7mm WSM...?
- Thread starter UcanRun
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adelbridge
Member
perfectly good round and somewhat decent availability of factory ammo on the shelf at walmart etc. Time will tell if the round is a commercial success. Right now the biggest drawback to buying into it is the fact that commercial ammo might not be around in 10-15 years. The only compelling advantage it has over the established 7mm rem mag is the shorter action.
Abel
Member
From what I've seen, the 7mm WSM is less popular than the 300WSM and the 270WSM. Only the 325WSM grabs less attention. If I was forced into one of the four, the 7mm would be my pick too. But I'd rather have a 280 Rem.
Kachok
Member
The 7mm WSM might not catch the world on fire like the 270 and 300 but it will likely always be around because benchrest shooter love it so much. I don't see it replacing the 7mm Rem mag in the field anytime soon though. Ballistics and ballance seem to be top notch so for a handloader there is no reason to avoid it. If you buy factroy fodder I would advise against it though seeing as it is hard to come across right now.
MachIVshooter
Member
My ex's father had one, we hunted together. It worked fine, no better or worse than a 7mm Rem Mag. I once asked him why he bought that and not the more common 7mm Rem Mag. He said because he got that Browning A-bolt for $450 brand new. Can't argue with that.
Personally, I'm with Abel. I'd rather have a .280 (Ackley Improved for me, though)
Personally, I'm with Abel. I'd rather have a .280 (Ackley Improved for me, though)
Kachok
Member
280 Rem is a hella fine caliber too, my grandfather owned over 300 firearms and his Rem 700 BDL 280 rem was his favorite. He had more antlers on his wall/shop/porch/truck/bathroom then anyone I have ever seen.
The biggest draw back at this point for me isnt the factory ammo since i load but the limited availability in differant model rifles...pretty much gotta be a winchester or a browning. Not that they are bad rifles i would just like a better selection.
Abel
Member
Buy a rifle that you like. Don't worry about the caliber. Any given situation has about five or seven cartridges dedicated to carrying out that specific task.
Most of the people making 7mm WSM rifles have dropped them. I had one (a Savage 11) rebarreled and I'm keeping the barrel for my long range big game encounters, should I ever have the opportunity.
The .270 WSM is proving more popular, maybe it's the name, but they're essentially equal in hunting situations... and both are fairly equivalent to the 7mm Rem Mag.
The target shooters will naturally gravitate toward the 7mm WSM for bullet selection reasons.
The .270 WSM is proving more popular, maybe it's the name, but they're essentially equal in hunting situations... and both are fairly equivalent to the 7mm Rem Mag.
The target shooters will naturally gravitate toward the 7mm WSM for bullet selection reasons.
MachIVshooter
Member
Who knows. The .280 Rem is better than the .270 Win for the same reason, but we all know which one dominates the market. Maybe it's Jack O'Conner reaching beyond the grave, maybe Americans just like to say "two-seventy".
I was surpsised to find that the 140gr. 7mm Nosler Ballistic tips have a higher BC than the .277 Nosler BT.
That brings up an interesting point though. Who says "M,M" as opposed to "millimeter" when describing a around. I personally like the sound of millimeter better.
MachIVshooter
Member
.284" caliber has always had a very good balance between bullet weight and BC. Yet, for some reason, the .284" cartridges have not faired particularly well in the US, save for the 7mm Rem Mag. On another note, that is the only metric designated "hunting" rifle cartridge that has ever achieved real popularity here, despite there being many other good ones (6mm Rem, 6.5x55, 6.5mm Rem Mag, 7x57, 8mm Rem Mag., etc.).
We're definitely preoccupied with .30 caliber as a whole and, until recently, did not like metric nomenclature one bit.
Then there's the fact that certain ones gain notariety or popularity for no real reason and without much merit, while other good ones fade into the background or complete obsolesence.
Me? I don't care what a cartridge is called. I care how it performs. I have a lot of firearms chambered in popular rounds, but an equal amount that range from uncommon to barely known.
Kachok
Member
Oh the WSMs will be around long after you and I are gone, FYI darn near every gunmaker on the planet is chambering for the WSMs now, CZ is the only good one sold in the states that does not chamber them. Tikka/Sako, TC, Weatherby, Savage, Ruger, Winchester, Browning, Remington, and a bunch I cannot even think of right now all chamber the WSM cartrage. They have cought on like wildfire here in the south, all of my hunting buddies are leaving their belted magnums home or sold them, every last one of them has made the switch to short mags. If the WSM were just made as a marketing ploy to sell more guns.....congrats it is working
I really enjoy them to be honest, little lighter gun with a little less recoil matching the ballistics of their belted magnum bretheren, what is not to like? Oh thats right you get 1 less in the magazine, that means nothing to me, I have never needed a second shot, much less 4 or 5.
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Zak Smith
Member
The 7mm WSM is an excellent long-range cartridge, with trajectory that rivals .338 LM at 1500 yards. It has been used to win some of the long-range field matches in the Rocky Mountain region. The 7mm RM has basically identical performance to the 7 WSM. I recently shot out my 7 RM barrel; before that it was a laser beam and could easily score first round hits at 1200+ yards.
In cases the same size or smaller than .300 Win Mag, the .30 caliber is easily beat by the lighter, higher-BC bullets in 7mm. 7mm bullets scale to higher BC values than available in 6.5mm, which is why it is a step up from the mid-size 6.5's (.260, 6.5CM, etc), but at an expense of 20-30 more grains of powder and about half the barrel life.
In cases the same size or smaller than .300 Win Mag, the .30 caliber is easily beat by the lighter, higher-BC bullets in 7mm. 7mm bullets scale to higher BC values than available in 6.5mm, which is why it is a step up from the mid-size 6.5's (.260, 6.5CM, etc), but at an expense of 20-30 more grains of powder and about half the barrel life.
chaser_2332
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7wsm is an awesome rounds you have all the benifit of a 7 rem mag with the ability to stuff it in a short action. That makes it able to use alpha wsm 10rd mag, in turn makes it nasty on the tac rifle circuit.
MachIVshooter
Member
It has nothing to do with that.
We've always liked .30 cal here ever since smokeless powder came on the scene. Our first smokeless powder military rifle was the Krag in .30-40 (1892), then the M1903, 03A3 and M1 in .30-06, then the M-14 in .308
It became popular in the sporting world first on account of the ubiquitous .30-30 and Winchester rifle, and then by the flood of surplus military rifles and ammo in .30-06.
That said, we're not alone. Many nations adopted the .30 cal before we did, and many after:
.303 British (.311", Britain, 1888)
7.35 Cacarno (.295", Italy, 1938)
7.5x54 (.308", France, 1924/29)
7.5x55 (.308", Switzerland, 1889)
7.62x54R (.311", Russia, 1891)
7.62x45 (.309, Czechoslovakia, 1952)
7.62x39 (.311", Russia, 1943)
7.65x53 (.313", Argentina, 1889)
7.7x58 (.311", Japan, 1939)
Then there were handgun cartridges, the 7.65 Luger, 7.65 Mauser, 7.62 Tokarev, 7.62 Nagant.
6.5mm takes second place around the world for military adoption
Except for the Germans/Austrians, 8mm was only used in machine guns (8x59 Breda, 8x53 Murata, 8x60 Swede)
The 7x57 (.275 Rigby in Britain) was the only 7mm cartridge adopted by a military; .280 British, .276 Enfield and .276 Pedersen failed.
There are a few European sporting 7mm's, but really only the 7x57 and 7x64 have ever enjoyed any real popularity there.
And we like the 7mm Rem Mag, but all the other .284 inchers have only been moderately successful. .280 Rem, .284 Winchester, 7mm WSM, 7mm STW, 7mm RUM all have only a small following, .280 being 2nd place to the 7mm RM by a huge margin.
Kachok
Member
I have noticed alot of bashing the .277 cal, especaly when the 7mm comes up, people always talk about the higher BC of the 7mm bullets, but truth be told in the same bullet weight the 270 almost always has a better BC, the advantage the 7mm holds is for heavy bullets only which it can use because of it's tighter standard twist. a 140gr .270 cal AB has a BC of .496 a 140gr 7mm BT has a BC of .485, so in whitetail-mule deer weight bullets the 277 cal is every bit as good as any 7mm, now when we throw 160gr bullets into the mix the .277 1:10 twist cannot use long boat tail bullets so it's BC is reduced vs the 7mm, in between 150 and 160gr is where the 7mm comes into it's own, below that the .277 with it's slower twist is in nearly every way slightly better. .277 and .284 cal are two sides of the same coin, if you perfer lighter faster bullets the .277 is your best bet, if you like heavy high BC bullets with massive downrange energy, and don't mind a few extra inches of drop the 7mm is VERY hard to beat. Nothing shy of a .338 cal can match heavy 7mm in external ballistics.
Zak Smith
Member
We say that because the high BC bullets simply aren't there for .277" while they are for .284". High BC is key for long-range performance.
However, I agree that for conventional hunting under 400 yards there's no practical difference.
But it does give us something to argue about
I like the .284 diameter projectile, and the 7mm WSM is pretty much the only short magnum ive been interested in. The .270 hasnt really done anything for me lol. But then ive personally been a fan of the 7mm Remmag for quite some time. All tho when hunting with my girlfriends family im the odd one out. She shoots a .270 (tho shes taken my .243 away from me, and may start using that all the time now ), both her sisters and her brother all shoot .270s, her father shoots a .270WBY.
I like the .284 diameter projectile, and the 7mm WSM is pretty much the only short magnum ive been interested in. The .270 hasnt really done anything for me lol. But then ive personally been a fan of the 7mm Remmag for quite some time. All tho when hunting with my girlfriends family im the odd one out. She shoots a .270 (tho shes taken my .243 away from me, and may start using that all the time now
), both her sisters and her brother all shoot .270s, her father shoots a .270WBY.
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