stubblejumper

338winmag without a doubt.Much better selection of bullets.But if is sold on an a-bolt and actually believes the wsm advertising,he may be beyond the point of reasoning with.

ColoradoElk

Hi Skeeter: For a 1 gun NA battery, I would havesaid the .325. There are plenty of excellent component bullets. Kimber manufactured a rifle chambered for the .325 I would love to have. However, you just mentioned your friend already has a .280. There is just too much overlap between the .325 and .280. The .338 would be a much better choice.

Good luck,
CE

ELKampMaster

Well, he DOES have somesense ofcartridge spacing and that is surely a good thing.
If he has bought into the advertising, then there isn't much to be done.
Especially if you can convince himabout the Barnes TSX bullets (since he issigning onto always having lighter bullets for bigger game vs. the 338WinMag)then thatshould help.

Okay round, just not the match of the 338WinMag, IMHO.
And he don't like RUM's, aye?

skeeter 7MM

AsI said he is buying an Abolt only! So the RUM are out of the question in abolt production rifle. Hehas been dazed by the advertisements/marketing buthas notbought anything yet so still time.

Our main elk party consists of 2 300 RUM shooters(one of who which floats between the the rum and 338wm), 2 7mm rem mag, 1 280 rem and your favorite EKM a 270 win. We also have a 300 wm shooterthat subs in for one of the RUM boys who heads to NWT to hunt with his brother every few years. This year the 300 RUM, 7mm rem mag, 280 remand 270 win did the notching of elk tags. TheRUM actually was the only one where a 2nd shot was fired, wasn't required but the young bull gave him a 2nd chance and rule is if looking for another and ablefeed it to him...he did. The cross section of our results has been pick the right bullet, put it where it belongs, keep within yourlimitations andyou'll have no problems. Nosler Partitions, TSX and Failsafe havedone the majority ofwork in regards to the bullets used. He is on the TSX program, as the failsafe is in wind down so he'll need to find another bullet for 280 rem if he stays with it.Logic suggests all copperbullet will be high on his list since that is his preference now. He is a heavy for cal guy so lighter/faster really doesn't mean a thing to him. One more reason to skip the 325wsm and move to 338wm!! From what most are saying..thank you for the added ammo.

Thanks again for the responses

Superpig

The 325 WSM is much more akin to the 338-06 than it is the 338 Win. Mag. I too have a friend with a 325 that bought into the hype and after careful load development and shooting factory fodder overy my chrony he now doesn't believe the hype. Velocity from factory ammo ran about 100 fps short of the advertised velocity with 200 gr. AccuBonds. The rifle is a Browning A-Bolt with 23" barrel. Even going to handloads and using different powders with MAGPRO producing the best velocity/accuracy 2950 fps wasn't attainable. In my experience you can attain higher velocities with the 300 Win. Mag. and 200 gr. Nosler Partitions than you can 200 gr. AcccuBonds in the 325 WSM. I've also seen a couple of magazine articles on the 325 and their findings were about the same 2850 fps with 200 gr. bullets and 2650 with 220 gr. loads.

So, I would definitely suggest a 338 Win. Mag. factory ammo is easily found in most areas. There are many more bullets styles and weights available and the 338 doesn't seem to be too finicky when it comes to handloading. If your pal doesn't like the 26" barrel on the Browning chop it down to 24" and you will still have more velocity than the 325 will produce. One thing I know of first hand is that the 338 with a 250 gr. pill will anchor even the largest bears on the North American continent.

triggerhappy

It depends on what your after. I like them both very much. The safest bet by far at this point and time is the 338.

Here is a little bit I picked from a post on another site. Good read with good information.

"When introducing the 325WSM, Winchester constantly compared the 325WSM to the 338 Win Mag. This makes sense since the 338WM is a popular elk cartridge and that's the target market for the 325WSM. But some folks continued to question this approach saying the .323 diameter is not readily compared to a .338.

While reading through Ken Water's massive Pet Loads tome and reaching the section on the 8mm Rem Magnum I found some interesting statistics. These were especially interesting since he used a 24"-barreled M700 to do his testing.

First, here's the factory specs on the only current Remington factory 8mmRM load:
200 gr A-Frame - 2900 fps

Ken Waters gives the factory specs for a couple loads available in 1977 that have since been discontinued:
185 gr - 3080 fps
220 gr - 2830 fps

His own chrono testing with two different Oehler chronographs revealed actual speeds with these two loads as:
185 gr - 3030 fps
220 gr - 2755 fps

Now let's look at the 325WSM using Winchester's factory load specs:
180 gr BST - 3060 fps
200 gr AB - 2950 fps
220 gr PP - 2840 fps

And my own testing of these factory 325WSM loads using 24" barrels:
180 gr BST - 3080 fps
200 gr AB - 2885-2922 fps (2 different rifles)
220 gr PP - 2745 fps

This shows that with 180(185), 200, and 220 gr bullets in factory loads the 325WSM is fully the equal of the 8mmRM - a cartridge that no one questions as being suitable for doing some serious thumping.

Certainly the cavernous case of the 8mmRemMag would seem to lend itself to some performance tweaking with handloads. But it is noteworthy that Ken Waters goes on at length about how hard it was to even match factory speeds with handloads let alone better them. Ultimately, he found, with what he terms "maximum" case head expansion, he was able to wring out the following top speeds from the 8RM:
185 gr PSP - 3023 fps
220 gr PSP - 2878 fps

I've found it is possible to duplicate factory 180 gr and 200 gr 325WSM loads without too much effort. Reaching the factory spec with 220s is not readily doable but matching the actual clocked speed of 2745 fps is possbile with max loads.

My point of all this is to show that the 325WSM stands on the verge of being overlooked due to circumstances that have nothing to do with its capabilities. With bullets under 220 grains it performs up to expectations. With 220s, it takes max handloads in an 8mRM to better it."

ELKampMaster

Browninghas brought out Winchester and now advertising the M-70.
I am hoping Browning introduces the 300RUM and 338RUM in the M-70 with laminated or quality synthetic stocks, stainless CRFactions and 26" stainless barrels,IMHOthat would be heaven on earth.

Well, I guess if the 8mm ever really gets of the ground here in NA,then the velocity "ceilings/problems" alluded to by the 325WSM and 8mmRemMag article-references could be easily remedied with the development of a 325 RUM--- problem solved --- I'd look at that.

BareBack Jack

Good post EKM.
But I feel before they can better the .323(or.325 WSM)rounds they need to look at spacing and mass production.The .323 will not be as popular due to the .338.
I think if they would go with a mid size case between the WSM and the Ultra Mags,then and only then they could compare to some serious calibers.Maybe develope a line called the Medium Ultra Mags or Mums for short.
Ther could beseveral chamberings
25 MUM
260 MUM
280 Super express Mag
skip 30 cal and develope a
.323 MUM
then top it off with a
.330 MUM
All of these slightly biger tha the Dakota's Mag and smaller than the RUM

Sorry i'm alittle off base but just some mindless rambling
BBJ

James B

I usually don't jump on new cartridge bandwagons but the if you like a Short action rifle with some serous down range power, the 325WSM is for real and I think its here to stay. The field is getting crowded but this one has its place and its performance on big game does not leave it in envy of the 338. I think more factory offerings will follow soon and the ammo companies are supporting the WSM lines pretty well. Will the 8MM catch on here now? No body knows yet but I wouldn't bet against this one. I wouldn't get hung up on advertised velocities and such, it will do the job.