There is one coming into my hands with in the next day or so,love my 300W but don't see the sense in the 378.
What are your suggestions for a different caliber to rebarrel and chamber to?

530/460 Mcdonald.

Karl.

Get some quality ear plugs and a Muzzle brake and shoot it.
It is one of the most impressive hard hitting rifles you will ever see so why not enjoy it.Take the Muzzle brake off and enjoy it even more if you like recoil.
Good Luck,
Charlie

Karl-What caliber is the MacDonald cartridge,and is it on Weatherby case??

Dave-How about a the 550 Mag on Weatherby case,
RNS, Mingo,and I discussed in other threads.ed.

Ed,
.530 cal yes on the weatherby. Geoff Mcdonald creator of woodleigh bullets built himself one.
I can probably get a photo if you are interested if you give me a week or two to call his guys.
I believe for one reason or another it was as big as he wanted to take the 460 case.

Karl.

KEEP IT in .378.
No brake
then it will be equally dangerous at both ends.
NOT a fun toy to play with without an AWESOME functioning brake.

When I was younger and dumber, I took my Browning Safari in .458 and put over 200 full load 510 grainers through it at a shoot in about 4 hours.

About 3 weeks after that I shot 5 rounds through a friends new .378. I believe I took more punishment from the 5 .378 then the 200+ from the .458.

Just my own impression.

Dave,

Why don't use the rifles as is, and when the barrel is shot out, then you can chnage it to anything you wish.

With some practice, that recoil won't feel so bad at all.

I am 5ft 6", weigh in 130 pounds, and have been shooting all these large calibers for years.

In fact, I am using a similar wildcat for most of my hunting in Africa.

It is just as good at shooting a cape buffalo or an elephant at 30 yards or an impala at 400 yards.

Dave,
With either a 270 grain spire point or 300 grain boat tail spitzer,the 378 will shoot as flat as your 300 with 165s,even out to 500 yards.It'll hit roughly twice as hard at that distance too.

Just have a KDF or Accubrake put on it and enjoy it.With the brake it'll kick the same as your 300.

And it for some reason you think the 378 is a horendous kicker,then why rebarrel it to something like these guys are suggesting which will kick even more?

The 378 with a brake is a pussy cat.

Brian.

While I'm not convinced the .378 Weatherby holds any real advantage over the venerable .375 at usual range or on dangerous game up close, in capable hands, it is really quite extraordinary on heavy game, at distance. Trouble is that truly
"capable hands" are as scarce as hens teeth.

I have been looking for a rifle to test the VA technology muzzle brake, this could be the guinea pig.

www.bp-tec.com

jim dodd

I would not change it. But if I was going to change it, the leading contenders would be .500 A-Square, etc. or .338-.378. Either should feed out of the magazine without much in the way of modifications at all. My favorite would be a long-barreled (28"?) .338-.378.

Its not the recoil I was thinking about, I got the impression that most of you thought that it was a waste of time, with 2400-2500fps limit most talk about I was thinking I mite be better off going to the 375H&H or the 375W,or some thing along the 416 line
Saeed,you may be little, but after watching your T-Rex videos,even at 6'1" and 320lbs I am not sure I what to light one of those off
Guess I will rethink the 378,maybe that bp-brake is one to look into

[ 04-13-2003, 11:22: Message edited by: Dave James ]

"since the gas has no mass and only pressure"

Uhh...this is just another muzzle brake. I am sure some are slightly better than others but there is no magic barrel weight you can strap on and suddenly make it all better.

There is no spoon...

Saeed,
I have a new .375RUM BDL that I promptly had giped into a McMillan ( 8.5 pounds scoped ). After a quick break in I began pushing 300 grain Noslers down range with 100 grains of IMR 7828. At just under 2900 fps. the gun was a joy to shoot and is accurate enough. Being the bone head that I am, I figured I could get reloader 25 to lite up Remington's creation. Lo and behold I was correct!
For some reason velocity is up, way up! And so is the muzzle. Confused, (NASA wont't be hiring me anytime soon) I put away my Chony and pulled out the 43 Oehler. The Oehler confirmed ok pressure and that the velocity was what the El cheapo told me in the first place (I carry two compasses and a GPS{with extra batteries} so I don't get lost).
According to Noslers book I shouldn't be going faster than a .378 Wby. but I did... 34 times. What I find strange about the load is that the direct recoil is fairly mild but the muzzle climb is huge for a staight stocked .375.
So I decided to borrow a friends much feared .378 Wby. Ten 300g Flail safes pushed by 104 grains of RL22 some where down range and I packed up and went home.

Now THAT is naughty little gun. Can you tell me Why? The velocity is only at 2800fps. My 8 pound 2oz.(scoped) .416 Rem. drives 300gr. X bullets faster than that, and its a pussy cat compared to that.378. Is it the Weatherby stock? that .378 won't be shot out any time soon!

x-man,

Welcome to the forum.

This could be due to the stock fit.

I find some rifles tend to feel harder kicking than others of the same performance, and the only reason I can attribute this to is the stock design.

Dave you can try putting a couple lead/mercury recoil reducers in the butt if it kicks to much. I shot my friends 378 that had 2 reducers in the butt and it felt no worse than the 416Weatherby same setup for both incl brakes.