Criticism
The .300 Winchester Magnum was designed with a neck which is shorter than the diameter of its bullet. If Winchester had released the cartridge prior to 1960 the cartridge would have been similar to the .30-338 Winchester wildcat cartridge. However, by the time Winchester got around to designing their own .300 the .308 Norma Magnum and the .30-338 were already on the scene. To help differentiate it from the other .300 magnums and to allow for the chambers of the standard length .300 magnums to be rebored to the .300 Winchester Magnum chamber dimensions, Winchester moved the shoulder forward and lengthened the cartridge slightly. This created the long criticized short neck of the .300 Winchester Magnum.
The short neck was thought to hinder accuracy because it would prevent the alignment of cartridge to the bore but this is rarely an issue either today or when the cartridge was designed. The fact that the cartridge has gone to win many 1,000-yard (910 m) matches puts this criticism to rest.
However, the short neck with the shoulder moved forward does cause some real problems. Since the .300 Winchester Magnum is designed to work out of a standard length action, heavier bullets will need to be seated deeper into the case. Since many heavier .30 caliber (7.62 mm) bullets have a long taper, and these bullets will be required to be seated deeper into the case, the neck will end up being positioned in the ogive rather than on the shank of the bullet due to the fact that Winchester had moved the shoulder forward. This prevents the case from having a good grip on the bullet. Under recoil such loosely held bullets in the magazine will be pushed back into the case. Also, if using a highly compressed load the cartridge might “grow” in length and may not be able to fit into the magazine. For these reasons bullets weighing over 200 grains (13 g) are not recommended. Norma goes further recommending that bullets heavier than 180 grains (12 g) not be used with the cartridge.
Read more about this topic: .300 Winchester Magnum
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