Any comments on 300 Weatherby Mag?

[buffybr]

. . . That .308 is a great cartridge (caliber is the same as the Weatherby) . . . Big magnums . . . will cost you a fortune in ammo and even if you reload, you will pay LOTS for brass and for the mega-loads of powder necessary to throw those bullet down range. . .

If you have magnumitis and feel like that is the route to take, then jump on it. If you want to ease into it, then buy a 7 mag. It will sling big bullets more than fast enough without destroying your shoulder, or wallet. Guy Eastman made the stupid statement that the 7 mag is an "entry-level" magnum. . .

My first magnum rifle was a 7 mm Rem mag, so I guess it was my "entry-level" magnum rifle. For the last 20 years I've used this rifle on a number of Western and five international hunts.

Two of my other favorite rifles are my .308 Win and my .300 Weatherby. Both rifles are Weatherby Vanguards. Neither has ever shot a factory round. I have a KDF muzzle brake on my .300 Wby and it's felt recoil is not any greater than the recoil from my .308 Win.

As much as possible, I buy my reloading components in bulk: bullets in quantities of 100 or 250, primers in sleeves of 1K, and powder in 8 pound kegs.

My actual costs to load these two cartridges are:
.300 Wby practice loads:
Remington cases @ $90/100 divided by 5 reloads/case = $0.180 ea
Magnum primers @ $34/1000 = 0.034
Powder @ $169/8# 84.5 grains/charge = 0.254
Bullet 168 gr Hornady BTHT Match @ $76/250 = 0.300
Total cost per cartridge= 0.668 or $0.67 each or $13.40/ box of 20

.308 Win both practice and hunting loads:
Cases are range pick-ups, sorted by brand = $0.000 ea
Standard primers @ $30/1000 = 0.030
Powder @ $166/8# 45.0 grains/charge = 0.135
Bullet 150 grain Sierra GameKing @ $30/100 = 0.300
Total cost per cartridge = 0.465 or $0.47 each or $9.40/ box of 20

7 mm RM both practice and hunting loads:
Cases are range pick-ups, sorted by brand = $0.000 ea
Magnum primers @ $34/1000 = 0.034
Powder @ $169/8# 63.0 grains/charge = 0.189
Bullet 160 grain Nosler Accubond @29.19/100 = 0.292
Total cost per cartridge= 0.515 or $0.52 each or $10.40/ box of 20

I didn't figure in any costs for my reloading equipment as I have had and used this equipment for over 40 years and have loaded well over 10,000 cartridges on it. The costs of the rifle dies were realized in reloading one or two boxes of hunting cartridges.

The mega-loads of powder for the .300 Weatherby is less than twice of the powder charge of the .308 Win. The additional $0.20 cost of .300 Wby reloads over .308 reloads doesn't cost me a fortune, and the bullets from the Weatherby really ring the 430 yard steel gong at our range with authority.

 

[mtmuley]

How dare you bebunk the cost of the magnum myth? mtmuley

 

[memtb]

buffybr, Adding to your comments....you don’t have to shoot the Weatherby at magnum velocities. That’s the beauty of a magnum, you can download it anywhere you want it.....but, there are limits to how far you can elevate a standard cartridge. Magnums offer flexibility! memtb

 

[sbhooper]

My first magnum rifle was a 7 mm Rem mag, so I guess it was my "entry-level" magnum rifle. For the last 20 years I've used this rifle on a number of Western and five international hunts.

Two of my other favorite rifles are my .308 Win and my .300 Weatherby. Both rifles are Weatherby Vanguards. Neither has ever shot a factory round. I have a KDF muzzle brake on my .300 Wby and it's felt recoil is not any greater than the recoil from my .308 Win.

As much as possible, I buy my reloading components in bulk: bullets in quantities of 100 or 250, primers in sleeves of 1K, and powder in 8 pound kegs.

My actual costs to load these two cartridges are:
.300 Wby practice loads:
Remington cases @ $90/100 divided by 5 reloads/case = $0.180 ea
Magnum primers @ $34/1000 = 0.034
Powder @ $169/8# 84.5 grains/charge = 0.254
Bullet 168 gr Hornady BTHT Match @ $76/250 = 0.300
Total cost per cartridge= 0.668 or $0.67 each

.308 Win both practice and hunting loads:
Cases are range pick-ups, sorted by brand = $0.000 ea
Standard primers @ $30/1000 = 0.030
Powder @ $166/8# 45.0 grains/charge = 0.135
Bullet 150 grain Sierra GameKing @ $30/100 = 0.300
Total cost per cartridge = 0.465 or $0.47 each

7 mm RM both practice and hunting loads:
Cases are range pick-ups, sorted by brand = $0.000 ea
Magnum primers @ $34/1000 = 0.034
Powder @ $169/8# 63.0 grains/charge = 0.189
Bullet 160 grain Nosler Accubond @29.19/100 = 0.292
Total cost per cartridge= 0.515 or $0.52 each

I didn't figure in any costs for my reloading equipment as I have had and used this equipment for over 40 years and have loaded well over 10,000 cartridges on it. The costs of the rifle dies were realized in reloading one or two boxes of hunting cartridges.

The mega-loads of powder for the .300 Weatherby is less than twice of the powder charge of the .308 Win. The additional $0.20 cost of .300 Wby reloads over .308 reloads doesn't cost me a fortune, and the bullets from the Weatherby really ring the 430 yard steel gong at our range with authority.

Now show the cost difference for factory ammo.

 

[buffybr]

Now show the cost difference for factory ammo.

Do I have to do all of the thinking?

Actually, in over 50 years of Western and international big game hunting, I can only remember 3 animals that I shot with factory ammunition. Two were my first deer and first elk that I shot in the mid '60s with borrowed rifles as that was before I owned a centerfire rifle. The third was a 20 pound Cape Grysbok that I shot in the Eastern Cape of South Africa as I was afraid that one of my 270 grain TSX bullets at 3043 fps from my .375 RUM would be grossly overkill on the pelt of that little antelope, so I borrowed a .308 Win with factory solids from my PH.

With my own rifles that I have hunted with (.22-250, .257 Ackley, .30-30, .308 Win, .30-06, 7 mm RM, .30 Gibbs. .300 Wby, and .375 RUM), ALL of the animals that I shot were with my handloaded ammunition.

Other than knowing that factory ammo costs more than my handloads, I have no idea of the actual cost of factory ammo. So to answer sbhooper's post I tried to find those costs on line. I first tried Walmart, but the site that I looked at didn't list rifle ammunition. I then looked at Cabela's website. The first thing that I found was that they didn't list many of the bullet types or weights that I was looking for. The brands of ammuniton that I found were Federal, Remington, Nosler, Hornady, Herter's, and Weatherby.

So for the for the three cartridges that I listed in my previous post, these are the costs of factory ammo that I found on Cabela's website:

.308 Win $15-42 per box of 20

7 mm Rem mag $27-62 per box of 20

.300 Wby $40-84 per box of 20

I'm sure that certain times of the year that some stores may have sales on ammunition that is less than these costs, but they may not have the bullets or bullet weights that you want.