Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles 300 Win Mag vs 300 Weatherby

I’ve owned both as a younger man, but I’m older now and no longer care for the recoil. My biggest kicker now is a 30-06 and as soon as one of my grandsons grows a little, he gets it. I’ll use a 270win till my hunting days end.

i prefer the Weatherby. The.300 Win mag has some design features I don't care for. I have shot one quite bit and find them finicky to load for. I owned two .308 Norma mags until I gave them to grandsons. I much prefer them.

I bought an XTR M70 PF in .300 Weatherby to replace the Normas . I put it in a Tupperware stock. It shoots very well with my preferred 200 grain loads.

Truthfully, I don'tshoot .300 mags much. I prefer my '06s and .338Win Mag foruse in Oregon. The Weathery will go to Wyoming.

Have to agree on this.
I have been shooting the 300WM for several decades, most of the time with Federal Gold Medal brass purchased way back in the day. it was much better than the Win or Rem brass of the time
tried some Norma brass and quite quickly went back to the old Federal........then just a few years ago Lapua finally started making 300WM brass, a game changer !!!!! Fhuqk the 300Wby

y'all can't use the "crap brass" excuse anymore

300 WBY Peterson brass

Interesting re WBY brass quality.

My father purchased several boxes of .300 WBY factory empties (Norma) around 1969-70. Dad's gone, but still have most of the brass. Most has never been loaded because I worked off a single box, partial sizing. The "busier" of two 700s has between 200-250 rds total lifetime. No, I don't punch alot of paper with .300s....any flavor. The .300s kill stuff. The annual zeroing check was most always a single round landing 12:00 2" high, where I wanted it. For many years didn't even bother to check.

Anyway, the only attrition from that single box has been from losses in the field. Usually pick up the empty before tagging the animal. Every case still in that box has been loaded 12-15 times with no case inspection fails.

Some credit goes to those 700s. The Wilson gauge sez shoulders aren't moving much in either. Really like that. Dad's Mk5 is another matter.

More recently started using RP brass to work up 200 gr NP and 150 gr TTSX loads. Stuff seems well made, no attrition yet. The difference in case capacity vs WBY brass is impressive.

I bought a Colt Coltsman in 300 H&H that someone had rechambered to 300 Weatherby, it was a little too much for me so I had it rebarreled to 300 H&H...one of my favorite guns

My 300Win is using RWS brass @ present. A buddy bought 1K RWS 300Win Mag cases ~15yrs back and I've nibbled a few hundred out of his stash. I can't imagine needing more, but, if I ever do I suspect I'll nab Lapua.

The 300 Winchester is a great chambering.

People who can’t shoot, can’t shoot

Won National Matches with it and the 230 Berger OTM




870 yards with the 208 A-Max






840 yards with the 230 Berger





1825 yards with the 230 Berger

I have felt considerable antipathy toward the 300 Win Mag from the time it was offered and chosen by many companies as the 30 cal. of choice; over my beloved 308 Norma Mag. I thought the short neck was stupid and the cartridge was a poor fit in the standard magazine. I still dislike the cartridge. Just prejudice, I guess.
I have chambered most of them at some point. The WSM, 300 H&H, 30-338, 308 Norma, 30 Newton, 300 Win Mag, 300 Weatherby, 30 STW, 300 RUM. I have not chambered a 300 PRC, but the Newton is about the same thing and predates it by about 110 years. I still have an affection for the 308 Norma. I shot my first one in 1964.
Ultimately, there is not a huge difference between most of them. They push 180s at speeds from 3000 to 3200 fps. Some fit in magazines better. Between the 300 Win and 300 Weatherby, the difference is very slight. Given the same mag length, the Weatherby gets throated shorter and the bullet is seated to the bottom of the neck. The 300 Win Mag gets a longer throat, and the bullet gets seated to the base of the neck. The oal is shorter in the Winchester, if that's important to you. If I was forced to make the choice, I would say the Winchester might shoot a little better. The weatherby will probably get you an extra 60 fps at the same pressure levels. Both are going to kick a little. Like the little guy says, headstamps don't matter much, or something like that. GD

I load for both & like the Weatherby better, although 6 of one 1/2 a dozen of another as far as killing goes. For deer they aren’t necessary but hard to beat their performance on elk at 300+ yards & close up too,

300 Win mag to 300 Weatherby is like the 308 to the 30-06. You can approach the ballistics of one with the other, but if you hot rod the Weatherby or shoot factory Weatherby ammunition, it still beats the 300 Winchester magnum.

The 300 Weatherby seems to hit the perfect balance of ballistics and recoil in the 300 magnum lineup…

I have to laugh when people say stuff about a cartridge like "it is only 100 fps faster".

Sure, maybe the 300 Wby is only 100 fps faster than the 300 Win Mag
Maybe the 300 Win Mag is only 100 fps faster than the 30-06
Or the 30-06 might be 100 fps faster than the .308
Then the .308 is a 100 fps faster than the 300 Savage.

You get the idea of what I am saying......

Or, you can load the 300 Wby to a slightly lower pressure and end up at the same velocity as the 300 Win Mag. This could result in longer brass life if that interests you

The debate could continue forever. No right or wrong answers. Pick the one you enjoy and have confidence with.

The same fktards that say "it's only 100-150 fps faster" & it's not worth the squeeze

are the same fktards that fill up the forum pages on how great the creeds and prc's are , proven pieces of sheet that never improved velocity over anything in existence in the last 1000 years

I’ll take the .300 Weatherby over the .300 Winchester every day and twice on Sunday. Higher velocity, longer neck for better grip on bullets, and mine have been quite accurate. And a Weatherby will cleanup a Winchester chamber.

I don’t believe all 300 Win Mag actions will accommodate the Weatherby case though. I know my Nosler will as it’s a magnum length action that they use for the 375 H&H. And it’s a damn tempting idea. Thinking when I wear out the current barrel I’m going to screw on a 7mm magnum of some sort on it. Keeping my eye on how the PRC pans out.

Nothing wrong with the 7 maggie or the PRC for that matter.

I don't think extra velocity is why the Creedmoor or PRC came about.

I have owned both, hunted with both and killed a respectable number of game with both.
The Weatherby can be driven a bit faster. But on game and in the field I see no difference. In my 2 examples side by side the Winchester Mag was more accurate, but again not to a point it truly mattered. Both will fail you if you use bullets that don't pernitrate well, and both work to an excellent degree if you use good bullets that hold together.
Many complain about the kick of the Weatherby, (more then the Winchester) but it may be more related to stock design. My Weatherby MkV had a custom stock on it and was similar in shape and drops to the one on my M70 Winchester. So I could not tell much difference at all. But comparing 2 cartridges in 2 rifles and comparing the felt recoil when the 2 stocks are radically different makes no sense. My 2 were stocks nearly alike and firing them side by side I could feel a tiny bit more kick from the 300 Weatherby, but so little more as to me insignificant.

As a side note I own neither now. In the mix, in the past, I have also owned two 308 Norma Mags, three 300 H&H mags and one 30/378 mag.
As of now I own only 1 300 H&H and I've sold all the other 300 mags. Nothing wrong with them at all, but not enough "righter" with any of them to get me to see real advantages over my 30-06. I did keep my Mauser in 300H&H not because it's a 300, but because it's a classic Mauser and I just like that rifle. I use it with 200 grain Nosler Partitions and everything I shoot with it rolls over dead, so I have nothing to complain about.

Swamplord isn't very bright but he gets a rock-solid A+ for consistency.

I’ll throw a monkey wrench into the conversation. 300WSM and 300WM factory 200gr Federal Terminal Ascents state 2810fps on the box. Turns out, that’s out of a 22” barrel. Guys I know are cronographing them at just over 2900fps+ with 24” barrels, and close to 3000fps with 26” barrels. I currently own a semi custom Kimber Classic in 300WSM and a Weatherby Mark V Deluxe in 300WBY. Yes, the WBY is about 100fps faster, but that’s minimal. IMO, the fact that the 300WSM is a short case, and they can be built around smaller guns, just makes them so much nicer to carry in the field than the WBY.