I personally prefer the 338 Win. in every way for myself as I like to keep my bullets at 2500 to 3000 FPS max, but the 340 Wby is a hell of a caliber anyway you cut it and shoots a bit flatter and hits a bit harder I suppose, but it is also more prone to bullet failure even with premy bullets. It is rough on barrels and recoil is a good deal more is my thinking...If I had one then I could live with that btw...also I like a Mauser action and the 338 Win is more user friendly in Mausers than the high intensity 340 Wby.

Well, I've never shot a .340 Weatherby but I do know I really like my .338 Win. Mag. From the loading books, I don't really see how the increase in powder is worth the increase in velocity. Just looking at the "accurate" loads for the 250 gr. Sierra, I see 67.4 grs. of IMR-4350 for 2600 fps in the .338 Win. Mag. I see 75.1 grs. of IMR-4350 for 2700 fps in the .340. Maybe you feel the extra powder & velocity are necessary but I seriously doubt any anmals will. Of course, this info is only from the books. I wouldn't doubt for a second that the Weatherby is a very good round, I just don't see a general need for it. Then again, everyone's boat floats differently.
I do think a 3-9x scope is too much for a rifle like this and that you would be better served with, at most, a 2-7x and something such as a 1.5-5x would be even better. You mentioned wanting to do everything in North America. Well, you would really be at a disadvantage with a 3-9x in thick brush going after an animal. Regardless what you do, make sure you get a high quality scope & I'd also recommend a set of open sights on the rifle as well. And practice with them too. That's all I have on the subject, good luck & enjoy. Bear in Fairbanks

RyanSmith ----- I have owned and shot many .338's and used them extensively. I am amazed at what they will do, but the .340 will do it all better, if speed and flat shooting is what you want. If you want less recoil and less speed go with the .338. I want the speed myself because I hunt Elk and want to shoot flat to 350 yards with at least a 225 grain bullet and not have to think about holdover. I have shot Leupold Vari X III's for years and shoot two now, and thought they could not be improved upon, until recently. I shot a buddies Sako in .338 Lapua for several months, got one inch groups consistently, but not the one holers. He had a Nikon 4 X 16 scope on it. To make a long story short he was not satisfied with its accuracy after he shot it, and he sold it to me. I put a 4.5 X 14 Ziess Conquest on it and have got it to shoot one hole groups with three different bullets, the Barnes X of all things, the North Fork and the Swift A-Frame. I have since put the Ziess Conquest on my .416 Rem and Rigby, and both will shoot the one holers when I have a good day from my end. My advice is if you want speed go with the .340, go with the .338 if speed is not all that important, although it's speed is nothing to sneeze at. Give the Ziess Conquest a look. Good luck and good shooting.

Thanks for all the advice, guys....my reservations about the Conquest handling recoil are now gone. I have one on a 25-06 and like it a lot, but i wasn't sure it had the same reputation as the Leupolds for durability. I think i've decided to go with the 340 as well. I'll let you know how it turns out...thanks...

To get a better understanding about the .338WM, yes "The Alaskan:"



Lest say that you use a .30-06 with 180-grain bullets, and you sight this rifle at 100 yards so that a 180 grainer hits the 200-yard mark dead center at 200 yards. In that case, sight the .338WM and 250-grain bullets in the same fashion as the .30-06, and that 250- grainer will hit the 200-yard mark in about the same place as the .30-06. Both have similar trajectories (one with 18-grain bullets and the other with 250- grainers). Dead center at 200 yards, the .338 will hit the 300-yard mark from -7" to -9" depending on how fast your handload is, and still provide a tremendous punch on Moose and other large game. Another point about my .338WM with 230-grain FS bullets at 2,800 fps: I have shot and broken both shoulder bones on a moose at 200 yards of distance (my hunting partners have witnessed it).



The .338WM is perhaps the most popular cartridge in Alaska where the game can be the largest and the meanest in the entire U.S., and that should give you an idea of how good the "Alaskan" is. Only the .30-06 and the .300WM as popular as the .338WM up here. All other cartridges lag these three by a very wide margin.



Now, you can easily achieve from 2,800-2,900 fps with a 250-grain bullet and a .340 Weatherby, .330 Dakota, .338RUM, .338 Lapua, .338 Lazzeroni, and the .338-378. But you can also achieve 2,800 fps (or somewhere near), with the .338WM and a 250-grain Federal HE round. With factory ammo (except the HE above), the .338WM usually is from 150 to 200 fps slower than the .340 Weatherby or .338RUM.



Summary: The Alaskan is an outstanding and popular cartridge with big game hunters, and the .340 as well as other super .338's are just "more of a good thing." If you can take the recoil of the "big .338-caliber relatives," go for it. If you hunt the "real big" game in the U.S., I don't think you will be disappointed with any of the .338's.

Mike375,

When I used the term "rifleman" I was thinking of the shooters here that I know. I did not mean to exclude you or for that matter other very experianced hunters. I was thinking only of competative target shooters who also hunt.

We may shoot thousands of rounds a year out of .22's and target rifles at paper. Then in the fall we go deer hunting and if were good at it we fire one shot at a whitetail and it falls dead. None of these very good riflemen talk about Weatherby products. They are sort of a joke in fact. Only that they cost and kick a lot. As you know target shooters use the lightest load that will win.

One of our shooters did bring a Weatherby down to the club on Thursday night to a small bore match. It was an old Southgate Weatherby on a Mauser in .257 Roberts. It did have the "classic" Weatherby style of the day with the reverse forend tip and skip line checkering. That stock is a good fitting one for me but I don't like the looks of them.

Many of the hunters here have Weatherbys. Most are 300's. They are not good shots and don't show their targets for the most part.

All this just goes to prove that each of us has different experiances.

On the one pound Weatherby trigger. What the heck do you want a one pound trigger on a hunting rifle for? I don't consider such triggers safe for hunting rifles at all.

On the one pound Weatherby trigger. What the heck do you want a one pound trigger on a hunting rifle for? I don't consider such triggers safe for hunting rifles at all.



On Rem 700s I have normally had Jewell 3 levers. You don't shoot like we do. Most of us are shooters, not hunters.



But remember, if you don't want the Wby at 1 pound you can go straight up to 3 pound without taking the rifle apart. I like that choice.



I agree with you that the majority of target shooters do not mention Wbys. However the word "majority" does not mean "all" There is an Australian who posts on this site who has owned a lot of Wbys and currently owns quite a few including two full custom shop Wbys including one with all the inlays.. In addition he shoots benchrest and has Wichita and Nesika Bay action based rifles and I think he still has a Stolle. My own accuracy stuff has always been based on Rem 700s on a skeletonised aluminium stock we use in Australia. Beware of some people with Wbys as not is all as it may first appear



Mike

I still see no good use for a hunting rifle with a one pound trigger. I have a few guns with set triggers and I might get used to those if I used them more. Even then most game hunting here is in cold weather and a light trigger would be dangerous and a set would reduce the room for a gloved finger in the trigger guard.

For a varmint rifle I suppose a one pound trigger could be used just fine. I have never seen anyone use a Weatherby for varmint hunting however.

So there you have it. Many here are Winchester men. They make the rifles here and most of us knew employees who worked there. The Weatherbys were made in anti gun Japan for a long time as well and the Howa's are still made there.

Out here you will see 375s and 458s used for varmint shooting. However, our varmints are roos, pigs and goats.

Our animal shooting is far less serious and formal than what you have in America. Also, because of the volume of the shooting there is no importance attached to the outcome with one animal.

Hunting in the snow with gloves on is the least of our concerns

Mike

DEFINE RIFLEMEN who shoot a lot?

I run about 300+ rounds a year through the Mark V at ranges from 100-1000yds.
About 100 through the Sako in .340
About 300+ a year through my .375H&H(Win)
Another 1000 or so .308 match loads through my various heavies.(FN SPR, Savage, M1A M21T)
2000+ through the M1As
don't know how many 1000s through .223s, 45s, 9mms.

THe point about people who don' shoot some rifles alot is that, it's like my heavy .308 FN SPR built on the Win CRF. It is a 1/4" rifle. I pull it out, crank the scope up to 18X and then proceed to shoot groups that I have to work way too hard on to keep THAT tight. There is no suprise, no challenge to making it shoot, no excitement. You get behind it and set up and pull the trigger and the bullet WILL go EXACTLY where you had it aimed, time after time after time after time........
That IS the case with the Weatherbys I have found. They have great bbls and unless the ammo was changed, the scope switched or screwed up or some other outside influence takes place, they will shoot the same spot time after time after time, with boring repetiton.

As my gunsmith has said before, "why burn out a bbl when you know it will shoot? shoot something that is challenging or you don't care about replacing a tube on."

THE fact that most people use Remmytins for bulding guns on is simply because, they have HAD to be tweaked so much over the years, that everyone knows how to work on them. THere is a reason for so many after market parts, it's because they needed them. If they were "great" from the factory they wouldn't have needed them.

Weatherbys ARE different.

Just curious if I would make "RIFLEMAN" class.