Last friday after a decade of reminding my brother that he doesn't own a 30caliber rifle
I reminded him one more time as we walked into our favorite "hardware" store...

Well to make a long story short it seems he finally found a 30caliber rifle that appeals to him... for the princely sum of $1195 and some odd number of pennies he bought himself a slightly used Weatherby MkV Accumark in 30-378Weatherby...

what I had in mind, and what I went there with him for was to talk him into a really clean
1943'03-A3 with a four groove barrel on it.

Now I can't fault him for not owning a 30cal rifle.... Grrrrrrr...

He says he does want a 30-06, but he wants something "interesting", whatever that means...

AD

I take it your brother is a believer in the old adage "if one's good, three's better"?

fair price...
heh.. in that caliber, tell him i'll give him $500 for the action (that way he can beat the stock and barrel to twisted bits) .. after he gets a SERIOUS weatherby brow!!!

jeffe

I hope your brother is a reloader !
Thats one hell of a cartridge. Personaly I can't see what i would do with somthing like that. A 300 weatherby is more power than I want, let alone that huge case,
But to each there own. So far I take a little pride in the fact that I do not do muzzle breaks, so I avoid those rounds that are likley to rearange my anatomy.
But I do kind of hanker for a .375 H&H.
...tj3006

Though I am admittedly a Weatherby fan I do have to agree with you guys on those outrageous cartridges. I am currently contemplating a .340 and that is about as much as I am prepared to put my body through. Brake is pretty much a must for range work but the recoil is tolerable without for several rounds. And oh yeah, eye relief is REAL important on the stouter Weatherbys. Hope he enjoys that 70 to 110 US dollars a box for ammo ..

Ken....

Hello the campfire:
Just curious- how does teh 30-378 compare to the 300 whetherby mag? I have a nice one of those in case I ned to stop any T-Rexs coming down the street, or I see an Irish Elk in Blount County Alabama. I find that my .280 or 30-06 takes care of most everything I need to shoot. But I might need another excuse for a rifle if the 30-378 is very much better at anything.
Judge Sharpe

quote:

Originally posted by JudgeSharpe:
Hello the campfire:
Just curious- how does teh 30-378 compare to the 300 whetherby mag? I have a nice one of those in case I ned to stop any T-Rexs coming down the street, or I see an Irish Elk in Blount County Alabama. I find that my .280 or 30-06 takes care of most everything I need to shoot. But I might need another excuse for a rifle if the 30-378 is very much better at anything.
Judge Sharpe

It's essentially a specialized cart! Think of it as a surgeons scalpal, it's perfect for it's unique requirement. In this case, long shots with banjo string trajectory. Feed it a hat full of powder, some high bc bullets and a high magnification scope WITH proper eye relief. Mix together and enjoy at ranges exceeding the naked eye!

The 30-378 is a very long range 30-06 that'll kick the crap out of you, it is not a dinosaur gun.

Neck the case up to 50 caliber, launch 50 bmg 690 gr AP rounds 2100 fps, then you can take a CNS shot on a T-rex.

Did you buy the 1903-a3?

quote:

Originally posted by JudgeSharpe:
Hello the campfire:
Just curious- how does teh 30-378 compare to the 300 whetherby mag? I have a nice one of those in case I ned to stop any T-Rexs coming down the street, or I see an Irish Elk in Blount County Alabama. I find that my .280 or 30-06 takes care of most everything I need to shoot. But I might need another excuse for a rifle if the 30-378 is very much better at anything.
Judge Sharpe

the 300weatherby mag is just slightly larger than the 300winchester.
the 30-378 looks like the chamber end of a barrel chambered for a 300weatherby mag (no not really, but it's BIG!!!)

165gr bullets at 3500fps?

120gr 30cal "varmint bullets" at 4000-4100fps?

what my brother wants it for is to launch the lightest weight Barnes TSX as fast as possible
(3900-ish)

It is an "if you can see it you can kill it" cartridge for game smaller than elk

Basically the 30-378 weatherby is the answer to
complaints that the Remington 300UltraMag was 100-150fps too slow, or that people thought 100grains of propellant wasn't enough and wanted to burn another 20grains of propellant
instead...

shorn to it's base essence the 30-378weatherby is the poster child for rediculous excess...
In a rifle that can actually be USED.

Of course someone necked the 378Wby to 22cal
but that couldn't actually be used with the propellants available then (or now for that matter)

quote:

Originally posted by bja105:
Did you buy the 1903-a3?

Uhhh.. No. I already have TWO rifles on layaway at that dealer. He'd probably let me add a third one if it wasn't more than $300 or so...

He does have a Stainless .357Mag Blackhawk that I'm trying to talk myself into...

But I've already got six 30caliber rifles
including three 30-06's, I don't "need" another 30-06, and FWIW I went back there this morning to try to talk myself into that '03-A3 but the $600 one is gone. I it's place is a two groove Remington for twice the money.


Funny thing is this is his second weatherby of the summer, I found a Vanguard Sub-MOA in 257Wby
for $600 with a Nikon Monarch 4.5-14x40 already on it and he bought it.

I was going to take another look at the Vanguard when I found what I was REALLY after, a Remington Sendero in 25-06 at the same dealer.
I bought the remington, already wearing a Tasco World Class 8-32x42 for about $150 less than the Vanguard, I already have dies, brass
and reloading experience with the 25-06, and I like remingtons, so it wasn't really a choice

AllanD

quote:

Originally posted by JudgeSharpe:
Hello the campfire:
Just curious- how does teh 30-378 compare to the 300 whetherby mag? I have a nice one of those in case I ned to stop any T-Rexs coming down the street, or I see an Irish Elk in Blount County Alabama. I find that my .280 or 30-06 takes care of most everything I need to shoot. But I might need another excuse for a rifle if the 30-378 is very much better at anything.
Judge Sharpe

How are you handling the recoil now, judge? Coming right along I hope. roger

Well, the .30-378 is a lot older than the .300 RUM. Goes back to about 1960. First developed by the Army's request to Weatherby, used to launch lightweight bullets to ~5000 FPS for research purposes. The story about it was in the American Rifleman a year or two ago.

BTW, I don't think my brother will have a problem with recoil, it'll go into his safe alongside his 460WbyMkV
and a couple rifles down from his Rem700-AWR in 416RemMag. (in between is his Rem "classic" in 375H&H)

So I can't see lighter bullets recoiling as much as similar cartridges he already shoots.

As for the 30-378 being an older cartridge? yes, technically
Older as a commercially available cartridge? in regular production rifles? No, not really.

Other that custom shop guns the 30-378 hasn't been available as a regular catalog item for all that long.


BTW, I did put a third gun on layaway at that dealer
I went in this morning and they had a "beater" condition
S&W Model 469 for $199 that I simply couldn't resist.
I've been wanting another 469 since my last one was stolen
It was subsequently recovered but it was never returned to me... If anyone ever sees a Nickel plated S&W M.469 compact 9mm pistol S/N TAD5902 offered for sale I want to hear about it...

AllanD

I have a close friend that uses a custom 30/378 Weatherby for his extensive Coyote Hunting!
And yes that is the drill, to hold on fur to WAY OUT THERE!
He uses a real pointy 150 gr. bullet and sights it in to be dead on at 225 yards IIRC) and he simply holds on fur and touches it off!
He takes LOTS of Coyotes every year in eastern Montana!
The muzzle blast from the cartridges based on the 378 Weatherby cartridge is significant - let alone the recoil!
Best of luck to the new 30/378 Weatherby owner!
I am guessing barrel life may be comparatively short.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

Barrel life short? No Foolin

Should be in the same barrel life class as the 257Weatherby....


But I know the phone number for both Hart and Lilja

AllanD

I've found the 30/378 to be a very capable round, we've used it a fair amount on big game as well as for yotes and long range chucking.

We ended up retubing the rifle with a 28" 5 weight Schnieder and it now shoots like a bench rifle.

When we did this we also got rid of that blasted Accurbrake as it was just too caustic for us and we didn't find the need in the first place.

Barnes makes a 130 TSX and while we've not tried it yet, the 125 NBT's run in the 4200 range and so would spect about the same with the 130 TSX.

Our main bullet we use in it is the 165 NBT and the 168 TSX. Both are running right in the 3700 range if'n I remember correctly and both flat out iron things out.

We've got the rig set to 700 and it is a fun piece to work with.

Gotta run as I am packed and out the door for a weekend of back country elk scouting.

Make it your best day!

Mark D

quote:

As for the 30-378 being an older cartridge? yes, technically
Older as a commercially available cartridge? in regular production rifles? No, not really.

It was in Weatherby's catalog well before the .300 RUM, though.

Then the source I was going by is flawed...

I was told the RUM beat the WBY into "Catalog" status
by a year...

AllanD

I had a 22-378Wby-AI 35-degree shoulder. It was at least as practical as the 30-378 is, although I applaud Wby for making it easier to make my 22 rounds from.

Rich