vaughnm

I've been reading a little about a new, at least to me,wildcat cartridge the 338-300WSM. What advantages over a 325WSM do you think this would have, other than maybea larger variety of bullets, and why do you think Winchester chose to come out with a 325 instead of a 338? Just curious aboutothers opinions.

oldelkhunter

They came out with the 325 because they couldn't even whiff 338 WIN Magspeeds with the heavier 338 bullets, that is the explanation I have heard.

vaughnm

Interesting. I knew there had to be some reason asyou would think that theywould want to play off the reputation of the 338 Win Mag if at all possible. I wonder what the differences in speeds they were seeing?

SwampCollie

I think there was something written by one of the chuck hawks guys about just that. The WSM case apparently works to its best efficency with the .30 cal bullet. I suspect that the performance of a 338 in the WSM did not give impressive enough figures at the time of development to warrant its mass production. In essence, it wasn't close enough to 338 Win Mag performance to be considered a short action alternative. I do not think it is really close enough to anything to be considered an alternative... certainly not the 8mm Rem Mag. Perhaps the .350, though the .350 is a terrific cartridge that I do not have much experience with. Most folks who use it really like it. I think the 325 is a good round for plus sized game for someone who may be a bit more sensitive to recoil. All I can say is that if the 338 WSM, in the eyes of Browning/Winchester would of offered something they thought would have been a hit in the market, then they probably would have developed it.

James B

I also read an article early on that they tried the 338 with poor results at best. Don't recall the whole reason why.

salukipv1

I read in a review of the .325 WSM that the only bullet they could get to shoot well were the 220gr bullets, which to me why wouldn't the 180 or 200 shoot well? maybe the .338 would shoot everything from 200-275 well. Though there are already many popular good .338's though this would be a short action one, I would def choose it over the .338 federal, if only for what I want it to do, others may disagree. also .325 and .338 i woudl assume sell way less than that of the .300's

though I'm not sure why the .338 win mag is noticeably shorter than that of the .300 win mag? same case right? seems like if you ncked up the .300 mag to .338 it would produce a case longer than that of the .338, so maybe a .338 WSM would be even better than a .338 win mag compared to that of the .300wsm over the .300 win mag.

Though the .325 is an 8mm, quite a great elk caliber if you ask me. I think elk calibers begin at .308, not a big fan of 7mm elk rounds, sure they've killed many and do fine, I just like a bigger caliber, so .300-.375, .300 is nice, .325 is nicer, haha, .338 is awesome, .375 is cool, just a tad too big/slow to me. .340wby has it all, big and fast. So I really like a .323/8mm and .338 calibers for elk. also when you're talking griz country, no doubt guys would perfer bigger.

idunno

Hornady came out with a 300 and 338 RCM Ruger compact magnum. My understanding is that you can get performance equal to a 338 win mag out of a 24" barrel while using a 20" barrel. Go to the Hornady web site and check it out. They are basically a .375 Ruger case shortened to .308 Win length.

bronko22000

From what I've read, winchester did try to duplicate the 338 WM ballistics using 338 cal bullets but couldn't. They dropped down to the 8mm (323) and came fairly close. And they dubbed it the 325WSM.
Salikupv1 - as for the 325 not being able to shoot the lighter bullets well, my Browning Micro Hunter shoots the 200 gr Accubonds extremely well, even better than the 220 gr Sierras.
I was anxious to try my 325 on elk this past year but didn't get an opportunity on a bull of my liking. I'm planning on taking it for black bear this year - if my 45-70 will let me.

salukipv1

Nice to know that was just 1 gun test, cause ya reading that only 1 of the 3 bullet weights shot decent at all, was kinda a bad review, the article stated like the 180 and 200 groups at 100yds were horrible like 3" groups or something and only the 220 were good, and in a .325 id want to shoot either 200 or 220, have to let me know how that elk reacts to that .325, I'm waiting to see how one reacts to my .340 wby. with 225gr probably, maybe 250gr.