Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Your favorite weatherby caliber and why?

Do you get them cryo-ed for stress relief? Seems like too much figure in a barrel might not be a good thing.

The better the figure the better it shoots.

Always wanted to try a .257 as a deer/ antelope rifle.

But on the other hand, I'm just an old confused 7mm Rem Mag fan shooting high BC bullets that seem to work great, especially on windy days.

Hold into the meat.

7mm Guy

Thanks for the catch! My thoughts got ahead of my fingers. Fixed it.

I was always impressed with the 300, I have played with my vanguard 6.5-300.

Ask him about his chrome moly stock…

A 240, 257, 270, and 30-378. I simply have a need for speed. Would like to pick up a 6.5x300

.378 b/c of the mild recoil.

I prefer the .416 WByMag for same reason.
And I must add that I prefer a synthetic barrel over wood of any kind.

Sorry, couldn't resist.

And when the 505Gibbs recoil is getting too comfortable

257 Weatherby: I've never seen any other caliber come close to anchoring deer, RIGHT THERE.
300 Weatherby: Arguably, the greatest all around caliber out there. I've taken lots of game with it, including about 17 species of African game.
340 Weatherby: Very badass. 338 Winchester on steroids. IF when I ever go fro brown bear, this will be my caliber of choice.

I started out many years ago as a 270 Wby fanboy, so to speak. Great cartridge and amazing ballistics, but after picking up and hunting with a 257 Weatherby a few years later, the 270 Wby rarely leaves the safe. I quickly discovered the 257 kills em' just as dead and does so with less recoil. Also, I will say, every single animal I've shot here in Central and South Tx has dropped at the shot from my 257. Amazing killer. With the 270, I've had a few run 20-30 yds before going down. Purely anecdotal, but just my experience I will say, I've been hunting with a 240 quite a bit these last few years and it's quickly taken a close 2nd as my favorite to my 257. 95gr NBT's at 3450 are nasty.

Got my first last spring. Never got to shoot a deer with it because of daughter and grandson duties. That’s ok though. I kinda wanted to see what a 150 grainers at 3295 did. Oh well next year. Edk

I thought about a zero freebore Wby, but became concerned about someone shooting factory ammo and getting into pressure. As you know, Wby factory ammo is pretty hot. Freebore may tolerate hotter rounds than zero freebore, or at least that's what I've read.

If you know what you have, you can load accordingly. But, if a future owner doesn't know about freebore or the lack there of, he may get excessive pressure with factory ammo. At least that's what kept me from building one.

And, am curious how zero free bore adds extra barrel life.

I'd appreciate your thoughts and experience on this.

DF

Two kinds of Weatherby folks: Those who own them and those that wish they did….

Curmudgeons abound.

I got my first Mark V 7mm as a rough donor to rebarrel to 7mm STW. After some fine groups with Weatherby factory ammo and comparing the performance of 7 Wby and 7 STW, I decided to keep it and refinish it. My wife gave me a Mark V lightweight .30-06 for our 30th anniversary. Then along came a .300 and another 7mm Roy. Last year I won a 6.5-300 Wby at an RMEF banquet, which I’ve not hunted with yet.

Happy Trails

My favorite is probably the .340, just because it is the only Weatherby cartridge that I have spent any real time with. I think I killed caribou, elk, mule deer, whitetail and black bear with it, plus smaller critters. Spire points and accubonds if I remember correctly. I finally traded it off a couple years ago as I just didn't like dealing with the recoil and that multi lug Mark V action didn't impress me much. It was heavy too.

I really don't miss it, though it hit critters (and myself) with authority.

Here’s a sexy little Weatherby I made a few mods to. It started out as a like new Weatherby custom house job in 300 Wby.

The original owner had, I assume, placed the rifle in his safe with a moisture spot on the barrel. When it was made for sale, the barrel had a dime sized erosion spot that had eaten down into the barrel ~ couldn’t be buffed out or filled.

With a deep discount on the price. I bought it, shot it, and found it to have typical Weatherby accuracy ~ 1.5” at 100 yards with 5 rounds.

I elected to put a new Lilja tube on it, and a MCM stock. Turned it into a Black Knight that shot sub @ 100.

I killed a few deer with it, then sold it to find something else I desired more.

Kinda wish I’d kept it...It was a really good shooting rifle.




🦫

I like several Weatherby calibers, but the .300 is my favorite:

https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/galleries/16671066/300-weatherby-magnum

Why? It weighs right at 9# as pictured, is accurate with a variety of bullets, is easy to shoot well and hit with.

I've had most of them including a couple of .340's and 3 different .416's, 2 custom barrels, 1 triple magnaported, 1 factor break and 1 clean barrel, cropped to 25 inches which tended to be the most accurate of the three and generated the highest velocities.

It took me 12 years to shoot the barrel out on the .257 but that included 600 of the rounds at range time and load development, the balance on game. It seemed to kill more instantly than the .270 even when lighter 110 grain and 130 grain bullets were used. Normally I favor a jump in caliber before more velocity but once you get towards those mid 3000's in velocity, you start witnessing a cartridge that breaks all the common opinions. The .257 is exceptional on medium game and if capable of whatever the rifleman is capable.

The .270 was its equal for one shot drops when using 130 grain CnC bullets but as the .270 Weatherby had been used and very successfully on water buffalo, lots of them, using 150 and 160gn Partitions, I also tried the cartridge which some heavier weights for caliber and found it worked well on the mostly medium sized feral game. Never saw a 7mm Weatherby but have used the Remington and STW on game so they are much the same and equal to the .270 Weatherby at least on the game I hunted.

The 300's and .340 couldn't really be tested for any difference or benefit, nor could the 338/378 I had on Aussie game as the aforementioned cartridges sufficed more than adequately for what we had and red deer did not prove as tough as born wild brumbies.

Once you get up to the .378 Weatherby you need a marketing hat to convince yourself you need it, meaning a use for it because the .416 and .460 can cover the same ground. I used the .416's from 1990 to 2002 and never had a complaint. The .460 I used a lot longer than that so often had them in the field at the same time as well as several .458's. Never met and animal that didn't meet its match with those.

The big surprise is accuracy. If you can master the big Weatherby's, they offer surprising accuracy where cloverleaf groups are absolutely not rare.

I think the 240 is as good as contributors state, it does drop deer sized game cleanly and in the 26 inch barrel is relatively soft on the ear. In a practical sense though it offers far less than the standard .25/06 due the cost of brass, case capacity, bullet weight range. I've had both and still have the .25/06 which also has the 26 inch barrel.

Which is best? Hard to provide facts over opinions but the .257 as a pure hunting rifle is good, the .340 is really proving your money's worth if you hunt larger animals but the secret here is to get the barrel Magnaported. It doesn't produce any noticeable increase in muzzle blast, holds the muzzle lower to point of aim and definitely feels like there is a recoil reduction. Add to this lot the .460 as you can load it to your own recoil level and still have reasonably common loading components. Brass lasts forever and the medium 4064/Varget/ 350/760 type powders work very well. If you want to travel light, the .416 can be bought or built in a lighter package but you will need to choose between velocity, recoil and a break of some sort. I probably killed more animals with my first .416 which had no break, but I was half my age and half as smart back then.

If you want 2, I'd recommend a 7mm and a .340.

If you want one, get the .257.