Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Express Rifles and Big Bores Only a custom rifle , made to exactly your dream specs....

have you ever built a custom rifle , made to exactly your dream specs only to find its not exactly what you thought it might be?
if you've got a good job where you can afford to blow some cash on toys and your into heavy caliber rifles...well I had a dream of building the ultimate elk hammering rifle back several years ago.., so I decided to build exactly what I wanted...
one of my other ELK RIFLES is a custom combo I put together , I ordered a spare fibermark weatherby synthetic stock for my 340 wby rifle and a 378 wby barreled action, and after doing some rather extensive bedding, modifications, because of the additional recoil lug on the 378wby barreled action, and strengthening the stock work with two large pillar bed inserts and drilling the stock wrist area from the butt too the rear of the action so I could insert custom bent section of 5/8" thread rod coated with a great deal of epoxy bedding compound to both add a bit of weight and rigidity to the stock, and adding two 1/4" thread rod sections to the forearm area with a good deal more bedding compound behind the forward barrel mount, recoil lug to the bedding in the stocks forward in-letting and modifying it to fit the extra recoil lug the 378 wby action has, plus two cross bolts epoxied into the stock , one on both ends of the action bedding ,and adding a 2.5x Leopold scope, and a thick recoil pad I had one really powerful rifle that weighted about 9.75 lbs .
the rifles a bit heavy, at about 10 lbs plus , with the scope but you really appreciate the weight as any lighter would just make the recoil even more noticeable.
Ive easily got about $1900 in this rifle,(in 1990 dollars) but thats a screaming bargain compared to the $3000 weatherby wanted for a similar custom synthetic stocked, and bedded, 378 wby when I inquired at that time.

Now its both extremely accurate ( 1"-1.2" 3 shot groups off the bench at 100 yards are common) and...yes it kicks like a mule,...felt recoil exceeds my 458 mag, but if you absolutely want to knock an elk or any other large game silly this tends to get their attention!
theres absolutely no need for this level of power to be used on ELK or MOOSE, but if your into powerful long range rifles its both impressive and very effective.
its one of those times where you get almost too much of a good thing, it absolutely hammers elk with hornady 300 grain boat tail bullets, loaded to 2900fps !!
yes it shoots really flat, and it punches thru the 1/4" steel gong at 500 yards at one local range so I can,t shot at that any longer.
But the facts are that in skilled hands , and used within a reasonable range,any caliber from about a 270 Winchester-up thru a 338 win mag is going to prove to be very effective,on elk If you can precisely place your shots, and know your games anatomy.
but if your willing to accept the harder recoil levels a 378 wby has and use top quality bullets and practice a good deal with the rifle,you can just about ignore problems involving lack of penetration, or excessive drop, at anything approaching reasonable ranges, that may be an issue with lesser calibers, now you still need to precisely place your shots,and know your rifles trajectory, but busting thru an ELKs shoulder is hardly going to slow a 378 WBYs 300 grain bullet. enough to destroy the projectiles effectiveness..
Its also not a rifle your going to shoot from the prone position without getting the recoil levels far up past the comfort levels or point you'll want to do that more than absolutely necessary.
]firing from a sitting or standing position's not too bad with a sling, being properly used , but you'll darn sure know when its gone off!
I doubt you'll fire more than 10-12 shots before your shoulder starts to bruise,and your common sense tells you to stop shooting!
but when your hunting its a non-issue because you'll seldom fire more than once or twice.
its also the reason you'll occasionally see barely used 378 wby,416 wby and 460 wby rifles for sale at decent prices that have been barely used.
you can fire a 300grain bullet at about 2870fps,very easily,with zero pressure indications and long brass life, making enough energy to hunt African dangerous game and it shoots almost as flat as a 7mm mag for most of 500 yards
if your used to absorbing heavier recoil, the 378 wby makes an impressive , and expensive tool, but Ive found the 250 grain bullets in a 340 wby do everything you can reasonably expect from an ELK rifle with less recoil.[/color]


for anyone whose interested, the 378 wby kicks like a mule and works great as an ELK rifle, but its not proven to be any more effective than my 340 wby, so I only hunt elk with it when I get the odd masochistic urge to let it beat me half silly.



http://www.norma.cc/content.asp?Typ...=Calibers&Title=378+Weatherby+Magnum

http://www.chuckhawks.com/378weatherby.htm

378 Weatherby Magnum

In 1952, Roy Weatherby designed this cartridge. He began with the 416 Rigby case, added a "magnum" belt and his patent "double-radius" shoulder, and necked the case to accept 0.375-inch bullets. In order to assure ignition of powder charges exceeding 100 grains, he asked Federal to develop a new primer. The result was the Federal 215 "Magnum" primer, now familiar to handloaders. Weatherby personally field-tested his 378 during an African Safari in 1953. He used the, then new, Schultz & Larsen rifle, especially developed to his specifications. During that hunt, he took a bull elephant with one shot. With best loads, the 378 Weatherby exceeds 375 H&H performance by fully 300 fps. With pointed, efficient bullets, trajectory is similar to best 270 Winchester loads; hence, the 378 can deliver staggering doses of energy to targets at extreme ranges. For example, it can deliver more energy at 500 yards than the 30-06 develops at the muzzle! Such performance has a price � heavy recoil. Few shooters will ever learn to handle the recoil generated by this chambering in a rifle of normal weight. Addition of a muzzle brake is practically a necessity for most shooters. As with any other such chambering, hunters are well advised to consider using only bullets of best possible construction, to assure adequate weight retention so that penetration will not be compromised significantly, should the bullet happen to strike heavy bone going in. Obviously, this cartridge is more powerful than necessary, except for hunting in Africa.


youlll also get sticker shock when you go to reload the ammo

http://www.midsouthshooterssupply.com/item.asp?sku=0004433001
keep in mind you only get about 65 cartridges from a pound of powder

but you also won,t be plinking with the rifle, its awesomely effective on elk,or anything else Ive shot, but so is the 340wby if you know what your doing with a rifle and the 340 ammo can be loaded for less than 1/2 the cost and will still shoot thru an elks chest at 500 yards

btw, I took my 378 to a range with a 500 yard GONG that was a 1 foot diam. round piece of 1/4" steel suspended by two chains,hanging below a upside down (U) bent section of 1" rebar
after sighting in the rifle at my customary 3.3" high at 100 yard zero , I tried two shots at the gong, the range guy was spotting just to see If I hit, after two shots he told me not to shoot at the gong anymore as I was punching nickle size holes thru it at 500 yards
Range Velocity Impact Energy
0 2870 ...............-1.5..... .5487...
50 2781................ 1.44.. 5152..
100 2697............... 3.27.. 4846..
150 2615 ...............3.88.. 4555..
200 2535................ 3.22 4281.
250 2457 ................1.2.... 4022 .
300 2380 ................-2.25... 3773
350 2304 ................-7.26.. 3536
400 2230................ -13.91.. 3313..
450 2157............... -22.31... 3099..
500 2086............... -32.57... 2899..

BTW
proper sling use, a rifle recoil pad for your vest
and a recoil pad on the stock
http://www.midsouthshooterssupply.com/item.asp?sku=0001001641


http://www.midsouthshooterssupply.com/item.asp?sku=00094310010

is mandatory when your using a 378 wby and I won,t even think about shooting it from the prone position
if I was not over 6'2" and 260 lbs I doubt Id be shooting it even as little as I do, yes I hunt elk with it occasionally, but the 340wby does anything Ive ever asked an elk rifle to do so the 378wby is more of a toy, built to see just how much more effective it would be, the answer is not nearly enough more to warrant the increased recoil over the extremely effective 340 wby loaded with 250 gain bullets at 2900fps, compared to a 300 grain at about the same speed in the 378wby, but the 340 takes about 80 grains of propellant, the 378 takes about 110 grains of powder
recoil with the 378 wby is near 60ft lbs
the 340wbys closer to 38 ft lbs making it very easy in comparison
http://www.handloads.com/calc/recoil.asp


btw most 300 mags with a scope would be closer to 27 ft lbs for a way to gauge recoil and a 7mm mag would be about 22ft lbs

GOOD read. I've always felt the 340 Weatherby would be at the top of a list of cartridges used as all-arounders. I went with a 300 magnum which btw calculates to a recoil level of 30.7ft lbs(mine would be at 27ft lb w/1 more lb of weight). My 9.3x62 is at 28.5ft lb. Although felt recoil varies from person to person and can be off set by stock design and such I like the idea of posting recoil level figures just to give a general idea to someone interested in the cartridge.

You were able to get through that?

Coffee hadn't kicked in yet I reckon. Plus I gave him the benefit of the doubt that after shooting that 378 his brain was still vibrating a bit. STILL a good read though.

Yeah, a good read, but I also find that my fast 33 - a wildcat that is very similar to the 340WBY- is about all I can shoot well without lots of practice. Put another way, it is as much cartridge as I want to shoot unless dangerous game is on the menu. I have had several guides in Colorado and Alaska tell me they thought the 340WBY was about the best all around sportsmans cartridge going. I tend to agree.

My custom is also an 'ideal for me' build that did not cost me as much as some of the off the shelf similar rifles and I had a lot of fun changing things on it, and learned a lot, over the years until I came up with the right combo.

I played with a .340 a couple of years ago, liked it OK, but found I could never get more than about 100 fps more than my .338 Win Mag with the same bullets and comparable pressures w/ appropriate powders for each cartridge. As such, the .338 has stayed, the .340 went down the road.

YMMV

The .338 Ultra mag is your Huckleberry, anything larger is just for fun or game that is going to eat you or stomp your hindend into puddle. It flat takes mule deer with athority using the 180gr class and the 250gr Accubond and Partition are killers of the strongest willed of elk.

Here is one guide that sees the .300 Win. Mag. as as much cartridge as he wants to see in the hands of his client...

Bullets matter more than headsstamps and placement trumps all.

It has been my experience that many practice not enough from fieldpositions with their loudenboomer and some even think it making up for bad shooting.

Both tend not to see the error of their ways...

and neither are as softspoken about their round yet deadly with it as the 7x57 - guys.

+1 Karl!

Have good sleep