A local shop has a new Weatherby Mark V Fibermark with a muzzle brake for a good price. Wondering if anybody has anything to say about the caliber or gun. Good or bad? Is this an accurate rig. I know it has the speed and energy for a serious long range set up...wondering about accuracy.

Does weatherby use Krieger barrels? someone told me that, but i cant find any info on it...

also with the 30-378 and a muzzle brake...whats the recoil like? if anybody has shot one...

thanks guys...

I have a 300 wby mark V, I have had for appx. 20 years and I can say that I still love it! Not that familiar with the 30-378 but if anything like mine you should have no complaints.

I have a .300 rum in an M700 and I reckon thats about as close to that cartridge as you can get and i can do about 15-20 rounds at the range and my arm hurts allthe wat into my fingers but with the muzzle brake on that gun it should be like a .30-06 or so.

Weatherby does not use the well known cut rifled kreiger barrels.They use a cheaper line of button rifled barrels called the criterion made by kreiger or a company owned by kreiger.They are not the same barrels.I owned an accumark in 30-378 but sold it and had a custom 300ultra made instead.The ultra provides slightly less velocity but recoils less and barrels last a bit longer.Brass and loads are also a great deal cheaper for the ultramag.I am also much more pleased with the accuracy of my ultramags.

Sharps-Shooter:

I have some experience with a 30-378.

Most of it is watching out of state people ( mainly from California) come up here to Oregon and getting someone they know locally to "buy" it for them since Oregon won't sell guns to California residents. ( Oregon is honoring California law, not that Oregon is being snobby)

These guys buy these guns for 1250 to 1350 bucks, and then ammo costs them 4 dollars every time they pull the trigger.

And they all have to have a 50mm objective scope on it with the upper range being 18 or 20 power.

Even with the muzzle break most of them can't even hit the paper at 50 yrds to zero the scope.

finally after a couple of trips 50 miles round trip to get ammo, if I am still at the range and they watch me shooting and hitting stuff at 300 yds, they will offer to pay me to zero their scopes.

I always do it for free as I really feel sorry for them. My biggest appreciation for the 30/378 in I usually think thank God the guy didn't buy a 338/378.

and if you are looking strictly for velocity, a 300 Weatherby is not that far behind it ( which I have no use for either) but at least the ammo is a lot cheaper.

A 30/378 Weatherby is like the guy who needs a car with 500 horsepower, or a F350 4x4 Ford with a Power Stroke Diesel and 38 inch monster mudders to go to the store.

Beyond the Image of " Look what I can afford"
they are only useful tools for a very select few who have the ablilty and the environment to hunt in to justify the calibers existance.

But they are good for the Powder Companys Sales!

Seafire,
You're a bit off on your facts there friend.

Any Oregon gunshop will sell any Californian a gun-they just have to mail it to an FFL dealer in California.This works them same in every state short of Hawaii.You cannot do the DROS transfer in any state other than your own,and that goes for all states.You CAN though buy it and have it shipped to your local FFL dealer of choice,same as if you bought it through the 'net or Gun List.

Your Weatherby anology is correct for a lot of folks,not all though you must remember.I know a lot of folks with 30/378s,338/378s,378s,416s and 460s who shoot them just fine,myself included.

Brian.

Brian:

Most of the gun shops here in the Rogue Valley indicate with signs right in the shop, NO GUN SALES To California. Just the messenger.

Although I have purchased firearms ( rifles ) straight over the counter in quite a few states and never had to show or have them shipped to an FFL holder.

But as a man from Humboldt County, I am sure you get out and hunt. To Californians I guess we need to clarify the ones we see are the San Fran, LA type crowd., that I was referencing.

And I have no problem with a man who has a big caliber anything who knows how to use it. Or a woman for that matter. Knowing how to use it is the important thing, and I am sure we both agree on that. However I see way too many guys buy one and then can't hit anything smaller than Texas with it, they flinch so much.

Good luck out there and since you don't live too far away, maybe our paths will cross some day.

SF,
I've spent a lot of time in Grants Pass,mostly because my taxidermist (Eell's)is there plus I enjoy the ride up.

I have noticed a lot of "anti-Kalifornian" attitudes there.Hell,can't blame 'em,I don't like Kalifornians either!! Another thing about Oregon folks-they don't want to hagle!!I stop into all the little "stuff" shops along the way to Grants Pass,and those folks won't hagle at all!There's a Mexican run thrift store as you go out of Grants Pass (right next to Daniel Boone's tradin post).The owner there damn near has a seizure when you try to hagle with him!

There was a day when you could just walk into a gun shop anywhere,any time,plunk down your money and walk out with your gun without evening showing your drivers license.That's all over now though,unfortanatly.

Yup,I read ya loud and clear on the SF/LA types.We get a lot of them coming up here to hunt now and it's pretty pathetic.I don't judge a hunter by what kind of rifle he hunts with,as I hunt with everything from old single shots to Weatherbys,but man,these SOBs are just nuts.BRAND NEW everything-rifle,scope,cammo,boots,truck,tent,you name it.Most of them sight their rifles in camp.Heard a lot of Remington Ultra Mags go off this year-from the rate of fire,I don't think they were cutting any hair!

I've got two friends who live in Grants Pass-Mike Beggs and Mike Bellm.Bellm posts a lot here in the Single Shot Pistol board.Frequent Eell's Taxidermy quite a bit too-should you ever need a deer head done,go to Chet Eell.He's good and 1/2 of what folks in Eureka want to mount a head.Be sure to get CHET to do it and not his brother.Chet's an expert and has good as Boulman here in Eureka,who's considered one of the best.His brother though is just an ameture so for the same price you might as well get the goods from Chet.

Back on the subject-I wouldn't touch a 30/378 with a ten foot pole.It shoots about 50% more powder than the 300 Weathebry for only two inches flatter trajectory at 500 yards-and that's according to Weatherby's own literature!!338/378 or just plain old 378 is the way to go if you want a BIG long range rifle.I've got a pair of 378s and plan on picking up a 340 soon.Thought about a 338/378 instead of the 340,but it doesn't have an upper hand on the 340 till you get out past 600 yards,and I stop at 500.

Dan Lija does some pretty amazing things with his 32 pound 338/378 though.Of course my idea of hunting isn't shooting from a benchrest at elk 1,000 yards away,but reading about him doing it in Precision Shooting is interesting.

Brian.

This is a specialized cartridge. I shot the first one in Wisconsin I believe (I got the reps gun). Lots of fun with lots of recoil . I will say that it powerful but for most hunting situations it will not go anything for than a 300 Weatherby or Ultra or even a Winchester. The shells are expensive even to reload because of the brass price. There is also extra stress on bullets because the velocity is so high most normal bullts can not take the stress. The 30-378 is severe overbore. I believe it was used in 1000 yard competition. I personally would get the 338-378. Less overbore.

On the positive side the ones I played with have been VERY accurate. We were shoting a targets where I couldn't see it very well with good Swarovski 10X binos. We took the truck to go check the target. It was fun. The range of the gun does show your shooting technique off the bench. We acutally hung the target up in the gun shop I used to work.

I think Weatherby uses the Kreiger barrels in the gun you are looking at. http://www.weatherby.com/rifles/lw_fibermark.shtml Weatherby has just some selected custom guns and the Super PredatorMaster, Threat Response Rifle, Super VarmintMaster, Fibermark.

"The button-rifled Krieger� Criterion� barrel is lapped to an ultra-smooth finish for easier cleaning, reduced fouling and improved accuracy" From Weatheby.

Great gun

Depends what you hunt and already have in your gun cabinet.

Let us know

Hcliff

Hcliff-Weatherby is playing the name game with the criterion barrel.They are hoping people will see the kreiger name and assume that these are the same high qualty cut rifle krieger barrels that gunbuilders use.The criterion is a cheaper lower grade barrel.

gentlemen
i like have read that roy weatherby developed this caliber for the U.S. army as a long range sniper gun in the early 50's.that said i have both the 300RUM and the 30-378.both have some recoil but not bad enough to need any muzzle break.i do not hunt but like to shoot long range,so all of my shooting is from a bench.the 30-378 certainly cost more to shoot and is harder on the barrels.stainless barrels will last about half again as long as chrome molly.least that is what my gunsmith tells me. and if you let them stay as cool as you can and not just keep firing as fast as you can,they will last longer.but the recoil isn't to much at all to handle if you are used to shooting bigger calibers.if you can't handle the recoil or no longer want to deal with it stick to 308 winchester, 30-06 or smaller.to me its as much as dealing with the recoil as it is shooting decent groups.guns with no recoil like the 22ppc or 22-250 most anybody can learn to shoot good groups with. though this is just in MHO.
muskrat
fight all gun laws!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Muskrat:

I don't knock a guy who shoots a 30/378 or 338/378, for long range target shooting.

Long Range Target shooters know what they are doing, and are in a environment they are not going to hurt someone else.

I should have highlighted the use of it in Hunting. Nothing wrong with any big cartridge if the guy who is carrying it knows what he is doing.

Unfortunately that is usually not the case in the Hunting fields.

Brian,

Glad you get up this way. Yeah I know Mike Bellm here in town. I am not a Contender Shooter, but I know he does some good work.

Do you know John Noveske here in town. He is a young gunsmith but turns out some good work, using PacNor Barrels. If you ever need something rebarreled, I highly recommend him.

If you are ever heading up this way, send me an email.., would be cool to sit down over a cup of coffee or so. don't know if you have ever used our shooting range up here, but we have a real nice one here in town. One of the nicest on the West Coast.

I have also used Eels to mount a deer rack, he does great work, for a great price and gives a very nice turnaround time.

As far as people in Oregon hating Californians a lot, I found the major reason for that out.

I moved here from Minnesota, so I was not caught up in the battle, was just an observer. I started asking people why they hated Californians so much. I kid you not, but the response 90% of the time, was " Why did you think I left there X amount of years ago?"

So I think to myself after hearing that " Oh I got it, YOU were the last good one across the state line, every one after you is an asshole huh?"

The most beligerent anti Californians are the EX Californians. Typical.

Stay Cool and Good Hunting

Hey do you come up this way to Elk Hunt? Deer are not really worth the trip. Every year I get one, once I take the hide off and take it to the butchers, when they hang it, looks more like I shot my neighbors Dobermann, than got a deer.
Course I got use to Northern MN and Wisc whitetails. A crappy one was one under 200 lbs.

Seafire,
Sent ya an e-mail.

Brian.