AMMUNITION
Lucky Number
The .325 Winchester Short Magnum flexes its big-game muscle in Colorado and Alaska.
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Big deer are never where you want them. This one jetted from a clump of oak-brush and almost tripped over the bedded bull elk that until then had been placidly chewing its cud. Both animals barreled off over the ridge, leaving me no choice but to climb back from whence I'd come. Elk hunting can be like that.
But from the hill, Kevin Howard had already spied another bull. Two, in fact. I gave myself a few minutes at ridgeline to catch my breath, then plunged into the canyon once more. An hour later, with both bulls in sight, I bellied closer on a plateau above a sprawling copse of oaks. At the plateau's lip I snugged my sling and settled the crosswire on the five-point. He had appeared hurt. A limp can be lethal during winter, so I always choose an ailing bull over one with good odds of growing big. Alas, a screen of brush promised to turn any bullet I sent toward this elk. Minutes slipped by, and rain came....
Patience paid off when both bulls lay down. I turned the Browning scope up to its highest power and saw a football-size alley to the target animal's ribs. Prone, I had a bench-steady rifle. When the last ounce came off the trigger, the pair rocketed from their beds; only one came clear of the thicket. After cycling the action, I held the Model 70 ready for a follow-up shot. Nothing moved where the bull had disappeared. Pacing 180 yards to the site, I found him dead.
New Addition To The Family
This elk was the third I'd seen fall to the .325 WSM, the latest in a series of Short Magnum rounds from Winchester. The company announced the first of this type in 2000. Before the .300 WSM had built a head of steam, two more cartridges were under development. The consensus early on was that Winchester would next unveil a .270 and a .338. But in 2001 it instead delivered a .270 and a 7mm on the .300 case. With bullet diameters of .277 and .284, this move certainly merits a redundancy award. But hunters took to both (especially the .270), and the .300 kept attracting fans.
Remington, meanwhile, was playing catch-up with its Short-Action Ultra Mag cartridges, a little shorter than the WSMs but ballistically their equal. Remington had decided early on to continue promoting full-length Ultra Mags when short versions were almost ready and WSMs had yet to appear. The market typically rewards those first out of the gate.
There's no practical difference between the .300 WSM and .300 SAUM. None between the 7mm WSM and 7mm SAUM and .270 WSM. I used the latter to take what I'm sure was the first elk killed with the cartridge and probably nailed the first elk downed with the .300 SAUM. I've used the 7mm WSM on much larger animals and the .300 WSM on both elk and moose. My favorite rifle has been Remington's Alaska Wilderness Rifle. Fashioned on a Model Seven action, it features what to me is the best production-class synthetic stock available. Lightweight, trim and quick to point, the AWR carries easily and balances like a dream. I bought the prototype that came my way in .300 SAUM. But Winchester's Model 70 Featherweight is also delightful, with a lovely walnut stock that handles beautifully and has its front swivel well forward, as the AWR should. I prefer the Model 70's trigger, safety and extractor.
While we don't need more punch for North American game than that offered by short .300s, some of us elk hunters were still pining for a medium-bore cartridge on the WSM case. Where was the .33?
"We decided not to pursue that," a Winchester engineer told me last summer. "Boosting diameter to .338 left us short of matching the ballistic performance of the .338 Winchester." The company opted instead for an 8mm (.323) bullet. A 200-grain bullet from the .325 WSM has higher sectional density than a 200-grain .338 bullet, but there's plenty of bullet base for a high-speed launch at reasonable pressure.
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