I don't know if the 325 WSM is worth anything or not but I don't get pissed if someone else thinks it is. There is no cartridge that I hate, nor does it piss me off when someone hypes some other new cartridge.

Buy what you want, shoot what you want and let everyone else buy and shoot theirs. It's no skin off my back.

Heck, you can even own 30.06's and 270's and I won't hate you!

quote:

1 .30-06 SPRINGFIELD
2 .22-250 REMINGTON
3 .270 WINCHESTER
4 .45 ACP / G.A.P.
5 .300 WINCHESTER SHORT MAGNUM
6 7MM REMINGTON MAGNUM
7 .44 MAGNUM / .44 SPECIAL
8 .357 MAGNUM / .38 SPECIAL - ROLL CRIMP
9 .223 REMINGTON
10 .308 WINCHESTER

I only own 7 of the top 10. The three I don't own are the 30.06, 270 and 357! (The go everywhere, do everything cartridges. lol)

As I teacher, I'm on a budget and I can't afford to have a rifle that I'm not going to be using regularly. I already own a .300 Win Mag. Will the .325 WSM be that much better in the field than my .300 Win Mag? (enough so that it would justify me doing a gun swap). In my opinion...highly doubtful.

The WSM idea is a combination of the rifle AND the cartridge. Sure, if you just opened up a 300 Mag to .325 (.323 really) it wouldn't have any reason to be. BUT, the action and receiver length, often the barrel length and then the overall length of the WSM firearms is less. The accuracy of all these rounds is very good based on the benefits of the short/fat, PPC style cases. Due to the efficiency of burn, the rounds require less powder and that means less gass and that means less 2ndary recoil.
So, it's a whole bunch of factors combining round and rifle. Absolutely no solid reason to buy one if you like what you have in that calibre, but if you are looking to fill-out your rifle 'quiver' or want an update (like I do), then there is a good reason to buy one. And that one may be a 325 WSM, depending on what you are trying to kill.

quote:

Originally posted by Farflung:
The WSM idea is a combination of the rifle AND the cartridge. Sure, if you just opened up a 300 Mag to .325 (.323 really) it wouldn't have any reason to be. BUT, the action and receiver length, often the barrel length and then the overall length of the WSM firearms is less. The accuracy of all these rounds is very good based on the benefits of the short/fat, PPC style cases. Due to the efficiency of burn, the rounds require less powder and that means less gass and that means less 2ndary recoil.
So, it's a whole bunch of factors combining round and rifle. Absolutely no solid reason to buy one if you like what you have in that calibre, but if you are looking to fill-out your rifle 'quiver' or want an update (like I do), then there is a good reason to buy one. And that one may be a 325 WSM, depending on what you are trying to kill.

That's what the rifle manufacturer and gun writers-who are advertising for the manufacturer-will say. Do you really think that there is a real difference in speed when you cycle the bolt of a .300WM and then the shorter bolt pull of a .300WSM? Do you really think that that the .300WSM will be more accurate that the already competition proven .300WM?

The only noticeable differences I can see is that the WSM cartridges come with much improved stocks, stock bedding, and metal work. Improved bedding helps with accuracy, improved stocks help with receoil. A "more efficient powder burn" is just a set of keywords gun writers and advertisers decided to use to impress the gullible. In real field conditions, one never notices any difference in powder burn efficiency, nor will it even make a difference. New powder blends are a vast improvement, however.

There is no difference whatsoever on a 180-grain Nosler Partition coming out of a .300WM at 2,900 fps when compared to the same bullet coming out of a .300WSM at the same speed. A good powder blend my make a difference in relation to pressure, velocity, etc., but it's still the same bullet coming out of both rifles.

If you really want to see what's going on, just read the articles on the new cartridges, and then page through old magazines and read the articles of old cartridges. You will notice that the gun writers travels to a foreign land, or maybe participates on some exotic hunt where certain game is efficiently killed with the new gun. This has been done for years by gun writers, and the stories are the same, except that nowadays they talk about "shorter and more efficient powder column" and things like that.

The last .325WSM story I read, some guy was killing caribou with it and boasting about the "power" of such a cartridge, not even considering that 6mm's type cartridges, .223, etc., have been used in Alaska for years and years to kill caribou at long distances.

I read another story about the .300WSM where the "gun writer" traveled to Africa to hunt. He even showed how powerful the new cartridge was by posting a couple of pictures of the crocodiles he killed with it. What these guys never tell you is that one can do the same with other cartridges that shoot the same bullets at similar speeds.

Ray, these gunwriters can send some rather transparent messages. It seems as though every new rifle/cartridge combo they test shoots better and kills better than anyting else they've ever used -- as if for example, 180 gr. bullets out of a 300 WSM will iron-out crocs, goats, elk, and everything else so convincingly that they wonder how anyone has made to do for all these years with something as pathetically old as the 30-06, or as problematic and inefficient as the belted 300 Win. Mag.

How indeed?

In my simple, stupid close-minded opinion, we don't need any new cartridges -- we need better-built factory rifles........

AD

it does make the necking up to 35 and 375 cal easy

quote:

In my simple, stupid close-minded opinion, we don't need any new cartridges -- we need better-built factory rifles........
AD

Exactly right. For example, I would heartily agree that the new cartridges are produced with stocks that have a much better fit than those from a few years ago, and that some of the materials used on these stocks absorb recoil much better, too. Manufacturers have realized that things such as these, plus a sound chamber, a slick action and rifling, and a smooth crown, all help with accuracy. Since cartridges are "a dime a dozen" nowadays, the only way they can sell them is by using "sleek" advertisements.

However, it's hard for them to get through my thick head. I just can't see the difference between one and the next "similar" cartridge and bullet. I can't see a difference in performance between a 180-grain Nosler partition coming out of a .300WM at 2,800 fps, and another identical bullet at the same speed coming out of a .300WSM. In fact, launch the same bullet out of a .30-06 at the same speed, and the results would be identical.

Speed in bolt cycling and "more efficient powder burn" make no difference in real life. Now, the new powder blends and reloading methods used by Hornady and Federal do make a difference in relation to speeds and pressures. The rest may be in the shooter's imagination (or the writer's).

The .325WSM does as well as the .300WM and the .338WM with bullets similar in weight, but none of these three can replace the other in all instances; these are completely different cartridges. The .325WSM, at least right now, is advertised to produce similar performance as the .338WM with lightweight bullets. This may be true, but so does the .300WM compared to the .338WM. The .300WM can launch the heavier bullets with more aplomb than the .300WSM. The heaviest punch on game with the .338WM is attained with the heavy and controlled-expansion heavy bullets, not with the lightweight ones. There is where the .325WSM advertisement falters.

The .325WSM may be a great cartridge, with similar ballistics as the old 8mm Remington Magnum. There is nothing wrong with that, except for the sleek advertisement presented to the public.

I looked at one the other day. It was a Kimber Montana and it was sweet. Its is the most powerful barely over 6 pound rifle that I know of.

I wouldn't compare a 325 wsm to a 338 win mag anyway. One only comes in 8 pound factory rifles and the other can be had in lighter factory rifles.

But I already have a 300 win mag and a 458 win mag. I don't need any other calibers. .

Of course I like the idea of the 325 montana and 375 ultra pair too.

Ray: Sportsmans warehouse will have plenty of ammo. Just get 10 boxes and be set for a couple years.

I reload all my own ammo. So I don't worry about it.

It is hard to say that any cartridge is PURE bull. I am sure that someone will like it and it will kill what they hunt with it. Is it reduntant? Yes but at this point isn't any knew cartridge?