My kid just bought a .375 H&H with a 24" barrel. My smith still has the Weatherby reamer from doing my gun, so kid wants to get the treatment on his gun.
My rifle's a 26" barrel so I know what kind of numbers to expect there. Gut feeling...…………..what's the kid going to be giving up less 2" inches of barrel ?? 75-100 fps ??
There were way too many Pre-64 .300 H&H rilfes bored out to .300 Wby...
Left original, they would be worth a bunch more today...
DF
This is a Vanguard 2 Synthetic in .375 H&H. I doubt if either of us or our grandkids will live to see that rifle have a collector's value, even if left in the box.
That would be OK. The 375 diameter bore burns powder well and doesn't need a super long barrel.
On the other side of the coin however, I can say I have used a 375H&H enough to have to re-barrel my own, and I have seen a hand full of game killed with faster 375 Wildcats. So far I can't see anything better comes from shooting a bullet of 270 to 300 grains faster. So unless you just want a 375 Weatherby (and that IS the only good reason to do it. "I want...therefore I need" ) I would leave it as it is. The 375H&H has shown me that it lacks nothing I could ask for and the faster wildcats didn't kill one second faster on anything I have seen shot with them.
I’ve got an AI ( pretty much a twin of the Weatherby) with a 24” barrel....getting 3130 fps ( according to my chrono) with 250 TTSX’s. Went to 3160, but the groups were starting to open....figured that 3130 was “OK”! Haven’t determined brass life yet....but expecting (hoping) 10 or more firings before discarding. Only “kissing” the shoulder when resizing!
I can’t say that it kills any faster than my H&H, but it does flatten trajectory a bit....making long shots a little more doable! memtb
Last edited by memtb; 11/19/18.
You should not use a rifle that will kill an animal when everything goes right; you should use one that will do the job when everything goes wrong." -Bob Hagel
“I’d like to be a good rifleman…..but, I prefer to be a good hunter”! memtb 2024
There were way too many Pre-64 .300 H&H rilfes bored out to .300 Wby...
Left original, they would be worth a bunch more today...
DF
This is a Vanguard 2 Synthetic in .375 H&H. I doubt if either of us or our grandkids will live to see that rifle have a collector's value, even if left in the box.
No doubt...
That just came to mind; have seen too many of those...
I would guess no more than 50fps loss from 2” less barrel. I chopped my 458 Lott from 25” to 23” and lost no more than 30fps, this totally surprised me. Average velocity went from 2287fps to 2255fps with Hornady Dangerous Game 500gr DGX. I never did a velocity average on my own handloads, just worked up till I hit 2250ish and stopped there. I doubled my money on that rifle when I sold it.
My 375 Weatherby achieves, with a 24” barrel, 3006fps with 260gr Accubonds, 3088fps with 260gr Partitions, 2904fps with 270gr Woodleigh PP’s and 2832fps with Woodleigh 300gr PP’s. The 260gr load was hard on one brand of brass, so I throttled it back to just over 2900fps recently, it still kills stuff dead, so no major issues with dropping it down a touch.
My 375 Weatherby achieves, with a 24” barrel, 3006fps with 260gr Accubonds, 3088fps with 260gr Partitions, 2904fps with 270gr Woodleigh PP’s and 2832fps with Woodleigh 300gr PP’s. The 260gr load was hard on one brand of brass, so I throttled it back to just over 2900fps recently, it still kills stuff dead, so no major issues with dropping it down a touch.
Are you running R17 for those numbers ??
My house load is a 250 SGK over H-414 for 3060 in a 26" barrel. I have a little wiggle room on charge weight. But not sure how much. I know when you get 250's - 260's running that fast, a few more fps is really splitting hairs...…..but ain't that what reloaders live to do ??
My 375 Weatherby achieves, with a 24” barrel, 3006fps with 260gr Accubonds, 3088fps with 260gr Partitions, 2904fps with 270gr Woodleigh PP’s and 2832fps with Woodleigh 300gr PP’s. The 260gr load was hard on one brand of brass, so I throttled it back to just over 2900fps recently, it still kills stuff dead, so no major issues with dropping it down a touch.
Are you running R17 for those numbers ??
My house load is a 250 SGK over H-414 for 3060 in a 26" barrel. I have a little wiggle room on charge weight. But not sure how much. I know when you get 250's - 260's running that fast, a few more fps is really splitting hairs...…..but ain't that what reloaders live to do ??
No, running the same powder as you W760 @ 90gr and a 260gr Accubond. Dropped back to 89gr. I find my rifle faster than a mate with same barrel length, only difference between rifles are the chambers, mine has a 1/2”/.500” freebore that runs .3754”. His chamber has a .375”/3/8” freebore the same diameter. With identical loads, his pressures out and mine is way faster than his.
Larger bores and heavier bullets lose less velocity than small bores per inch. Muzzle blast and recoil would be my concern but not with a 24 inch barrel, but could come into play for me at less than 21-22 inches.
If he hasn't already gotten dies for the H&H then I see no down side to the Weatherby if hand loading. Factory is another story, hard to find and expensive when you do.
416 interesting about the free bore differences. How does that compare to the original Weatherby freebore?
"When you disarm the people, you commence to offend them and show that you distrust them either through cowardice or lack of confidence, and both of these opinions generate hatred." Niccolo Machiavelli
My 375 Weatherby achieves, with a 24” barrel, 3006fps with 260gr Accubonds, 3088fps with 260gr Partitions, 2904fps with 270gr Woodleigh PP’s and 2832fps with Woodleigh 300gr PP’s. The 260gr load was hard on one brand of brass, so I throttled it back to just over 2900fps recently, it still kills stuff dead, so no major issues with dropping it down a touch.
Are you running R17 for those numbers ??
My house load is a 250 SGK over H-414 for 3060 in a 26" barrel. I have a little wiggle room on charge weight. But not sure how much. I know when you get 250's - 260's running that fast, a few more fps is really splitting hairs...…..but ain't that what reloaders live to do ??
No, running the same powder as you W760 @ 90gr and a 260gr Accubond. Dropped back to 89gr. I find my rifle faster than a mate with same barrel length, only difference between rifles are the chambers, mine has a 1/2”/.500” freebore that runs .3754”. His chamber has a .375”/3/8” freebore the same diameter. With identical loads, his pressures out and mine is way faster than his.
Cheers.
Dang !!! You did come.up with a fast one.
IIRC, the freebore in my rifle is the .375"/ 3/8 flavor. I know it was a Dave Manson reamer.......but I'm thinking there was some twist of his own he threw at the traditional Weatherby freebore ....... Have to have another look at the specs when boy takes his gun to the smith.
Anyhoo..........in my 26" barrel I'm burning 92.0 gr of the H-414 under the 250 grainer and pulling hind teat to your 260 numbers in a shorter barrel. Good on you for efficiency in engineering.......or just getting lucky. 👍 😁
Have him shoot some H&H before he rechambers; he may not want more recoil for an extra 50-100 fps.
He ran about a dozen Hornady 270 grain factory loads through it to have it huntable in H&H trim for this past bear season. He said it wasn't as hateful as he thought it might be. But he also said he was pretty happy to have not needed to run a second dozen through it at that sitting. He's a fairly recoil-tolerant young gent.
Either way...………. H&H or Weatherby………it'll be a carry a lot - shoot a little proposition. He'll do just fine with it either way.
my son got given to him by his grandfather a custom express 300 HH ,my son is not a hand loader and probably never will be, so for his use in the future I had this express rifle change over to a 300 win. mag for the ease of finding ammo in the future. this rifle is a very nice rifle built by Johnny Bell the stock work is fantastic so right or wrong its now a 300 Win. Mag. ?
Have him shoot some H&H before he rechambers; he may not want more recoil for an extra 50-100 fps.
The Weatherby is a geuine 200+fps gain in velocity, I went from 2610fps flatout to 2830fps flatout with Woodleigh 300gr PP’s. These have less bearing surface of the RNSP variety, which is why I chose them.
This cartridges gains over the H&H is quite staggering, yet the 10gr more powder seems more efficient than it should be. I shot my rifle side by side with a 375RUM with a 26” barrel and I was still 30-40fps ahead of it, they burn an additional 10gr but it doesn’t deliver the velocity it should.
There are several calibers that really gain a lot for the investment..... the .257 Roberts and the .375 H&H immediately come to mind. It seems they were meant to be”improved”! memtb
You should not use a rifle that will kill an animal when everything goes right; you should use one that will do the job when everything goes wrong." -Bob Hagel
“I’d like to be a good rifleman…..but, I prefer to be a good hunter”! memtb 2024
Tejano, The half inch freebore for the 375 IS the original length developed by Roy Weatherby, since his passing, Weatherby throats have gotten shorter and shorter. I run all the original throat lengths and use the reamer prints to order reamers. My shortest throat is .375”, perusing the original specs, the 378 and 460 had .750” throats in the early days.
Currently have 270 Weatherby, 300 Weatherby, 340 Weatherby and 375 Weatherby. Have been toying with doing a barrel for my Model 70 switch barrel in 257 Weatherby, just don’t know if it’s worthwhile over my 25-06’s.
It’s the best thing re-chambering my 375 H&H to Weatherby, it’s the whole package that matters, I have not had to trim a single case after 4-5 loadings, it simply doesn’t grow.
Similar with my .375 AI.....I went 10 firings, and never trimmed. I discarded 100 cases at 10 firings each, after one separated at web! Figured I got my “money’s worth” with those cases! memtb
Last edited by memtb; 12/11/18.
You should not use a rifle that will kill an animal when everything goes right; you should use one that will do the job when everything goes wrong." -Bob Hagel
“I’d like to be a good rifleman…..but, I prefer to be a good hunter”! memtb 2024
Well, FWIW I couldn't Agree more, I did my Weatherby MK-V SS Syn. in .375 H&H out to the .375 Wby. Chambering, w/22" Bbl. and haven't looked back, it's a Win-Win all the way around, 1-Rifle,,,,,, Firing 2-Different Caliber Loads. LJ
