Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters What the heck is Weatherby thinking, another big 6.5?

Idaho Shooter,

I haven't talked to anybody at Weatherby about the new round, but Weatherby's tradition, going back to when (and how) Roy started the business, has been to create commercial big game cartridges providing the most velocity for any particular caliber. That's exactly what the .240, .257, .270, 7mm, .300, .340, .375, .378, .416 and .460 did when they appeared.

Accordingly, the 6.5-300 will be the fastest commercial 6.5 cartridge. The claimed ballistics beat the 26 Nosler by about 100 fps with the same bullet weights, even though powder capacity's got to be pretty similar, probably because the 6.5-300 will have the typical Weatherby "freebore" throat.

It remains to be seen how many they sell, but Weatherby rifles have been quite accurate for a while now, and there's got to be some market for the fastest 6.5 cartridge. And regardless of whether they sell a bunch, it's going to remind a lot of shooters of the Weatherby brand.

One observation: It's always interesting on the Campfire (and elsewhere on the Internet) when some company brings out a new rifle cartridge. A bunch of shooters who immediately post, "Bill Jones designed essentially the same cartridge in 1957," or "My sporterized 6.5x55 Swedish Mauser kills deer like the hammer of Thor and I don't see any need for another 6.5," or "Who does Weatherby think will buy this redundant round?"

Well, Bill Jones's cartridge was never chambered commercially, and Weatherby doesn't care who's NOT going to buy a rifle for their new round. Instead, they're following an old Weatherby tradition into the 21st century, offering a really fast cartridge that fits right into the current 6.5 trend. No doubt other people will think it's about time 6.5's got some attention from American shooters, and Weatherby finally filled the 6.5 slot in their line-up.