Is the Weatherby a big step up vs the Win mag?

Or do you feel they have the same limitations and there is nothing you would hunt with a 300 Wby mag that you wouldn't with the Winchester mag?

There is nothing I would hunt with a 300Wby that I wouldn't feel secure in hunting with a 300Wmar. More powder, MORE recoil small velocity gain usually higher prices for rifles and ammo. Your target would never know the difference

I have a 300 Weatherby made by Winchester In the old xtr series I believe . I believe it has a little more punch than the 300 win mag However the new short magnums seem to offer even more velosity in a smaller package. However i love my 300 weatherby this round was advertized as a great lyon killer in africa and was the fastest 30 cal until a couple of hears ago. It has a stigma that I love and can do an inch at 100yds. also quite a kick but that what you pay for right

each to his own. neither is significantly beter, and I really cant notice the recoil difference. I have both, but prefer the 30 wby, just because Ive killed so many animals with it.
HOWEVER, i think the 30/378 is a pig with too much recoil and muzle blast for miniml balistic advantage up to 400 yds. it recoils like my 458!

this is nearly as bad as a 270/280/30-06 discussion.

I own both (and a 300 H&H also). For me, the unic big advantage It can be got with the weatherby, versus win., is achieved with heavy bullets (200-220 grs.), in that case, I get around 150-200 ft/s more with the weatherby in my rifles. With smaller bulltes, the difference is small.

As allways,
The advantage of a bigger case increases with heavyer bullets.
The weatherby is a little faster , but the trade off is more recoil , and more expensive cases witch are hareder to find. And fewer rifles to choose from.
I would go with the 300 win myself.
If you plan to hunt in africa or alaska, you might chose somthing bigger than a 30 caliber...tj3006

quote:

Originally posted by Thomas Jones:

... more expensive cases [for the Weatherby] witch are hareder to find.

That's generally true.

However, Remington makes .300 Weatherby cases, and you can buy them in lots of 100 from Midway and other suppliers, for about the same cost as 100 .300 Win Mag cases.

I've used both, and I see no good reason to spend the substantial amount of extra money for Norma cases. (Unless you simply have a prejudice against Remington, and that, itself, is an expensive exercise in irrationality.)

quote:

Originally posted by Paul from nz:
this is nearly as bad as a 270/280/30-06 discussion.

No, it is, IMO, a bit worse.

The Weatherby is the better designed case IMO - it handles 200-220gn projectiles better than the 300 win mag as it does not have the short neck of the 300 win mag.

Whilst the brass may be more expensive, generally its Norma and a lot better quality than your average Remington/Winchester brass.

quote:

Originally posted by MLG:
The Weatherby is the better designed case IMO - it handles 200-220gn projectiles better than the 300 win mag as it does not have the short neck of the 300 win mag.

I agree!

I have had both. The Weatherby was much loader and harder to get to group. I kept my .300 WM's and have been very happy with them. The recoil seemed worst on the Weatherby but was likely due to the shape of the stock and the weight of the rifle.

quote:

Originally posted by MLG:
The Weatherby is the better designed case IMO - it handles 200-220gn projectiles better than the 300 win mag as it does not have the short neck of the 300 win mag.

Baloney! If 2930 FPS with 200 gr. bullets from a .300 Win. mag. constitutes poor bullet handling, I'll take that poor bullet handling, thank you very much.
I get .375 to .50" groups from a 26" barreled Winchester M70 and .75" to .1.0" from a Ruger #1S when I do my part.
Seems to me that pretty darn good bullet handling.
Paul B.

For me they're still Deer calibers. For this they work very, very well.

no i don't think its a big step up,
about the same as the 243 win.v/s 6mm remington
brass is an issue with me, but 2 each his own
yes one can do the others job easy, their both proven pick the one you like, i'm haveing a 300 win-mag built but i own a howa vanguard in 300 weatherby.
regards

I do not think the Bee is a "big step" up over the Winny. Anything I would hunt with the Bee I would hunt with the Winny.

However, if I were choosing I would take the .300 Weatherby in a M70.

were splitting hairs here

Skip the 300 mags and go to a 338 win or better yet, a 340 wby mag. I don't think the 300's are superior to the 30-06, but the 338s have a magic power to them at 300+yds that the 300s just don't seem to have.

Just my .02

John

I got my Weatherby on clearance from Wally-World. I couldn't pass up a decent 30 caliber magnumb for $299.

If there had been a decent 300 Winchester Magnumb on clearance for the same price, I would have got that instead.

My Weatherby has a 24" barrel. I'm guessing there is virtually no difference between the Winchester and the Weatherby in performance.

But the Weatherby wins by a small margin because the Weatherby case looks sexier.

ZM

I got both but I treat them pretty differently. I have a Colt Ligth Rifle 300 Win, 24" barrel that shoots 130 gr Barnes into little bug holes at 3600 fps. It's a great walk-around gun and decapitator if I'm meat hunting. My 300 Wby ended up with a 1-8" twist barrel (Shilen #5 contour) 28" long that I use when sitting still. I get proportionally higher velocities with 200 gr bullets and really low recoil from the heavy 300 Wby. So in my case, the difference is how the guns are set up, not the cartriges.

I think that barrel length has a lot to do with any superiority the Weatherby might claim. While the .300 Win. mag. gets it's speed from most rifles having 24" barrels, the Weatherby needs a 26" barrel to reach it's full potential.
My two .300 Win. Mags have 26" barrels and my 180 gr. loads come within 100 FPS of the Weatherby. Now when people say the 100 FPS less velocity from the .308 Win. when compared to the 30-06 doesn't mean squat, why does 100 FPS more from a Weatherby, given equal barrel lengths, make the Weatherby so much better? Sounds like too darn many angels trying to get on the point of that pin and dance, not to mention a bit of snobbery..
Paul B.

well for the larger amount of brass availible i'd spring more for the 300 win. mag don't get me wrong the 300 weatherby is a very good cartridge and has some pretty good advantadges over the 300 win. mag but it is more expensive and harder to find brass for that and there isn't anything that the 300 weatherby can take down that the 300 win mag won't take down but that is just me

Yeah but that argument goes all the way down the line to the ever useful 30-30. Is it snobbery to want a 308? Some folks really do have a legitimate use for an extra 200 fps or a 200-220 grain bullet the same velocity as a 180 grain froma lesser caliber.

The people that own a Weatherby or any other bigger/faster caliber for snob appeal probably own all their guns for the same reason.

quote:

Originally posted by Paul B:

...the Weatherby needs a 26" barrel to reach it's full potential.

Not in my experience.

My .300 Weatherby -- a Remington 700 Classic -- has a 24 in. barrel. Using RL 22, I get 3200+ f.p.s. from 180 gr. bullets and 3000+ f.p.s. with 200 grain ones in it, using IMR 7828 powder, and does it without signs of excessive pressure. (Reemington brass, Federal 215 primers)

I agree with lots of other posters who wrote earlier in response to this thread. For almost all purposes, I find the practical differences between these two .300 Mags to be about as distinct as the differences between Chevy and GMC pickups.

If I had a 300 Win I would never consider replacing it with a Weatherby.

But if I was going to buy a new rifle in 300 I would choose the RUM.

Both make nice gopher, on a good day, rabbit rifles. If you're starving and don't have anything else they might kill a deer.

Hey, am I channeling Elmer Keith?

quote:

Originally posted by ramrod340:
There is nothing I would hunt with a 300Wby that I wouldn't feel secure in hunting with a 300Wmar. More powder, MORE recoil small velocity gain usually higher prices for rifles and ammo. Your target would never know the difference

Agree 100% on every word.