At ranges under 300 yards (my personal limit), what are the advantages of the 30/378 or 338/378 over the original 378 Weatherby ?

Seems like a 378 Weatherby loaded with 300-grain premium bullets and sighted-in at 250 yards could handle most plains game.

Hammer

A 378 Weatherby for plains game? Come on now.

Zebra and wildebeest did not complain.

If the bushbuck did, didn't hear him.

Maybe the baboon did, but...


Hammer

You get entire rifle range to yourself when you bring Californiaby out.
A .375H&H with 250-300gr slugs will do nicely at 250yrds.
Oops, one also gets extra muzzle blast and noise, and the recoil of .378,....... wee, wee!

I would consider myself very well armed hunting plains game with a 338-06 out to 300 yards. A 30-06 will also do fine with good bullets and prudent handloading. You need more than that?....OK...go for it.

To your question:

quote:

At ranges under 300 yards (my personal limit), what are the advantages of the 30/378 or 338/378 over the original 378 Weatherby ?

Absolutely none.....overkill is overkill is overkill. All three of those cartridges will do fine and with a lot more noise and recoil as well.

At the range you’re speaking of I see no reason for any of these rifles unless you are hunting dangerous game. In that case I wouldn’t be looking at the 30/378.

The 30/378 and 338/378 in my opinion are niche guns with flat trajectories and a lot of energy for extreme range animals like Elk beyond 500 yards. Not practical for the greater percentage of hunters.

Jay
You are right, of course. I detest these calibers as the only time I ever see or hear of one is when I see some ignorant yobo shooting at elk so far away I can't even guess the range.

Yeah, but for an anti aircraft gun at 300 yds, the 30/378 and 338/378 Weatherbys beat all the other cartridges you guys mentioned by a long shot!

cheers
seafire

The shooting of plains game does not require any more than a .30 caliber, such as a 300H&H or the now more popular 300 Win Mag. At least that is the trend here in SA of all my buddies going to the Kalahari for gemsbok. Just zero the rifle appropriately. Beyond 300 yards the risk of wounding escalate exponentially.

I shot a Blue Wildebeest with my 300 H&H at 272 yards with a 180 gr Federal Premium (Nosler Partition bullet) - it dropped on the spot - the damage was severe - broke the humerous and into the heart - lost the meat of one shoulder. Did not have time to reload for this hunt, so I used factory ammo. The power is plenty and any more is just a waste for one, and for another, more meat damage. I am pretty sure a poll would bear me out if we draw the line at around 300 yards.

Next time I will use 200 grainers at 200 fps slower, starting out at 2,660 fps and my impact velocity will be more ideal. Impact velocity with a 200 gr Wdl PP would be as follows:

200 yds .....2,277 fps
250 yds .....2,253 fps
300 yds .....2,098 fps

These impact velocities make controlled expansion bullets perform to their best and that is what I strive for. Meat damage is then also curtailed to a reasonable level as bullets are less likely to shatter.

Chris

biggest advantage I can think of is that if you get one with a muzzle brake on it, you can go deaf quicker. Once you've accomplished that you have a good excuse not to listen to the wife.