What You Need To Know About The Winchester Short Magnum Cartridges
I think we can agree that most hunters and shooters in North America are probably familiar with the venerable .270 Winchester, 7mm Remington Magnum, .300 Winchester Magnum cartridges. All are very solid performers that are extremely popular with big game hunters pursuing game like deer, elk, black bear, and moose. Not surprisingly, many sportsmen and women were a little skeptical about the line of Winchester Short Magnum cartridges introduced in the early 2000s that claimed to offer even better performance than these legendary centerfire rifle hunting cartridges.
Specifically, the new 270 WSM, 7mm WSM, 300 WSM, and 325 WSM cartridges were all designed to use a very compact case that would fit in a short action rifle. Winchester claimed these new cartridges could meet or even exceed the ballistic performance of comparable standard length cartridges like the .270 Winchester, the 7mm Remington Magnum, and .300 Winchester Magnum. Additionally, the company also advertised that the shorter case used by the WSM cartridges resulted in superior accuracy and less recoil.
Is this really the case? Do the WSM cartridges offer tangible benefits to hunters and shooters? Or was the Winchester Short Magnum line of cartridges just a scheme by Winchester to sell new rifles that’s cleverly disguised by a bunch of marketing hype?
In this episode, I’m going to do a detailed analysis of the 270, 7mm, 300, and 325 Winchester Short Magnum cartridges and compare them to the .270 Winchester, the 7mm Remington Magnum, the .300 Winchester Magnum, and the .338 Winchester Magnum in an effort to answer the above questions and parse out the their true strengths and weaknesses so you can make an informed decision regarding which one will work best for you.
Feel free to send me a message with any feedback you have on the show as well as topic requests for future episodes.
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What We Covered
1) What Winchester was trying to do when they developed the Winchester Short Magnum line of cartridges.
2) How the 270 WSM compares to the .270 Winchester.
3) How the 7mm WSM compares to the 7mm Remington Magnum.
4) How the 300 WSM compares to the .300 Winchester Magnum.
5) How the 325 WSM compares to the .338 Winchester Magnum.
6) Why some of the Winchester Short Magnum cartridges have really caught on, but others have not.
7) Recommended uses for each cartridge.
Resources
Read an even more detailed analysis of the WSM cartridges at the link below.
Winchester Short Magnum Cartridges Analyzed: 270 WSM, 7mm WSM, 300 WSM, and 325 WSM
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