Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Tell me about the .340 Weatherby

Im surprised it didnt bounce off like a .270 !

My best hunting buddy has a Sako in 338 that is Magna Ported and I bought one of the first KDF brakes for my 340 when they first came out.

The Magna Porting does help with muzzle jump I think but the KDF took ten years of high frequency hearing away from me when I first used it back in the days before good hearing protection. I took it off and haven't used it since. The muzzle blast was atrocious.

Both require good hearing protection IMHO and a warning for a guide or bystander.

Not sure about 2900 from an H&H with a 23-24" barrel. If guys say that's what they are getting I am not about to doubt their integrity. The "without any trouble" part makes me scratch my head a bit.

I run (almost exclusively) 250 gr. SGK's in my .375 Wby. It is a 26" gun. I get 3060 fps and, although I don't know how much faster I can safely go, I know it isn't a whole lot.

I would think that 2900 from an H&H with a short barrel has to be pushing the envelope.

I will also concur with the "fast and hard" recoil impulse from rifles of this class, mentioned by others. At 8.5 lbs scoped and loaded, my .375 Bee is a fairly vigorous old gal.

Good Question.
I was doing a muzzle break review about 20 years ago when I sent a couple of rifles off for Magnaporting. When the .340 came back I noticed two things:

1. The advertising was correct and verifyable.
2. The muzzle stayed considerably straighter with minimal lift and the sensations of recoil was considerably reduced. As I owned both .338 and .338/378 Wildcat at that time, I was able to make direct comparisons before and after.

These comparisons lead me to unload the .338 because it offered no advantage over the ported .340, and also the .338/378 because I could not detect any difference whatsoever in the field, which also negated any justification for the heavier recoil, extra powder, more expensive cases and increased rifle weight of the .338/378.

If there is a point 3, there was no difference in chronographed loads before and after porting.

If there is a point 4, There was no perception of increased muzzle blast for the user which coaligns with the advertising.

John

Helped a guy sight one in. It was a Weatherby with a muzzle break. They kick some but IMO the muzzle blast/noise was worse than the recoil. The good part, other than getting it sighted in and putting it away, was having an open bench on either side to use for a spotting scope and other range equipment. He had been using a 7Mag for elk and went back to it the next year.