Are WSM's actually catching on?

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From what I hear the WSM and prolly WSSM lines are catching on quite alrigt. They are being praised in most gun rags and on forums enough that I think lots of people either have one or want one. I could be wrong, but one this is for sure they are catching on better than the Remington SA Mags. I haven't seen a rifle chambered in any SA Mag up here and ammo selection is very slim. On the other hand 300 and 270 WSM ammo is everywhere and quite a few loads to choose from.


Far from a definative answer to your question, but i feel WSM is here to stay for a good while. :D
 
i am thrilled w/ my 300 wsm, and will likely add another couple of wsm's in various configurations over time. i have no use for the wussems, though (wssm).
 
They are being praised in most gun rags
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Such as in the new issue of Guns and Ammo. Craig Boddington does a feature on the 270WSM, which he loves, of course. ;) As a .270Win shooter for many, many years, I gotta admit the WSM looks awfully good.
 
i take everything i read in gunrags w/ a keg or two of salt...

how many times have you read a glowing review of a firearm in a rag, then on the very next page notice a 1 or two full page color ad, advertising for, surprise, the very arm you just got done reading about... coincidence?

how often have you saw a picture of the author's groups, and they were anything but stellar... yet, the author will praise how incredibly accurate this 3 moa heavy barrelled varmint gun is...

lol... you guys are gettin' me all worked up... point is, tread cautiously where gun mags are concerned...i'm not convinced they are 100% truthful (and 15% might still be stretching things :D )... lol...

but, yeah, i like my wsm.
 
Gun Rags

Couldn't agre with youmore. I use to subscribe to a lot of them. As I got more into more narrow intrests in the firearm field and built up knowledge about that area noticed more an more biased reporting on "new" calibers and models of rifles etc. Just one example is the SA Inc. M1A which I have read along with reviews of the M1Garand also from SA Inc. All these reviews present these rifles as new runs of the USGI M14s or Garands. No where is there mentioned the problems with quality control with both models and in one article presented the Garands from CMP as essentially worn out rifles and if you want a new version get a SA Inc. In regards to nw cartridges in my opion most thirty caliber new cartridges are unneccesary with the 30-06 or 308 quite capable of meeting the needs of most hunters or target shooters. Dont get me wrong I'm a fan of many out of date cartridges such as the 356 Winchester or 358, but many new rounds are just not necessary.
 
While I completely agree that gun mag reviews can be and mostly are influenced by ad dollars, when they all seem to agree it's prolly not just a fluke of advertising money corruption. I still take things I read with a grain of salt. :D

The praise hasn't come mearly from gun rags though. I've heard plenty of it online too. (again take with a grain of salt) I do like the shorter fatter cartridges as the benchrest cartridges all seem to be short and fat. I keep hearing that is a for a reason. I should yield a more consistent burn and hence better accuracy.

One day I will get my 300 WSM sighted in. Someday. I promise. :p
 
There's really no question that short fat cartridges are more efficient and efficient. The PPC's, Remington BR's have proven it in the benchrest game. The 7mm-08 can beat the 7x57 for velocity, out of proportion to case capacity. The Dakota line of cartridges all are relatively short and fat for their capacity.

All that said, in a hunting rifle the barrel quality and ammo will have more to do with accuracy than the cartridge. I have a .300 win mag in a #1 that will out-class any WSM for speed, and probably accuracy, too, with its max handloads.

I wouldn't mind having a .300 WSM in the M70 Classic Featherweight, but silly Winchester put on a much heavier barrel than you'd find on a .308, which sorta defeats the purpose of having a "featherweight rifle".

As far as the Wussums:p go, a .223 WSSM looks sorta interesting. A .22 CHeetah(.243 necked to .22) would be more interesting. :D
 
The local gunstores won't stock the short mags anymore. They can't give the things away. One local store anticipated a run and bought five when all the hoopla about short mags was going on. That was three years ago and he still has four of them. Can't even unload them on Gunbroker.

I'll take a dull boring 270 Winchester over a gee-whiz-bang short mag anyday.


ZM
 
As far as the question of to what degree are they catching on, I don't know. That could be answered by someone with access to stats I guess.

Two comments though. First is that you can't argue with their ballistics. But at the cost of recoil, wich brings me to my second comment~~

Seem as though there is just as much praise these days for cartriges such as the .257 Roberts, .260/6.5x55, and 7-08/7x57 and the praise is for their lack of recoil.

Beats me.
 
According to many of the local stores in my area, the WSM rifles are selling quite well. Of course, gun rags are going to praise them because they are trying to stir up interest in new rounds. Truth be known you could hunt all the world's game with a .22LR, .250 Savage, .30-06, .375 H&H Magnum, and 12 Gauge shotgun; all of which have been out since 1912. Gun companies have to do something to stir interest or they would be out of business!
 
I'm very happy with my .270 WSM, I won't say it's any better than anything else, but it's exactly what I wanted, light rifle, great balistics, and I've reloaded all the way down to 90 grn for javalina, and I can go up to 180 grn.
 
Looks like these have had a mixed reception .. from near zero interest, to quite enthusiastic. maybe time will tell.

Reading last night re the .223 ''Wussum'' .. Super short .... well, 40 grains at 4,500 ....... has to be impressive!! Well, perhaps not for barrel life! But I think it is still something I can ''live without'', when I think of my M77 Ruger MkII in .223. OK, just std .223 Rem but .. it is a light rifle, shoots well and does what I need.

Furthest I think I'd go right now is a wish to try one .. just to see. But chances of taking up this newer configuration, at my age! ...... unlikely.
 
FWIW, around here, you have to look hard to find a standard caliber among all of the WSMs and other new loadings on the racks. I finally had to ask my gun boutique owner to buy something else so that I could buy it from him. He did and I did. The Ruger 77 6.5X55 I bought and the Ruger 7X57 someone else bought came from the slots between dusty WSMs that still remain. I think he noticed, since there's a new Kimber 7mm-08 there now.

There's a place for the WSMs (etc), but I don't care for the blast and recoil. I think it's a bad idea to stock either one exclusively - we need choices.

Jaywalker
 
While I fully appreciate the concept and the "supposed" advantages of the WSM line, I fail to see the "real" advantages.

As someone that aready owns a 300 WinMag and a .270 and a .223 What reasons do the Short Mags present to trade guns or to buy new ones other than a want factor (not a thing wrong with wanting one)?

You save a few ounces on the short action and the advantage of a slighly shorter bolt throw? Come on, these have put few people at a disadvantage that know how to use their weapons. Maybe I'm a traditionalist, maybe I'm cheap, but I think the WSM's are primarily to infect the Iwannacoolgun virus.

Smoke
 
As someone that aready owns a 300 WinMag and a .270 and a .223 What reasons do the Short Mags present to trade guns or to buy new ones other than a want factor (not a thing wrong with wanting one)?
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I see absolutely no reason to replace anything with one of these. In my case I had just decided to pick up hunting again after a long period of acting like a city boy. In my research for a caliber that would give me lots of options my first choice was a 30.06, but then my uncle mentioned having shot one of the 7mm WSM's recently and said it might be a good choice. I did a little research and settled on a Mod 70 in .270 WSM.

As I said, I'm very happy with it, but I could have been happy with several other calibers as well.
 
traded my 7mm rem. mag for a 300wsm
i love it, easier to reload for and more accurate (for me anyway)
plus i like the way the catridge looks.
 
I suppose that some of the WSMs are selling but I don't know anyone who has one. Their performance numbers look good but I don't really see where they fit in. The standard rounds have worked well for decades and, if more power is desired, the "regular" magnums have provided it for decades. If I were in the market for a magnum rifle, it would definitely NOT be short/light variety. “Short†robs velocity, which is what the magnum is all about and “light†kicks. Then there is the ammo availability issue. If plenty of rifles are sold, ammo availability should be good. If not, finding ammo would be more difficult. If enough rifles to sustain production cannot be sold, ammo availability might become a real problem.

Drue
 
The ballistics look might good compared to their standard equivalents.

As a reloader, I am pretty darn tempted.
 
If I were in the market for a magnum rifle, it would definitely NOT be short/light variety. “Short†robs velocity, which is what the magnum is all about and “light†kicks.
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I have seen some rifles chamber for the short magnums that come with a 20" or 22" barrel and I agree that they are not correct for a magnum. This is one of the reasons I chose the Model 70, it has a 24" barrel. As far as the weight goes, with out scope my rifle weighs about 6 3/4 lbs, with scope just a little over 7 lbs. and I do not find the recoil to be excessive at all (.270 WSM), in fact it's very easy to shoot off hand. My brother has a .300 WSM and the recoil is much more noticeable, but still not excessive.


Also, if Thompson Center Arms made one of their carbines in the new .25 WSSM I would be all over it.
 
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