First let me say that I have never been a fan of WBY rifles. I like the cailbers but not the guns. I normally hunt with and shoot controlled feed Mod. 70s. This gun is a USA made one with 26" barrel no brake. This is a very well put together gun. It's factory bedded with internally installed crossbolts. The bottom loading mag is kind of hoaky but with the straight line mag it feeds very smoothly. The mag box is huge I'm loading 3.79" and it ejects live rounds. First day out I took some light loads of H4831 with 270 Hornadys.(110 grs)This is not a bullet I would consider I just wanted to mount the scope and hear it go bang. The load was so low pressure that the case necks were sooty. It shot very bad. (3") I went back today with 300 TSXs and 7828. 107 Grs. left a little soot on necks. It shot 1 1/4" 3 shots. I moved up a grain at a time to 110 grs. were it shot a 1 3/8" . There was a 40 mile per hour wind out there. The 110gr. load is going 2850 fps. This gun is not bad at all for recoil. I was shooting my Sako AV .416 at the same time and with the hard pad the .416 hurt more. I know the gun has a lot of recoil but the stock design makes it very shootable. My buddies are shaking their heads but I really like this gun.

Any man who loves getting bashed around as much as you should meet my ex-wife.

MTM,

Took a 378 Weatherby to Africa years ago. Had 300 grain Trophy Bond Bear Claws and 300 grain Hornady SP loaded. Took wildebeest, zebra, waterbuck, etc with it. Worked OK. None of the animals complained.

To me, the recoil of the 378 Wby is more severe than the 416 Wby, 460 Wby, or 500 A-Square. No scientific measurement, just my shoulder observations.

With a weighted McMillan McHale model fiberglass stock, think the 378 Wby makes a great long range plains rifle.

Hammer

I've had 4 378's. They were all the lightweight German guns, but all but one had a muzzle break. The guns with MB's were quite acceptable in recoil. The full loads in the non-MB qun was completely brutal and worse than my 460. As a point of reference, the 375 and 458 have about 5000 ftlb of energy. The 460 had 8000 but is about 12 pounds and usually has a MB. I think the 378 is about 6000, but it is not so much the total energy as the velocity. A lightweight 378 w/o a MB is simply painful with full loads.

My 378 weighs 9 3/4 lbs scoped. I honestly don't find the recoil that bad but I'm only up to 2850 with 300s so far. I had a 460 on a coverted #1 Ruger and with anything aproaching full power it was absolutely brutal. I don't get it, how can the same case with lighter bullets produce more recoil? With the 460 you're burning more of a faster powder with way bigger bullets. Yesterday I fired 12 rds of 378 and a half dozen .416 and no problem with my head getting rattled. These were all off the bench seated. With the 460 my brain got rattled after 6-8 rds. I actually sold it because I was getting a mild concusion every weekend.

A major component of recoil is the gas jet from firing (deflecting that gas to a different axis from the bore is what makes muzzle breaks work). The faster the ejecta leaves the muzzle, the worse the recoil. The 378 uses much slower powders which have a much higher muzzle pressure (not to mention more mass). When you get it up to its top end, you'll feel the difference.

Hammer ,
Wow a 378 on those animals!!! If a person wanted can you take them with a 270 or 06, 300 win mag or are they a little tougher than i am giving the credit for.. May it is for any unexpected charged by larger animals! Though I do not have a 378 I do have a 375 rum.. I do admire the 378! It is such a kick (b ) caliber!

tiggertate,
I here ya, that could be. I'll load it up next weekend but to be honest I'm really just looking for accuracy from here up. By the way when I say recoils not too bad it still gets you attention.

MTM

quote:

I had a 460 on a coverted #1 Ruger and with anything aproaching full power it was absolutely brutal.

I had 2 458 Lotts. A #1 and the RSM and with the
same load the #1 was a stomper. A good pad helped but still was the worst.

Shot a 378 years ago. Guy gave me 3 rds factory
ammo, factory rifle, gave him back the rifle and
2 rds ammo. That thing was worse than my Lotts.

I had an early MK V in 378 made by Sauer. It was very accurate with what was listed as the starting load for surplus 4831, 270 Hornadys and mag primers. As I recall that load was 105 grs and the max was listed at 115 grs.

I could not stand the recoil from that gun nor did I like anything about the Weatherby action.

About that time a friend sold me a like new pre 64 M70 in 375 H&H. I sold the 378 asap.

I've owned a .378 Weatherby Mag MarkV 26" barrel for fifteen years. With max loads it will shoot a 3/4" group at 100 yards. However, it will flat knock you're hat off. I made the mistake of putting on a muzzle break.

Bullet .270 grain Hornaday SP
Powder 115 grains H-4831
Primer Federal 215
Group 3/4" @ 100 yards
MV 3180

I have since switch to 270 grain TSX better accuracy, better bullet.

I don't understand why people don't like the Mark V it is a well built rifle. The barrel is acually set in the stock with a slight degree angle so when the gun is fired the rifle moves to the right instead off your head or face. Plus there is a 5/8" steel rod in the pisol handel for strength. Different strokes for different folks.

Steve

Would the .375 RUM be considered as a more 'polite' .378 WBY as far as recoil comparison?
Or is there no comparison between the two?

MTM. I too had a mkV in 378, about 25 yr. ago. It was an older model that I bought at a gunshow in Minot. It came with 2 boxes of factory ammo less 1. I thought I had the world by the tail. I shot 3 shots from it, the second and third I flinched so bad it was embarrassing. At approx the same time I rechambered a #1 to 45-120.It was a heavy recoiling rifle that gave me a nosebleed when I shot it but didn't cause flinch. Both of those are gone now, but I have a 505 Gibbs on an Enfield action that shoots 525gr. bullets @ 2500+. Albiet not real pleasant to shoot it's nothing like that 378 was. Good luck with yours. Mark

I had a Mark V 378, no muzzle brake. Over the years I have shot many a big bore gun from a bench...the closest I have come to getting wacked with a scope was with my 378wthby...luckly it just missed!

The Weatherby 378s are too light in my opinion..at least mine was...if you are after DG use either solids or Barnes Xs, if you load to max velocities...

I use to be a big Weatherby fan...have owned many of them...now I am down to just two Accumarks for long range deer hunting...I consider some of the Weatherby chamberings good..but my taste in rifles has totally changed...

I found that 111.0 grains of IMR 7828 was an accurate load, sub MOA for 3 shots at 100 yards with both the 300 grain Swift A-Frame (2878 fps and 0.976") and the 300 grain Sierra GameKing (2813 fps and 0.675").

This was with a rechamber of a CZ 550 Magnum with the standard factory 25" barrel of 12" twist.

Of course I would recommend the Barnes TSX 300 grainer nowadays.

This rifle has the standard .378 Wby freebore. Factory ammo with what looked like Hornady 300 grain FMJ (steel with lead core) gave 2911 fps and a 2.5" 3-shot group, on the same 90 degree F day, same 25" CZ rifle. Surprisingly no pressure signs with the factory ammo. They must have toned it down a little, as of the year 2000 when I tried it.

Handloading the .378 Wby is definitely the best approach.

Recoil? Gee whiz, it is only a .375 and there is nothing unusual about it, just proportional to ejecta momentum and gun weight factors. My rifle has the Lux Hogback walnut stock with crossbolts added. It is gentle.

Thanks RIP, good to see your rifle is dead on with mine for speed with the same load.

I have owned two 378s... an older Weatherby and now a custom. My custom is a light 24" and does not have a brake and is not "brutal" as most describe. I have a Weatherby freebore in my custom and a 1-10 twist. I see about 60~fps plus or minus on a diff from my weatherby with the same loads. I do not know what a "hot" load is from this rifle is... even with a 24" brl a 300 gr tsx can reach 3100. I dont go that high and get sub MOA at 3050. I have hunted with my 378s quite a bit and have been happy with them. I built the shorter lighter 378 specificaly for 300 and 350s. I am not sure why we dont see much more of this cartridge... but the 375/404 (375rum)also seems like a good one. Any thoughts?

I have a 22" .378 Wby barrel that came off of the rifle that is now a .500A2, a BRNO ZKK 602.

I have a 22" .378 Wby barrel that came off some fool's rifle who sold the take-off barrel to me for 50 dollars. It would look real sporty on my Mk V that is now a .30-378, except I learned my lesson with that first 22" .378 Wby.


In my old age I am settling for 5000 ft.lbs with a .375, and any below can do that:

.375 Wby
.375 RUM
.375/.338 Lapua
.375/.404 Saeed

There is this fellow named Saeed that has proved a .375/300gr @ ~2700fps is very effective.

The .378 Wby will do more but I like to keep it below 2900 fps with 300 grainers.

Hey! Maybe that is why my CZ .378 Wby Hogback is so gentle on my shoulder and I shoot it so well?

subjective, but here's my 2-cents worth.

I have owned one, and shot half a dozen more over the past twenty years. The recoil seems "sharper" than the 460; dunno why. I also owned one of John Buhmillers' 450 Buhmiller mags, a 416 Rigby necked up to 458 calibre. It was the second one he built and took to Africa in 56/57/59. The first one is somewhere at Wbys, or at least it was.

The 378's crack-the-whip style of recoil catches me before I can get set everytime. Much more obnoxious than a 460, and seemed twice as stiff as my Krieghoff 500 3" double. Wouldn't own one, even if they didn;t look as if PeeWee Herman styled them.

Rich