berger at about 3.2" OAL to maximize the powder capacity. I'm only going with a 26" barrel. It's not going for super light weight but mine will be a #5 contour on a Remington action in a Manners EH1. I'm hoping for about 10lbs all up. That's light for me.

 

[FEENIX]

I'm a big fan of the .300 Win Mag (I have 3) but have to admit I'm enjoying my 1st short mag ever in .300 WSM. My current accuracy load is 2750 FPS with 215 Bergers.

This might boil down to personal choice too. In short, they are both excellent chamberings but I still give the .300 Win Mag the edge.

Good luck!

 

[300R]

From my experience you can't go wrong with either one.My buddy and I were at the range this week to run in his new 300wm and it shot awesome .5 moa with the very first load we tried which was accubonds and H1000 Rws brass,his rifle is similar to your specs, Pierce ti,pacnor#3 contour@26",mcm hunters edge ,weight was under 6.5lbs unscoped.

 

[Rick Richard]

Comes down to personal preference, but I would choose WM. I have two WM and one WSM and finding brass for the WSM very difficult.

 

[Brianc74]

This is all some great info. But I thought I would also through a couple of other cartridges into the mix. What about the 308 Norma Magnum, 300 Weathergy, and a 300 SAUM. Please give the pros and cons please.

Brian

 

[Bart B]

300 WSM is my choice.

A longer action will hold bedding and be more stable than a short one will.

Belted cases are not all that easy to get best accuracy with.

Shorter and fatter cases have less muzzle velocity spread; they're favored in accuracy games for that reason.

While the differences may be small, with all the best stuff, you'll see the advantage of the WSM.

 

[Barrelnut]

300 WSM is my choice.

A longer action will hold bedding and be more stable than a short one will.

Belted cases are not all that easy to get best accuracy with.

Shorter and fatter cases have less muzzle velocity spread; they're favored in accuracy games for that reason.

While the differences may be small, with all the best stuff, you'll see the advantage of the WSM.

Bart nailed it. Nice concise list of real WSM advantages.

 

[FEENIX]

I am looking for some help deciding on a 30 cal setup. Building a lightweight LR rifle. The barrel is a Schneider 5p 28" finished, Pierce LA, Manners EH2, Jewell trigger. Just got a couple of boxes of the new Hornady ELD-X 200 grain bullets.

My question is what would be better for accuracy, barrel life, velocity, and the one with possibly less recoil.

Brian

Brian,

Check out this previous discussion,

http://www.longrangehunting.com/forums/f19/300-wsm-versus-300-winmag-61884/

 

[Bart B]

This is all some great info. But I thought I would also through a couple of other cartridges into the mix. What about the 308 Norma Magnum, 300 Weathergy, and a 300 SAUM. Please give the pros and cons please.

Larger cases shoot a given bullet faster for the same peak pressure. They also have less accurate barrel life. And their greater recoil during the time bullets go through the barrel makes them harder to shoot precisely.

Then add what I said in post 10.

That said, the .308 Norma Mag is virtually identical to the .30-.338 Win Mag and both were very popular and successful in long range bullseye and benchrest matches some years ago, but only when fired cases were properly full length sized. First, a full length die whose neck was .002" smaller than a loaded round's neck then sized again with a body die to squeeze the body down right in front of the belt. Otherwise, new cases shot virtually equal accuracy wise.

Here's SAAMI's specs on a bunch of cartridges. Use it to compare bullets, pressure and velocity across several.

http://saami.org/specifications_and_information/specifications/Velocity_Pressure_CfR.pdf

 

[IdahoCTD]

This is all some great info. But I thought I would also through a couple of other cartridges into the mix. What about the 308 Norma Magnum, 300 Weathergy, and a 300 SAUM. Please give the pros and cons please.

Brian

A 308 Norma is basically a 30-338 Win mag. I've built tons of them and they are accurate but they are no more or less than a 300wsm. A 300 Weatherby, 308 Baer, 30-8mm, 300 Jarrett are all about the same and ad 100-150fps to a 300wm and 150-200fps to a 300wsm. I have 2 30-8mm's and a 308 Baer. I shoot 210's 3100fps in my 27" barrel 30-8mm. The down side to them is the OAL with high BC bullets. You really need a 4" mag box to seat them long . A 300 Norma is in there as well. A 300 saum is slower than a 300wsm.

Another couple options are a 30-375 Ruger (only one brass source but seems to be available quite often and would take a bit of work to form) and a 30-28 Nosler (it will probably be brought out at shot show) Those two would be similar to the long 375 H&H and 8mm mag based cases for velocity as they have similar case capacities. If I wanted more than a 300wsm I'd go to a 300wm or wait a few weeks for the Shot Show and see if they bring out the 30 Nosler. If they do I'd probably go that route just for ease of components, dies, OAL, etc.