To move a little non-profit forum and bother anyone, today asked for a cartridge loved by some and hated by others and I am referring to the 300 Weatherby Magnum What is the your opinion on the 300 Weatherby Magnum?

Thanks,

Oscar.

PS: I probably ask other English-speaking forums, not be angry. Thanks again.

One of the classic .300 magnum cartridges. If you can shoot it, there are few cartridges that are really better for what the .300's do best: deliver mid-weight projectiles at long range.

I had 2 .300 Wbys, and sadly came to the conclusion the cartridge was beyond my personal recoil tolerance when shooting from the bench. So I have standardized on the .300 Win Mag, and have not really felt handicapped.

- mike

I had a m700 chambered in 300 wby. It's an awesome cartridge but the 700 was too light for such a magnum. the recoil was too sharp and fierce for me to handle, also the muzzle jump was unbarable and I was always leery to put my head behind the scope. My buddy's 375 was more controllable. I know two other guys that went down the 300 wby road, the outcome was the same for them as it was for me. Sold it.

That said, I loved the ballistics and I think it would be an outstanding elk and plains game cartridge. In fact, they now make faster and bigger 300 mags, but the 300 wby will shoot farther than most people can humanely shoot at game. Just make sure you can shoot one before you buy one. I can't say that I will never own another one, if I do it would have to be in the 'right' platform.

quote:

What is the your opinion on the 300 Weatherby Magnum?

It seems we have two similar posts already and IMO both are very close to the truth of the Weatherbys.

I don't even have a .300 Win mag anymore.

For those that can handle it, it's a great cartridge!

I never found it to be quite as accurate as a 300Win Mag with 180gr Bullets, but that could have just been the specific rifles or the ammo. Still, the 300WbyMags all had acceptable Hunting accuracy.

Now that the 300RUM is available, I'd go with it if I wanted to send a 200gr Bullet out at high velocity. I've shot a good many of them and watched over 2-dozen shooters with "new out of the box" 300RUMs, using factory ammo, put them into 1MOA as far as they could shoot.

Lots of excellent choices.

There are a few .308 caliber cartridges with more case capacity than the 300 Weatherby Magnum but if you look at the ballistics, there is very little gain over what the 300 Weatherby Magnum can do at the cost of quite a bit more powder. In my opinion, the 300 Weatherby Magnum is the King of the 300 Magnums.

I have and shoot both a 300 Weatherby Magnum and a 300 Winchester Magnum. I haven't really noticed any significant difference in recoil between them.

Of course, I'll admit that you can use a 300 Win. Mag. for everything you can use a 300 Weatherby for and 300 Win. Mag. brass is cheaper and more readily available.

Well, I have one and so does my father. It is accurate and the recoil is well within my tolerance but I must admit it is the least used rifle in my collection. I have taken an elk and quite a few deer with it. At the distances I shoot, 300 yds max, it doesn't do anything my 270, 280, 30-06, or 7MM RM won't do and they'll do it cheaper and with less noise and recoil. I agree that it is a great cartridge, but there are a ton of great cartridges out there and like I said, for me, it wont do anything that any of my other rifles wont do.

I see the drawback is that it costs money and ammunition pods to reload. The recoil of this cartridge I think should not differ much from the 300 Winchester Magnum cartridge. Thank you for your contributions.

Regards,

Oscar.

Actually IMHO the cartridge is all it has been talked about. I choose to shoot 180 AFr/168 TTSX in mine and yes it does kick harder than my 300WM. That being said I have taken exactly one elk with the Japanese 26" Mark V now wearing a mickey stock. Elk was lazered at 405 yards but estimated 325 shot as hard downhill. The 350 class bull dropped at the shot like hit with a sledge. Made a believer out of me and it is getting ready to go back for hopefully a second successsful elk out in NM in October.

Do I enjoy shooting it off the bench - NO but would I sell it - NO.

Talking of accuracy, it has nothing to do with the cartridge, but it has everything to do with the rifle.

We get rifles through our workshop from all sorts of manufacturers, as well as custom made.

Some shoot extremely well, some shoot reasonably well, and a few are atrocious in the accuracy department.

Sadly, none of the 300 Weatherby factory rifles that I have shot - about 6 or 7 if I recall - shot that well.

They were all made in Japan, and two of them had a terrible habit of firing as one takes the safety off.

We have built a few rifles for this caliber, and all of them shot 1/2 groups.

To expand on the accuracy of a rifle, every single rifle we have built, from 17 caliber wildcats to 460 Weatherbuy, have shot exceptionally well.

I think this is mainly due to the fact that we always use match grade barrels, and build our rifles to very close tolerances.

The reamers we use are made specifically for us at minimum SAAMI dimentions.

I had my reamer's throat reduced so that it is not so long and that has made a lot of differance to groups.

BUT.. one must not use factory Wby Ammo in it, as it can produce excessive pressures.

If I buy one in 300 Weatherby Weatherby is a Vanguard Synthetic. This is what I can afford .

Oscar.

I bought one in a Model 70 Classic as a donor gun for something more interesting.

I have not shot it a whole lot. But it is quite pleasant to bench and shoots with acceptable accuracy.

I love the .300 Mags. The .300 Wby, to me makes the most sense. I would feed it a steady diet of 200 gr. bullets if it were my go-to gun.

The Weatherby line of rifles-in my opinion are just what you make them. Most owners are afraid of the 300 because it congers up dreams of getting beat up, which is not the case.

In reality 300 owners are scared before they shoot the gun, that is why they can't hit a bull in the a--/.

If the correct procedure is followed prior to squeezing the trigger the correct results will evolve.

The real truth is that the magnum craze has a group of gunners who are wannabees but cannot muster the courage to win the battle, so in doing so blame the rifle, which is incorrect.

I have a full line of weatherby calibers except the 460 which I cannot find any game that requires this much power in the north american continent.

I own the 300 RUM and have nothing bad to say about the 300 Weatherby.

Saeed, sorry to hear of your experiences with the Japanese factory 300's. I assume they were all on the Mark V action? This is the first I have heard of them firing from safety engagement.

quote:

Originally posted by ovny:
is the your opinion on the 300 Weatherby Magnum?
.

unneccessary.
i bought one 3 years ago, and now i can't find someone who will buy it

quote:

Originally posted by ovny:
If I buy one in 300 Weatherby Weatherby is a Vanguard Synthetic. This is what I can afford .

Oscar.

Nothing wrong with the Vanguard. When my father bought his Mark V 300, I was jealous! At the time I couldnt afford a Mark V, so I bought a Vanguard. Turns out he liked my Vanguard better since it has a wood stock, so we swapped. Both our Vanguard and Mark V are accurate, but I'll give the edge to the Vanguard. I've shot them both from the bench side by side on several occasions and the Vanguard has consistley shot better groups than the Mark V. Not much better, but better nonetheless.

Well its a hunters cartridge. If you take the time to learn to shoot one well, it will serve you well in the worlds game fields. Like others said, recoil gets up there. I shot one in the 1970s for a few years. A German Weatherby MK V. I have not hunted with one in years. I when to a 338 Winchester for some reason, I still hunt with one.

Love it, have two. A model 70 classic and a weatherby mark v. Really are my go to guns. Killed from coyotes on up. No argument that it has significant recoil, but it doesn't seem to bother me.

quote:

Originally posted by muygrande:
Saeed, sorry to hear of your experiences with the Japanese factory 300's. I assume they were all on the Mark V action? This is the first I have heard of them firing from safety engagement.

Yes, they were Mk V action rifles.

I don't care for the radius shoulder on the Weatherby cartridges, nor for the extended freebore. Neither is conducive to the best accuracy (did you ever see a bench gun with these features?)

As to the .300 WBY in particular, the .300 magnums have always seemed neither fish nor fowl. Smaller calibers can do as good a job on deer-antelope-caribou class game at equally long range, and larger calibers like the .338's seem to have an advantage on larger game like elk, moose, and African plains species. I guess the .30 magnum is a kind of compromise which is a passable performer on either class. Although owning a couple of .30 magnums (neither happens to be a WBY, however), I almost always find myself reaching for something either smaller or larger as the best match for the game I'm hunting.

quote:

Although owning a couple of .30 magnums (neither happens to be a WBY, however), I almost always find myself reaching for something either smaller or larger as the best match for the game I'm hunting.

Yup....me too!

Have to German 300WBYs. Have used the 120grain factory loads for groundhog, 180s for deer & elk and 220s on a South Africa plains game hunt. Hits like a sledge hammer, recoil is there but the muzzel jump is the worst part (especially off the bench). Have 20 rifles from .222 to .375 and the .300WBY is my primary gun.

What actually happened was if a round is chambered, and the safety is put on. The rifle sometimes fired as the safety was taken off.

The big 30 caliber is ideal for general purpose hunting which does not entail the larger species of animals.

We built a wildcat, the 30/404, which is the predecessor to the 300 RUM. Specifically for plains game hunting in Africa.

Our rifle shoots a 180 grain bullet at between 3430 to 3480 fps, depending on the make of the bullet.

It is extremely accurate, and extremely flat shooting.

I normally take this when I go to Africa unless I am hunting buffalo, which case I take our 375/404.

i have hunted with a 300 wby since i was 14 first a mark 5 then a rem 700. still have the rem and it shoots great. sold the mark 5 cause it diddent. ive used it on everything you can hunt on the east side of the us. and it has killed everything i have ever shot with it. great round i now have a 300 ultra and i dont really see where it is all that much better than the wby. it is a few hundred feet faster but with 2 inches more barrel and a lot more powder.

I have a Vanguard in 300 Wby. It is accurate, the recoil doesn't bother me, and has never failed me. It is my primary gun.
Ken

Oscar,

I think you got some pretty good experiences, answers, Loves, Hates, likes & dislikes included and reasons about this cartridge & rifles made for it in the threads above.

I have a 300 Weatherby Magnum (Blaser R93 w/25.6" tube) & I consider it an outstanding cartridge.

I've considerable experience with 300 Win Mags (Good, if not GREAT Cartridge) & a single 300 RUM (but that's enough for everyone!) also a very good cartridge.

IMO the 300 Weatherby was developed as and still is the King of the 300 Magnums. Qualified as Over-the-Counter 300 Magnum hunting rifles; not custom Wildcats, specialty or Target Rifles.

Yes, it's more expensive to feed, a tad exotic and the logistical tail is more difficult to support than the 300 Win Mag. Especially the recoil level isn't everyone's Cup-of-Tea but that's all about tolerence levels & choices. For various reasons the current guilt-edge sub MOA grouping ability may not be inherent in every rifle so chambered but hunting accuracy is still there. So be it. Someone above mentioned that it's a Hunter's Cartridge and I agree 100%.

IMO:
300 Win Mag = you may get by with a 24" but 26" barrel is better,
300 Weatherby needs a 26" barrel to perform optimally,
300 RUM needs a 28" tube.

Somehow I can picture the 300 Weatherby as an outstanding cartridge choice for Red Stag, Chamois & Ibex hunting in Spain let alone for the hunter who travels abroad.

Hello I enrich your experiences and clarify things. I know the 300 Weatherby needs a long barrel of at least 26 inches. My problem is I can not afford a Mark V, so I have to settle for a Vanguard which has 24 inch barrel. I know I will lose benefits with this rifle, but what can I do?. You cannot have everything in life. The most important thing and what I have, HEALTH, the rest are whims jeej .

Greetings to all

Oscar.

Not a real 300 mag fan, but my favorite of the bunch is the 300 Wby. I have had one Mark V and one Sako chambered for the big 300. Sold both and picked up a Fibermark in 340, which I much prefer over the 300.

Lou

quote:

Originally posted by Stonecreek:
I don't care for the radius shoulder on the Weatherby cartridges, nor for the extended freebore. Neither is conducive to the best accuracy (did you ever see a bench gun with these features?)

Shoulder shape means squat (or less) in terms of accuracy. It neither helps nor hurts.

Bench guns are typically chambered to ensure land engagement for best accuracy. This is conducive to producing best accuracy but is potentially disastrous in a hunting rifle.

Given a throat parallel to the bore, and a throat diameter not grossly over bullet diameter, a long throat doesn't necessarily preclude excellent accuracy.

Bottom line is that you are comparing apples and golf balls. The 300 WBY wasn't designed as a BR round, and similarly a 6ppc has little application as a legitimate hunting round.

quote:

so I have to settle for a Vanguard which has 24 inch barrel. I know I will lose benefits with this rifle, but what can I do?. You cannot have everything in life.

Oscar,

Above is Spot-On; Life is all about choices - buy the Vanguard & have lots of fun with it.

quote:

Originally posted by CAS II:


Shoulder shape means squat (or less) in terms of accuracy. It neither helps nor hurts.

I don't think most experienced shooters would agree with that statement, but I'll stipulate that "benchrest" accuracy is neither expected nor needed in a .300 Magnum.

The problem with the Weatherby proprietary "double radiused" shoulder is that it makes for a very poor datum point. In other words, when reloading for a Weatherby cartridge, resizing so that the case properly headspaces on the shoulder rather than the belt can be problematic. As we all know, pushing the shoulder back on every reloading cycle drastically reduces case life and may cause head separations.

My point in being critical of the Weatherby shoulder is that it serves abosolutely no purpose and limits your reloading options. If a hunter does not reload, finds factory ammunition sufficiently accurate, and shoots such a very limited number of rounds that the extremely high price of factory-loaded Weatherby ammunition (approaching $4 per pop) is not cost-prohibitive, then the radiused shoulder is irrelavent.

Apparently I am spoiled in that I don't suffer your reloading shortcomings. The Weatherby shoulder causes me no added difficulty when setting up my sizing die.

I'd love to see some real world data showing any effect shoulder shape has on accuracy.

But again, the 300 Wby was not designed as a BR cartridge, so saying that it is unsuitable as such is sort of like arguing that water is wet.

My pickup probably won't win any NASCAR races any time soon, perhaps it too is poorly designed?

Guys, the 300 performs very well in 24" barrels. I've had several over the years, 26 and 24" chrono'ed all of them. A fast or slow barrel can make the same difference.

quote:

Guys, the 300 performs very well in 24" barrels. I've had several over the years, 26 and 24" chrono'ed all of them. A fast or slow barrel can make the same difference.

The latter post opens a window of hope hehe.

Oscar, I have both the 300 Win and Weatherby and the only comment I would correct is when you said the recoil must be similar.

Sadly this is not the case; the Weatherby is much sharper and takes a little getting used to. But after you put 40-50 rounds through your 458 Lott it won't seem like an issue

Early in my hunting/shooting life, I used to get the Weatherby catalogs and dream of the big game hunts pictured in them, and of some day having my own .300 Weatherby rifle.

Now, almost 40 years later, I have hunted in Africa three times, Canada a couple of times, hunted several western states, and have shot good trophies of most of Montana's big game animals.

And a couple of years ago, I also fulfilled my dream of owning a .300 Weatherby when I bought a Vanguard. As a "first year in retirement project" I fitted, finished and checkered a Fancy walnut stock for it.

I know there are many here on AR that hate them, but to tame the recoil of my new .300 Wby, I had a KDF muzzle brake installed on it, and I installed a mechanical recoil reducer in the stock. The resulting felt recoil is no greater than that of a .308 Win.

So far, I have only used my .300 Wby once when some friends and I went to West Texas last January, where I shot a Blackbuck, a Scimitar Horned Oryx, and as Aoudad. It was way more gun than I needed for these animals, but I had to break it in.

My only regret with my .300 Wby is that I didn't get it 30 years ago. It's one of my favorite rifles:

I have owned numerous .300 Magnums but now only have 5 or 6. The ones I have right now include a .300 Wby, a.30/.338, and a .300
Winchester, as well as a .30 Newton. I have a couple of the .300 Win Mags for no good reason other than they were good buys at the time.

The one I use by far the most is the .300
Weatherby. It is a 26" barreled pre-war Model 70 Winchester which Roy W. rechambered in 1948 from .300 H&H.

I love the gun and have used it pretty steadily over the last 55 years. It will still shoot 3/8" 5-shot hundred yards groups and 1-1/4" 3-shot 200 yard groups from the bench though it is seldom shot there. I use 84.0 grains of original surplus 4831, RWS primers, and either 180 gr. Hornady or 180 grain Nosler Partitions. It always puts the first shot right on the money.

My brass is of two kinds...Old, old, Weatherby (Norma) brass, and newer casings formed from Winchester brand .375 H&H stock about 40 years ago. Both produce identical accuracy and POI, with the same load.

It has a LOT of freebore ever since the rechambering, which is likely why I can get away with powder charges that heavy, but the freebore doesn't seem to have harmed the accuracy any.

I have been using the same brass for the last 40+ to 50+ years, but that is no big thing. So far I have never lost a casing due to shooting, though I have literally lost a few when they were ejected in the field after firing.

No big deal. How much brass does a guy use when he is hunting? Mine isn't a bench queen, it is a hunting rifle. About 1960 I bought 300 rounds of brass, mostly as factory loaded Weatherby/Norma.

I plan to keep it and use it until the day I die. The recoil doesn't bother me at all. But then for quite a number of years I shot at least 10,000 rounds a year of various high-power rifle rounds of all bore sizes...roughly 200 a week, every week.

After a while one literally learns how to "handle" recoil. The right muscles learn to give and the right ones learn not to give, and the whole body comes to recognize a proper firing position and tension.

If it isn't obvious, I am lucky to have a good rifle, and I therefore absolutely love the cartridge for hunting plains-type game.

I realize it isn't necessary for most game...for the last 5 or 6 years I have relied pretty much on the 7x65-R single-shot for elk just for the fun of it. But the .300 Wby still is a sweetheart and I love it.

Buy the Vanguard and when you wear out the barrel put a longer barrel on it then you can get the velocity it deserves. I rebarreled mine and went with a 300 RUM this time. Took a little extra work but I didn't like dealing with the belted cases of the WBY.

If you buy the Vanguard take a good look at the Rifle Basics replacement trigger. It is alot better than the factory triggers.

God Bless, Louis