reloads for the 240 Weatherby Mag

bulldurham48

Member
Joined
Jan 30, 2014
Messages
6
I need some good ideas for reloads for my 240 Weatherby mag. Will be hunting whitetail deer at short to long range depending on area I hunt. Does anyone have any good an safe ideas? Really need the help.
 
I have found RL-17 to yield high velocities in mid size cases. Based on my experiences with RL-17, I would think it would work well in your cartridge with bullets in the 85-100 grain range.

I have a 6mm-284 that has holds one more grain of water than the 240 weatherby. I figure what will work for my cartridge should work for yours. It has a long burning curve with a burn rate similar to H4350. Alliant does a poor job of listing load data for their powders. It has been posted by quite a few handloaders that powder charge weights listed for H4350 will work for RL-17 as they have similar burn rates.

I found a dandy load using the Berger 95 gr classic hunter and the 6mm-284. Obtained an accurate load with 54 gr of RL-17 @ 3465 fps from a 24" barrel.

I would suggest you start at 49 grains and work up to see what your rifle likes. The 95 gr classic hunter is a hybrid so just seat to fit and feed from magazine and you are very likely to find an accurate load without having to alter seating depth.

My friend shot a huge coues wt with it last year. He was very happy with the performance of this bullet.

---------
While it isn't the highest BC bullet the 100 gr Nosler Partition will perform well on game.

Used RL-17 with a 6mm Remington (case capacity of 55 gr water) and 100 gr partition. Using 46 gr got 3300 fps.
--------------
to date I have had great success with RL-17 in the following cartridges.

6mm Rem 24" barrel 100 gr partition at 3300 fps
6mm-284 24" barrel 95 gr berger classic at 3465 fps
257 Roberts 26" barrel 115 Berger VLD at 2891 fps
284 Win 23" barrel moly 150 nosler bt at 3100
284 win 24 barrel 168 Berger VLD hunting @ 2836 killed coues wt at 450 in 2015
7 Rem mag 24" barrel 150 nos bt with 67 gr of RL-17 for 3250 fps.
300 WSM 22" barrel 230 berger target match at 2720 fps
338 RCM 22" barrel 225 accubond at 2750 fps
338 RCM 30" barrel 300 gr berger hybrid target at 2525
 
Thank you very much for giving up your hard to come by data. I will sure put it to good use and let you know how things yurn out, Thanks again.
 
I just did load workup for my dad's 240 that was built on a Rem 700 with a pac nor 1:9 twist 26". He had pac nor do the chambering also and it had a super short throat which I had lengthened out by my LGS. I did a pressure test with RL 26 and 105 Berger vld hunting bullet. These numbers were from a magnetospeed.
56 grains (max I could shoot) gave me 3535 fps but was way hot. I backed down to 54.3 grains and I had an ES of 7 fps and average speed of 3404fps. I ran the same brass for 4 times of the same load and primer pockets were still great. I gave him all of my load testing data so this is just from my memory and what I had stored in my Applied Ballistics. This load is a real laser and is good on brass and pressure and shot .3's

Just to emphasize again this is for my specific gun and to work up slowly if you give it a try.

Good Luck!
 
I was happy using MRP in my 240, until I tried RL26, 3675 with 85 Sierras. 3450 with Berger and Hornady 105's. That will be your go to powder.
 
Many years ago, I had a Weatherby Ultra LWT Accumark in 240W and used 54gr R19 behind the Barnes 90X bullet. It shot well in another, custom barreled 240W also. You could work around that with either 85gr or 95gr anything. Its a great deer round and death on coyotes!
 
I was shooting 105 Bergers in mine last year over 7828 and it was a hammer on two deer, three hogs and several yotes.

I'm just completing load development on the 115 Berger over H1000 and have shot in the .2-.3 moa range out to 300 yards. I'm stuffing some more to run her out to 600 on my next trip. I was shooting .5 moa at 600 with the 105'same so that's my goal with the 115 at 3100 fps.

I'm running a 26 in 8 twist Douglas barrel on a trued 700 action.
 
Beware of the 95 NBT....I shot an antelope doe at 150yds and it blew a super big exit hole, bloodshot a lot of meat. I shot it out of a 6mm/284, so it was going pretty fast. I shot it out of a 26" barrel so it was humming, and it could have just been a "fluke", the next ten could have been perfect, ha. To hedge your bet, consider that I have a church member who has used the 240W with 95 Partitions for over 25yrs on everything, including big bull elk. I like the Barnes, as mentioned, even killed a huge axis buck and a 500# Scimitar Horned Oryx with the 85gr XBT with a long barreled 6x47mm wildcat going 2900fps! but there are many good ones today. Have a ball!
 
I've had good luck with n-560 and 95 grain burgers as well as the new tipped game king from Sierra around 54 grains work good in a factory 10 twist barrel
 
Warning! This thread is more than 5 years ago old.
It's likely that no further discussion is required, in which case we recommend starting a new thread. If however you feel your response is required you can still do so.
Top