Partner taking serious look at Weatherby

[Sourdough]

My partner did not like my choice in guns when I chose a Weatherby Accumark in .338/378 for my new hunting rifle.  I topped it with a Night Force 3.5X15X50 scope.  But after watching me make two long range kills with the Weatherby he is not looking into ballistics and checking all the data for the different bullets.  He has decided he wants the 30/378 Weatherby.  He's just having a hard time letting loose of the dollars it will take to get one, and set it up.  He'll be shooting with me by spring, no doubt about it.

[john keyes]

I think I flinched just reading about those two cartridges..

they do have some mind blowing amounts of energy and potential to really reach out and hammer the daylights out of something.

[nomosendero]

There's more than one way to skin a cat. 338 Edge is very close to the 338/378 & the 300RUM is very close to the 30/378, in fact 100-125 diff. typically between the Rum based cases mentioned & the 378 case, no practical diff. really and an easier case to work with, so there are alot of options out there, not tho mention the 338Lapua. And most custom smiths would prefer building rifles using the Rum or Lapua cartridges. But the Wea. case is fine, esp. if one prefers Wea. rifles.

Never mind, I see he has allready decided on the round. Good luck & let us know how it does.

[Sourdough]

Back when I started looking at a long distance round I looked at the .338 Rem Ultra Mag first.  I shot my neighbors and for some reason was not impressed with the cartridge.  I then looked at the .338 Lapua.  I decided I wanted an AR-30 in .338 Lapua.  By the time I made up my mind the gun shop had sold out.  I tried to order one, by Armalite was sending everything to the big Sand Box, and it would be at least a year to get one.  So I went back to the ballistic tables and started comparing. 

I decided on the .338/378 Weatherby.  I bought the gun at Sportsman's Warehouse, and have loved it every time I shoot it since.  I started out with the Nosler .225gr Accubond, it shot great and cronyed at 3210fps consistantly.  I then went to the 250gr Nosler partition, that's what I am currently shooting.  Have not croneyed it, but am happy with the accuracy and performance on game.

The only thing I have done to the gun, has been to adjust the trigger to a lighter pull than the factory setting.  Otherwise it is just like it came from the factory.  The more I shoot it the better I like it.

[jro45]

I own the 300 Rem. Ultra. Mag. And it shoots just fine. I also own the 338 Rem.Ultra Mag.
It shoots the 250 accubond at 3067 fps, the 225 accubond at 3178 fps and it shoots the 200 accubond at 3120 fps.

[drdougrx]

I've always had a hankering for a 340WBY.  Is the 338/378 or 338RUM that much better???  Just wondering what you'll think...I need a new rifle like a hole in the head (which would probably do me some good).

[Wyo. Coyote Hunter]

drdougrx, For several years I fooled with a .338 win. as did a couple of my pals..It was not what we wanted for this type of country...A few years ago, my shooting partner took one of the 26 in barrels in .338 I had taken off and put it on a 700 action...He loves it as an moose, elk and big mule deer round...I thought of getting a .340 several times, but never bought a barrel...One day he told me to get an action because he ordered me a Douglas blank for a 340..So far I have taken 3 elk with it..It is a sure enough elk killer...I like its flatter traj. for this country...So far I have used 200 grain Acc.bonds, 210 grain Nosler Part.(Hagels favorite) and a 225 grain Acc.Bond..I have 225 Part. loaded, but haven't tried them for lack of time on game...I looked up Hagels loads for the 340..His only 23 1/2" barrel and NO FREEBORE.. With this short barrel he could get 2900 fps out of a 250 grain, 3025 out of a 225, and 3200 out of a 210, with a longer barrel, a bit more speed maybe obtained...But his loads were MAX> LOADS.... So the Ultra, and .338/378 have an edge on the .340...When it warms up some, I may crony the loads in my .340 it has I believe a 27 inch barrel on it.....Like you I need it like a hole in the head, but should I ever get a chance for brown bear, it would be the one I would take..I don't see it as a better elk killer than my .300's, but as Hagel pointed out with the larger bullet, it does tear up more vital machinery in game...While I don't use my .340 every year, it is one that I would not want to get rid of as long as I were hunting game larger than deer....When one talks of killing elk, it is very possible to kill elk with a 257 Roberts or .22-250, but another question is how far will the game travel after taking a hit, and how many are lost due to marginal hits...We are treated to stories of little guns killing big game, but seldom do the small caliber guys tell us when their little guns crippled something to get off and die later...Where I am hunting elk now, if I can put the game down with in 50 yards of the shot, I have a rather easy time getting it dress and moved to camp, if it makes it off much farther it is a matter of cutting, quartering, etc...So I usually shot a heavy rifle and aim carefully.....

[drdougrx]

Hey Wyo Coyote Hunter....thanks very much for the thoughtful and thorough reply.  I had a Ruger 77 in 338win given to me bt my brother-in-law and I traded it for something else.  Shoulda kept it.  Maybe I'll look for a Rem or a mauser action and build one...or..I could just rechamber my 375HH to 375WBY...that may be an idea.  Actually...lemme calm down and stop trying to spend dead presidents that I don't yet have!!!

[charles p]

Ballistic charts sell a lot of rifles.  Orthopedics surgeons repair a lot of shoulders. 

[Wyo. Coyote Hunter]

  Elmer said the recoil of a 12 bore duck load was more than a 375 H & H, I don't know..I have been shooting heavy rifles all my life..I am fine...However the boys who played football in highschool have been a surgeons dream.....

[lgm270]

Elmer said the recoil of a 12 bore duck load was more than a 375 H & H, I don't know..I have been shooting heavy rifles all my life..I am fine...However the boys who played football in highschool have been a surgeons dream.....

Very well said, Wyo.  All my life I've heard stories about how dangerous guns are.  Funny thing. Every time I'm in a hunting camp I hear people complaining about athletic injuries from high school and college  and other injuries from motorcycles, etc.   I never met a hunter who had a gunshot injury.

[Sourdough]

Guys, I carry a .338 Win Mag during the summer.  I have two Ruger M-77s, and a TCR in .338 Win Mag as well.  These are my Grizzly defense guns, and I have taken many Moose and Caribou with them.  The .338 Win Mag is a great cartridge, I love it for ranges not to exceed 300 to 350 yards.  Yes it will shoot farther, and I have taken Moose out to 500 yards with one of them.  But I usually don't try long shots with them since I don't work with them out to long ranges.

I use my Weatherby for long ranges, and only shoot it from blinds, with a rest.  The Weatherby is not a light weight rifle, and the scope is two pounds alone.  Going in to the Blind I have a 30-06 or a .338 Win Mag on the front of the 4-wheeler, ready for fast use.  The Weatherby is always in a case and strapped on the back.  I seriously doubt I will ever use the Weatherby for a close shot.  Especially since I have it sighted in for 400 yards.  Anything closer I will be shooting over the target.

My partner carries a .375 H&H for close work, when we are going in and out of the hunting area.   

[Brithunter]

After seeing the hassle Stanley had with his 30-375 Weatherby I would not have one. To get any repeatable accurary from it it took three trips back to Weatherby and finally the services of a bench rest smith who stripped it down and blue printed it to make that darned thing shoot fairly well. By the time all this had been done it took nearly three years and all that was left of the original rifle was the action and bolt. Wetherby replaced the stock on on trip back , the barrel on another and the trigger and done a bedding job on another trip. When hunting with Stanley in 2003 I sort upset him by suggesting he use it on their fishing trips as a boat anchor.

They spent days at the range an "thought" they had the problem licked as they got two fairly reasonable groups with not major shifts in POI but when a nice Buck appeared than darned rifle showed it's teeth and the shot went miles off the mark. They never recovered the poor beast. On another part of the 1100 acrce farm they tried the rifle again and it was again shooting over a foot off from the range sessions. I think it was then that "Butch" got involved and totally re-built the gun including remaching the action and re-chambering but I would need to get the old puter up and running to read the old e-mails for the full details.

Add that to the feller in the gun club here who had a .257 weatherby that shot patterns it might explain why I have no time for them plus I don't like their stock shapes one little bit.


Hmmm now I think of it I have never even handled a rifle chambered for the .338 Win Mag  .375 H&H yep and even shot a couple but we don't really have the need for them here as we don't have the wide open spaces and the big beasties like you do in the US. As to rifle weight .................... well I have to get fitter. No bad thing that I suppose  as recently I brought a light calibre rifle, it's a 25-06 that has quite nicely figured wood on it, the makers brochure claims a weight of 7 3/4lbs however this particular rifle weighs far more than that. I assume the stock is much heavier? I put it on my kitchen scales and with a 6x42 scope in Leupold std mounts with a one piece rail it weighs 9 1/2lbs  it has a 24" barrel and yesterday I picked up the sound moderator (silcencer) and that weighs another 1 1/2lbs so all up with it fitted and a light sling the rifle weighs 11lbs 4ozs. Mind you recoil should be slight  A mountain rifle it sure ain't 

[nomosendero]

 

[Sourdough]

When I shot my Grizzly this year at 620 yards, I hit within two inches of the spot I was aiming at three times.  That would make for a four inch group at 600 yards.  I have done nothing to my Weatherby but mount a scope,(five times) and work up loads.  I had trouble finding mounts that would hold that two pound scope in place.  Loupold, Burris, Warne, nothing held.  I finally had to have a custom set of rings and a base made.  They are working.

But the rifle is just as it came from the factory, no glass bedding, no accurizing, nothing.  Oh Yea, I forgot, I did lighten up the trigger.

[wareagleguy]

Well...
I broke my neck (ruptured disk) from shooting a Remington 30-06.  After going through surgery I swore I would never shoot the big bitch slapping magnums.  I went through the magnum craze for a while and I am impressed with you guys that shoot them but not sure why.

[Wyo. Coyote Hunter]

  An old 06 hardly counts as a magnum......

[wareagleguy]

No.
But if a 06 can hurt you a magnum sure will.

I still would like to have a 338 Lapua.  I got to load for a buddy of mine that had one and got to take it home for a while to develop a load.  All I can say is behind it was bad but I would hate to even think what it would be like on the other end!!

[Sourdough]

My .338/378 Weatherby, with a break has less recoil than any of my 30-06s.  I shot a .338 Lapua in an AR-30 with the Howitzer style break that had less recoil than my .22-250.