Why is the 300wm so popular

[Hugger-4641]

I understand where you are coming from. I scoffed at the 300wm for years. I killed as many or more deer with my 30-30 than my buddies did with 300wm. The main reason I bought a 300wm to begin with was to hunt elk, which hasn't happened yet.. But I was also smart enough to realize that when I started hunting places that offered 300 to 500yd shots, the 30-30 was causing me to pass up deer that I could have taken with a 300wm. Now that I have one and first hand see the difference in trajectory and lethality, I understand the popularity a little better.

 

[Hugger-4641]

I'll leave the 300 win mag for the younger folks. Im in to bad a shape to enjoy it. I had my Mosin out today. Ran 5 full power rounds through it, The rest were 13 grains of red dot loads. I wish i took better care of myself when i was younger. I was always a bull. Carried transmissions on my shoulders when i worked in garage. Same with logs cutting wood. Now im paying for it.

If you can shoot a Mosin, you would have no trouble with my X-bolt.

 

[AJC1]

Well, it all depends on your way of thinking. For you and I , likely not, but many folks don't think the same way as me,, or maybe are now on a low fixed income and $5 a box can be a big difference to them.

Interesting. I thought the exact opposite and the poorest people would spend the extra 5 bucks to make sure dinner had zero chance to run away. Perspective is and intresting thing and looking at exactly the same thing or reason opposing ideas can both seem valid.

 

[AJC1]

I'll leave the 300 win mag for the younger folks. Im in to bad a shape to enjoy it. I had my Mosin out today. Ran 5 full power rounds through it, The rest were 13 grains of red dot loads. I wish i took better care of myself when i was younger. I was always a bull. Carried transmissions on my shoulders when i worked in garage. Same with logs cutting wood. Now im paying for it.

Dam anything is nicer than the steel butt plate on a mosin. The one I shot was brutal.

 

[mjsdwash]

same reason 8 out of 10 diesel trucks will never see more than grocery bags. But you'll be the big man of the neighborhood every time you start at 7am or shoot at the indoor range.

 

[AJC1]

same reason 8 out of 10 diesel trucks will never see more than grocery bags. But you'll be the big man of the neighborhood every time you start at 7am or shoot at the indoor range.

I get my tacoma so dirty you dont know what color it is and park next to the jacked up 4x4 with the mud tires and polished rims at the store....

 

[AJC1]

I can see a guy going on a Canada or Alaska hunt wanting to be prepared for anything. Having piles of it at the store in big creature country takes no big imagination.

 

[Steve S.]

The 300 WM is too much gun for me; lots and lots of horsepower that I do not need. But others liking, owning and shooting that caliber should be fine with all. It is a thumper and it has a following - shoot it if you got it.

 

[Roverguy]

The 308 is not even in the same zip code.

300 WM is too much recoil for me and I don’t shoot at animals beyond 300 yards, so the 30-06 suits my needs when the need is to go big. But I have a lot of respect for the 300 WM and those who can use it as intended.

 

[troy fairweather]

Interesting. I thought the exact opposite and the poorest people would spend the extra 5 bucks to make sure dinner had zero chance to run away. Perspective is and intresting thing and looking at exactly the same thing or reason opposing ideas can both seem valid.

Sometimes you can't spend the money you have, or have the money at all.

 

[CoalCrackerAl]

I cheated on my Mosin i have a rubber but pad and a cheek pad. I don't have the cheek rider pad in this pic.

 

[illinoisburt]

I find the 300wm with 125gr hollow point bullets at just over 3000fps decisive medicine for woodchucks.

3000 fps is way downloaded for 125 grain bullets. You could very easily get that from a 308 with much less recoil. I would expect a standard 300wm to be somewhere closer to 3400 with a 125.

Personally I've been an old school 30-06 user for a long time, but would just as soon recommend the 308win for most new hunters as it's more efficient and bullets have improved. That said, I know a lot of people who really like the 300wm. In some respects I can understand the 200 to 220 grain bullets at higher speeds, but in all reality until distances stretch out beyond 300 yards it probably won't much matter.

 

[Sebastian the Ibis]

My curiosity is in part that the 7x57 has killed the largest dangerous game on the planet. Some people bow hunt polar bears and that's just a game of who dies first. A specialty round like 25-06 for elr flat prairie hunting. The 300 just seems way more common than the circumstances would dictate. I can buy 300 at my local Walmart but no 30-06 or 30-30. I just find that strange. There is definitely a time and place, hell shoot it if you like it.

Availability is often the most important ability.

 

[Nature Boy]

3000 fps is way downloaded for 125 grain bullets. You could very easily get that from a 308 with much less recoil. I would expect a standard 300wm to be somewhere closer to 3400 with a 125.

And if it’s a 1:10 twist or faster barrel it’s highly likely the bullet will not reach 100 yards at those velocities. I had that problem with a .30-06 when I was trying to push light .30 cal bullets to their limit

 

[ms6852]

My brother loves big calibers he is crazy that way whether it is a handgun or rifle. Loves the 300 winchester, me I've shot his and and the 300 has its uses, but not for me. Don't care for belted ammo and if I can not kill it with my 30-06 I am not hunting it unless I use my 45/70.

 

[Hugger-4641]

My brother in law hunts with 300 Ultra Mag. My 300wm is nothing compared to that thing. I often ask him if he's killed any Moose lately with it. Lol.

 

[someguy2800]

The one that puzzles me is 350 legend. That has been consistently the only thing on shelves every day around here.

Same here. It’s hard to image there are many people buying it in non straight wall cartridge states but they churning it out.

 

[Slamfire]

@AJC1 - A friend hit a cow elk when we were just out of HS and it ran ~50yrds and fell ~40ft down a ravine into a stream, absolutely, no way we could recover it... .

Opps!

I purchased a pre 64 300 H&H Magnum from the Gun Club President, he said he had taken the thing out moose hunting. And then he said "don't shoot them in the water!" I guess he and his guide had a heck of a time pulling a water logged moose out of a pond.

Various camouflage patterns of the modern urban Elk.









these adaptive coloration's are very successful as no one notices the animals.

 

[Archie]

.300 Winchester is actually used and useful for those few hunters who honestly take critters at extended ranges; 500 yards and further.
.300 Winchester is actually used and useful for those hunters who hunt large, dangerous game in North America. Large bear, Moose, Caribou, and that category of critter that will eat one or just stomp on one.
.300 Winchester is actually coveted by those who prove their manhood by having one, spurred on by clever marketing.

I don't even pretend to shoot anything that far off. Even paper. I own a .375 Ruger, far superior in my thinking to any .308 caliber rifle for large game, dangerous or not. However, with every day it grows less likely I will hunt in Alaska and surely not Africa. So it may be just as smart to peddle it off in a year or two.

 

[FL-NC]

Heavier bullet weight and higher velocities at longer ranges. On larger game like elk in places like Wyoming, this can seal the deal on filling a tag. Much more user friendly in terms of energy delivered on target at longer distances and more forgiving if there is an error in range estimation- a huge plus for snipers in places like afg.

 

[AJC1]

[QUOTE="FL-NC, post: 12053595, member: forgiving if there is an error in range estimation-

a huge plus for snipers in places like afg.[/QUOTE]
Yes more does reduce environmental factors letting less skilled people be successful

Snipers are limited to what the military stocks and the 338 would be better yet.

 

[Hugger-4641]

300 Winchester is actually coveted by those who prove their manhood by having one, spurred on by clever marketing.

Well, I guess I resisted being a man for 30+ years. Glad I'm finally a man now.

 

[AJC1]

Well, I guess I resisted being a man for 30+ years. Glad I'm finally a man now.

Is it a man or "the man"

 

[JFrank]

I see more short action magnums being tested and discussion than long these days, until we reach 2000 yards then mainly 338 lapua and improved etc take center stage.

 

[Hugger-4641]

Is it a man or "the man"

No, I'll be "the man" when I can jump out of a tree and spear one like Tim Wells