Cartridge History
Prior to the design of the .300 Winchester Magnum there were several cartridges which provided what could be best described as a magnum level of power. The heritage of .30 caliber (7.62 mm) magnums can be traced back to the .30 Newton in 1913 and to the .300 H&H Magnum in 1925. Beginning with the .270 Weatherby Magnum in 1943, Roy Weatherby introduced a line of cartridges based on a standard length (2.5 in ) magnum case. This was accomplished by taking the .30 Super Belted Rimless H&H case and having it blown out (reducing the taper) and shortened so that it could be cycled through a standard length bolt action rifle. Then in 1944 he designed the .300 Weatherby Magnum which essentially was an improved version of the .30 Super Belted Rimless H&H, a close variant of the .300 H&H Magnum.
The Weatherby’s standard length magnum case was soon noticed. In 1958 Winchester introduced three cartridges – the .264 Winchester Magnum, .338 Winchester Magnum and the .458 Winchester Magnum, all based on the shortened and blown out .375 H&H Magnum case. The popular .30 caliber’s omission from that lineup was not missed. Wildcatters soon produced the .30-338 Winchester and Norma Projektilfabrik, who were by now manufacturing ammunition for Weatherby, took the standard length basic Weatherby brass and necked it down to .30 caliber (7.62 mm) and called it the .308 Norma Magnum.
The .300 Winchester Magnum was introduced in 1963 by Winchester for use in the Model 70 rifle. The introduction of the .300 Winchester Magnum was not unforeseen; rather, its introduction was anticlimactic. Winchester developed the .300 Winchester Magnum by taking the .338 Winchester Magnum which was introduced in 1958 and moved the shoulder forward by 0.156 inches (4.0 mm) and lengthening it by 0.120 inches (3.0 mm). This caused the cartridge to have a neck shorter than the diameter of the bullet. There has been some speculation that if the cartridge was released earlier, the dimensions of the cartridge would have matched the .30-338 Winchester wildcat cartridge. Since its introduction the cartridge has remained extremely popular.
The .300 Winchester Magnum's high availability in popular rifles such as Winchester's Model 70 and Remington Model 700 made the cartridge a popular choice among the shooting public. Although the .300 H&H Magnum, .30-338 Winchester Magnum and the .308 Norma Magnum had a head start on the .300 Winchester Magnum these cartridges soon faded into obsolescence. Only the .300 Weatherby Magnum was to survive as a readily available cartridge.
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