As many of you know, I have been using 300 Win Mag since they first came out. Currently own three and have taken game large and small all over the world with this cartridge. Having heard good things about the 300 WSM I acquired one about a year ago. Have shot it and hand loaded it, but have not taken an animal with it, and probably won't. It does not seem to do anything the old 300 Win Mag won't do better.

Being an old dog, it is hard to learn new tricks, but I do try.

I would also go with .300 Win Mag, its been around forever and will be.

I'd get a 300 win mag. Ballistics are so close that it's not worth the wsm. Ammo is cheeper and it's in every gas station you go to.

Sacrifice velocity especially with the heavy bullets, and gain not even an inch of shortness and a few ounces of lightness. Hmm. The Win Mag is tried and true as well as superior.

Also you have more firepower, you can't stuff that many WSMs in your rifle. You can never have too much firepower (or horsepower).

The .300 Winny has been a stalwart of big game getting power. It is my understanding that aside from dreaming up a new product to sell, the WSM creators had a few objectives in mind:

1) Accuracy - Powder burn in the short, fat cases tends to be more consistent for better accuracy than can be achieved in the long case of the .300 Win. I personally believe that this micro level accuracy potential is only of concern to benchrest shooters and they are not too interested in shooting that big cartrige.

2) Weight - Shorter, lighter action for a lighter package. This might be nice if you have to drag your rifle through cane fields but with the recoil in this range, I actually like package weight to save my shoulder.

3) Reduced recoil - These short fat cartriges don't actually cause as much recoil to get the bullet moving at nearly the same speed. The recoil is still similar

All things considered, I personally would stick with the .300 Winny for the wide availability of ammo and cases, for the demonstrated accomplishments, and for room in the magazine.

For reaching out reasonably long where you don't need a 200+ gr bullet I like the .300 WSM. It is a balanced and modern cartridge and I think it is here to stay. Most shooters are traditionalists, me included most of the time, but I never liked belted cartridges like the .300 WinMag. If I want to really reach out there are other choices.