Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Africa .300 Weatherby for Plains Game?

For those of you who have hunted PG, I have a rifle question:

I'm planning my first trip to Namibia for PG, and I intend to use a Weatherby Mark V in .300 Wby for the hunt. The scope is a Zeiss Conquest 3.5-10x44, and I'd like to know whether you think this caliber is sufficient? I'll be hunting Kudu, Wildebeest, Oryx, Impala, and likely Zebra and/or Hartebeest.

I do shoot the gun well, and I'd work up a handload using a 180-200 grain Nosler Accubond, Partition or a Barnes bullet (recommendations desired). Thoughts?

I could probably swing a new .375 if need be, but I've held onto this rifle for years with such a hunt in mind.

Chris

Rifle/scope/load combo should be just about perfect for you..( either bullet)

Check with your PH and ask him at what distance you should zero...then listen to him and do it.
"The "bush" in Namibia gives you alot of 100 yds or less shots..the savannah, or the Kalahari might give you some longer stuff..

Ingwe

sounds perfect to me, unless you feel you "need" a new .375 haha

Richard, any well contructed bullet in your 300 wea will go perfect. I went with the 180gr partitions but any of the good bullets will work great.

Enjoy your trip, my first Afrcan hunt was the best.

j

it'll work fine.

I took a .300 Wby to Namibia for plains game, with a Burris 2x8 Signature scope and Remington's Safari ammo with 200 gr. Swift A Frame bullets.

The A-Frames worked very well, on game from warthog to Hartmann's Mountain Zebra. Longest shot was around 200 yards- high mag scopes are not necessary, IMO.

That will suffice very well. I took a 300WSM. I hand loaded 60 cartridges with 180gr. Accubonds. I fired 5 shots at five animals. All dead with the one shot each. I guess I took enuf ammo. You will have a great time.

You are well equipped there. I much prefer the Barnes TTSX's and you may want to go back and look at our own resident PH's long thread about same, with lots of great photo's and content. My last two trips were with a ballistically very similar 300RUM as my plains game rifle loaded with Barns TSX 180's and it and they worked perfectly, even on a 2,000lb Eland.

Practice a lot, and be sure to hold a lot lower and further forward on African game than you do on deer or most other american game animals. A good bullet aimed correctly for the game is more important than the caliber there as with everywhere else.

IMHO, 30WBY is one of the best plains game cartridges out there. Not just because of performance, but because ammo is generally easy to find and common and in a pinch 300 H&H and 300 Win ammo can be used with good effect. BTDT.

Good luck!

An absolutly wonderful choice of caliber. The 300 wby is one of the all time greats....

I personally like the 200 gr. Noslers and Woodleighs, but I am sure the Accubonds are just as good..I used the 180 Nosler's for years in the 300 wby and in my present old 300 H&H, and was very satisfied with them. Then tried the 200s out of curiosty on one ocassion and never went back to the 180s. I regulated the 180s to my 30-06s..I have not shot the 300 WBY in a number of years as I have my old 300 H&H and can get pretty close to the Wby with the 200 gr. bullets at almost 3000 FPS and that suits me and my nostalgic self.

(Quote)(in a pinch 300 H&H and 300 Win ammo can be used with good effect.)
dont use 300 win not a safe thing to do. 300h&h is fine but only a complete idiot would tell you to use 300win.

Both headspace on the belt. You blow the neck forward a bit but it works fine. Same same as AI'ing many belted cases. Only an idiot would not know that, or question someone who has done it as well as many other case forming operations for oddball and wildcat cartridges.

it can be done and i have seen the results. is it safe no only an idiot would do it or even worse tell someont to do it. you are a total idiot for telling someone to do it. but this site is full of bad advice like yours.

I have seen it done, more than once and the headspace is the headspace is the headspace. Same deal as when I move the shoulder forward and shorten the neck on my 348AI from 348 brass or ammo. Principle is identical or make 30 Belted Newton ammo from 7mm RemMag brass. Works great, moron.

Well, then maybe you ought to go troll somewhere else that gives better advice. None of us will miss you.

Back on topic now.....

Whatever rifle you take, be sure to practice from tall standing sticks a lot. This is how we shoot most often in Africa and takes a little getting used to. Not QUITE as easy as it looks.
You might want to brew up a few practice loads with 125-130gr bullets backed with about 30grs of AA5744 and shoot them up at targets and varmints etc.

Any good quality bullet from the 300WBY will do the job quite nicely on any and all of the animals you mentioned. Will there be any Eland in the area you are hunting? If so, a really good bullet of decent wieght will be more critical than if not. Good choice on the scope as well. Absolutely no need for 12-18 X's over there but we see them all too often. Overall, as stated before, you have thought this out pretty well.

Great choice.

Yes, the .300 Weatherby and the .300 Winchester are both headspaced on the shoulder, but the .300 Wby case is 2.825" long and the .300 Win case is 2.620" long. That's like adding an additional 0.205" of freebore.

Shooting a .300 Win cartridge in a .300 Wby rifle is probably not the most dangerous thing you would do in your lifetime, but it definitely IS NOT sound shooting advise.

As for the .300 Wby for use on PG animals, it is an excellent choice, especially with 180 or 200 gr premium bullets. The .300 Wby has been used to make one shot kills on ALL African animals, up to and including elephant (although today the legal minimum for thick skinned DG is the .375).

my thoughts exeactly. sorry for calling someone a idiot i just get to bent out of shape when it comes to safety

you are right i just get to be to much of a hot head sorry.
Derrill

Yes, you are adding a bit more freebore, which is why I said "In a pinch" as in the bag with your ammo is sightseeing somewhere in Europe and no 300ROY or H&H ammo can be had. Surprisingly, The only time I saw this done on purpose for the reason mentioned above the shooter proceeded to knock out a cloverleaf group with the winny ammo in his Roy. And it hit close enough to his POI that it was used on the hunt with good effect. It is not preferable, but it is in no way dangerous. That was my only point. I do not reccomend it or advise it as a regular practice but it can and has been done and the only real downside is slightly less velocity as the 300Win powder charge is being burned in a slightly larger chamber and the 300 Win brass looks kinda funny with a really short neck but outside of that it can be done if needs be. Once again, it is absolutely no different in theory or practice from necking up 7mm Mag brass to 30 cal and then blowing the case out and moving the shoulder forward to make 30 Belted Newton ammo or same-same with 348 Win to 348AI which also moves the shoulder forward since that case headspaces on the rim. We wildcating rifle looneys have been doing this kind of thing for many decades with no injuries so far.

Purplefox66, OK to disagree with someone without name calling. I am a stickler for safety as well. Apology accepted and I hereby retract my name calling comment as well. Have you done some hunting in Africa?