.300 Weatherby Magnum

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.300 Weatherby Magnum

.300 Weatherby cartridge
Type Rifle
Place of origin USA
Production history
Designer Roy Weatherby
Designed 1944
Manufacturer Weatherby
Produced 1944
Specifications
Parent case .300 H&H Magnum
Case type Belted, bottleneck
Bullet diameter .308 in (7.8 mm)
Neck diameter .336 in (8.5 mm)
Shoulder diameter .492 in (12.5 mm)
Base diameter .512 in (13.0 mm)
Rim diameter .531 in (13.5 mm)
Case length 2.825 in (71.8 mm)
Overall length 3.562 in (90.5 mm)
Rifling twist 1-10
Primer type Large rifle magnum
Ballistic performance
Bullet weight/type Velocity Energy
150 gr (9.7 g) SP 3,540 ft/s (1,080 m/s) 4,173 ft·lbf (5,658 J)
165 gr (10.7 g) SP 3,390 ft/s (1,030 m/s) 4,210 ft·lbf (5,710 J)
180 gr (12 g) BST 3,250 ft/s (990 m/s) 4,223 ft·lbf (5,726 J)
200 gr (13 g) Partition 3,060 ft/s (930 m/s) 4,158 ft·lbf (5,637 J)
220 gr (14 g) Rn-Ex 2,845 ft/s (867 m/s) 3,954 ft·lbf (5,361 J)
Test barrel length: 26
Source: Weatherby [1]

The .300 Weatherby Magnum is a .30 caliber rifle cartridge created by Roy Weatherby in 1944 and produced by Weatherby. It has become the most popular of all the Weatherby cartridges.[1]

Contents

[edit] Background

Roy Weatherby already had experience with other custom cartridges such as his own .270 Weatherby Magnum when he created the .300 Wby. Like most of his other magnum cartridges, this is based on a blown-out .300 H&H Magnum case, using the signature Weatherby double-radius shoulder.

[edit] Performance

Weatherby claims that this is the most powerful .30 caliber magnum rifle commercially available, but the recently introduced .300 RUM is now more powerful. Of course there are quite a few very large .30 caliber wildcats around, not to mention Weatherby's own .30-378 Weatherby Magnum.

One must note however when comparing the .300 RUM and the .300 Weatherby Magnum the difference in factory loadings. Performance data is often listed on the side of the ammunition box for those who wish to do an in-store comparison. On average the Weatherby cartridge is listed with higher performance. This is because from the factory Weatherby loads its rounds with a greater powder charge than does Remington. This is because Remington generally sells rounds below the cartridges maximum performance envelope so that its recoil will be more forgiving to shooters. In order to take advantage of a power difference between the two one must either purchase Remington rounds on the upper end of available bullet weight, or be a handloader where one can take advantage of the greater case capacity of the non-belted Remington round.

The .300 Wby is in common use by big-game hunters all over the world.[2]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b .300 Weatherby Magnum page at Weatherby
  2. ^ .300 Weatherby by Chuck Hawks (subscription required)
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