I just bought my 1st 300 Weatherby, a German made mark V, it was a great deal. I know little about this round other than what I�ve read. Yes I know it is overkill. I�ll use it for shooting deer on power lines, big fields, etc. I have only shot factory rounds through it so far. I don�t find the recoil to be bad at all and accuracy has been pretty good, and it has been a lot of fun so far.

What I could use is any advice about the round you may have for both reloading and bullet choices in hunting. I read that IMR 7828 is a good powder for 180 gr stuff. I have a bunch of 165 sierras I practice with in my 308, is tough 165 suitable for shooting deer? Or should I stay with 180�s? Partitions? Or what bullet for hunting? What brass and primers should I use?

Thanks in advance

I use IMR-7828 and 180 bullets for just about everything. I personally see little advantage to the lighter bullet weights with this cartridge. I use 82 gr of that powder for my rifle, but my buddy's can handle 85 gr - start low and work up. I've stuck with Nosler Partition and Speer Grand Slams, but I may break down and try some Barnes or Interbond bullets. Performance with the previous loads has been so good that I have seen little need to experiment. The good bullets do not over-react to light game like deer and ruin very little meat, while still penetrating well on elk.

I've had excellent results with H4831SC, CCI 250 Primers, and Hornady 180 Interlocks or Nosler Partition 180's. Sub MOA with both bullets and excellent results on game to extended ranges. However, I've had some pretty ugly meat damage on close up shots on smaller game and elk. If you know you're going to be hunting the deep woods and shots will be close, I'd consider loading a good 220 grain bullet or downloading the 180's, or you could use Barnes X bullets and not worry about it. Just going by hearsay here as I don't use Barnes bullets (yet).- Sheister

I have had mine since last December. Have only worked up one load, IMR 4831, cci 250 primer, Hornady 180 gr, BTSP.
I plan on trying some 165 grain bullets this summer on woodchucks, good luck.

I liked 78.0 grains of Reloader 22 with either the 200 grain Sierra or Nosler Partion of the same weight. That load worked well on game from springbok to eland with the Nosler and for mule deer with the Sierra. Also, the 180 Sierra did well on pronghorns with a load of IMR4831. It isn't overkill, the .300 Weatherby just works really well on all sorts of big game.

Good choice, you will find the 300 Weatherby to be a great round to hunt with. Congratulations on the rifle as well, the German made Mark Fives were darned good quality.

I would suggest just sticking with the 180 grain bullets. It is only my eperience, but I have worked up loads for several 300 Weatherby rifles and they all seemed to shoot best with that weight of bullets. I have had no luck getting 165 grain bullets to shoot well, except for the 165 grain Hornady spire point.

The 180 grain loads just seem to be a good combination of bullets with good sectional densities and a good velocity range.

I personally usually shoot 180 grain Nosler Partitions in my 300 Weatherby. I shot a nice 6 X 6 bull elk in New Mexico last fall and he was down post haste with one shot.
However, I shot a nice wild hog last summer with a 180 grain Sierra Pro Hunter and had good bullet performance with it as well.

For powders you should be able to get a good load worked up with H 4831, RL 22, or IMR 7828, just depends on the rifle.

I would suggest just sticking with the Weatherby brass, even though it is a little expensive. My buddies and I bought a bunch of Remington brass when they were still manufacturing it and we had some problems. For sure, do not mix the two brands as the Remington is thicker and will give higher pressures with the same loads.

In regard to primers, the Federal 215's were designed for use in Weatherby cartridges and they are my first choice.

Have fun with your new rifle, R F

Get a hold of an old Weatherby guide, you can find them on EBAY or the Weatherby Collerctors website. Init you'll find factory equivalent loads using Norma MRP and Hornady and Nosler Partition bullets. It's the closest you'll get to matching factory ballisitcs. The other loads and powders recommended here are excellent choices also. jorge

I use my .300 Weatherby Sako for deer hunting more than any other rifle I've got. Yea, it's way more than needed, but I just really like this rifle and cartridge and I can shoot it well.

After using several different bullets for deer hunting, I have pretty much settled on the 168gr. Barnes Triple Shock because it can easily handle the high velocity impacts of close range shots, which seem to occur more often than not for me. For instance, my last three kills with this rifle were at ranges of 15, 25 and 50 yards. I've tried other so-called premium bullets, but I just didn't like the way they performed. The Triple Shock, on the other hand, has performed great and it's exceptionally accurate as well. I would also trust it for long range shots.

Heres my load: (of course, start low and work up)

168 gr. Barnes Triple Shock
84 grs. RL 22
Norma brass
Fed 215 primer

If it's a 180 gr. bullet you want to use, then you can't go wrong with IMR 7828. It has always worked well for me.

In my .300 Weatherby (a Remington 700 Classic) I've found that IMR 7828 gives highest velocities, but RL-22 seems to give somewhat better accuracy, but at a little lower top velocity. H4831 too seems to give better accuracy but lower top velocities than IMR 7828. I like 180 and 200 grain bullets in this caliber.

LE270: Norma is readily available from Graf & Sons ( they have a website). I also know of the RL-22/Norma comparison, but I can get the Norma reloads in my 257, 7mmm, 340 and 300 Wbys to shoot to the same POI as the factory stuff, never could do it with RL-22. Regarding the H-4831, I guess "ignorance" is bliss." I was never able to get anywhere near the same velocities as with RL-22. IMR 7828 worked well in my 300, but I decided to stick with MRP as it duplicates factory. Another caution though is that use only Hornady or Nosler Partitions. I tried it once with Xs and got signifcant pressure indications. jorge

All the above is good advice.

My Remington cases weigh 20 grains more than Weatherby/Norma. By the way, Norma costs a lot less than Weatherby and they are the same. Don't use Remington.

IMR7828 and H4831 are both good with 180 grain bullets. I prefer H4831 because its pressure does not change with ambient temperature. H4831 is the same as H4831SC. The latter is supposed to meter better but does not in my measure. I also tried some 4350 but there is no advantage to it in this caliber. The 180 grain Nosler Partition works very well for me on game. The 165 Partition is a little less accurate. I have loaded up some 150 grain Sierras but not had a chance to shoot them. I only use F215 primers.

I have used nothing but Remington Brass in my .300 Weatherby with excellent results. I'm thru with Winchester. The last batch of .25-06 brass I bought from them was so badly beat up, I ended up tossing 7 cases out of 100 because the mouths were so smashed I couldn't get the expander plug thru. I had a similar incident with Winchester .308 brass. The last 250 Remington .300 Weatherby cases I purchased were perfect. The same with 100 .375 H&H cases. I've also found the primer pockets in Remington brass to be more uniform, and primers seat much better. Also, there were far fewer burrs inside the case around the flash hole. Bill T.

Nothing's wrong with Remington Brass for the 300 Wby

I get good accuracy and velocity in my Ruger #1 with RL-25 and 180 grain partition bullets. It has a 26" Pac-Nor barrel. Federal 215 and CCI Mag primers give equal results.

I have 2 300 Weatherby's. One loves RL-25 and 180gr Failsafes. I'll probably try 180 Partitions or Triple-Shocks in the other.......DJ

If you call or email Grafs & Sons and ask, they will tell you they are discontinuing norma powders. They are selling what's on hand and that is it. If anyone knows of anothe source for MRP, I'd sure appreciate hearing about it!