Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters .300 WBY vs. .300 Win. - Realistic Expectations

Once again, I thought we were all in agreement that 3300+ is outside of spec pressure for 300 Wby. Is this or is this not the case?

85-7828 with a 180 used to be a "standard" load for the 300 Weatherby....or right in that range, kind of like the 270 and 60-H4831. Everybody used it.
What has happened to the Hodgdon data I don't know since it's been awhile since I owned a 300 Weatherby.

But just like any other cartridges that get bad raps for variations in velocities fro manual data,IME velocities varied from the 300 Weatherby,too. I had two M70 Classics, both chambered 300 Weatherby with 26" SS barrels that varied about 125 fps with that very load.

I think bullwhacker is getting the velocity from that tight,smooth button rifled Lilja barrel. I have seen that type barrel deliver somewhat more velocity with the same charges than a lot of M70 barrels, which seem to take heavier charges to generate the same velocities....could also be throat,rifling, etc....whatever it happens all the time.

Bob, the differences in the data amount to brass Hodgdon's low number uses Rem brass, and IMR has 2 sets of numbers: one in Rem brass that matches Hodgdon's, and one in Weatherby factory brass that is 5+ grains higher. There must be some significant differences in brass volume.

I can't explain the difference in velocity over the book numbers other than pressure. You may have done it though.

HnS: I bet there IS a difference between Remington and Norma (Weatherby) brass.

I always used Weatherby brass...or FF'd 300 H&H WW stuff. Components make a difference

I remember reading somewhere that some competitive shooters chose button rifled barrels from Lilja for their 308's and 1000 yd shooting because they swore the barrels helped them edge up in velocity enough to stay stable at 1000 without wearing out the brass too fast.

There must be some mojo in Liljas, huh? I know that used to be my excuse when I couldn't match Nosler's book numbers in my guns. I wonder if H-S Precision button-rifles bores...

H-S are cut.

HnS: I have only had one Lilja, a custom 270 Weatherby. It was FAST.

But I have seen the same things from Douglas tubes. I have one of those here that will give very good velocities from the 7 Rem Mag with pretty standard loads.

Just a WAG but these custom button barrels tend to run tight,are smooth,and get the velocities..at least that's what I've seen. IME when a rifle runs "slow" or "fast", the barrel and throating,interior dimensions,and rifling etc are the reasons.

I'm sure you're right, Bob. And I'm sure the custom barrels from the upper-end makers are well worth the funds. For now, all I can do is drool! But not for 3300+ with a 180gr bullet. That sounds obnoxious. I have no doubt it works though, and maybe even a second or two faster than the same 180 at 3150.

I tried Partitions this year. Didn't see any elk though. The 180 at 2750 did kill a deer when shot through the ribs. I didn't alert the media.

Never seen a 300 Weatherby "not work"..

Bob, I remember reading an article in Rifle magazine where the author was testing his new Jarrett rifle in 257 Weatherby that had one of those "tight" Jarrett button rifled barrels. Jarrett stated that he believed that tight barrels produced better accuracy. Problem was though, the author couldn't shoot Weatherby factory ammo out of the rifle w/o blowing primers. Of course, velocity will suffer as well with those tight bore barrels. Jarrett started making his own barrels after finding all the other makers not being able to make barrels to his accuracy standards and with an acceptable reject rate. Funny thing is though, that I can't ever remember seeing a match won using a Jarrett barrel and somehow all these matches keep being won using those old crummy barrels. Jarrett also cited delivery times using other makers barrels as being a problem when you add up using McMillan stocks as well. To his credit though, I don't know of any other custom rifle builder that makes their own actions, barrels and stocks under one roof.

RD: That was Terry Weiland with the 257. As I recall the rifle was not free-bored either but my memory could be bad on that point...in any event he could not shoot factory stuff in it.

This barrel stuff is funny, though. You get a tight barrel that doesn't go fast then you get one that does and it's hard to pin down "rules". In the end I guess when you see a barrel and round performing above and beyond the normal velocity levels,it's usually about pressure.

I go based on what is within generally accepted velocity levels for a given cartridge and have mostly stayed out of trouble.

Spot on, and IME you can still toss the 300RUM and 30/378 in that bag and have the same results. The 300WBY, 30-378 and RUM will beat the 300WM and the others by a little (about 150fps as has been stated) but the much bigger cases for me only produced more noise and recoil. They did not beat the 300WBY at all in my limited (a couple of rifles in each) testing. I think that after one gets to about the 300WBY case size, there is a severe decrease in returns for the added powder etc. In my case, the differences were nil, nothing and zero. Thusly, I consider the 300WBY the best of the bunch, but the difference between it and a 300 win is pretty small. For me, the velocity whore that I am, it is enough difference that if I was going to build a 30 cal anything, the Weatherby would be my choice and I killed a lot of game with mine when that was my primary hunting rifle. But there are no knocks or fly's on the Winchester version, either. Most people and most game will never notice a difference.

With 180 gr Nosler BT'S a 300 win mag=3100, a 300 Weatherby=3250, and a 300RUM=3350. YMMV.
One thing I will say is that if you have a remington 700 or a win mod 70 with the spacer removed a little more oomph is on the table with the win mag. About another 50 -7
70fps IME.

I currently have several 300 win mags and a 300 RUM in my quiver. Greatly prefer the RUM due to the beltless brass and not having to fart around hot roding it yet still hitting 3300+ fps with a 180.
I see zero reason for a Weatherby over the rum or the win mag. However, I am no longer a fan of Weatherby anything.

That's THE reason I've never been interested in the Wby. + why pay so much more for the gun & ammo (more for the brass + more powder burned).

I've owned, loaded, shot, & hunted at least 4 Win Mags since @ 1978 maybe 79.
A F A I C it's a well balanced sweet round.

Funny that you should mention that.

A good friend acquired a .30/378 and worked up a load for an out of state trip this fall. The guy is an experienced reloader and hunter.
After trying about everything to make the .30/378 shoot he backed it down to about 3050 fps and got very good accuracy. He did get his elk but could have taken a smaller .300 out of his safe and done just as well ..........

It probably makes a great super long range game getter, but that's about it.

I have zero experience to offer, but I sure enjoyed reading this thread!

Yeah, why burn just 70-80 gr. powder when you can burn 110-120?

DF

Why burn 70-80 when you can burn 50-60? 30-06!

Good point.

They just don't make enough noise to be interesting, I guess...

DF