Bigcountry, this is a lot like, heck, just like the 7mm mag thing a while back.

Bottom line, if you' re picking between a 7mm rem mag and a 7mmSAUM/WSM, you' re only hurting yourself to get the WSM/SAUM. If you don' t reload, factory ammo is MUCH more expensive, usually 50-75cents more per box for the same loading, if you do reload brass is more expensive, it eats more powder, and brass life is lessened because of increased internal pressure, and either way, the WSM/SAUM kicks harder to do the same job.

I don' t mean to say a person shouldn' t buy it at all, it' s a great round and it is always great to see new things brought to the table, but it' s when people go replacing guns or opting for the WSM' s instead of say a 7mm rem mag or instead of a .300win mag JUST BECAUSE it is ' more powerful' , then I get a little bothered by all the hype. People are so caught up on everything being new, and being stronger, faster, bigger, they sometimes forget that they just don' t need it and that 100fps more on 3300fps isn' t much of a change. Like I said about the 7mm mags in general, they aren' t as efficient at hunting as say a .30-06, you get the same range and same game capabilities, but the 7mm makes you pay for it more in recoil, for no reason, I know it has to kick harder to produce more energy, I' m a physics major (Chem. Eng. and Physics double major actually), but why do I need my gun to kick harder just to kill a deer at 200yrds. You should never be undergunned, but there' s no reason to make yourself be overgunned either.

If you just want a WSM/SAUM because you want something new, and it' s what you have a taste for, then I' d get the WSM, because as others have mentioned, I' ve yet to see a gun chambered for the SAUM and have only once EVER seen a single loading of SAUM, which was sitting beside 5-7 WSM loadings, they just aren' t taking off, everyone thought of them as copy-cats when they released them, and no-one picked them up, it was quickly and painfully obvious that they just wanted a piece of the action and didn' t want left behind, they released the loading within the next year, and weren' t able to increase the performance.