dww- i am not a fan of savage rifles at all. the wood-stocked ones seem to like to develop cracks lengthwise from that mag cut-out to the back of the trigger relief area. but, i consider these stocks a lesser evil than their synthetic stocks. i find their synthetics to be just too flimsy, and hard to bed.
the 300 wsm... i really like the cartridge. a lot!
the 300 wsm is surprisingly soft shooting. i can shoot my 300 wsm about twice as much as my 7 rem mag in a single sitting. the 300 has about the same powder cap as the 7 rem mag, (about 70 grains is what i load for both) but i shoot 180's in my 300, and 162's in my 7. so, recoil should be harder in the 300, but it isn't. maybe the difference is stock design? dunno... but the 300 does shoot softer. the 300 has the factory recoil pad on it, the 7 has a pachymar decelerator.
i also get better velocity out of the 300 than the 7, but the difference here is only about 50 f/s.
i don't like 270's... take a good hard look at the 7 wsm. better bc's than either the 270 or the 300, and just as much flexibility as the 300.
i went w/ the 300 because i already have a couple of 7 mags. if i did not have a 7 mag, i would've opted the 7wsm route instead.
for more references to the 270 wsm and 300 wsm, do a search at
www.baitshopboyz.com/forum there has been discussion on that board about both cartridges, and a couple new 270 wsm shooters. maybe get another point of view.