7mm Weatherby: Why so little attention?

[kevin0270]

I have one and like it a lot but I have only used 140 and 150 grain bullets.The brass last only 3-5 firings with full power loads.The brass is not cheap either.

 

[Mercracing]

I had one that I regret selling. I put a custom Kreiger barrel on it and it shot lights out!

 

[cape cove]

I have a Mark V 7mm Weatherby which I load for and have loader for my son's 7mm RUM and a friend's 7mm STW. At safe pressures there isn't much difference between the STW and the Weatherby and the RUM with hunting length barrel bests it by about 75 ft/sec I have always felt that the 7mm Weatherby is the best of the 7mm Mags. Good accuracy , great velocity and decent round count. As was mentioned in earlier posts the only down side in factory rifles is the10 twist although I have had no problem with most bullets up to 175 grs. JMO

 

[Calvin45]

I have one and like it a lot but I have only used 140 and 150 grain bullets.The brass last only 3-5 firings with full power loads.The brass is not cheap either.

Question: could one just fireform 7mm rem
Mag brass to the weatherby chamber?

 

[cape cove]

Just pass the 7mm Rem case through your 7mm Wea die and shoot. The case will be a little short but no problem. I've done this.

 

[MagnumManiac]

The reason the 7mm Weatherby lacks popularity is mainly 2 reasons.
Firstly, other than Weatherby, very few manufacturers chamber it, and, secondly the fact that only Weatherby make ammo for it.
I have owned ONE Weatherby rifle, have owned several Weatherby cartridges that were all custom in differing actions, Model 70's, Rem 700's and Kimber's. Much prefer those rifles to a Weatherby.
I still think the 7mm Weatherby is great….just like the 257 and 270 variants, but honestly, I think all the one's I have owned are great too, 300, 340 and 375. The only one's I haven't owned are the 378, 416 or 460, just no need for a 5-6000 dollar rifle just for the cartridge.

Cheers.

 

[WildRose]

Just tossing this out there to generate discussion and probably ruffle feathers but the more I see about this old cartridge the more I can't understand why it's so far removed from the commercial success of 7mm-"anything else"magnums. It's what the 7mm rem could have been but wasn't. It nips right on the heels of the STW, Nosler, and RUM cartridges out of ordinary hunting rifle barrel lengths with waaaay less powder. Whatever about the curvy shoulder voodoo, I don't know that there's anything to that, but it hasn't been crippled by an arbitrarily low SAAMI pressure and hooray for freebore. (Also the .270 weatherby comes to mind for the same virtues…).

So what are your thoughts? It wouldn't be hard to fire form brass, and we love tinkering with things enough that the weatherby case design and expensive factory ammo can't possibly be all there is to why this round isn't more popular…can it?

If I ever get a 7mm of any kind this will probably be the one.

A solid round but mostly chambered in over priced factory rifles and mostly limited to overpriced factory ammo.

Wby customer weren't generally the folks that wanted to "roll their own" and today as difficult as components are to come by I don't think it's really a practical option for most.

Weatherby was way ahead of his time and well ahead of the development of steel that would take the pressures and temps of his hotrods and they tend to be chambered in slower twist barrels because the goal was speed not energy.

There's certainly nothing wrong with the 7mmWBY it just never caught on and won't in this era but it will probably always have a small niche following.

 

[cape cove]

@WildRose Agree with you just posted. What I can't figure out is why Weatherby would not chamber this round and the 340 in their Vanguard line with a faster twist for the 7mm. Seems like they would like them to fail.

 

[WildRose]

@WildRose Agree with you just posted. What I can't figure out is why Weatherby would not chamber this round and the 340 in their Vanguard line with a faster twist for the 7mm. Seems like they would like them to fail.

62 years of doing it their own way is a hard habit to break.

WBY never wanted to compete with Remington and Winchester for the big market, they always focused on a small market of affluent hunters and shooters who wanted something a step above the rest.

Essentially a semi custom rifle maker with custom ammo.

 

[Joefrazell]

Seems like a gentleman's rifle. You know where you pay twice as much to feed it and only shoot it on occasion because of it. O wait I guess that's every rifle now! Lol

 

[Calvin45]

@WildRose Agree with you just posted. What I can't figure out is why Weatherby would not chamber this round and the 340 in their Vanguard line with a faster twist for the 7mm. Seems like they would like them to fail.

Yes! I've long thought a vanguard in .340 wby would be just my kind of thing, an affordable sledgehammer with flair…

 

[bsnyder]

Great now I'm starting to miss my 7 wby.

 

[Calvin45]

Great now I'm starting to miss my 7 wby.

Sorry!

 

[WildRose]

Great now I'm starting to miss my 7 wby.

In all fairness had I known about the 7wby and it's real potential before discovering the 7mm STW I'd probably still be shooting one and have a couple of spares just in case.

Unfortunately my Dad had some sort of inborn prejudice against the WBY's and convinced us young they weren't worth messing with.

Eventually I learned he just couldn't tolerate the recoil.