.300 wsm

[camoNick]

I am a young boy and was wondering if anyone had recoil stats or numbers on the wsm's. Since I am under 100 pounds I was wondering if I could take a 150 grain bullet without devolping a flinch. I currently shoot a 7mm-08 so I was wondering if a 150 grain 7mm-08 bullet would kick like a .300 wsm 150 grain bullet.

Thanks Nick

[Yooper]

Flinching and recoil are connected but mostly all mentally so. I know as a young shooter, you don't want to have your shoulder torn off each time you pull the trigger, but with a flinch, that's mental. If you tell yourself you're going to flinch, you'll flinch. I once shot a .375 H&H. I just KNEW I was going to get pounded and so I flinched. It wasn't really that bad though.

I've heard the .300 WSM recoil is relatively light for a mag round. If you take your time and prepare for the shot, without thinking about the recoil, you should be just fine.

If i helps, buy a Limbsaver's recoil pad with the gun. They really do help a lot and the best part is the mental edge you'd have over the recoil demon.

Hope that helps.

[rooster52]

Hello,I have shot a 300 WSM and to me it is no worse than my 30-06 with 150 bullets.If I were buying a new rifle today that would be one that I would choose.

[Mark]

I'm not sure about recoil being more mental than physical. That's a discussion probably best had when beer and pretzels are being served. There are points to consider in both areas. For instance, a hunter shooting at game seldom remembers the gun recoiling. His concentration is on the game. This is NOT to say he doesn't flinch! The flinching habit is very hard to break, the best thing is not to let it get started.
The target shooter, after a day shooting a .308 in an 80 round course of fire, probably has a sore shoulder with the black and blue marks to go with it. This is NOT to say he doesn't flinch. His concentration is on executing the shot, the wind, the light, his position, etc.

My point here is, flinching (correctly described as a demon in a previous post) becomes part of your process of making the shot, or not. When you squeeze off a shot, you unleash about 50,000 PSI to drive the bullet out the barrel. There is also a loud noise, and recoil. The natural thing to do is anticipate this, and flinch. Looking at successful target shooters who fire 3,000 rounds a year, to a man, they constantly fight this natural reaction. Now comes the part about habit. If you concentrate on sight picture, and trigger squeeze only, block out the recoil of the shot completely, you might be OK. One of the best ways to learn is dry firing, there is no recoil. The part of anticipating the recoil is gone, because there is no recoil. A way to test yourself is when at the range, have a friend load your rifle. Sometimes he puts a round in, sometimes not, When you drop the firing pin on an empty chamber you should only hear a click, the rifle should remain stone still. To not flinch, because you are fighting a natural reaction, requires practice.
Now to address your question; what can you shoot 50 rounds of without feeling like you've been in a fight? Even if you are one tough guy, being under 100 lbs. I doubt if you can take that much of a 7-08. Remember, bullet placement is everything! A well placed .243 is better than a .375 in the guts. You're going to have to do some soul searching and some research on this. After you find out, you will be able to answer questions like this rather than ask them.
My best wishes go out to you!
Mark

[pre6422hornet]

Mark hit the nail on the head. Sounds like you have read a few O'Connor books. Camonick I suggest getting your hands on The Big Game Rifle by O'Connor.

I go out west to Colorado every other year and every year my buddies brag about shooting the big magnums and every year it seems one of them "hits" an animal we have to track all day to find. I shoot a .270 and I have taken two elk and two mule deer with 4 shots in five trips. Three of those animals fell in their tracks and one made it twenty yards before piling up. Now I also practise every other weekend at the range, shoot groundhogs all summer long, and dryfire 4-5 times a week with that same rifle.



I agree with Mark, get something you will be comfortable shooting. Practise, Practise, Practise. Concentrate on the trigger squeeze and sight picture.

Good luck

pre6422hornet

[camoNick]

My 7mm-08 does not poes a problem of recoil to me. I think this reason is because when I recived the gun 3 years ago I shoot it 7 times and had a black shoulder for 3 weeks. But Before rifle season I put of 15 rounds sighting it in and did not have a sore shoulder, proably because the next day I shoot my first buck. What I was wondering was that if a 150 grain 7-08 would kick like a 300 wsm 150 grain bullet.

[turner1978]

No the 7-08 150 gr bullet will kick a litle less than the 150 gr 300 wsm. The WSM has more powder in it's case then the 7-08 does. Your 7-08 has more killing power for deer sized animals than you might think. I killed a 4 point mule deer buck a few years back with a 7-08 using 140 gr partition bullets. If I was hunting deer only I would lean towards the 7-08 before using any magnum. Hope this helps.

[camoNick]

thanks turner that helped, I am leaning towards the 7mm wsm an 300 wsm. But if i did not own my 7mm-08 I would definatley buy a 270 wsm, but since I hopeflly will be hunting muleys elk and other large game, I belive I will buy a 7mm wsm or 300 wsm from browning with a boss. I watched this thing on brownings website about the boss. And it showed how a barell vibrates after a shoot causing the shoot and follow up shoots to be off course. It says with the proper sight in it could produce any cartridge to produce a .50 inch group or less at 100 yards. I am just adictated to guns and hunting or else I wouldnt buy a wsm, because my 7-08 could easly kill a muely antelope and elk. My dad says he will give me 10 dollers for every point I make in the rest of the basketball season, in wich I am going to buy a wsm.If you have a scoped gun with out and iron sight I would sugest to pick up a limbsaver barrl deresigator for 15 dollers, (also dampens barrel vibrations.)

[turner1978]

Camo Nick, I have all of the WSM's including the new 325 WSM. The recoil is very similar in all of the WSM's. The 270 being the least amount of recoil and the 325 being the most. I have a 270 WSM in a winchester classic supergrade which is a litle heavier then all of my other WSM's. It's recoil is significantly lower due to the heavier weight. I have used this 270 WSM to take 3 mule deer and 3 bull elk. You will notice more recoil when you bump up to the WSM from your 7-08. The recoil won't blow you into tomorow and bruize you all up or anything but it might just be enoughe to throw off your accuracy enoughe to actually make you less deadly than with your 7-08. The Boss system that you was talking about is similar to a muzzle break when it comes to the draw back of noise level. They are LOUD! If you use one you must use ear protection when ever you shoot including when you shoot at game. Yes they are that loud! They do reduce recoil and increase accuracy but in my opinion the gain is not worth the loss of your hearing. I had a 338 once that had a muzzle break on it. At the practice range I loved it but I took it elk hunting and after I shot my elk, which required 2 shots to kill it, my ears literaly range for over a week and to this day I still notice the hearing damage that was caused by the sound. For about 2 days every loud or high pitched sound would make me cringe from the ringing in my ears. If it were me I would either stay with the 7-08 for a couple more years for now untill you can handle the magnum recoil without a boss/muzzle break or, if you are hunting elk/moose, you might consider another low recoil weapon like a 30-06 or the new 338 federal. Both of wich would put any deer or elk down with out any problem what so ever. I used a 30-06 for deer and elk for about 7-9 years and never lost a single animal so accuracy and knock down power is not a problem with either of them. Good luck and have fun picking out your new gun!