I am planning on buying a Kimber 84M SST/SYN and I am having one hell of a time desiding in which caliber.

So in the opninion(s) of the WSM experts out there which is the better all around caliber for animals up to elk? 323wsm or 300wsm?

I think the .325 is without a doubt the better elk cartridge, but the .300 is the better "all around" caliber.

I like the idea of a Kimber 8400 Montana in .325, but I'd sure like to shoot one before buying. I have concerns about the .325 in a gun that light- and I hate muzzle brakes!

Ruger is putting the 325 WSM in their Frontier Model for 2006... If you don't like recoil in a Montana rifle... you definitely wouldn't like it in a Ruger with a light 18 inch barrel!

Yeeee Haaaaaaa!

cheers
seafire

The cartridge design is only one part of the issue. Take a look at the available .323 caliber bullets and see if you want to use any of them - it's a pretty limited selection.

Jaywalker

quote:

Originally posted by Jaywalker:
The cartridge design is only one part of the issue. Take a look at the available .323 caliber bullets and see if you want to use any of them - it's a pretty limited selection.

Jaywalker

This has a lot of truth to it, but, in that selection I know you can find a bullet that will do just what you want it to do every time and since you don't have a lot to go through it won't take you as longto find the right one or two. roger

In thinking about 8mm bullet selection, it is important to note that allthe big bullet manufacturers produce high quality bullets in an assortment of weights for this caliber. Granted, you're kind of limited in that you can't find anything under 125 grains or over 250 grains, but really, how many do you need?

Further, although there aren't near as many bullets available for 8mm as there are for .30 caliber, the bullets that are available are great! and there's no need for too much else.

If you are wanting something heavier in caliber than the 300 WSM, I'd think the 325 WSM would be the answer. And the recoil won't be that much worse than a fast 300...

My opinion is the 300 WSM has proven its self and is here to stay. The 325 is new. With all the bullets avaliable in 30 caliber I would opt for the 300 WSM. I would imange the 300 would launch a 200 grain bullet at close to 2800 fps for elk.

There really can't be much of a differance between .308" and .323" on the game. I would get the 300 WSM and use that. If you have lots of money and like one then get the other too.

Normally I like a 338WM but in the short magnum I think Winchester hit a homerun with the 300. A 180 grain FailSafe will take any game in NA that you want.

Given the 2 choices I would opt for the 325 and load the 200 NP and forget about all the the rest. It will handle anything a short light rifle is supposed to do.

Mark

Probably about the same difference as you'd see between a 30-06 and an 8mm-06...

Not much.