Hence my distinction! Just as a hunting rifle, my wife only put ~500-600rnds through her 300wsm in 3-4yrs. Unfortunately, I bought a 500rnd lot of brass for it so I'm still only on once fired for most of them, and she's not even shooting that rifle any more...

I put that many rounds through my 7wsm when I first got it (meant for 600/1000 matches) in 2-3months.

Fit into a short action... Whether you subscribe to that advantage for action stiffness, or simply for rifle weight, some folks believe it as an advantage.

Other than that, nothing really.

But if we start pulling at that particular thread, the whole thing comes down. What does a 300win mag do that the 30-06 didn't do? What does the 308win do that the 30-06 didn't do? What does the 7mmRM do that the 30-06 doesn't? What does the 17HMR do that the 22wmr doesn't?

Variety is the spice of life - there are very few wrong answers, but often very many right ones when it comes to high power rifle cartridge selections.

Go with the 300wsm. I've taken a few deer with a friend's rifle in 300wsm. His .270wsm is sometimes finicky, but I don't know if it's the ammo or the magazine. Both rifles are A-bolts.

Admittedly, I'm in the '06 army, but the 7-08 has piqued my interest, just because.

I had a Howa1500 in 300WSM and I couldn't get factory ammo to group at all! Federal Fusion in 165 wasn't too bad. I had to work up my own loads but once I did, it shot awesome. I like the power of the 300WSM and I took a couple deer at 330yards with it. It shot flat and hit hard. I hit a 4x3 mulie at 330yards and it spin him right down to the ground. It was amazing to see. The gun was light to carry and I had a Hogue stock on it which I love for hunting in the snow and cold. The recoil was NO fun though. I siold it and now shoot a Rem700 SPS in .270. It shoot just as flat, probably flatter and recoil isn't an issue at all.

300 WSM is simply an awesome cartridge; it has a much better bullet selection than the 270. Big heavy bullets perform great, 200 Berger Hybrid's, and 210 SMK, Berger or JLK's all work outstanding. With the High BC provided they have excellent long range abilities. The 300 WSM holds or held many long range shooting records, only thing that is beating it in long range competition is the 6Dasher.

Loaded ammo may be hard to find but brass is plentiful, expensive but plentiful, its being produced by Norma, Nosler, Winchester, and a few others. Guys have been bugging Kevin Thomas from Lapua but it doesn't seem they're going to begin producing it in the near future.

The short fat case is highly efficient, 61 grains of powder with a 210 bullet from a WSM has the same velocity of a Standard Win Mag using 10 grains more powder. With a 29" barrel you can expect 2860FPS with a 210 grain bullet

Dis-advantage of a short action is you'll be limited with seating depth of the heavy bullets because of the magazine.