Which 300 Mag to get.

[vitalshot5]

First off whats the difference between the weatherby 300mag and then winchester 300 mag, and which do you prefer and why, any help would be great thanks.

[Gordie]

the weatherby mag is its own animal its a speacailty round as the winchester is the run of the mill mag. I know thats not the nicest way to put it but its the easiest way for me to explain it. Both guns are awsome speacially the weatherby but the weatherby has a price tag to go along with it as do the shells.

[Archerysniper]

The weatherby shells are around $70 a box of 20

[harvey lee]

For my 300, I use the Hornady shells as they shoot a pretty tight group at 250 yards. Seems every gun is at its best with a different bullet.

[bottomdweller]

Scheels in eau claire has the winchester semi auto 300 on sale for 549.00 pretty good buy.

[WalleyeGod]

Vitalshot5:

The Weatherby comes in less available makes/models. Remington did chamber it in one of their "classic" series about 20 years ago as I recall (almost bought it) and Winchester did chamber it awhile back also. Blaser currently offers it in their rifles. For the most part though the Weatherby is a proprietory cartridge and will primarily be available in a Weatherby offering as each other Major gun manufacturer is wishing to promote their own version so to speak ie. WSM and RUM. Yes you can buy a Rem 700 chambered in 300WSM. But these two manufacturers are not promoting the Weatherby chambering. You can choose to make up a custom rig chambered in the 300 weatherby and have the gun configured virtually any way you want. You can reload to offset the expensive factory shells as well but you still need the brass and dies, which aren't cheap.

The 300 win mag is offered in many makes/models. Most manufacturers have an offering for the 300 WM and some have several. Depends on what you want. Again, custom would get you exactly what you desire.

Weatherby is available only as a bolt action as far as I know. A win mag is available in a few semi-autos as well as the bolt actions. The Weatherby is the ballistic winner of the two cartridges but out to 300 yards I don't think it matters much with either one especially if you are using a 200 yard zero and as far as punch out factor you still have to hit em good with any of them. Shot placement is still king.

I have not shot the Weatherby chambering but have friends with them and they are very happy in using them for elk hunting.

The Win Mag I have shot but not at anything other than paper or prairie dogs and it was configured as such and I would not have liked to carry it around hunting. I do have friends with the Win mag and there again they have been very happy with it big game hunting. Had a friend shoot a whitetail doe at a very respectful distance this fall.

The last 10-20 years or so has ushered in newer 300 mags as well. Unsure if that is a road you want to explore or not. If I were in the market today a couple of those would have my attention.

If cost was not a factor between these two I would probably pick the Weatherby because they have a beautiful Lazermark in left hand bolt that I would love to own someday. If cost was a factor then the Win mag. would get my vote and I say that from a gun and reloading factor. The Weatherby does come in their Vanguard offering in 300 so that aspect would be doable on a cost factor but then there is the reloading component aspect, brass & dies. Not sure I like that caliber in a 24" barrel on the Vanguard though. If ballistically you want the best of the two then the Weatherby again.

Don't know how recoil sensative you are but as far as recoil goes all I can say is you are shooting .30 caliber magnum's and as such you will be on the receiving end of the law of physics with the Weatherby taking the 1st place ribbon of the two in that category as well. You can mitigate some of the recoil if so desired. I find shooting at game I don't flinch and am not bothered by it, but.........(I am referring to a caliber fairly equal to the Weatherby that is my elk rifle).

If I had for example won a Weatherby I would see no reason to go trade for a Win mag. By the same token if I had won a Win mag I see no reason to go trade for a Weatherby. Maybe purchasing another 300 for the sake of having more than one I can see (I did have two 300's at one time) but not trading one for the other unless the gun just didn't fit ya for some reason or didn't shoot well, those obvious strikes.

It comes down to what (rifle/chambering) do you want to shoot really.

I am not sure that answers what you are after. If not let us know and maybe we can get a little more specific.

Rainy Lake freeze up yet?

WG

[vitalshot5]

walleyegod, thanks for the great reply, it was exactly what i was looking for, and yes Sand Bay on Rainy froze over this morning, won't be long now.

[troutned]

Nice work, walleyegod. I agree heartily with your analysis. A couple of years ago I decided to get a 300 magnum of some sort. I looked into the Weatherby, WSM, and RUM, as well as the good old 300 Win mag. After looking over reloading and ballistic data, I found that the hotter mags offered a slight ballistic advantage, but at the cost of a lot of powder. I went with the old 300 win mag, based on the availability of ammunition and reloading components, as well as cost. I don't need to use 20% more powder in the RUM to get 5% better performance. The 300 win mag has been a popular and effective cartridge for decades. I don't know how many elk, moose, bear, deer, etc. have been killed with it, but they can't all be wrong! It has stood the test of time (as has the Weatherby)and remains a great cartridge that won't break the bank. Also, you can walk into any sporting gods store out west and find ammo for the Win. It performed nicely on a moose for me in 2008, but any of the other big 300s would have, too.

[icehousebob]

The balistic differences between the different .300 mags is such that no elk will be able to tell which one killed him. One big difference is ammo availability. If you find yourself trying to buy ammo in a gas station in Lonesome Rock , Idaho the Win Mag would be much easier to find. I have one rifle with hard-to-get ammo and I always have to take that into consideration when going hunting, and be sure I've stocked up.

[Realtor Boy]

How about a 300 short mag?

[Wes Ellis]

I have a 300 Weatherby Vangard . I bought 6 boxes of Remington Corelocks , 180 grain $36.95 a box (2 years ago) Love the gun. shot 1 nice buck, no elk yet. Would I buy the same gun again ? Yes. Or go to the 325.

[sigosaur]

I had a A-bolt in .300WSM years ago ... shot very well. Got a bunch of different rifles, now. Wouldn't mind havin' the .300WSM back ... just don't have a need for it, though.

IIRC, that A-bolt was a 6.5# rifle ... and with a nice Leupold on top, recoil was quite tolerable.

As was mentioned, any minimal gain in velocity pales in comparison to the greater recoil associated with the Win. Mag., RUM, or Weatherby.

I've also heard someone say they like a .300WSM in a long-action so they can load longer bullets. IIRC, the Tikka would be such a critter ... and from what I hear, a good one, at that.

Recoil is calculated, in part, by the weight of the powder-charge. For the velocity, you can't get less than .300WSM. That alone says it's got less recoil. Of course, there's other factors ... but that's a purdy good start.

BTW, with factory ammo, on several occasions, off sand at 100yd, I'd get 3 holes touching with very little effort.

With factory ammo, I'd usually buy a box, go shoot it right away, and if it shot real good, go back and get more with the same lot#. That was always #2 on my list for any hunting trip ... so I can't speak as to the availability of .300WSM in Joe Bob's gas-station in Elk Snout.