Is the 300 Win mag obsolete

[southern utah]

I have a Rem 700 LSS ( pre bolt lock) in 300 Wim mag I bought years ago and only put 3 test rounds thru it. I was in talking to local dealer about trading it off . He told me the new WSMs have made the long acton guns drop in value. Is there much demand for these rifles. It has the triger set at 3# , recoil lug bedded amd barrel floated.

[Dand]

No doubt all these new super mags and short mag fad guns have cut into the current resale value of a 300 win mag. But it is in no way obsolete.  I think the fascination with the ultra and super mags will fade as people get tired of the recoil, noise, and expense - not to mention the marginal gains for most hunting conditions and most hunters' shooting abilities.  

On the short magnums - its hard to say what their sticking power will be. They make more sense than the ultra mags and have a lot of good points going for them. But they are so new we'll have to wait and see what their long term life will be. I'm not well enough informed on the short mags to know how they compare in magazine capacity, feed characteristics or handling 180 gr or heavier bullets.

But I 'm not dumping my 300 Win for one of the new short rounds.  The old 300 win is still a very fine cartridge for all its originally intended uses.  And you gun sounds like a very fine rifle.

[Zachary]

300 WM obsolete?  Don't be ridiculous.

Have you looked at the amount of factory loads the 300WM has?  It's got to be well over 40.  Now take a look at the 300 WSM - less than 10.

Yes, the WSMs are the "in thing" right now, but the 300 WM will NEVER be obsolete.

Zachary

[Lawdog]

southern utah,

Any good dealer is going to talk down you rifle price.  Man that's how they make their money on used weapons.  What were you planning on trading it in on?  I have a brother-in-law the shoots a .300 WM and his wife shoots a .300 WSM.  Both rifles are almost the same weight, both M70's and in loads of the same velocity there is no noticeable difference between the two in recoil or performance UNTIL you get into bullets over 180 grains.  Then the .300 WM is more accurate.  Why?  I wish someone would explain this.  My brother-in-law was told the rifle would recoil less and be easier for his wife to shoot.  Wrong.  Instead of trading in the rifle sell it yourself, you should do better.  Lawdog

[longwinters]

The guys posting above are right on.  Like the 30-06 and 270 (plus others) the 300 win will be around for years and years to come.  These new mags only shine for the people who put out the cash for them or the writers who get atta boys for writing about them.  They are not the new super breed of rifle that some tote them out to be.

[southern utah]

Here is the whole story, hope it doesn't bore you. I purchaced a Win 70 Stainless Classic in 300 WM a few years back. It shot good but the brass ( new factory ammo ) was stretched to bad to reload. Winchester had me send it in and 6 months later receiced another NEW  rifle to relace the first NEW one. It was a pathetic POS.  even the follower was plactic. I traded it unfired for a Rem. 700 LSS in 300WM. The Elk hunt I had planned for the Win. had passed ( used a Rem. BDL 30-06 I have )so the new Rem got the works and put away in the safe.  I now use an Encore with barrels from 223 to 300WM and thought it might be a good time to trade of the Rem.300 WM I wasn't using. I used the Encore with the 300WM for both deer and elk hunt this year using Win. 180gr. Failsafes.
 Here is what I have experenced with the 300WSM. I bought a Bullberry 24" HB for my encore. It came with a short throat ( freebore)  as compared with the specs from Clymer see
 http://www.clymertool.com/cgi-bin/reamer.cgi
I  measured a factory Browing rifle and it too had a short throat because the ammo has to fit in the rifle magazine.Clymer shows a .175 freebore  and the Browning rifle had a freebore of .101.   I used a split 300WSM case so I could see how far in 8 different bullets went when seated to fit the throat and or magazine of the factory Winchester . I used Barnes X in 140 &150, Speer 150-165 & 180, Horady 165 SST and Nosler 150 & 180 BTs.   Even the 150s went in passed the neck and the 180s were real deep. I think this is where the larger bullets are having the problem. The loads have to be reduced because of the high pressures. I had my 300WSM Encore barrel throated out .100  but haven't tried  reloading any ammo yet.  Leaning towards the Hornady 165 SSTs if i can get decent velocities.

[Lawdog]

southern utah,

You may want to rethink using SST's in a magnum cartridge.  I tried them and they blow if you hit bone not guaranteeing getting to the vitals.  Also holds for the Ballistic Tips as they almost cost me a few deer until I finally gave up on them and went back to Nosler Partitions and now Barnes XLC’s.  I tried SST’s in my .30-06 and they really perform all that well.  Oh they were accurate but accuracy isn’t everything if the bullet goes to pieces just because you hit a rib.  Just my opinion but in magnums you should stay with premium bullets.  Lawdog

[Muddyboots]

Southern Utah,
I thought about getting a WSM for my Encore until I spoke to TC engineering about it. They will not chamber the Encore for the WSM due to frame stretch caused by bolt thrust from the WSM family of cartridges. Note that SSk won't chamber for WSM for that reason as well. Be cautious and watch for any signs of frame problems. I would stay away from stout loads with 180's to be safe. That may reason why Bullberry chambered it short.

As for the 300 WM, the WSM's will never be equal to the 300 WM just due to cartridge design cannot take 180 and above without losing capacity. The WSM's are nice but still not going to replace old reliable 300WM. Give me a reasonably weighted rifle like the 300WM anyday for heavy bullets and recoil. I hunt with Remington Sendero SF in 300 WM and love it. The weight doesn't bother me and it makes a great stable platform to shoot offhand.

[jiminpa]

i think these new crop of short/ultra mags will slowly die out unless the manufactures get their heads out of there butts! a short barrel magnum means less velocities(a 300 wsm in a 22 inch barrel equils a 30-06 in a 24") look at the remington 600(?) in 350 mag. i don't see any manufacture of a magnum rifle with less than a 26 "barrel.why is that? why start now?winchester has a 24"on thiers,everyone else is shorter! a half pound savings in weight? what a joke! unless you like pain these are really going to belt you,laws of physics tell you this.run a wsm thru a recoil table and a regular magnum and compare.i want that extra weight on my side!
i looked hard at a browning in .300 wsm and didn't like what i saw! i'll stick with the old .300 win mag or a 30-06 with light mag ammo! besides you can only kill something so dead! :eek: