Hunter4life81

What is the difference between the 300wsm and winmag? Besides the fact that one is a short action and one is a long action. According to federals ballistics the 300wsm and wm have the same amount of nrg and velocity and the same trajectory. Why would winchester come out with a gun that performs almost identical to the originally 300? whats difffernt????????? plz help me on this subjects

Hunter4life81

[link]http://www.federalcartridge.com/ammo40/compare.asp[/link]
here is the ballistics i was looking at!

stubblejumper

In handloads loaded to design pressure,the 300winmag actually produces slightly more velocity with the same bullet weight.The 300wsm produces almost the same ballistics but will fit in a short action while the 300winmag requires a long action.The 300wsm rifle is therefore very slightly shorter and a few ounces lighter if that matters to you.

bigbulls

Add to that there is NO BELT. Belts on cartridges are only there because the designers of the cartridge were to dang lazy to design a case with out them.They serve no purpose in a modern bottle necked designed cartridge such as the Win mags and Rem. mags. With cartridges such as the H&H designs that had long shoulders specifically designed for reliable feeding for hunting dangerous game and straight wall cartridges the belt is needed for proper headspace.

A cartridge that headspaces on the shoulder, such as the WSM, is inherantly more accurate than one that headspaces on the rim of the belt, such as the Win mag. This is because the more distance you put between the base of the cartridge and the point at which the cartridge headspaces the more stable it is when siting inside the chamber and the less it moves around when the firing pin strikes the primer, the powder begins to ignite, and the bullet begins to leave the case.

The WSM will also kick slightly less than it's larger cousin. This is because the weight of the powder also plays a roll in recoil. The more powder in a case the more that powder weighs and the more recoil you get. Same as adding bullet weight.

Shorter and fatter cases are inherantly more accurate than longer skinnier cases. This is because more powder is ignited by the primer and burns more efficiently. Do a little research on long range bench rest shooting and you will see that the majority or shooters will be shooting a short and fat cartridge of some kind. The world record in 1000 yard bench rest competition was recently set using a 6mm BR cartridge. The group measured just 4.2278 inches.

A short action rifle is inherantly more accurate than a longer action. It is more rigid than a longer action thus flexing less when firing and under recoil.


So you see, it's not all about ballistics alone.

stubblejumper

That does apply only in rifles of the same weight.The wsm isusually chambered in lighter rifles than the 300winmag and since rifle weight is one of the most important factors in recoil,the result is that most ofthe wsm rifles provide as much recoil as the 300winmag rifles.

Theoretically this is thought to be correct.However the quality of the rifles and load are far larger factors in determining accuracy than the cartridge.In the case of a custom target rifle and match bullets you may see abarely measurabledifference in accuracy,but it certainly will not be noticeable in a hunting rifle using hunting bullets.

bigcountry

I find the WSM's so easy to reload for compared to the long action kin. I can almost watch velocity spread and find the most accurate load. IMO, WSM is an improvement over the Win mag.

The down side is the short case don't feed near as well as a HH, or win mag. Shouldn't be a problem, but still exist.

I like them both but like the WSM over what I have seen reloading.

James B

Mostly a matter of opinion. I lean toward the WSM version. To me the shorter action offsets anything the WMS MIIGHT give up in ballistics.

Gundigest

The WM has a slight advantage over the WSM with bullets larger then 180gr due to the length of the bullet taking away case capacity. On the short action WSM your COL is limited to the magazine length. The WM should use protected point bullets also when the WSM does not need them.. I got a Ruger 77 in 300 WSM and it will shoot a 1/2" group at 100 yards.

Jason N

I disagree with this statement. I've been working up a load for my 300 WSM with Hornady SST's in 165 gr. In the magazine they flatten slightly with recoil....next bullets will be a protected point of some kind....just can't figure out whick one of the oh-so-many available choices.

aunsaber

I understand and agree about the efficiency of a short powder column. But I also think that any style cartridge can be made to shoot accurately, rimmed,belted,rebated rim or rimless.
On the thinking that a cartridge should headspace off the datum line then wouldn't it make sense to make the cartridge as long as possible to get the datum line as far away from the bolt face because the case head does not fit perfectly in the bolt. Like when using iron sights, you want a long sight radius.
Having shot long range black powder for years and seen what can be done with a rimmed cartridge and rimmed bottle neck cartridgesand also shooting the other types,IMHO the companies took a page out of the benchrest book on short powder columns to use as there trick of the year to sell more guns.
I have hunted with too many people that have had problemsfeeding a hurried second shot.
eventhough this can be over come or they would not be making tactical weapons in the short, fat calibers. It comes down to sales,sales, sales.