7MM WSM

is there much of a difference between the short mag and the regular mag with the 7mm? I am looking at a Winchester Model 70 7mm WSM and the price is right but want to be sure I am not missing anything on that.

Not sure?? I have the Winchseter Model 70 Featherweight with a 26″ barrrel in the 7mm Magnum and love that gun.

Fast, accurate and flat shooting Killer!

I was shopping for a 7mag not long ago, and decided to pass on the 7mm WSM mag for a few reasons. There are others here with more knowledge regarding rifle cartridges, but I’ll just relay my own thought process.

WSM’s were the rage a few years ago, and since then have tapered off in offerings by the major mfrs. from what I can tell. At the same time, there are other cartridges that have spun off to WSM as well. Like so many good calibers in the rifle world, some will be fads that come and go, even if ballistically superior. This makes ammo expensive and hard to find. Not a problem if you’re a reloader. Not even that big a problem if you always carry ample supply with you when hunting.

At the same time, unless there’s a huge improvement in trajectory and/or recoil, I wasn’t going to make my life more difficult than it had to be in terms of finding/buying ammo. For the 7mm caliber, I didn’t see the vast improvement. But that’s just me.

If you’re getting a deal on one, that may be a different story.

Joel

I have that exact gun and love it. I’ve shot several deer with it and… lets just say there’s not much tracking involved. I mostly hunt open fields and can get some long shooting, its one hellofa flat shooting gun.

There are plenty of options for rounds out there, you just need to make sure you have enough on hand and not to expect to be able to find any in some small town Holiday Station Store. Unless you’re someone who may forget to bring your ammo on your hunting trip, you’ll be fine.

I would avoid that gun like the plauge.
What the major ammo manufacters are finding is that their ballistic testing barrels only last about 800-1200 rounds.
Reason #2 would be the only short mags that are popular that seem to be sticking in the ammo market are the 270 wsm and the 300 wsm the rest are pretty much dead, so if you want that 7mm wsm it will be time to reload so start finding your brass supply now. I personally just sold all of my 270 wsm supplies and equipment on gun broker after finding out they were such barrel burners.
If you are looking get a 7mm rem mag, barrel life is about 5-7000 rounds its also easier to get compnents to reload with.

One of the big things you will find with the WSM is less recoil. The shorter, fatter casing allows more gas re-uptake into the breech thus lessening the amount of gas slamming into the bolt. This translates into less recoil from a magnum cartridge. I have looked at ballistics tables in the past while considering a 300 WSM and there really isn’t that much difference ballisticly speaking. What you are really getting is fewer black eyes and sore shoulders from a magnum load.