Introduced in 2001, the 300 WSM was standardized to allow short-action rifles to generate performance approaching what a long-action gun could do when chambered for the 300 Win Mag. The 300 WSM gives up very little to the 300 Win Mag. After shooting otherwise extremely similar rifles side-by side with original factory ammo loaded with the same 165-grain bullet I observed that the WSM generated noticeably less felt recoil. The difference far exceeds what would be expected based upon the modest difference in velocity and charge weight. This makes sense theoretically, because the shorter fatter case with a wider shoulder traps more of the charge behind the shoulder so less unburned propellant is initially accelerated into the bore, so initial accelerating mass is less. What one feels most, as unpleasant recoil, is how fast the gun initially accelerates before it solidly bonds with the shooter’s shoulder. I personally like the 300 WSM and the 7mm WSM. I especially prefer these for chambering in standard-length actions where long, heavy bullets can be seated out to take advantage of allowable magazine length. As such, with heavy bullets the shorter case has an advantage. Such loads have set many records in 1000-yard target competition. The 300 Jody, an improved 300 WSM chambered in a custom Savage, Ackley-Improved case-taper and a hemispherical shoulder, holds the distinction of being the only gun ever to make consecutive hits at the famous Gateway (Colorado) Dynamite Shoot on the Big-Dog targets. These were pop cans filled with blasting jell and located half a mile away on a steep transverse hillside 11-degrees above the shooting benches. There were no wind flags. The game allowed each shooter two shots per turn and then the rifle had to leave the bench for at least one intervening shooter using a different gun. After the various competitors had fired 274 shots at the hot target, my son hit it on his first shot and then hit the next target, located about 20 yards closer, on his second shot. He thereby won, first, the biggest pot ever $276; then, second, the smallest pot ever (zero!, well, he got an, I Hit the Dynamite, cap). As a charitable event, half of all ticket sales when to support the local volunteer fire department of a rural area without any tax base. Unfortunately, after persevering for more than half a century, the event is no more (the dynamite man had to retire and they could find no one willing to succeed him).