325 wsm
- Thread starter Waynzee
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RockyMtnMT
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We loaded one for a customer, a Kimber. The rifle shoots very well with our 221g Hammer Hunter. He was able to take a very nice bull in AZ with it last fall.
In my opinion the WSM's are difficult to work with on a short action and still mag feed. Bullets wind up taking up room for powder and good performing powders all need to be compressed with not enough room to get to full potential and powders that are fast enough to fit in the case pressure out too soon. All of the WSM's that we have worked with have shot well but I am less of a fan each time I work one up.
It was a 300WSM that got us started on crimping our loads because the slightly compressed load would not stay seated without the crimp. We now crimp most all loads with very good results. So I can thank the WSM for that.
We have an 8mm barrel on hand waiting for a project. If it were me having the rifle built it would not be a short mag. I would build a 323-338 Lapua imp. or a 323-300 Norma Mag imp. Those two would be fantastic cartridges. The Lapua on the top end and the Norma running near Ultramag type performance but quite a bit shorter. The Norma case is what the WSM wants to be. It has the nice short fat powder column with room to seat bullets long on a standard long action. Fits much better than the RUM. Very impressive round.
If you want to stay factory with the 8mm I would go with the 8mm Remington Mag. Give you a bit better performance without the issues of the short cartridge.
Steve
In my opinion the WSM's are difficult to work with on a short action and still mag feed. Bullets wind up taking up room for powder and good performing powders all need to be compressed with not enough room to get to full potential and powders that are fast enough to fit in the case pressure out too soon. All of the WSM's that we have worked with have shot well but I am less of a fan each time I work one up.
It was a 300WSM that got us started on crimping our loads because the slightly compressed load would not stay seated without the crimp. We now crimp most all loads with very good results. So I can thank the WSM for that.
We have an 8mm barrel on hand waiting for a project. If it were me having the rifle built it would not be a short mag. I would build a 323-338 Lapua imp. or a 323-300 Norma Mag imp. Those two would be fantastic cartridges. The Lapua on the top end and the Norma running near Ultramag type performance but quite a bit shorter. The Norma case is what the WSM wants to be. It has the nice short fat powder column with room to seat bullets long on a standard long action. Fits much better than the RUM. Very impressive round.
If you want to stay factory with the 8mm I would go with the 8mm Remington Mag. Give you a bit better performance without the issues of the short cartridge.
Steve
MudRunner2005
Well-Known Member
The 8mm was treated just as badly as the .25 caliber has been by the bullet and rifle manufacturers, which caused them to get left behind. Bullet selections for both have been minimal compared to every other caliber out there. Nobody has offered modernized twist rates for either, therefore bullet manufacturers felt no pressure to build the heavy high-BC bullets for them.
So, the .325 WSM, 8mm RemMag, and 8mm Mauser have gone the way of the .257 calibers, where it's not longer "cool" or "mainstream" like the 6.5mm's and the .338's that took their place on the popularity scale here in the States (in Europe the 6.5 and 8mm have and always will be popular calibers). Personally, I'm a big fan of both the .25 and 8mm calibers.
There was a cheap used A-Bolt II .325 WSM for sale locally for quite a while, but when I finally got the money up, it was gone. I was going to see if it shot, and if it didn't, I was going to use the action to build a 7mm SS. I guess it wasn't meant to be...
J E Custom
Well-Known Member
As MudRunner said, Bullet selections were the main issue. The 8mm rem mag was a great round and bullets were the only drawback to them. The 325 WSM had the same problem but also was a victim of poor quality rifles.
Lots of people simply neck them up to 338 (325/338)when building a custom rifle in the short mag and have very good luck with them as a wildcat.
The closest if not slightly better because of the bullet selection to the 325 in ballistics, is the 338 RCM.
I prefer to use short actions for all of the short mags and use center feed mag boxes to improve feeding. With all the new powders you give up nothing using the short action. if you want more power than they can give, I recommend going to a 338 Win Mag or 338 rum size case in a long action.
The 325 Can be a very good cartridge depending on bullet selection and good smithing in its class
so I would not rule it down and out as long as shooters are interested in saving it.
J E CUSTOM
Lots of people simply neck them up to 338 (325/338)when building a custom rifle in the short mag and have very good luck with them as a wildcat.
The closest if not slightly better because of the bullet selection to the 325 in ballistics, is the 338 RCM.
I prefer to use short actions for all of the short mags and use center feed mag boxes to improve feeding. With all the new powders you give up nothing using the short action. if you want more power than they can give, I recommend going to a 338 Win Mag or 338 rum size case in a long action.
The 325 Can be a very good cartridge depending on bullet selection and good smithing in its class
so I would not rule it down and out as long as shooters are interested in saving it.
J E CUSTOM
Waynzee
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I was looking at one in a Winchester mod.70 and almost bought it but thought I had better do some research. The ballistics for what I would use it for looked impressive but that's about where it ends. Ammo and brass for reloading is expensive so maybe I'll look at one of the other cartridges in 338. That 338 RCM looks impressive too, I wonder if anybody other than Ruger makes that?
RockyMtnMT
Official LRH Sponsor
I agree with all that was said other than the chicken and egg thing. If the chicken had laid eggs with faster twist there would have been better bullets for the forgotten cals. I don't think the cartridges have suffered due to no bullets. I think there is a lack of bullets do to a lack of rifles able to shoot good bullets. If 6.5mm had been only marketed with 11 twist barrels (comparable to 10 twist 25 cal) there would similarly be no bullets to choose from.
Steve
Steve
MudRunner2005
Well-Known Member
Steve, that's exactly what I said... You just worded it differently. Lack of interest and updated twists by the rifle manufacturers gave bullet manufacturers a pass on certain calibers. They CHOSE to pick the 6.5mm and .30 caliber and .338 over everything else.
The only companies producing 1:7 twist .224's are AR manufacturers. I haven't seen any bolt-actions with a proper 1:7 twist .224 barrel. I haven't seen a proper 1:7 or 1:8 twist .257 barrel, or a 1:8 7mm barrel. And these are all EXTREMELY popular calibers with tons of different cartridges these calibers that are used everyday for hunting and target shooting. But the manufacturers chose to ignore the wants of the common man, and chose to only pursue their own vested interests, which will bite them in the ***** in the end. BUT, they all produce 1:8 6.5mm barrels and 1:10 .30 caliber barrels...
They are picking and choosing which bullets advance and which ones don't. They don't care what we think.
I would say this has caused some cartridges to suffer. 10-20 years ago everybody still loved the .25-06... Now everyone wants a 6.5-06... You still don't certain cartridge's have slipped in popularity? When's the last time you seen someone choose to build a .257 Roberts +P over a 6.5 Creedmoor?
hunter0925
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I have a semi custom 325wsm and I love it. Granted, I don't try to turn it into a long range gun but out to 500 it is a hammer with 200gr accubonds. It accounted for my first elk at 400 yards and passed all 3 shots completely through the shoulder at that distance and gave good exits. It isnt and never will be a popular caliber but for what I do with it I wouldn't trade it.
John Beau
Well-Known Member
For what it's worth I have a new never fired Browning Medallion Grade 3 ( I think it's a 3) with Octagon Barrel in a 325wsm I would sell for $600 it anyone's interested. I had plans to hunt with it but decided to stay with my 300winmag. I can send pics.
MudRunner2005
Well-Known Member
You just had to say that while I'm broke didn't you...
If I had the cash right now, I'd send it to you.
Have you considered .338/.300 WSM?
Waynzee
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Hi FENIX, wouldn't that be the same as a Ruger 338 rcm ?
BallisticsGuy
Well-Known Member
I've used it in a Browning #-Bolt (x or a, don't recall) I owned for a brief time. It's as much recoil as a human can take voluntarily. Kicks like an epileptic Missouri mule getting shock treatments, that is, rather hard. It absolutely punches through whatever bone and meat is in the way. Vastly too much gun for Columbian Blacktail deer but just right for elk sized stuff and bear.
I shot a deer and a bear with it. Clean pass throughs with massive tissue damage, bone fragmentation and substantial shoulder pain. This was the only gun I've ever noticed the recoil of white taking a shot at game.
I shot a deer and a bear with it. Clean pass throughs with massive tissue damage, bone fragmentation and substantial shoulder pain. This was the only gun I've ever noticed the recoil of white taking a shot at game.
RockyMtnMT
Official LRH Sponsor
Ha ha that's funny.
Doing load development on our customer's Kimber that was about 8lbs scoped pushing 221g pills near 2800fps was all kinds of fun. We wont develop loads with any kind of lead sled either. Gotta get one of those puss pads that go over your shoulder and tame the kick a bit. That Kimber did shoot really well. Easy 1" at 200y. Just had to let it shoot and kick.
Steve
