Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting 300 weatherby mag reloading question

I got lucky.

The first round fired I from my 300 Wby was a 180 Hornady over IMR 4350. It was a load recommendation that I got from Roy Weatherby, but I dropped it down a few grains to start.

The loads Roy gave me were...let's say...enthusiastic.

It shot around an inch and that was already better than the factory target that came with the rifle, so I stopped right there and went hunting.

The good news about doing such an extensive load work-up for a 300 Wby is that the barrel will get shot-out faster and the rifle can then be re-barreled with a tube that will shoot just about any bullet/load combo into tiny little groups a lot sooner.

Win/Win

Its sure looking that way

Had one 300 that didn't like anything also. Tried all the super accurate boat tails and was about to give up and then discovered it wanted flat base bullets all along. Might try some Hornady Interlocks or Sierra's and see what happens. Always enjoyed good accuracy with the Hornadys.

Thanks Godogs57, I happen to have a box and have not tried that yet, will give them a try

In my Mark V I load:

Fed 215
84.0gr. RL-22
168gr. TTSX

I tried alot of different powders in mine with 168 and 180gr bullets and settled on the above load. Makes elk get dead real fast!

God luck with yours,

Elk Country

General Rule:

Whenever one of these bad ass magnums junks out with the real slow burners, go the other way and work to max with a faster burning "slow" powder,like IMR4350.

OR

A double base like R22.

I don't know why but results are often satisfactory and they will group better than the real slow burners. I think it's harmonics and efficient burn but that's a half assed guess on my part. I no longer worry about "why" because I have seen it a few times too often.

This rifle is going to be a fancy fence post real soon. Tried IMR4350, IMR 4821 reg and SC. IMR 7828SSC, Reloader 22, H3450. 150, 165, 180 grain bullets from hornady, barnes, nosler. Today shooting 4 shots of a test load, three out of 4 were 1/2 inch and the 4th 1.23-1.50 apart, nothing consistent when the flyer would show up. There were 2 very good shooters at the range today who do extensive reloading, they looked and just said, oh its one of those guns. Brass is all sized, trimmed and has the same number of shots the them, (2). oh and using CCI 250 mag primers. Any other ideas??

Yeah...

First, accept the fact that all rifles will not be consistent tack drivers/tight groupers...especially those chambered for hot, blown out 300 mags in light tubes with factory assembly.

Next, I would take what looks like your best 2-3 powder/bullet combos based on your 100 yard work. Load up 9-10 of each. Slowly fire 3 shot groups at 300-400-500 yards.get off 100 yard 3 shot groups because they lie a lot.

Watch for 1st shot consistency and POI. Can it hold MOA through several strings of fire? Put first shot where it needs to go from cold barrel?

Working with too many combos hoping for magic results can lead to waives of disappointment.

But watch what happens at longer distances. It may tell a different story. And be realistic of what you expect from the rifle. It is intended for killing BG, not prairie dogs.

If all else fails,maybe time to give it to a smith for tuning/bedding/ rebarrel. That is part of life with rifles.

Good post Bob. However, you left out one of the most important things to consider: Be realistic with your shooting ability. Shooting magnums accurately is harder for some guys than others...... I have a friend like this. He's perfectly content with shooting his 22-250 and 270, but when it came to shooting his 338 win mag, that was a different story all together. I hate to pull this taget out again, but it needs to be a consideration. I'd also point out that if a guy can't hit the broad side of a barn at 100 yards, things aren't going to get much better at longer distances. Just a thunk:

This is when I dialed in the scope for Troy:


His group can be seen in the upper left hand side of the target. Close-up of his group:


As you can see, the rifle was fully capable of "sub moa" accuracy. But with a different shooter, the shooter was not capable of it.....

bsa: I never go there...

I assume shooter and rifle are compatible.

But I too have weened a friend or two off a 300 Weatherby, put them on a 270 and watched good things happen at the 300 yard line. It was in prep for an Alberta deer hunt and the improvement was something to see.

But I assume for these discussions guys know their recoil tolerances.

Some guys don't my friend. I have some friends that are too quick to say their rifles are a POS and don't shoot well... Just saying it happens more than I care to admit...

I shoot a 338 win mag, have for 35 years...Just got a new one and just got a load figured for it. I can consistently get 0.60 in groups with it. I have a 7MM rem mag and it shoots even better, not because its smaller, it has a custom barrel that I put on it. Bet 5 shot out of it, 0.19 @ 100 yards. Once in a while this 300 weatherby will shoot a 0.75-0.60 group, but you can never repeat it with the same load. It is never consistant with where the 1st bullet goes either. I have waited 10 minutes in-between shots so the barrel heat won't be a factor. Played again with it this afternoon. And I'm done with it.

Tom sounds like you have been around the horn! Trip it life is short!

Its very frustrating. This rifle should shoot. But I guess you don't always get what you pay for. But as with ALL things made, some don't always live up to expectations.

The 300 Wby is a hassle free round to load in my experience, but since you are struggling so much with this rifle here's an idea...

The first thing I would do before going any farther is to replace the scope with one that is known to be good-to-go.

My formula for the 300 Weatherby is this:

Weatherby Brass
Fed 215
200 Accubond
H-4350, H-4831 or H-1000
OAL min 1/16 under mag length

With groups just under an inch

Once fired Weatherby Brass headspaced to the shoulder (not the belt)

H-4350 seems to shoot well at any pressure but all the above powders work well at 60k psi or 50k cup.

All this and having a reasonable expectation of accuracy goals.

One should keep in mind that all bullets are not created equal...

Not all otherwise excellent hunting bullets are capable of better than 1 1/2" groups at the bench. The only true measure of a rifle or load potential is with a match-grade bullet. Any group 1" or thereabouts sub-moa load with a standard hunting bullet is good-to-go.

Of course my rifle is steel bedded and the stock fits me well.

I shoot 5 round groups in the light barreled Mark 5, but rapid or real slow fire, the barrel drops them in.

You might need to do your serious range testing from a barrel that hasn't seen a cleaning rod for several boxes of ammo, or make sure that a squeaky clean bore is completely degreased with brake cleaner and alcohol as the final step.

Any residual oils can wreak havoc with grouping for a box or two of ammo until it gets shot out of the bore.

Also, some barrels need to copper-up a little before they settle down.

I'm just talking generally here, because I generally utilize moly or hBn and never clean the barrel with normal solvent or oil.

On rifles that I do, I utilize the brake cleaner before heading out.

Tom but aren't those Weatherby rifles built to a 1.5 MOA guarantee?

If so sounds like you are already "there". Other than wallow around with loads, or rebbarel or re bed, I don't know what else to do. re barrel? rebed?

Send it out for professional TLC?

One idea I don't think has been shared: Have you thought about letting a friend (with proven shooting skills) shoot the rifle to see how it shoots for them?

At least by doing that, you could prove or disprove possible "excessive operator headspace".

I've seen me do that before...on both sides of the argument! Hope you find a solution.

Yes, it does have a 1 1/2 inch guarantee. Its not my rifle, loading for my hunting partner. I'm not sure what he is going to do with it. All I know is it's beyond my ability to do anymore. I do know if it was mine it would go down the road. I will not have a rifle that groups this badly. This was supposed to be his long range rifle, max 500 yards. I would not take a shot at an animal with this rifle at that range, not ethical. Oh well, I have learned a lot while messing with this. Thank you everyone who chimed in and tried to help. I always can learn something new to look for or re check.

My 300Wby had a bad vertical string problem no matter what combo I tried. I free floated the barrel and nothing changed. I took the factory synthetic off and bought a used Accumark stock from the classified, bedded the action and torqued everything down. First group out of the gate with 84.5grs IMR7828 and 180 Nosler Ballistic Tips was under 1".

I've owned many Weatherby's perhaps 10 in 300 WBY. I reload and most were good for cold bbl 3 shot group. My FIL left his at my house. It was terrific. Killed Elk with it.

He kept saying he was going to pick it up, never did and when his kids picked out 3 things for the will my wife chose the WBY. She lets me borrow it.

Knowing the WBY handles recoil better that the WIN or REM in 300, owned them, I found quite a few
I could trade into. I wanted one that shot as good as my FIL's, a few were close. I am talking German ones.

If they were not close they went out the trade door.

I had one that was in 26" It shot every thing bad. Factory and my reloads that were super in other ones.

I was going to quickly move it then decided to pull the action, There was pressure on one side of the bbl pretty far up.

I relieved this and it shot much better, it was not a keeper but shot acceptable.

I found a beautiful blond wood German one with the 24" bbl in a small LGS. It had a crack coming down the wrist. He could not sell it. Got it super right.

I fixed the crack, it was not noticeable, glass bedded the action and that was one great shooting little blonde lady.

I would also look for cracks in the wood around the trigger when I pulled the action.

Make sure the action screws are tightened correctly.

I've fixed quite a few WBY stocks. They have nice wood and are very thin. I would not buy a WBY if the swirls continue into the wrist and past the front of the action.

That pretty wood is the most brittle wood ever.