sureshooter

what do you think of the new WSM? And do you think a 7mm WSM gun would be a nice gun for deer hunting?

Split-Hoof

I have been researching the WSM's myself since I'm looking into getting a new hunting pistol. I've decided to go with the conventional calibers instead for the following reasons:

Ammo is more expensive and harder to find. Also, the barrel will wear out a bit faster due to the higher pressures.

The advantage is that they gain a little extra velocity.

I thought about it and I don't see the WSM's as having much of an advantage over the standard loads. But, if you like short actions or want something new, then it may be just what you want.

A 7mm WSM would make a fine deer gun, but so would 7mm RM. It's a matter of what will suit you best.

stubblejumper

The wsm's do not gain any velocity over the standard magnums despite the misleading advertising put out by winchester and browning.In truth actual chronograph testing has shown that the 7mmremmag and 300winmag actually produce slightly more velocity than the 7mmwsm and 300wsm.

Split-Hoof

Thanks for the info stubblejumper, good to know about the false claims. So in that case, I guess the WSM's are pretty much just a novelty huh?

timbercruiser

High priced shells and a limited selection of cartridge types. A friend of mine has a 300WSM and sure it will kill a deer, but it is a bit "overkill" in my opinion.

338

I just bought a 300 wsm, it is behind the win mag (less than 100fps with lighter bullets) but not enough that the animal will know the difference. I wouldn't classify them as a "novelty" I bought one and so did many other people and I have a good selection of "long" magnums but wanted somthing light and short in magnum velocity..Bill

skeeter 7MM

If you want a short action, smaller and lighter rifle the wsm's is fine. If this is not in your criteria for a new rifle stick with the standards...JMHO.

Nomercy

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.

Georgetownboys

I have done some reading and compared ballistics data for a few namely .223 WSSM, .243 WSSM and .270 WSM and if I could convince my wife that my 2 year old Rem .270 is now obsolete I would change in a minute. These new rounds will yield a flater flight for longer distance than same gr. in old cartige options. Not sure these will get the same great repsonse as the new .17 rim fire round but if you are looking for a new Deer rifle and have a store that offers these rounds near you then heck yeh I would look to the newer technology. While like other have stated the 30-06 is a great round computer technology is allowing us to model and learn things much fatser.

So being a .270 fan I would get the .270 WSM, but the 7 WSM in a 130 gr. would sure do a great job for whitetail and with a bit heavier grain bullet would also be good for muleys and even a well placed Elk shot.

bearhuntr

stubblejumper forgot to mention that the 270 WSM is about 200+/- fps faster than the standard 270 Win. That's not hype or novelty, either. Get a chronograph and test them both if you think it's false advertisement. The 270 WSM is mucho faster.