Winchester Short Magnum

Last updated February 17, 2022

Winchester Short Magnum, or WSM, refers to a family of rebated rim bottlenecked centerfire short magnum cartridges developed in the early 2000s by the U.S. Repeating Arms Company, the maker of Winchester rifles and one of the oldest firearms manufacturers in the United States. All of the WSM cartridges are inspired on the .404 Jeffery non-belted magnum cartridge which is shortened to fit a short rifle action (such as a .308 Winchester).^[1]

It was developed by Rick Jamison in 1997-1998 as proven in a 2005 lawsuit Jamison vs. Olin Corporation-Winchester division.^[2] Jamison was given 7 patents on the cartridge design. U.S. Repeating Arms Company used the same concept and the same base case in creating its even shorter Winchester Super Short Magnum cartridges, three of which were introduced in 2003 and 2004.

Influences

7.82 Lazzeroni Patriot

The WSM family was inspired partially by a family of proprietary short magnum cartridges developed in late 1997,^[3] by John Lazzeroni, derived from a previous line of magnum cartridges he had created. The first Lazzeroni short magnum, the 7.82 Lazzeroni Patriot,^[3] was designed to operate in a short-action rifle, instead of requiring a long action. The U.S. Repeating Arms Company was the first major manufacturer to commercialize Lazzeroni's concept, followed shortly thereafter by Remington with their "Short Action Ultra Mag" line.^{[ citation needed ]}

6 mm Benchrest

Another influence was a series of 6 mm cartridges developed for bench-rest target shooting competitions in the 1970s. The idea behind these cartridges was that a short, fat cartridge would be more "efficient" than the traditional long, narrow cartridge, as more of the powder column would be in the immediate vicinity of the primer as it detonated. In turn, this would mean that a cartridge of this type would be able to propel a bullet at speeds comparable to those of "magnum" cartridges of the same caliber using significantly less powder.^{[ citation needed ]}

Dimensions

The dimensions of the basic case are:

Rim diameter (at base): .535 in. (13.59 mm)
Outside diameter (at base): .555 in. (14.10 mm)
Inside diameter (of case): .538 in. (13.67 mm)
Maximum case length: 2.10 in. (53.34 mm)

The WSM family of cartridges are Delta L problem cartridges, meaning they can present unexpected chambering and/or feeding problems.^{[ citation needed ]}

Variants

The 300 WSM was the first of the new class of short magnums to see wide use. All of the WSM cartridges released to date have proven popular for thin-skinned game up to the size of elk and African plains game, the .325 WSM being an excellent cartridge for elk, bison and similar big game.

The cartridges in this family are, in order of development:

Name	Year of development	Bullet diameter
300 WSM	2001	.308 in. (7.823 mm)
7 mm WSM	2002	.284 in. (7.214 mm)
270 WSM	2002	.277 in. (7.036 mm)
325 WSM	2005	.323 in. (8.204 mm)

Related Research Articles

Rimfire ammunition is a type of firearm metallic cartridge whose primer is located within a hollow circumferential rim protruding from the base of its casing. When fired, the gun's firing pin will strike and crush the rim against the edge of the barrel breech, sparking the primer compound within the rim, and in turn ignite the propellant within the case. Invented in 1845, by Louis-Nicolas Flobert, the first rimfire metallic cartridge was the .22 BB Cap cartridge, which consisted of a percussion cap with a bullet attached to the top. While many other different cartridge priming methods have been tried since the 19th century, only rimfire and the later centerfire cartridges survive to the present day with regular usages. The .22 Long Rifle rimfire cartridge, introduced in 1887, is by far the most common ammunition in the world today in terms of units sold.

The 308 Winchester is a smokeless powder rimless bottle necked rifle cartridge.

A wildcat cartridge, often shortened to wildcat, is a custom cartridge for which ammunition and/or firearms are not mass-produced. These cartridges are often created in order to optimize a certain performance characteristic of an existing commercial cartridge.

The Winchester Model 70 is a bolt-action sporting rifle. It has an iconic place in American sporting culture and has been held in high regard by shooters since it was introduced in 1936, earning the moniker "The Rifleman's Rifle". The action has some design similarities to Mauser designs and it is a development of the earlier Winchester Model 54, itself based on a Mauser 98-type action.

The .270 Winchester is a rifle cartridge developed by Winchester Repeating Arms Company in 1923 and unveiled in 1925 as a chambering for their bolt-action Model 54. The cartridge is the same length as the .280 Remington, both of which are longer than the .30-06 Springfield. The .270, .280, and .30-06 were all derived from the .30-03 parent case and the bore diameter was likely inspired by 7mm Mauser. The .270 Winchester uses a .270 inch (6.86 mm) bore diameter and a .277 inch (7.04 mm) bullet diameter.

Winchester Super Short Magnum, or WSSM is a line of rebated rim bottlenecked centerfire short magnum cartridges introduced by the U.S. Repeating Arms Company. It is a further development of the Winchester Short Magnum concept utilizing smaller bullets, but of a still higher velocity.

.300 Remington Short Action Ultra Magnum is a .30 caliber short magnum cartridge that is a shortened version of the Remington 300 Ultra Mag, both of which derive from the .404 Jeffery case. The Remington Short Ultra Mag was put on the market shortly after Winchester released its 300 WSM round in 2001, resulting in the Winchester product getting the marketing advantage that has eclipsed the Remington offering.

The 7mm Remington Magnum rifle cartridge was introduced as a commercially available round in 1962, along with the new Remington Model 700 bolt-action rifle. It is a member of the belted magnum family that is directly derived from the venerable .375 H&H Magnum. The original purpose of the belted magnum concept taken from the .300 H&H Magnum and .375 H&H Magnum, was to provide precise headspace control, since the sloping shoulders, while easing cartridge extraction, were unsuitable for this purpose. Improved cartridge extraction reliability is desirable while hunting dangerous game, in particular when a fast follow-up shot is required. The 7mm Remington Magnum is based on the commercial .264 Winchester Magnum, .338 Winchester Magnum, and .458 Winchester Magnum, which were based on the same belted .300 H&H Magnum and .375 H&H Magnum cases, trimmed to nearly the same length as the .270 Weatherby Magnum.

The 8mm Remington Magnum belted rifle cartridge was introduced by Remington Arms Company in 1978 as a new chambering for the model 700 BDL rifle. The 8mm Remington Magnum's parent case is the .375 H&H Magnum. It is a very long and powerful cartridge that cannot be used in standard length actions, such as those that accommodate the .30-06 Springfield.

300 Winchester Short Magnum is a .30 caliber rebated rim bottlenecked centerfire short magnum cartridge that was introduced in 2001 by Winchester.

The .300 Remington Ultra Magnum, also known as the .300 Ultra Mag, 7.62×72mm or .300 RUM is a 7.62 mm rifle cartridge introduced by Remington Arms in 1999. The .300 Remington Ultra Magnum is one of the largest commercially available .30 caliber magnums currently being produced. It is a beltless, rebated rim cartridge, capable of handling all large North American game, as well as long-range shooting. Among commercially produced .30-caliber rifle chamberings, the .300 Remington Ultra Magnum is second only to the .30-378 Weatherby Magnum in cartridge-case capacity.

The 270 Winchester Short Magnum or 270 WSM is a short, unbelted, magnum cartridge created by necking down the .300 Winchester Short Magnum and fitting it with a .277 caliber bullet. The correct name for the cartridge, as listed by the Sporting Arms and Ammunition Manufacturers' Institute (SAAMI), is 270 WSM, without a decimal point. It is a member of the Winchester Short Magnum family of cartridges.

The .325 Winchester Short Magnum, commonly known as the 325 WSM is an 8mm caliber rebated rim bottlenecked centerfire short magnum medium bore cartridge. The cartridge was introduced by Winchester Ammunition in 2005.

The .308 Norma Magnum (7.62×65mmBR) cartridge was created by Nils Kvale at Norma, Sweden. Like the larger .358 Norma Magnum it is based on the .300 H&H Magnum. The length of the case is the longest that would fit in a standard Mauser action. While it appeared to have a bright future initially, it was soon superseded in popularity by the .300 Winchester Magnum. The first, and one of the few, manufacturers to offer rifles in .308 Norma Magnum was Schultz & Larsen of Denmark and they still are.

The 7mm Winchester Short Magnum is a centrefire cartridge developed in partnership with Browning Arms Company and Winchester ammunition, making its debut and introduced to the shooting public in 2001. It is a member of the Winchester Short Magnum family of cartridges.

Remington Ultra Magnum, or RUM, refers to a "family" of cartridges developed between 1999 and 2002 by Remington Arms. All of the RUM cartridges are based on the .404 Jeffery non-belted magnum cartridge. There is a long-case line, as well as a shortened version designed to fit a short rifle action. The long case is very large and provides performance that exceeds existing commercial magnums, such as the .300 Winchester Magnum and .300 Weatherby Magnum.

The .338 Ruger Compact Magnum or .338 RCM is a rimless, short-length rifle cartridge based on the .375 Ruger case. It was designed by Sturm Ruger and Hornady and released in 2008 and chambered in various Ruger rifles. The goal was to create a shorter cartridge than the big .338 magnums that would fit in a more compact rifle with nearly the same performance. Similar to the design ideas for the WSM cartridge family, but somewhat narrower which will frequently allow one more cartridge in the rifle magazine than the WSM equivalent. This round is designed for hunting medium to large sized North American game.

Nosler produces six different hunting cartridges. The first to be introduced was .26 Nosler, followed by .28 Nosler, .30 Nosler, .33 Nosler, .22 Nosler, and .27 Nosler.

The .350 Legend (9×43 mm), also called 350 LGND, is a SAAMI-standardized straight-walled hunting cartridge developed by Winchester Repeating Arms. The cartridge was designed for use in American states that have specific regulations for deer hunting with straight-walled centerfire cartridges. Winchester claims that the .350 Legend is the fastest production straight-walled hunting cartridge in the world, although some .444 Marlin and .458 Winchester Magnum loads are faster. It is designed for deer hunting out to a maximum effective range of 250 yards (230 m).

References

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[1] The .300 Winchester Short Magnum, Allan Jones - December 18, 2018, www.shootingtimes.com

[2] "JAMISON v. OLIN CORPORATION-WINCHESTER DIVISION | Case No. 03-1036-KI (lead case), Case Nos. 04-31-KI, 04-76-KI. | D. Or. | Judgment | Law | CaseMine". www.casemine.com. Retrieved 2021-01-12.

[Google's_rec.guns-3] 1 2 John Lazzeroni comments on rec.guns

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