Why 300 Win Mag over 30-06?

[GRWolverineFan]

I wonder if the 300WM is more accurate as it headspaces off the belt instead of the shoulder.

I don't know much (if DocGKR is a 100/100 I am a <.000000000000001/100) but I am pretty sure rifles are theoretically more accurate when headspaced off of the shoulder (particularly a steep shoulder like the WSM series). That said, most good reloaders can get great accuracy from belted magnums. The big advantage I have seen for the .300 WM over the 30.06 and .300 WSM is that its case capacity allows for use of 220gr projectiles without forcing the use of sub-optimal amounts of propellant. I think the .338 Lapua Mag is a far better long range sniping caliber than any available .30 round but that is neither here not there and I am veering out of my bike path/lane.

[Kain]

That's what I had read and saw on a history channel documentary..... But I'm slowly learning to not even take what's on the History Channel for the truth... Especially when all they seem to have on is Alien stuff now but that's another story.

Learn something new every day!

Lol, true about the History Channel, I guess they are being backed by Reynolds wrap nowadays. I had thought I had read the the rifle was built with the long action to accommodate the .300 win mag down the road. I haven't heard that it was designed for the 30-06, then again where I am getting my sources isn't much better then the History Channel.

[anthony1]

l have owned a 300wm, l just coudnt think of any reason to keep it. l'm in s. ohio so there isnt anything that needs that much rifle around here, l mainly only hunt with bows nowdays anyway.

If you need it for hunting or shooting past 1k yards it definitely has some advantages, mainly in pushing heavy bullets. For targets its not really much of an advantage inside 1000yds or so.

In my opinion a heavy 300wm max load needs braked if you plan on shooting more than a few shots, a 30-06 max load is no pussycat but l can manage- l only mentioned that incase you do get a WM.

[antlad]

No. M24 was a long action to allow use of the .300 Win Mag.

.300 Win Mag has one major thing over .30-06--case capacity.

For hunting in the lower 48, the .30-06 is a better option; for Alaska, a bigger caliber is in order.

If wanting to go longer distances, the .338 Lap Mag is a better option.

Plenty of hunters up here use 30-06 for even the big bears, take my hunting partner for instance. However I am beginning to think it's because I hunt with with a 338wm backed up with a 454. Shot placement is everything but I do feel more comfortable with a magnum cartridge. My shoulder on the other hand.......

[jwfuhrman]

basically what im curious about is if you already have a 700 in 30-06, why not spend the money on it instead of 300 WM. Especially if your never going to go down range and its just a steel clanger out to 1200.

30-06 has plenty off ass at that distance to put down the 2 legged creatures of sorts if need be.

[ICANHITHIMMAN]

basically what im curious about is if you already have a 700 in 30-06, why not spend the money on it instead of 300 WM. Especially if your never going to go down range and its just a steel clanger out to 1200.

30-06 has plenty off ass at that distance to put down the 2 legged creatures of sorts if need be.

For that intended use just put the money into what you allready have.

[okie john]

Lots of good points in this thread, so I’ll offer a slightly different perspective.

The only thing the .300 magnums offer over their slower cousins is velocity. The benefit is reduced wind drift at long range, but you need to use 180- or 200-grain bullets at full velocity to see a difference, so you pay a price in recoil or rifle weight. If you hunt, a .300 makes sense if you regularly take long shots in open, windy country. That said, a lot of .300 shooters overdo the long-range thing. They set up a rifle for shots past 500m, then jump a 150-lb. whitetail buck at 75 yards and shoot over his back. One of the best hunters I ever met used a .300 WM, but he zeroed at 200 so he could enjoy a slightly flatter trajectory out to about 300.

The .300’s are a viable choice—though far from the best—if you want to use one rifle for everything on the planet. A lot of guys who hunted the world back in the 50’s and 60’s used .300 Weatherbys for elephant, buffalo, rhino, hippo, lion, musk ox, walrus, and a bunch of other stuff that’s endangered today. But they were superb hunters working with experienced guides in game-rich country, so they could make it work.

Bullets and powders have improved so much that the 308 Winchester shooting a premium or super-premium 150-grain bullet will outperform the heaviest 30/06 loads of 15-20 years ago. That load will do an honest 2,800 fps from a 22” barrel, so the trajectory is flat enough for anything but the longest shots. You can buy a lot of 22” factory 308’s that weigh under 7 pounds with a scope. They won’t knock your teeth loose in recoil, and you can carry them farther and hunt with them longer than you can with a 12-pound .300 WM. The trick is to use cheap 150-grain cup-and-core bullets for practice and game up to deer, then switch to a 150-grain Nosler Partition, Barnes TSX, or Trophy Bonded Bear Claw as game size, toughness, and weight go up. You’ll get roughly the same trajectory, plus premium bullets out-penetrate far heavier conventional bullets, they expand consistently, and they’re shockingly accurate. When it comes to hunting, if a cartridge like the 308 or 30/06 won’t handle the task, then you probably need a 338 or a 375.


Miscellaneous Points
1. Case diameter is substantially different between the .300 WM and the 30/06 so magazines probably will not interchange between them.
2. Factory ammo for belted magnums headspaces on the belt. If you handload, setting them up to headspace on the shoulder is a matter of backing the sizing die out about 1/2 a turn, and you'll get better accuracy and longer case life.
3. I second DocGKR on the M-24 using the long action to accommodate the .300 WM—I’ve heard the same thing from the SF sniper instructors who wrote the specs for the M-24. Lake City and other arsenals had been building 30/06 ammo for decades, and they had no problem turning out vast quantities of match ammo for it.

If you don’t have a .30-caliber rifle, a .300 magnum is probably not the best place to start. They’re just too specialized for most shooters to really enjoy.


Okie John

[jwfuhrman]

What about modern 30-06 loadings? I know most factory loads for 30-06 are hunting based(soft points and such) but with the amount of 308 diameter bullets out there, surely a 30-06 can keep up with/out perform the 308.

But then again, why, since the '06 has more recoil than 308.

[okie john]

What about modern 30-06 loadings? I know most factory loads for 30-06 are hunting based(soft points and such) but with the amount of 308 diameter bullets out there, surely a 30-06 can keep up with/out perform the 308.

But then again, why, since the '06 has more recoil than 308.

Exactly.

When you just look at the loads, it's all shades of gray and the progression is still 308 < 30/06 < 300 WM. That said, every barrel is different. A 308 with a barrel that tends to deliver high velocities may outrun a 30/06 that tends to deliver low velocities.

What matters is that they all kill game really well. The differences only start to matter when you look at specific applications, logistics, and individual rifles. And the shooter still matters more than any of those.


Okie John

[TiroFijo]

From personal communication with one of the SOTIC instructors that started the M24 program and wrote the specs, the original intention of the long action was to eventually change to 300 WM.

And now they are doing just that...

The 300 WM has a short barrel life, but has a supersonic range of 1250+ m with the new MK 248 MOD 1 load.

The intention is to change to 338 LM in the future.