240 Weatherby Magnum - anyone use, anyone like?

[BattleRifleG3]

I'm definitely the anti-short-magnum man.  While not thinking too ill of them, I'm not a fan of overbored cartridges that, in a process called throttling, waste a bit of pressure (ie pressure pushing the bullet vs pressure in the chamber) and thus energy trying to force a lot of powder through a small hole.  Also causes faster throat erosion.  Thus I'm neither a fan of huge magnums necked way down.  The 30-378 Wby makes me shake my head.

The 240 Weatherby Magnum seems to be the opposite.  Roughly the length of a 30-06 and presumably designed to be chambered in the same actions, it has a thinner cartridge due to being belted with the same rim as the '06.  Also being freebored, the throat erosion won't be so bad.  Add a powder column relatively thin for the bolt face used, and it would seem to allow for some hefty pressures or alternatively result in pretty low bolt/receiver stresses with what are generally normal pressures (60ish ksi).

Questions - As this round seems very much one for reloaders, what results have you folks gotten from it compared to the likes of 243 Win and WSSM?  Would the advantages be so slight that one would be better served with factory ammo from the others?  How does it do with different barrel weights compared to the others, ie does it favor the heavier ones or lighter ones?

I guess I just have a spot in my heart for the undersized round shouldered belted case that I can't really call a magnum, but am almost tempted to call... cute.  I'm not looking for the zippiest in the world, more like something efficient.  Something where some dork might say "Oh, my 243 uber-mag is 10% faster than yours" and I reply "Yeah, but I burned half as much powder."

[BattleRifleG3]

Oh yeah, another thing - I like big barrels and I cannot lie.  So if a long barrel, say 24"< brings out the difference, that would count.  Another thing, are there any existing rounds that could be rechambered for the 240 Weatherby, or do all of them, like the 243 Win, have some spot that is wider that would require the whole barrel be set back? and probably not be worth it?

"Ooh, guess what!  I have a new uber-mag minimum legal length CARBINE!  I even used a muzzle brake for the last 10 inches to get it up to 16!  Just look at that muzzle blast!  It's soooooo cool!  Bet your honkin huge 240 Wallaby can't do that!"

[Lawdog]

BattleRifleG3,

Our oldest Daughter and I both shoot .240 Weatherby Magnum's.  Mine is a Weatherby Mark V Deluxe 26” barrel and the Daughter's is a left handed Ruger M77(older tang safety model) with a 24” barrel that I built for her.  And yeah the longer barrel helps get the most from the .240.  It’s deadly accurate, flat shooting and a great varmint/deer cartridge.  Recoil is about the same as shooting a .25-06 in the same weight rifles.  Basically you can call it the “King” of the factory 6mm’s.  The only cartridge that really comes close to it is the new .243 WSSM but it falls short.  The load we used the last two years is 54.2 gr. of IMR-7828ssc behind a 95 gr. Barnes TSX(no longer available, DARN IT) for 3,332 fps.  With this load we have taken Blacktail/Mule Deer, Pronghorn Antelope and Wild Boar(smaller ones under 150 lbs.).  I really like the .240 Weatherby and would use it more except we have to many Black Bears and I don’t consider it a Black Bear cartridge.  Lawdog