Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting The 300 Wby Mag for elk- is there anything better?

First, congrats on a heck of a deal on the WBY.

As to Remington RUM vs Weatherby .30-378 or Lazzeroni Warbird, .300 RUM rifles can be had for as little as $600. That seems to be $800-$1,000 or more below .30-378 prices and even further below Lazzeroni prices. That is more than enough reason for me to choose the RUM. Or to stick with the Ruger MKII .300WM that cost me $395 new.

Where a 3560fps 180g Warbird load comes in at nearly 49 foot-pounds recoil in an all-up 8.3 pound rifle, my .300 Win Magnum runs 180g @ 3033fps for just over 29 foot-pounds recoil. My .300 WM does what I want at the ranges I’m willing to shoot, with 13-20 fewer foot-pounds recoil than the RUM or Warbird. Recoil and 25-30g less powder per shot are additional reasons for me to stick with my Win Mag.

The difference between a RUM and a Lazzeroni is about 200fps with a 180g bullet (3359gps for the RUM per Nosler, 3560fps for a 180g per Lazzeroni). In practical terms, using 6” diameter PBR zeros, that results in zero ranges of 289 yards vs 304 yards and 600 yard ballistics of 2502fps/2502fpe and -36.9” drop/15.1” drift for the RUM compared to 2666fps/2840fpe and -31.7” drop and 14.0” drift for the Lazzeroni. And the Lazzeroni adds about 17% or 7 foot-pounds more recoil in an 8.3 pound rifle. Given the general availability of rifles, brass, factory ammo and reloading data, the RUM gets my nod. For bragging rights, which don’t interest me, the Lazzeroni would be the obvious choice.

I’m sure you will enjoy your WBY. If I found one at that price it would probably follow me home, although I certainly have no need for one.

Wow 49 recoil... Isn't a 06 ~ 24lbs or so.

Yup, with a maxed out 180g.

My "Rhino Blaster" loads for my .45-70 (460g @ 1812fps) run 48 foot-pounds recoil. They are most definitely NOT fun to shoot. Based on that a maxed out Lazzeroni Warbird wouldn't get much time at the range if I was the shooter.

I'd much rather shoot something I can get a lot of practice with.

The 300 Wby may be great elk medicine to some. Certainly no questioning its effectiveness. However, more is not always more. It is not going to make any elk any more dead than countless other cartridges, while someone may shoot it fine, I don't see many shooting the big recoiling 300s better, and the package it typically comes in is certainly not a good elk rifle in my opinion. If I hunted from a truck or 4-wheeler, and ranges were going to be really long I'd consider it. Otherwise, a 308 win, 30-06 or many others in a lighter, easier carrying, easy shooting package would be my preference.

What an emotional book this has become. Better, worse blah blah blah...

What is forgotten is that the 300 WBY is about 70 years old and took an already great cartridge and improved it. The 300 H&H has been around 100 years and is accepted as a "Hall of Fame" cartridge.

The 300 WBY is a blown out version of the H&H and has performed wonderfully all those years since. The beloved 300 Winchester came out years later. Then decades later we see overbores of 300 UM and 30-378 trying to be king of the 300's.

Don't forget what the 300 WBY did all those years ago, then someone got a great idea of making a less performing 300 with the Winchester. Yippee!

Now you have all the other guys trying to better the 300 WBY with extra unneeded muscle and you end up with a recipe for machismo and still someone thinks a 243 is all you need.

What a case for proving nothing. Anything more than a 300 WBY is too much of not enough and anything less is not enough of too much...

Well, said Shrapnel!!

300 Wby, 300 Win Mag, 300 RUM, Elk just won't know the difference.

The trajectory of a .270 Win/130gr with the power of a .338.

Just about the perfect combination for men who can figure out how to operate a reloading press.

Most people are more interested in having a rifle/cartridge combination that meets their needs rather than having the “king of the .300’s”. Rifles that they judge to be unnecessarily expensive, have unnecessarily high recoil levels and that are often longer and/or heavier than desired and/or need brakes to help tame recoil to acceptable levels are of little interest. That doesn’t make the cartridges “too much” -- except for those people for whom it does.

The .300 WBY is undoubtedly a great cartridge but the .300 Winchester filled a specific need – for a shorter SAAMI registered cartridge of similar performance (if not quite equal) that would fit in an unmodified action designed for .30-06 cartridge length. Winchester hit a price/performance point that was unachievable with the then proprietary .300 WBY. Based on public acceptance and subsequent sales, which far exceeded that of the .300 WBY, I’d say Winchester hit a home run with the bases loaded.

People can argue the merits of one cartridge over another but none of the arguments hold water when the needs and wants of the user are ignored.

The 300 Weatherby is no doubt a good and old round. However, I'd rather not deal with Free bore, weatherby rifles, weatherby ammo/brass. HENCE I prefer the 300 win mag and especially the beltless 300 RUM over it.

No problems here with the 300 Win but the "Weatherby rifles, free bore, Wby ammo, and dreaded 'belt'" comment is all red herring as to the capability of the 300 Wby itself which is what the thread is about. But I understand--often times cartridges and rifles are inextricably married. But here is where no-fault divorce truly comes in.

You really don't gave to deal with any of those (other than the belt) to have the 300 Wby; the Wby brass, yes, but a hundred pieces will get you a long ways down the road as long as you can work a press. And you could get Rem 300 Wby brass at one time; not sure about that presently.

There were and still are other makers who chambered for this big 300 and at this "build-of-the-month" site, there really is not much trouble to cobbling one up even on the cheap.

After some forty years of shooting both standards and magnums based off the old H&H, for the life of me, I have never figured out how the magnum's "belt" was some sort of gremlin.

Sorry, I just had to chuckle at this. It tugged at my heartstrings.

George -

There are few manufacturers of rifles in .300 Weatherby these days. Winchester, Savage, Remington and Ruger used to but no longer list them. Sauer ($$$$$$) still does. Not sure who else but unless you want a used one or a custom you will probably end up with a Weatherby.

Freebore has never bothered me much. I've often joked that in my .257 Roberts Ruger M77 the bullets couldn't touch the lands with a stick. Some of my other Rugers are the same, yet they are all very accurate with my handloads.

Weatherby ammo? Unless you reload, you are going to pay a significant premium for ammo, regardless of the manufacturer.

Like you, I never figured out what the problem is with the belt other than it isn't needed on modern (non-H&H) cartridges.

Midway offers .300 Weatherby brass from Norma, Nosler, Hornady, Weatherby and Remington. Remington is the least expensive at $92.99 per 100, only about $0.20 more per piece than Winchester .300 Win Mag brass. Not a big concern.

You are correct that the .300 WBY can be judged on performance alone, but that doesn't help the guy that has to buy the ammo, carry the rifle or deal with the recoil. If such factors weren't a concern we could all be shooting 29" barreled $11,000 CheyTac M300 rifles chambered in .408 CheyTac with $4,200 Nightforce scopes and ammo that costs over $6 per round. But hey, such a rig would be effective out to 2,500 yards in the right hands...

You work for Winchester? Sounds like the hype they tried to sell us on with the 325 WSM....

Judged by performance only it comes up short to the 300 ultra.

Argument noted. 😃 Blaser chambers for it too. And, you can still take a standard 700 action, add a bigger box if you want, and rebarrel to 26" for the "B" for not too much. That's not too difficult or much for the avid elk hunter. For the one weekend a year, casual hunter, yes, probably not a good idea.

But, all of the "don't do" arguments doesn't detract from the cartridge's capability to deliver a "ton" of energy to 500-600 yards with a very slippery bullet. I know this not from so much experience with the 300 itself but with its bigger brother, the 340, with "less slippery" bullets.

Anyway, on this fall's elk hunt, again, my only chance was at a partially exposed, branch antlered bull at 500+ yards in a cross wind at dusk. I considered only momentarily BECAUSE I had a 300 Why in hand.

No shot taken; no bull for me. My partner, on the other hand took a grand 6x6 at 216 yds with a....270. Died in his tracks...like they always do.😄 That typifies elk hunting--you just don't know so prepare for the least ideal shot and that's where the bigger 300's and 33's come into their own if you can get along with them. And Why's 300 is still one of the very best.

Sako chambers for it too and it really is an elk killing machine, at least better than a 243...

That group really sucks. Every shot missed the bull by over an inch and a half!

On a serious note, that target is proof positive that some people can shoot magnums very, very well.

Unless there are powder burns on it...

I'm not much for shooting groups, but I did try some powders and still came back to IMR-7228 and Nosler 180 grain BT bullets. These loads chrongraphed just over 3200 fps. When a gun shoots like this and has the ballistics that the 300 WBY brings to the table, I do feel strongly about how good an elk killer it is.

This group is just bringing the crosshairs over to where I want on paper, the rest of the proof is in pictures and my freezer...