325 wsm

[splitshot]

   a friend recently got a 325 wsm at cabelas.  never heard of this gun.  is it any good for elk and moose?  is finding ammo tough?  and expensive?  thanks,  mike w

[JKEEN33]

Great elk caliber although I usually carry my 300wsm. I load my own so no knowledge on availability.

[JoeE]

I went back and forth between the 325 wsm and the 300 wsm last year when I bought my new rifle. I eventually decided on the 300 wsm because I have owned a couple in the past and am familiar with them. In all my research I found that with the 325 wsm you only gain the ability to shoot 200 grain bullets a little faster. With that said I usually shoot 180s out of my 300 and I have shot 200s out of it too with no problem. I would still like to own a 325 though...

[7mmfan]

A friend of  mine (Fisheral87) owned one for a while and I was with him when he killed an elk with it. Killed it for sure. Ammo was expensive and he ended up selling it for a gun that shot easier and cheaper. Great ballistics though and cool caliber.

[yorketransport]

I'd take the 325 over the 300 wsm any day as a hunting rifle. I'm a huge fan of the medium bores in hunting rifles. Brass and ammo can be a little pricey but it's unlikely that the rifle will get shot that much anyways.

[MountainWalk]

I really wish Winchester would have gone 33 with this instead of the metric 8.  I know the big fast Remington 8 does cool things, but even with the really good bullets available,  the 8 ' just don't have as big a variety as does the 33's.
   I really like the over 30's.

[SkookumHntr]

I picked the 300 over 325 but it was a tough decision and only Bc I thought ammo would be easier to get!

[superdown]

I have had a 325wsm for about ten years now and i love it ammo has never been hard to find.I chose the 325 over the 300 because the recoil of my 300 win mag was just to sharp i don't like the way a 30-06 or 300win feels on the shoulder i would rather shoot a 358win,45-70 or my 325wsm any day. I prefer the shove over the smack or snappy type recoiling rounds.Besides i am fan of larger calibers anyway.

[Magnum_Willys]

Great caliber but if in a very light package like the x-bolt it kicks more than a 338 win mag.  I have both and shot them back to back - the numbers don't lie.  Nice to pack and has good knockdown power - better for moose and elk and the 300 wsm.   But in the featherweight package its a hunting gun not a shooting gun.   

[j_h_nimrod]

I have had mine for a bit over ten years and always been pleased.  It has done the trick on a bear, few goats, and a number of deer. I have never had a problem finding ammo though the selection is a bit sparse, but I reload so not a real problem anyway. When this caliber was first released 8mm had only slightly less quality bullets available than the .33, but since the popularity of the Lapua and a few others quite a few new options are available over the 8mm.  Never really noticed a difference in recoil speed or severity in the .325 over any other cartridge in the same power range, mathematically it is easy to work out, the major factors effecting recoil are rifle weight and stock conformation. My friends .300WSM in a Tikka tends to have much more perceived recoil than my .325WSM in a Kimber 8400 and my Benelli shooting 3.5" 00 buck recoils more than my .450 Ackley with moderately heavy loads.

[splitshot]

   mtnwalk,  so what u r saying is a 325 is an 8 mm bore?    ok then what is a 9 mm?  a 10 mm?   mike w

[AWS]

It all depends on the cartridge, most 9mm handguns are .355 but the 9mm Marakov is .363.  In rifles the 9mm designation runs from .350 to .364 with the most common at .356, then we have the 9.3mm that runs from .358 to .366.  There have been few 10mm designations and most of them are recent so pretty much standard at .400. 

In conversion from metric to inch conversion there are no set sizes.  Much depends on the manfactures designation.  In Euro cartridges, 5.6mm run from.222 to .228,  6.5mm run from .257 to .268, 8mm runs from .318 to .323 only the 6mm at .243, the 7mm at .284 and 10mm at .400 run very close to the same size in all cartridges.

I even gets more interesting when you get to caliber designations on the rifle itself  You will see 8.7, 8.8, 8.9 x72 and they all wll fire the 9.3x72R cartridge as they used to designate by bore size instead of groove size.  Because there are so many different sizes in the 9.3x72R they had to create a bullet that could be fired in all of them and not create pressure problems.

The front half of the bullet designed to barely engage the lands and the larger base to easily swage down to the groove size without raising pressures significantly.



L to R  243 Win , 6.5x58R Sauer(.260 groove diameter), 9'3x72R (.364 groove diameter and a .344 bore diameter)

[RadSav]

I love my .325 in the Kimber Montana.  It is definitely snappy with 200 grains loaded hot in that light gun.  But luckily it never recoils much when shooting at animals

It is the only gun where I have not been able to handload as accurately as the factory Winchester ammo.  Still sub-MOA with handloads, but I haven't yet found that magic spot where the Winchester AccuBond load reigns.  I have found a 160 Barnes load that comes close.  And the recoil is much less.  I loaned that setup to a guy a year ago and he experienced very good results on a cow.

The Partition groups well if loaded one at a time.  But the in-magazine damage to the lead point is rather severe.  Sometimes breaking the lead point completely loose.  So I have kept with the Accubonds.  Even those will get damaged if I have #2 in the magazine for more than a few shots.

I haven't shot much with it yet.  One deer and two bear is all.  So far nothing has taken a step after impact.  The friends cow was also a zero yard recovery.  Hard to complain about that!

[TVHunts]

I had one in a Browning X-Bolt and it was sub MOA with factory Win ammo and got it to shoot 1/2" clover leaf with hand loads.  It is a great elk and moose round as others have said.  I have seen two moose take 1 or 2 steps and tip over with factory Win ammo.

[Buzz2401]

I also have a 325 in a Kimber Montana and I feel it kicks less then the multiple 300WSM Tikka's I've shot and less then my wifes Finnlight in 300WSM.  I love the 325WSM caliber, I've killed Four elk with it and it performed flawless everytime.  I have never bought a factory box of ammo for it but it shoots 200GR TSX at 2960fps at .90 inch groups at 100 yards.  This was using AA3100 which is no longer available so I am gonna have to find a new load soon.

[jpharcher]

My Browning A bolt love the factory 220 grains over the 180 and 200's.
My handloads are partition 200's over H4350- 1/2 groups easily at 100 yards.

[fisheral87]

The factory loads are expensive IMO.

It's a great round and it's cool if you like large and unique calibers.

Snappy out of the Kimber Montana.

Al

[beaslayer6]

The 325wsm is the one gun I wish I had back. I miss that gun. It flat killed everything no way around it.. I was just thing of buying another one.. good luck

[Bob33]

I'd take the 325 over the 300 wsm any day as a hunting rifle. I'm a huge fan of the medium bores in hunting rifles.

.15 inches difference between the two. Why is that significant?

[JoeE]

I'd take the 325 over the 300 wsm any day as a hunting rifle. I'm a huge fan of the medium bores in hunting rifles.

.15 inches difference between the two. Why is that significant?

Exactly. I literally spent weeks reading everything I could about these two calibers. The difference in bullet diameter is so insignificant that it didn't justify the difficulty in finding ammo and bullet selection for me so I went with the 300.

[RadSav]

I'd take the 325 over the 300 wsm any day as a hunting rifle. I'm a huge fan of the medium bores in hunting rifles.

.15 inches difference between the two. Why is that significant?

I don't know why a 5% increase in diameter makes a difference.  That diameter does equate to a 10% increase in frontal area.  And between the two 200 grain projectiles there is a reduction of SD which does have the potential to increase energy transfer on more solid framed animals.  On paper that does seem insignificant, doesn't it?  However, after personally witnessing bear and elk taken with both the results sure don't seem insignificant to me. 

Sure, my experience leaves little for a base line of comparison.  As an amateur ballistician I can't explain to what percentage the advantage truly is.  It may very well be a lesser advantage, percentage wise, than jumping from .284 to .308.  But so far, my eyes keep telling my brain that we've broken a threshold that the .308 never did over the 7mm's of similar velocities.  Maybe time and additional experience will paint a different picture, who knows?   In the meantime...color me impressed with the 325.  It's a winner!!

[yorketransport]

I'd take the 325 over the 300 wsm any day as a hunting rifle. I'm a huge fan of the medium bores in hunting rifles.

.15 inches difference between the two. Why is that significant?

To be fair, a .15" difference is HUGE! I'll assume that you meant .015".

That's the pretty standard step up in bore diameter between  popular cartridges. Why use a .257 over a .243? Why go 7mm over .277? Like many things in life this is a case where just looking at the numbers doesn't tell the whole story.

[paguy]

Yes the 325 is a perfect gun for elk and moose, Yes ammo is a little pricey, But if you only have to shoot it once to kill your animal it seems pretty cheep. I have the kimber Montana in 325 and love it, shoots factory Winchester 200 gr accubonds very well.

[Bob33]

I'd take the 325 over the 300 wsm any day as a hunting rifle. I'm a huge fan of the medium bores in hunting rifles.

.15 inches difference between the two. Why is that significant?

To be fair, a .15" difference is HUGE! I'll assume that you meant .015".

That's the pretty standard step up in bore diameter between  popular cartridges. Why use a .257 over a .243? Why go 7mm over .277? Like many things in life this is a case where just looking at the numbers doesn't tell the whole story.

If it weren’t for “the best” caliber and bullet discussions, what would hunters talk about around the campfire or on Hunt WA?

There are the two extreme viewpoints: (1) bullet placement is all that matters, and (2) bigger is always better. If bullet placement were all that matters, elephant and Cape buffalo hunters would use .243s. If bigger were always better, prairie dogs would be hunted with .416s.

With the “bigger is better” concept, somewhere in the mix is the idea of “good enough”. With a large sample (100 elk), and with everything else being equal, how many more elk would a .323 bullet kill than a .308 bullet? We’ll never know, since everything is never equal and every situation is unique.

I love the fact that we have so many choices and options.

[fisheral87]

I've three rounds of factory nickel case win 325 if anyone is interested, but I'm not going to put any effort into getting them to you. 

Al

[splitshot]

   dang, how come every free is on the wetside.  mike w

[beaslayer6]

I just order a new 325 wsm. like I send I miss that gun it kills everything.

[Caretaker]

Buzz2401, suggest trying RL17 or Magpro, i dont have experience with reloading for the .325 but do for the .300 and .270 shorts, both powders did well in the short fat case, the .325 is the same case just necked up.

[Buzz2401]

I will thanks