Howdy all. I am thinking about buying a 30-378 weatherby from a buddy of mine. I was thinking of using this caliber for 500 yard target shooting. Looking for the pro,s and con,s. Any info will be helpful.
Thanks
Bill

Bill, I have a Mark V Accumark that was originally a 30/378. Bought it the year they came out. It will certainly fit the bill for what you're looking for, but you need to be a handloader, and even then it's expensive. Get some good optics for it and you should be set. It wont be a match winner, but it should be a really good shooter with the proper handloads. The only other thing I can add is to always have ear protection. The Accumark brake is very effective at reducing recoil but it increases the noise level of the 30/378 dramatically. It wouldn't take long at all for it to seriously damage your hearing. I had mine about 3 years before I finally decided to have it rebarreled by Shilen in 338/378. Now it's really a shooter. I had them leave the brake off, so recoil is stout, but I went with a heavier barrel which helps make up some of the difference. I'm 10x happier with the gun after having it rebarreled, there's just no comparison. Accuracy is phenomenal.

Anyway, to give you the short version of the pros and cons.

Pros - lots of energy, flat trajectory, high velocity, moderate recoil (relatively speaking).

Cons - Loud as hell, expensive brass, loud as hell. By the way, did I mention that it was loud?

Here's what mine looks like after the rebarrel.



Regards,
Tom

I had an accumark when they first came out, sold it 3 months later. I got tired of the headache from the muzzle blast and insane brass expence. The rifle grouped ok, all though i could never duplicate weatherby's factory velocity with 180 grain bullets. most of my hot loads were with 180s were going in the high 3300s and not breaking the 3400 fps bar very often. I could never get close to their claimed 3500fps mark. My load for that rifle was 119 grains of h870 and a 180 grain nosler. I really believe that case is not very effective . I like the 300 ultra mag alot better. My remington 300 ultra mag will put the 168 grain barnes triple into a 1/2 inch at 3512 fps all day. If i just had to have a 30.378 ,i would look hard at the sako trg. i think out of the box ,it will outperform the weatherby makx v. Good luck, you might want to take a look at the reloading data for each caliber at the front of this site, it may sway you abit. cheers!

It should do what you want but like everyone said it is loud. If you can get it at a good price grab it and give it a whirl. You can always change the caliber if you want to later on or you can sell it if you decide you don't like it. Reloading will be the only way to go with the expense of the ammo and even then it won't be cheap but it will be fun.
Roadtrash

Having owned one I would say for 500 yard shooting there is almost no difference in performance between a 30-378 and a "big 7" like the UltraMag or STW. The brass for the 7's is a lot cheaper, they recoil a lot less, and I think you will get better accuracy for a gun of the same weight. Most of the reports on the Weatherby's I have seen have not shown great target accuracy. Of course, if the price is exceptionally good that is always a factor...Good luck.

I got mine for long range elk hunting. Don't know how it would hold up as a target rifle plus could think of acouple other calibers. I get 3481pfs with 113.5/retumbo and 180 gr bullets. I'm going to try some 200 gr bullets just to see how it does. For my long range target rifle I use a 6.5/284. Well good luck

Wmwise,

OF the posts listed, I would agree with Hvyw8t in that the 300 RUM is a much better round for your needs. Let me explain.

First off, out of a 26" factory barrel, which the WBY is even though they list it as 28"(with the brake!), this round is really hamstrung by its huge case capacity.

I have also run my 300 RUM along several of my customers rifles and it will on average get within 75 to 100 fps of the huge WBY with 20 grains less powder. It is also much more user friendly when using lighter bullets in the 150 to 165 gr range.

The brass is very expensive compared to the 300 RUM. And personally, its in a WBY rifle so to me thats a CON for sure, just do not like WBY actions as a custom rifle builder.

For the price of that 30-378, you could send me a Rem M700 and I would fit a 27" Lilja stainless barrel and drop the barreled action into a Holland Signature heavy target laminated wood stock and it would shoot circles around any WBY factory rifle. And with the slightly longer barrel combined with the min spec chambers and throats I cut, you would probably match the 30-378 in velocity.

Just my thoughts as a smith, there are much better rounds out there and that rifle is really not set up for target shooting of any kind. It has the horse power, but for 500 yard target shooting, there are much smaller rounds that would be better suited in the properly built rifle.

If you want more inforamtion about my shop and prices let me know and I can get them to you.

Good Shooting!!!

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