What stubblejumper might have neglected, is that the WSM's get nearly exactly the same velocities in the same product line and bullet (i.e. Winchester Supreme ballistic tips 180grain)...which I honestly did NOT find for myself, in equal length bbls purchased at the same time, I chrony'd to find that the 300WSM DID in fact have a slight advantage, which probably varies from gun to gun, as it's so close-yes, I did in fact go out test NEW winchesters to test this, one in .300win and one in .300WSM, on average the WSM was just under 100fps ahead with Win. Ballistic tips, about 50fps ahead with Federal Premiums...point is, neither Stubble jumper or myself are definative of the round, they're really too close to call, one gun might be faster than the other-even from the same manufacturer....but what I found that was truly amazing, put both in a compact rifle and the WSM WHOMPS THE CRAP out of the old 300win mag, the WSM lost about 150fps going from a 26"bbl to a 20"bbl, the win mag lost over 500fps.

So there's the advantage, you get nearly the same performance as the .300win mag in a long action standard weight/length rifle, but you can get it in a short action lightweight compact. In equal weighted rifles, I also found that the WSM kicked far less, again, making the compact WSM rifle about on par with the standard long mag rifle...PLUS, the WSM uses considerably less powder, so if you reload, your stockpile will last longer-"more shots per pot" as they say.

I've also read testimonies by several gunsmiths that claimed the barrel life is substantially better in the WSM's, but I've not witnessed any testing that would lend me to claim this myself, if I wanted to burn the bbls out of two rifles, then I would test it, but it's not that big of a selling point in my opinion.

As far as I'm concerned, yes, the WSM IS better than the old .300win mag, but the only real advantage to the non-handloader is that you get a 5.5# 35"long short action rifle that'll take every game species at every distance that the former 7.5# 43" long .300win mag long action rifle was able to...but then as far as I'm concerned, the .308Win has all the advantages over the WSM that the WSM has over the Win mag and can still accomplish the same hunting ranges, despite the fact that it's velocities ARE LESS than the .300's.

Sorry for the long posting, but I want to thoroughly clear up the hype and anti-hype of the WSM's...they do have substantial advantages, especially to the handloader.