I have a cousin that has traded into a 7mm Weatherby Mag and now that he has the thing he has realized that he can't hardly afford ammo for it. He is not a handloader. I have told him that I can teach him how and he can use my equipment so long as he buys the dies.

Since this is really more rifle than he needs for our southern whitetail, I figured we could back the loads down to something a little more reasonable. We plan to try the Hornady 154 gr. Interlock and 154 gr. Interbond and I thought we would shoot for something in the 2900-3000 fps range to save some meat.

I haven't loaded for any of the belted magnums before, so what should I watch out for? Will this be any different than the 260, 270, or 30-06 class of cartridges I am used to?

I have H4895, H4350, and H4831sc on hand. H4895 is obviously too fast for anything other than reduced loads. But, I think both H4350 and H4831 would work for the velocity range we will be after. I would rather use the CCI #200 standard primers I have on hand if they will work OK.

Can anyone offer any suggestions?

Thanks,
Mark in GA

Mark--the weatherby's are all high velocity and hard hitting cartridges. They are best used with max. or near max. loads. reducing them to much can lead to other problems, like hang fires etc. due to the large powder charges i always use federal gm215m primers to light the powder column. CD

Your H4350 and H4831 will both do for the 7mm Wby. My Elk hunting buddy has one that I reload for him. His rifle really likes RL-22 and the Fed 215M primers. The federal 210 primer will do OK, I do not have experience with the CCI's, therefore will not say there. Good luck and good shooting.

My light load for the 7mm Wby is 63.0 IMR4831 with 160 gr Nosler AB's, Weatherby Brass and Fed 215M primers. It is extremely accurate in my Mk5, and still does a respectable 2900 fps.

S40

I have never been a fan of downloading much. If you want slower vel. go up to a 160gr bullet (plus most Wbys. are long throated, you may get better accuracy w/ heavier/longer bullets). H4831sc, RL22 & IMR7828 are all good perf. The only thing to watch for when loading belted cases is you want to headspace off the shoulder & not the belt for best accuracy & longest case life. You can either neck size or partial FL size to achieve that. Good hunting, great caliber.

Mark,

If he wants some dies, I have a set that was only used to load very few rounds (like new) if he's interested. Just shoot me a PM.

I may have some brass as well.

I'd recommend R22 or IMR7828 for starters but, 4831 should work well too.

You may want to try some Federal 215Ms to light them. They seem to be the standard primers for Weatherby loaders. They've worked well in the 7Wea and 270 Wea for me.

Good Luck

Reloader

There was a website mentioned (I think the bulletguy.com) that had bulk Speer GS 160 x 284 bullets that would work well for your purpose. Not too much expansion so not as much meat damage. Load with 4350 or 4831 for about 2850-900. Use a mag primer. And as others mentioned, neck size brass for best case life - headspacing on the belt is not the most accurate. Should work great. Speer 145s or Hornady 154 Interlocks would also be fine. Hornadys have been very accurate for me. Hodgdon manual 154 interlock/IMR 7828 74.5 gr max for 3200/26" bbl, about 69-70 grs should give you around 2900 fps. A nice whitetail load.