bigbulls

I was flipping through Guns and Ammo and say that Winchester will have a new WSM cartridge for 2005.

I have been really wanting and waiting for a .338 WSM. What does Winchester come out with??????? A .325 WSM.[:'(] What the heck is that?? I am assuming maybe a 33 caliber (.333) instead of 8mm (.323) or .338.

Who was the marketing genus behind this one?

Forget about reloading for this one. It is hard enough to find 8mm bullets much less .333 bullets.

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Nomercy

Like greg said, the problem with the .338WSM is that they were falling way short of the .338WM's performance. Slightly smaller bore improved the performance (raised velocities and pressures from what I understand, without sacrificing much bullet weight). It was speculated at the time that between these two is the borderline for performance from the WSM case...to keep up the performance, they've got to change the case, either make it fatter or make it longer, but then it wouldn't be a WSM...I guess the 8mm bore did quite well with this case design, I've heard rumors that the case design was actually best off with a .319" or .320" bullet for optimizing case performance, but that's just what I've heard, no one's seen that in signed print yet.

Personally, I don't think any moose or elk are going to notice whether it's a 8mm round or a .338 round thumping into their side and ripping their heart in half.

I'd be interested to see how this thing does. Might make for interesting bear and bighorn fodder.

johnch

Just read a aritical in the American Rifleman about it . It is 8mm . They could not match the 338 Win mag so they used a 8mm bullet and are able to push a equil weight bullet just a little faster ,for a little more energy at all distances. With factory 200 gr ammo it's flater than a 270 with a 140gr.

bigbulls

You are certainly right about that.

Since it seems it's an 8mm bore I guess they are going to be getting Nosler to tool up to make a larger variety of 8mm bullets for this round. Cause there sure is a shortage of them right now.

It seems to me, however, that if you can get over 2600 fps with a 225 grain bullet out of a 338-06 one should be able to get 2800 fps at a minimum out of the WSM case. Am I missing something here?

I read around a little and most of the guys that have built a 338 Wsm are getting pretty close to the bigger brother with their velocites.

bigbulls

I got another question.

This is obviously an 8mm bore which the groove diameter is .323 and the bore diameter is .315 where in the world did they get 325 from. Did they just pull that number out of their butts? Why not call it a 323 WSM or a 315 WSM?

Sometimes I think ammunition designers have their heads up their butts half the time.

Yes I am just venting a little.

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7mmaniac

If a person had yet to purchase a caliber larger than .30 it would seem rather appealing. The number don't look too shabby. I guess it's all about the dollar. If you really thought about all the new calibers, especially the WSM and RSAUM, what's the point? They all just duplicate rounds we've had for years. Convince the world that an action 1/2 inch shorter will align the planets and you make a fortune. All that said....I really want a 270 WSM.

bigbulls

Well a 300 is a 300 because of the bore diameter of .300 inches. But yes the number they give a cartridge sometimes means absolutely nothing. The ammo designers are off in another world I think. 325 just don't sound right to me. I think they just put numbers in a hat and pick one blind folded.[8D][8D][8D] Who knows??????

I made me a 300WSM last year. I chose it not because of the "revolutionary" new design but because it provided good ballistics without the belt. It's just me but I hate belted cartridges except for the ones that actually need them to headspace like the H&H cartridges and Lotts, etc... Had they made it in a standard length action with out the belt and the same case diameter as a WSM I would have went that way also.

Now that I have thought about it a little bit the 8mm does sound like it would be a very nice cartridge. I just had me heart set on a 338 WSM. Close enough I guess.

oldelkhunter

Well the one thing in its favor is the introduction of a new accubond bullet for that caliber. It will probably go over big but I am not interested.