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325 WSM RIfle

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Category: Firearms, Bows, and Ammunition
Forum Name: Firearms
Forum Description: All makes, models and uses
URL: http://www.opticstalk.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=42369
Printed Date: March/28/2024 at 04:36
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Topic: 325 WSM RIfle
Posted By: Whale
Subject: 325 WSM RIfle
Date Posted: November/22/2015 at 14:41
Looking at a used one at a very attractive price. Need pros and con's of caliber. Also, what do you hunt? What do you reload?



Replies:
Posted By: Stevey Ducks
Date Posted: November/22/2015 at 21:28

I would be inclined to pass on a .325 WSM.

Ammo might be difficult to find.

Brass like Nosler costs over $2.50 each.

8mm Cartridges have never been popular here. That is why the price is attractive.

The other short mags like the .300 WSM, .300 Rem SAUM, and various Ruger compact mags are sort of  not popular despite having some advantages.

Should you make an offer not over $100 depending on condition and make and it is accepted you could get the rifle re-barreled to a .300 WSM or such but even then there would be somewhat of an ammo dilemma to contend with.

A re-barrel job would cost from $500-$600.

During WWII the old 8X57 or 7.92X57 having some loads that fired a 196-197 or whatever grain bullet at 2500 fps was considered a heavy hitter and the .325 WSM should do about 400 fps faster. This bullet was feared even at 2500 fps. The .325 being somewhat more than a .30-06 power range and under a .338 Win mag. Suitable for any kind of beast found in North America.

So be prepared to learn and do reloading should you get into this.

I am an old guy that hunts mostly small rodents and loads about 2000 rounds of .204, .224, 6mm, and 6.5mm ammo per year.   



Posted By: Whale
Date Posted: November/22/2015 at 22:44
Thank you for your quick and detailed response.


Posted By: urbaneruralite
Date Posted: November/23/2015 at 09:15
It looks like the best balanced and sensible of the WSMs, until you consider practicality in a world of thirty caliber guns. I make a lowball offer on every LH A-Bolt I see in 325 WSM. I don't need it. I never hunt grizzly country. The most I would do is load it down to 8x57 velocity and shoot a buck.


Posted By: Whale
Date Posted: November/23/2015 at 10:48
Thank you everyone for your advice. However, the gun has been sold. There is another one available, but the asking price is above the selling price when it was new. The gun is one of the last Winchester Model 70 Sporter made in the USA.


Posted By: DCAMM94
Date Posted: November/23/2015 at 12:31
I agree.  I just built an all-but-extinct 7mmWSM handgun knowing full well what the commercial limitations are.  I have been buying ammo to use for reloads  now for months knowing that it will be necessary because whether or not someone is selling brass for my cannon is a complete crap shoot.  Same thing will go for the .325.  It's a great round, but no one in the US really wants anything other than a .224, .30, .338, or a .243, it seems.

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Although personally I am quite content with existing explosives, I feel we must not stand in the path of improvement. -Winston Churchill


Posted By: Steelbenz
Date Posted: November/23/2015 at 12:46

I have a friend here at work that swears by them in a browning A-bolt I think. Brass is $63 for 25 @ Huntington's. If you're a reloader I'm thinking it was 60.2grs if V100 with a 150gr bullet? Don't have my laptop with me. But its a beast not easily fed!



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"Don't argue with a fool! From a distance you can't really tell who's who!"


Posted By: Steelbenz
Date Posted: November/23/2015 at 19:46
make that with 180gr pills.


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"Don't argue with a fool! From a distance you can't really tell who's who!"


Posted By: Stevey Ducks
Date Posted: November/23/2015 at 23:07

If I was forced to have an 8mm of some kind it would be a 8mm-06 or 8mm-06 Improved. To get a sense of just how good the relatively small 8X57 or 7.92X57 was with the 196-197 grain bullet take a look at Wikipedia description of that round - "best external ballistic performance of any standard bullet during WWII" and more. Penetration of almost 1 yard of dry pine boards at 100 yards/meters.

This 8mm would have a 24-26 inch high grade stainless barrel 1-10 twist and shoot a 196 grain hp bt match grade or similar at 2700 fps or so using H4350 in necked up reformed .30-06 brass. It would remain super-sonic well past 1000 meters/yards. Steel targets would go down.

The .325 WSM was/is a good idea. 8mm bullets have long histories of battle use.

The practical aspects of 8mm rifles like feeding them are to be considered. The 8mm Rem mag sort of fizzled out.

Hey Whale, consider a .308, .270 or .30-06. .30-06's with 180 grain bullets are good hunting rounds and with the Hornady 178 Amax or target bullet will make a hard hitting round.


  



Posted By: urbaneruralite
Date Posted: November/24/2015 at 09:49
8mm gets called "best external ballistic performance of any standard bullet during WWII" and we get stuck with .308 because we had to be different. Not lost on me is the irony every time someone asks for a recommendation on a new and different deer rifle. They already have a .308 or .30/06 and just want something a little different than everyone else. /rant


Posted By: BigBoreBandito
Date Posted: January/06/2016 at 12:49
I have a BLR in .325, have had no problems finding ammo. Mine likes the 200 grain accubonds. Love the gun, ammo can be found on line a plenty, and I'll be reloading this year as well. It's hammered 2 400+ pound hogs dead in their tracks. 

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"If it bleeds, we can kill it."



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