Gentlemen,

My local gunshop here in South Florida has a beautiful 460 WBY rifle (old but with beautiful bright-colored walnut, serial number P18685) at a very reasonable price (about $2500). I have no intention of hunting big game in Africa so I have no use for such a monster.
However, I was wondering if it can be converted (just by changing the barrel) to a more reasonable 30-387 or 338-378?


Thanks for your comments.

yep... but you could also send rem 405s downrange at 2200fps forever for the cost of the rebarrel.

"more reasonable 30-378" ?? LOL.. not exactly reasonable.. barrels burned out quick and loads of recoil

$2500 is a bit pricey for a donor rifle. I would agree with Jeffe, shoot moderate loads or have a removable brake installed. 30-378 isn't much lighter than the 460.

John

Ha ha! You are right, calling a 30-378 a "reasonable rifle" sounds more like a joke but what I meant was that at least it is not totally insane for hunting in North America.

As I said, the rifle has very beautiful wood, a Wheatherby 4x90 scope (don't know what on earth the designation 90 means here) and the barrel is already ported at the end to serve as a brake. I have an old Weatherby Catalog (1977) which says that such "integral break" has been standard on 460 WBY rifles. The bolt is beautifully jewelled and the owner's initials are engraved on the magazine floor plate.

I don't know at this time when it has been made but it could be a German (Sauer) made rifle from the 70s. I have the serial number so I can check with Weatherby perhaps.

jeffeosso, I didn't underestand your sentense" send rem 405s downrange at 2200fps forever for the cost of the rebarrel". Are you talking about handloading it with a reduced charge? I know WIN 458 loads can be down loaded and I know that 45 caliber bults are easy to get at as low as 300 grain weight but I thought it is not possible to down load the 460 much ? Could you explain a bit more please. Thanks.

Jeffe can certainly speak for himself but, what he meant was, a re-barrel job would cost between $350-500 and you could buy an awful lot of Remington 405 gr. bullets and handload them to pussycat or varmint speeds for that price. They usually sell discounted for around $20 per 100.

You can buy a new 460 for that price. I own both the 460 and 30-378 and the recoil from the latter is significantly lighter in a 2lb lighter gun. If you're going to get the 460 then load it with 300 grain Barnes X bullets at about 3000 fps. That is a lot easier on your body and a lot more useful too. I wouldn't spend money bastardizing an original Weatherby unless you bought it for less than a G.

thanks guys.. you got it..
if you want the weatherby, get it, but don't bother rebarreling, just shoot powder puff loads in it, if you want something more "practical"

what i meant on the 30-378, is that loaded to spec, its a barrel burner

jeffe

The 30-378 despite its super ballistics on paper, tops my record book for fastest burned out barrel. I believe you will see a significant loss of accuracy after as little as 500 rds. I agree with Jeffe leave the 460 alone and just shoot light loads in it.-Rob

Thanks everybody for your comments. It seems conversion is not a good idea after all. I'll pass the serial number to Weatherby to see if then can give me an idea of when this particular 460 was built. Then, I'll make a decision.

Thanks again.

quote:

It seems conversion is not a good idea after all.

I am surprized that no one mentioned the problem of the barrel chanel and the differences in the barrel profiles.(460 vs 30-378) Unless you duplicate the 460 profile for the 30-378. Then you will need wheels and a trailer hitch for it.

Keith

If you duplicate the Weatherby #4 profile of the .460 and bore it to .308, the added weight would be .5885 pounds. That would make the rifle 10.6 lbs in a MK V Deluxe - unloaded with no sights, rings, or glass. Not exactly a heavy rifle.

barnes has a new 250 gr fnx in 458 that would be a hoot in this rifle.