Has anyone tried or heard of anyone playing with this cartridge?

I was out on the range watching a shooter hit steel after steel with his custom rifle chambered for the 30-378 Weatherby.

After looking at the cartridge and spent shells, I wondered if anyone had already necked this round down to make a 6.5-378 Weatherby?

If anyone has, please let me know how it performed, both good and bad.

Can I start by hijacking your thread? What powder would you use?

Kingsford. I hear mesquite is a tad slower burning.

Rich, if it were me I would use H50BMG, US869, RE33 or one of the slow Vhit powders.

I would guess the barrel would be toast around 600 rounds with that size boiler and tiny bore.

I built a 338-416 Rigby Improved, barrel life will be lucky to get 1000 rounds down before the throat is toast.

Cheers.

Why not just neck down a 50 bmg? With the ability to dial your scopes I don't understand why a 6.5/378 would be of much value. You would have to shoot pure copper bullets for hunting and you would still not have the reach or thump of a large 338. But hey I would love to read about it so if you do one please post. (Ok maybe I do understand)

On a 100% serious note....... Why???

Weatherby already offers the barrel-toasting 6.5x300 Weatherby, and Nosler has the .26 Nosler. If you're trying to create smoothbore rifles after 250 rounds, why not just buy a shotgun?

I get it if you are wanting it "because I can"... But other than that, there is absolute zero practicality factor or barrel life factor involved in a cartridge like that. Just personal opinion.

trump would say,let him get what he wants

Too much powder, not enough bullet. The Wby 6.5-300 is definitely a barrel burner, but a much more manageable cartridge. Most calibers have a max when it comes to powder/caliber size. Just my opinion, I'm sure other opinions would differ.

Dosh said:

Too much powder, not enough bullet. The Wby 6.5-300 is definitely a barrel burner, but a much more manageable cartridge. Most calibers have a max when it comes to powder/caliber size. Just my opinion, I'm sure other opinions would differ.

Click to expand...

Yep, it's called the point of diminishing returns based on the bore diameter to case capacity ratio. It's the same reason why the .25-06 AI will compete with the .257 Weatherby, despite the Weatherby having to use 10+ grains of powder more to achieve the same results.

Answer is yes it has been done. Google it, not a lot of info available.

Barrel life gets tossed around like "you'll shoot your eye out kid". A barrel is dead when it no longer perform the tasks it was intended for. Some are dead on arrival, we replace them, dump them, make excuses for them, and move on. Some of what we consider accuracy comes from 5-10 shot groups used in other disciplines. This type of rifle likely should be judged base on first round hits, a second on top of that, and rarely a 3 round group. 3 rounds seems where the ELR folks are going.

Bullets are the real issue. You'll need one heavy enough to develop decent pressure for a consistent burn, and provide a decent BC. Presumably long range is your intended use.

The 155 Berger is coming-it would be interesting to see it severely tested. Steve from Hammer has a pure copper in his head, probably in hand this summer.

Barrels-you'll need one with enough twist, and could be a place to try gain twist.

You'll need a Weatherby sized action.

The end product will be very specialized.

It's about having fun. if it's a process you enjoy go for it.

Also custom reamer and dies.

Steve at Hammer Bullets has a 6.5-338 Lapua Improved that runs 130's around the 4,000fps range, it's his wife's favorite gun to shoot. I have a 9 twist 7mm RUM that I was going to shoot the barrel out to get an 8 twist to shoot heavier non-lead bullets but found that shooting 143 Hammers at 3,600fps was pretty effective inside 1,000 yards, very flat, and no recoil. A very fun hunting gun with barrel life probably similar/slightly less to a regular RUM, 600-800 rounds can go a long time in a hunting gun and the fun factor is pretty high. Efficient and practical...not so much.

Wedgy, What barrel lenth on the 7mm?

26" Kreiger using Reloder 26