300 WM vs. 300 WSM

[liltank]

From what I hear there is no real difference anymore to have a belted or non-belted case. Some say non-belted feed better, and others say there is no problem with belted feeding properly. I personally would not care either way. I guess it is what you want.

As far as longer barrel goes, you really won't gain anything past 32" barrel. A caliber is specific to its purpose. The heavier magnums will benefit from a longer barrel due to the amount of powder that needs to be burned. You want to find an optimum length to burn all the powder before the bullet exits the barrel. Or you have to find a powder that will burn completely before the bullet exits. It is a trade off between length and the speed at which the powder will burn.

From the technical standpoint, you can add about 40 to 60 fps per inch, though that is not entirely true. You can read an article about this on the Lilja web site. They have some really good articles that address a lot of the long range issues.

Tank

 

[Pdvdh]

Paul,

That's good velocity... Is that after gun juicing your barrel?

Yep. Gained about 45 fps after the application of Gun Juice.

 

[Pdvdh]

Am I going to see any advantage to a barrel longer than 26" with either caliber.
Also, can anyone tell me the pro and / or con of using a belted cartridge vs a not belted.

26" long is plenty for the 300 Win Mag or 300 WSM. If you can live with a barrel as long as 26", I wouldn't go any longer. I went 25.5" just to be different.

If you handload, no functional difference between a belted vs non-belted cartridge. If you go 300 Win Mag, either neck size or size the shoulder back so it barely (0.001") cleared the shoulder in your chamber. In other words, after the first shot with unfired brass, all the rest of your cartridges should be headspaced off of the shoulder rather than the belt, if you want to maximize casing life. Hope this makes sense.

 

[ATH]

The WSM will run with the WM if you build the right rifle and work hard enough for the reasons given so eloquently by others. If you want to reload for a factory or near-factory rifle, it's a lot easier to get max performance out of the WM. That was how I made my decision.

I bought a Rem Sendero, can't beat it for an off-the-shelf rifle. 200ABs running at 2945, I could run them hotter but they're most accurate there. Took an elk at 683 yards last year with no difficulties.

 

[head2h2o]

phorwath,

Thanks for the comments on the belted cartridge. I have never really understood the headspacing issue as it relates to the belts, but now I see what you are saying. I only neck size my fired brass. So with that said, I don't need to worry about the belts as far as accuracy or chambering.