Weatherby vs standard cartridges

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Standard, or modern? The Weatherby's were all designed to provide increased performance relative the the standard chamberings of the era in which they were released. By that measure, they're the shiznit - they accomplished that objective. Now, you may want to have an argument that the extra performance offered was unnecessary or of limited use, but that's a separate discussion.

In comparison to modern high-performance chamberings, which achieve similar or better velocities with smaller actions and less powder, the Weatherby's don't fare so well. So far, the only real Weatherby chambering that I think still holds up well as a magnum offering is the 257 Weatherby, if only because there has not (yet) been a widely accepted magnum-class quarter-bore of modern design than can push a 100gr 257 bullet at 3600fps. But as soon as that gap is filled, the Weatherbys will have been completely eclipsed in terms of performance.
 
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I have a 300 Weatherby that I inherited and I like it fine, but I don't shoot it enough that barrel life is of any concern to me. It certainly has more punch than a 300 Win Mag but not enough to really matter. Frankly neither cartridge does much that a 30-06 wouldn't do just as well out to what most of us would consider reasonable hunting distances. I guess the main thing would be the ability to throw 200+ grain bullets with more authority and flatter than an '06 could do.
 
I'd bet the average rifle sold in the US in the last 70 years fires fewer than 1000 rounds before it's forgotten or neglected into rust by the idiot children of the buyer.

A Weatherby cartridge that adds a hundred yards MPBR and reduces usefully accurate barrel life from 8k to 2k is not really a compromise for most users.

The more probable downsides to Weatherby cartridges are recoil exceeding most people's training, and overconfidence at long range exceeding training.
 
The philosophy of most shooters have changed in the last 10-20 years and all magnums have declined in popularity over that time. The Weatherby versions more so than others. From the end of WW-2 up until the dawn of the 21'st century the quest for more speed was on everyone's mind. Guys were using brute force trying to shoot light for caliber bullets with poor aerodynamics as fast as possible to improve long range performance.

Instead of brute power the trend now is toward finesse. Back in the day a 150 gr bullet fired from a 300 Weatherby at near 3500 fps was what people wanted. Today a 140-147 gr bullet fired from a 6.5 Creedmoor at 2700 fps generates around 1/3 of the recoil. On game there simply isn't much difference between a 147 gr bullet and a 150 gr bullet. Both cartridges are still viable as target rounds out to a mile.

The 300 shoots flatter for hunters, but the advent of affordable range finders and modern optics to compensate for the drop at long range have largely negated that advantage.

It's true that you can take advantage of these better bullets in one of the magnums as well. But shooting 200-220 gr high BC bullets from a 30 caliber magnum starts to add up to brutal recoil. And the performance of the smaller cartridges already exceed the skills of the vast majority of shooters. You'd have to start shooting well past 1000 yards to see any real advantage.
 
Weatherby was way ahead of his time. He achieved hyper velocities by freeboring his rifles & elevating pressures. Don't forget he had the market on ammo for this rifles also & pressure level were in the +60k. Stocks were beautiful & the rifles a work of art. They were hunting rifles. If you were buying factory ammo you'd be broke before the barrel gave up. Weatherby was the godfather of all today's magnum calibers! One of my rifle hero's...:thumbup:
 
Mr. Weatherby marketed masculinity and testosterone at a time when it mattered - he did that masterfully. Now that our culture has changed it’s value structure, Weatherby cartridges are now just another (albeit expensive) choice. They remain an elevated category of sort and still manage to carry a classy image. I admire their category, I just have no use for their excess.
 
I have a 300 Weatherby that I inherited and I like it fine, but I don't shoot it enough that barrel life is of any concern to me. It certainly has more punch than a 300 Win Mag but not enough to really matter. Frankly neither cartridge does much that a 30-06 wouldn't do just as well out to what most of us would consider reasonable hunting distances. I guess the main thing would be the ability to throw 200+ grain bullets with more authority and flatter than an '06 could do.

Seriously? Not much better than a .30-06?!

The philosophy of most shooters have changed in the last 10-20 years and all magnums have declined in popularity over that time. The Weatherby versions more so than others. From the end of WW-2 up until the dawn of the 21'st century the quest for more speed was on everyone's mind. Guys were using brute force trying to shoot light for caliber bullets with poor aerodynamics as fast as possible to improve long range performance.

Instead of brute power the trend now is toward finesse. Back in the day a 150 gr bullet fired from a 300 Weatherby at near 3500 fps was what people wanted. Today a 140-147 gr bullet fired from a 6.5 Creedmoor at 2700 fps generates around 1/3 of the recoil. On game there simply isn't much difference between a 147 gr bullet and a 150 gr bullet. Both cartridges are still viable as target rounds out to a mile.

The 300 shoots flatter for hunters, but the advent of affordable range finders and modern optics to compensate for the drop at long range have largely negated that advantage.

It's true that you can take advantage of these better bullets in one of the magnums as well. But shooting 200-220 gr high BC bullets from a 30 caliber magnum starts to add up to brutal recoil. And the performance of the smaller cartridges already exceed the skills of the vast majority of shooters. You'd have to start shooting well past 1000 yards to see any real advantage.

Seriously? Now it's similar to a 6.5 Creedmoor... Who shoots big game with 150 gr. 300 weatherby? Compare the energy of a factory 200 gr. 300 weatherby to the creedmoor at a 300 year shot on an elk or moose.
Lions, tigers, big bears, other large Africa game has fallen to the.300 weatherby.
Plinking steel at long range and shooting deer is where the creedmoor excels. Putting large holes using heavy slugs is where the 300 weathering excels.
I understand that people have used the creedmoor on elk, moose etc. But people have also used .25-35 Winchester, 30-30 etc. Still doesn't mean it the best.
 
I had a close friend tell me 100 gr. at 3600 fps, and being able to hold dead on out to 400 yds. It has a recoil that is more of a push. Evidently good energy at 250 yds they drop usually right away.
 
As far as the calibers Roy Weatherby created, most are now approaching 70 years old. Better bullets and powders and reams more data have allowed today’s more recently introduced calibers to do much more than similar calibers could do in the 1950’s. Back then they were laser beams. Today, not so much.

I think Roy Weatherby’s mystique was more than a rifle or caliber though, Roy sold a lifestyle and image like Carrol Shelby or Enzo Ferrari. Speed, power, flash, cash... His pitch was clearly geared towards the higher end hunter-shooter.

The Weatherby rifles were highly polished and had fancy stocks using high-end wood; the rounds were expensive and exotic (for the time) Norma-made. The shotguns were the same; very fancy and pricy indeed. Roy’s prices weren’t aimed at the working stiffs who bought the Rem 700’s or Win 70’s to knock over their freezer- bound deer; it was Safari-dreamers and high country big dollar horseback elk hunters he was appealing to.

Obviously they later created much more affordable rifles to help spread the Weatherby mystique to the masses, but it’s still the Mark V family of magnums that people visualize when you mention Weatherby. :)

My Dad gave me a German Mark V in .300 WM a few years ago. I honestly haven’t had the want, nor the need, to shoot it yet.

Stay safe.
 
Roy Weatherby’s idea of blowing out 300 H&H cases to hold more powder was to achieve a higher muzzle velocity—— that was his first goal. The slowest burning powder at the development time of the early Weatherby cartridges was IMR-4350. To an extent, his cartridges had a pressure limit he couldn’t overcome except for the free bore helped hold down those pressures to safe, but high limits. Nothing was like the Weatherby line then.
Nowadays, the better hunting bullets do their only job with less velocity and buck the wind better than what Roy faced in the early days of his company. His version of the hunting rifle with the Mark V separated him from the rest of the pack. If you don’t like the glossy wood and metal then a Mk V isn’t for you. Plenty of other models by Weatherby will take out big game animals if you do your part.
I told a friend I took a big buck with my 300 Weatherby and he said it was too big of a bullet for him. I said it used the same diameter bullet as a 30-06, and he said he forgot that part. I have plenty of non-Weatherby rifles so don’t get the idea I’m an all-Weatherby-all-the-time hunter.
Use a new sleek or an old fat cartridge. It’s fine with me as long as you like what you’re getting.
 
Seriously? Not much better than a .30-06?!



Seriously? Now it's similar to a 6.5 Creedmoor... Who shoots big game with 150 gr. 300 weatherby? Compare the energy of a factory 200 gr. 300 weatherby to the creedmoor at a 300 year shot on an elk or moose.
Lions, tigers, big bears, other large Africa game has fallen to the.300 weatherby.
Plinking steel at long range and shooting deer is where the creedmoor excels. Putting large holes using heavy slugs is where the 300 weathering excels.
I understand that people have used the creedmoor on elk, moose etc. But people have also used .25-35 Winchester, 30-30 etc. Still doesn't mean it the best.
"Lions, tigers, big bears, other large Africa game has fallen to the.300 weatherby."
"Still doesn't mean it the best."
:D
 
I've been fascinated by the mystique of Weatherby and his guns and cartridges since I first read about them. Back in the day, they were truly groundbreaking and did things no one else could match at the time.

Today, with the advance of design and materials, modern high performance rifles and cartridges probably come as close to Weatherby as to make no practical difference. I'd still love to own a classic Weatherby Mark V chambered in .257 Wby, but that has more to do with nostalgia than anything.
 
Looking at two newer cartridges in comparison. The 6.5 Creedmoor compared to the 6.5-300 Weatherby the are both very capable target rounds out to 1000 + yards.
If you want to ethically kill something a 140 grain 6.5-300 has 600 foot pounds more energy at five hundred yards than the 6.5 cm.

For punching paper or steel go Creedmoor.
Long range hunting rifle Weatherby all the way.
 
The advent of compact, inexpensive laser range finders, and items such as ballistic reticles and Target turrets with predictable adjustments have mitigated the benifits of the flatter shooting cartridges.

That, and marketing trying to convince us that the belted case is the incarnation of evil. A non-belted case is guaranteed to reduce your group size by 0.03” at infinity..... And the free bore throats of the Weatherby’s are made “worn out” , causing the rifles to be incapable of bench rest competition...

I’ve got a .300RUM and a .257wby. Neither will have the bores shot out in my lifetime. I bought 16lbs of WC860 for $4/lb. and 1000 (in 16yrs I’ve used 3.5lbs). 180gr Rem Corloks at $80. Worked up a load that’s sub moa. And no, the corloks don’t blow up or fail to penetrate, in my experience (dozens...)
Also got 1,000 Hornady 100gr blems for $70. Add in assorted bullets picked up at close outs, flea markets, etc and I have a lifetime supply of components. Cost less to shoot them than my milsurps!
I’ve got less than $500 in BOTH rifles. Nobody wanted them due to cost of ammo...

Only thing I’ve discovered is that they are boring good...

Problem is, I’ve killed more deer with my Savage M220 (20ga) than both put together as most of my hunting is where my longest shot is 140yds...
 
I have a 300 Weatherby that I inherited and I like it fine, but I don't shoot it enough that barrel life is of any concern to me. It certainly has more punch than a 300 Win Mag but not enough to really matter. Frankly neither cartridge does much that a 30-06 wouldn't do just as well out to what most of us would consider reasonable hunting distances. I guess the main thing would be the ability to throw 200+ grain bullets with more authority and flatter than an '06 could do.

I can remember sighting in rifles for an upcoming elk hunt with my hunting buddies a few decades ago. After we were satisfactorily on paper we shot at some silhouette targets at 400m. Me with my 30-06 and one of my buddies had a 300 Weatherby. He let me take a couple of shots with the Weatherby. My recollection is that the 300 was substantially flatter shooting at that distance. Such that I was holding over a couple of feet with the -06, while the Weatherby was hitting with a top of the silhouette hold. Don't hold me to those exact numbers because it was about 30 years ago. But I remember that I was impressed!
 
I ended up with a German mark V 300 Whb.
Absolutely loved that rifle, it fit me perfectly and was everything I could want in a rifle, excepting the recoil, I enjoy shooting but dont care for a rifle that I'm done with after 10 rounds.
So, I loaded it like a hot 3006 and never looked back. Their are comparable cartridges currently that compete favorably with almost all of Whb rounds, their not necessarily dated and it seems to me that they are one of those things that have a certain misque or status attached to them.
 
In December I used my 257 Wby to get an old White tail buck north of Dodge City KS. The rifle had a 350 yard zero. This maximized the pure speed of the 100 grain Scirocco. Recoil——about what a 270 Win of similar weight gives you, so plenty easy in my mind and on my shoulder. The deer fell on a 380 yard shot. That’s well within the Max Point Blank Range for that load. Impact velocity at that range was 2700fps, or in other words within 50 ft/sec of what a 308 Win load has at the muzzle.
A Weatherby is about speed with accuracy. I know some people don’t think a Weatherby is accurate in the hunting world. Wrong.
 
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