The Accurate Reloading Forums THE ACCURATE RELOADING.COM FORUMS Rifles Big Bores 378 WeatherbyGo | New | Find | Notify | Tools | Reply | |
one of us |
I've had 6 stock Wby rifles so far. Three have shot great and still do and three were the worst dogs imaginable. IF IT SHOOTS, buy it. Without a brake a .378 could hurt alot if you are hunting and have to shoot from a field position and don't get a proper grip on the gun.Personally, I always use a muzzel brake on big kickers and frankly don't buy into that crap about it hurting the ears of the PH and trackers. Been there, done that and it didn't matter. A muzzel brake will make the .378 into an easily controlable ( read accurate to shoot) rifle and without one, you may develop a bad flinch. If you refuse to use a brake then its lead shot in the butt or mercury recoil reducer time. Gun weight matters alot!These guns kick a bit more than a 458 win. as they have a shorter recoil time due to the high velocity. As for Norma brass, I've used lots of it in .378, .460 and now in 500 A2 and it's just fine. Hope this helps-Rob | |||
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| One of Us |
bearguide Everyone should own a 378 at least once in their life 378s don't recoil. Instead, they launch a personal attack on the shooter. I think the reason the recoil seems so bad is that ballistics make you try and shoot the rifle a certain way and with a certain attitude, which is quite different to a 458. Perhaps it is like shooters who find a shotgun recoil OK but but find a rifle with less actual recoil than the shotgun to kick much harder than the shotgun. The difficulty with an unbraked 378 in my experience is that the recoil is such that you just can't lay the rifle across a rest like a 270 or 30/06. If you can't do that then its long range potential is compromised. I also found them very fussy with accuracy which I think is caused by the enormous freebore and very light barrel. Apart from the 2 that I owned I also had a direct involvment with 3 other 378s But you should get a 378. If ever a rifle/caliber combination called be called a "whore" is the Mark V in 378 Mike | |||
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| <Guy> |
bearguide - my brother owns a lefthand Mark V in 378 and like Mike375 says, it does attack you. We have found that shooting Weatherby factory ammo is a whole different animal than his reloads. A box of factory 270 grain Hornady's came with his rifle. Those were the first rounds through his rifle and the recoil and muzzle blast were tremendous. It also locked the bolt so tight that we had to use a rubber mallet on the bolt handle to extract the case. Extreme pressures and the temp was in the sixties that day! He bought dies and components to reload for it after that. He has used 270 Hornady's and 300 grain Barnes bullets and obtained Weatherby's stated velocities without the high pressure and a decrease in muzzle blast. It still kicks HARD though, especially for a right-handed shooter (ME!). His rifle is accurate, as I remember most of his groups in the 1 1/2" range at 100 yards the last time we zeroed it. He buys his brass at Sportsman Warehouse for $37.00 a box of twenty. We call his rifle "Schnitzengruben" after the scene in the movie "Blazing Saddles". "My limit on Scnitzengruben is three......" The rifle does kick so be prepared! Good luck. ------------------ [This message has been edited by Guy (edited 01-17-2002).] | ||
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| Moderator |
In my opinion there are few who can honestly benefit by the additional velocity offered by the .378 and even they will struggle to perform well with it in some circumstances. At under 300 yards it offers no advantage on any game over the .375 and, at the same time, adds legitimate concern to bullet performance to the equation. At over 300 yards, any flattening of bullet trajectory is largely offset by a very real decrease in shootibility at the very moment it is most needed. It's a potent long range number for heavy non-dangerous game but is most certainly not for everyone. | |||
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| <Mitch> |
If you can handle full house 458 WM. loads unbraked you can handle a 378 unbraked IMO. I have owned mine for 10 years and I like it. You can buy brass from Mid South for about 31.00 for a box of 20, I have found that Weatherby (Norma) brass is good quality stuff and is not at all soft. | ||
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| Moderator |
Hi Mitch!  The question is "at what range can you handle it?" Shooting rifles of such recoil at 100 yards is one thing. Precision work on elk or eland well past 300 yards is quite another. | |||
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Moderator |
quote: Nick, you have to remember you are talking to someone that shoots 1/4 moa groups with a 577 T-rex! Now, for most mortal men, the 378 weatherby can't be tamed. Heck, Ross Seyfried the creater of the 585 Nyati describes the 378 as a vicous kicker! | |||
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| One of Us |
In my experience, the problem with big recoil, escpecially fof long shooting, is when an improvised rest is being used. I could shoot my 378s fine from the bench. But in the field I was never able to equal the 375 with one. I simply could not shoot the 378 from some improvised rests. Mike | |||
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| <Don Martin29> |
Mike375 your so funny. I had a .378 Weatherby for a while. It was made by Sauer and was very accurate with the minimum reloads that I shot in it. I still remember the load and with the 270 gr Hornady Spire I loaded 105 gr of surplus 4831. The kick was quite hard but somebody had put a shotgun type pad on the butt that was as big as Hillary's ass. It flaired out like one of those arab gun butts and that helped along with the excellent Weatherby cheekpiece. About that time I had a .375 Improved being made up but before it was ready a perfect pre-64 in .375 H&H fell into my hands for $200! I sold the Weatherby in a flash. I don't regret it at all. I don't like the Mark V action at all. No CRF in a DGR! Even then the talk was that the velocity was too high for the bullets. Better to increase the bore in .375. The ol H&H is just right. I bet I still have the loading dies. I think they were "Weatherbys". | ||
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| Moderator |
Paul, We are saying the same thing. Let's shoot the 14 pound T-Rex from the bench and shoot a nice group at a hundred yards. Now, let's take off the "Past" and the ear protection, lug that big sucker into the woods and try hitting Uncle Bigsbys barn door at 385 yards from a makeshift field rest. | |||
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| Moderator |
[QUOTE]Originally posted by Mike375: "I could shoot my 378s fine from the bench. But in the field I was never able to equal the 375 with one." 100%, Mike. The .375 delivers about the heaviest downrange blow available in a hunting rifle of appropriate weight and manageable recoil for the vast majority of shooters. | |||
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| One of Us |
Don Martin29, 105 grains of the old 4831 is light load for a 270 grain bullet. There is an old bloke who lives near me who bought a 378 about 10 years ago from a deceased estate. It was a Japanese one and had open sights fitted. He took it to the range. A couple of days later he had pains running down his left arm and his wife got him to go to the doctor as they were thinking heart attack or angina. The doctor asked him if there was anything that he been recently doing that could have hurt his neck He had 112 grains with 270 Hornady in some loaded rounds. He asked me to take the rifle up the range for him which I did and I used about 118 grains of our powder that is what Hodgdon now sells as 4831. When I got home I phoned him up and he said he was hoping I would come up with some lighter loads not heavier loads. He has not shot the rifle in several years but there is no way he will sell it. It is a very nice looking specimen. Another time at our range when I had a 378 up there a couple of blokes wanted a shot. So I gave the first bloke 3 rounds and he sat at the bench and fired his first shot. He simply turned to me and said....you must be mad. They would have to be the most usless caliber of all but everyone should own at least one in their life. And when they don't like a load there is no mistake. Again, the enormous freebore, light barrel and a barrel that is not exaxcly match grade quality is the problem. Mike | |||
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| <Mitch> |
Nick, I know what you are trying to say but, a T.rex. is a very short range stopper we are talking apples and oranges. The bullet drop alone at 385 Yards would make accurate shooting difficult forget about the recoil. A 378 as you know is very flat shooting compared to just about any cartridge. To be honest I have never found the 378 to be nearly as bad as some have said. It suffers from the same problem many rifles suffer from (it is too light as it comes from the factory). Any rifle that can generate 6000 ft. lbs. of energy should weigh more than 8.5 lbs. If someone wants to use the 378 wby for long range work. He should install a better recoil pad and add 1 to 1.5 lbs. The new 378s are better they have a heavier stock along with the heavier 416 wby. barrel contour. [This message has been edited by Mitch (edited 01-18-2002).] | ||
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| Moderator |
Mitch - Of course the T-Rex is a poor choice to illustrate my point but it was there, so I went with it. I agree with Mike on this and I happen to be someone who could make good use of the .378 if need be. If I have a nice situation for a longrange kill I feel my chances of success are better with the .375 than with the .378. Less to think about in regard to field rests and body position. A quicker return to battery. The .270 Winchester vrs the .300 Magnums is, perhaps, a clearer example. Let's say we're hunting muledeer, out West. The .300 may offer a similar trajectory and greater power at extended ranges but the higher % of good hits and clean kills will lie with the more shootable .270. | |||
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| one of us |
Guy, By chance, did you brother buy that rifle from Mac Snedden (Glenmark Enterprises)? He (Mac) had a LH .378 that took him awhile to get rid of. Just curious I suppose. DD | |||
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| one of us |
As a side note,it should be noted that a quality muzzel brake such as the KDF or Weatherby's copy of the KDF called the Accu-Brake,will cut the recoil of the 378 down to 300 Winchester levels.Mind you that it makes it unbearably loud,but once you get into cartridges of this size,SOMETHING has to be unbearable,and I'll take noise over recoil every day as long as I have ear protection. A point of the 378 that many miss is that when loaded to it's full potential (270s at 3200 FPS,300 grain spitzers at 3050 FPS)it shoots as flat as a 300 Weatherby Magnum loaded with 180s,all the way out to 500 yards.If you have a 378 with a muzzel brake or can handel the recoil,you have possibly the ultimate long range elk gun-flat trajectory with LOTS of powder. I plan on picking up a 378 one day.Don't know why,just want one. ------------------ | |||
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| <Guy> |
Diamond D - I talked with my brother and he said that he purchased it from D&L Guns at a gun show. He had seen the rifle many times prior to his purchase and he thought there was a possibility that someone else had it before him. This was the only left-hand Mark V 378 he had ever seen, so he finally bought it. | ||
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| <Don Martin29> |
Mike375, I started with the minimum load at 105 grains and I never got past that. I think the max load in the manual I was using was 115 grs of surplus 4831. How sensitive to loads I never found out but mine shot very small groups at 100 yards. I would have kept it if I liked the action or look of the rifle at all. When I took it to a dealer to sell it the dealer really wanted it however. There is a market for that stuff. Even then there was talk that the .375 bullets were made for the H&H and they would blow up at short range. Thats not a good DGR for sure and it's still pointed out in Haralds site "Terminal Ballstics". But if better bullets get invented then higher velocity at short range will work better. It's a option in the future. I don't see carrying a 26" .378 Weatherby in the Rockies for Elk. No thanks. But Jack Weller carried a M-70 bull bbl there. I just don't like Weatherby rifles at all. I do admire the late Roy Weatherby however for his salesmanship. | ||
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| one of us |
Don, Plenty of elk hunters now pack 30/378s and various Ultra Magnums with 26 inch barrels into the Rockies every year.Don't hear any of them bitching and most of those guns weight much more than your standard 378.The average 378 with a reasonable sized scope (i.e 3.5x10 and smaller)will weight around 10.5 pounds with a sling.An Accumark 30-378 weights about 9.5 pounds with nothing on it (I don't care what Weatherby's charts say,I've weighted three of the suckers and they are HEAVY). Just my humble opinion. ------------------ | |||
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| <bearguide> |
Thanks a bunch for all the replies. It's great to get as much info as possible. I believe I'm going to fire the gun at least once before I make any purchasing decisions. | ||
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