Throat burned out or not???

I have never been accused of "overthinking" anything before, thanks. My only purpose in the 7mm WBY was for long range (500 - 600yds) and none of the flat based bullets under 160gr lends itself to long range work. If I can only get the accurate groups with bullets that weren't designed for longer range, then I am defeating myself before I even got started. Crappy deal!
I am told by many that the 7mm Rem mag will shoot most all the long range bullets with usually good groups, so why not a weapon that cost +twice that of a Rem 700.
Crappy deal!

I agree with a seating depth test before you give up on it. In fact, a "rough" seating depth test is one of the very first things I do. I start with an arbitrary powder charge, a good 2% below max-load. Then load 5 shot strings of bullets seated an varying seating depths. This is a "rough" seating depth test. It's done in .040" increments. With all that freebore, you won't be able to reach the lands and frankly, shouldn't even try because that's how Weatherby's are made. Just start at maximum magazine length and load up 5 shots at maximum magazine length. Then load up the next string of 5, pushing the bullet .040" deeper into the case. Keep doing that until you've gone as far as the bullet allows. I usually get about 4 different seating depths, totaling .160" range of depths. You may not have that much wiggle room because your limited to mag length so you may get only three. Anyway... one of those strings will likely shoot better than the others. Don't think that seating a bullet right up to the lands automatically delivers the best accuracy. Often, a big jump is the secret sauce. The target will reveal the truth. When you determine a "rough" seating depth that performs better than the others, do a primer test with that particular load. Go to the store and buy a small amount of every type of primer you can find that will fit in your case and test each one. Often, primers can have no effect on accuracy but occasionally, they can make all the difference and instantly cut your groups in half. If your results look like they may be promising, you can go back and fine tune the powder charge and possibly make little adjustments to seating depth.

Oh, and use a bullet and powder that are known to do well in your caliber. Nothing to extreme. Crazy hot powders and long-for-caliber bullets can muddy up things when your trying to sort out a problem.

I have a 338 Win Mag that I can seat bullets right up to the lands but when I did, I got 2-1/2" groups. Turns out, the gun likes a jump of about .225". I wouldn't have known that if I did tiny seating depth tests. Now it shoots sub-moa.

PDRENNER said:

I have never been accused of "overthinking" anything before, thanks. My only purpose in the 7mm WBY was for long range (500 - 600yds) and none of the flat based bullets under 160gr lends itself to long range work. If I can only get the accurate groups with bullets that weren't designed for longer range, then I am defeating myself before I even got started. Crappy deal!
I am told by many that the 7mm Rem mag will shoot most all the long range bullets with usually good groups, so why not a weapon that cost +twice that of a Rem 700.
Crappy deal!

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It will get you there with this bullet. It has a pretty good BC. Try it. I have made some insane kills at long range with this combination. If you cannot get the accuracy you are looking for, take it to a good gunsmith and have the muzzle refaced and recrowned. Doubt there is a bedding problem.

PDRENNER said:

I have never been accused of "overthinking" anything before, thanks. My only purpose in the 7mm WBY was for long range (500 - 600yds) and none of the flat based bullets under 160gr lends itself to long range work. If I can only get the accurate groups with bullets that weren't designed for longer range, then I am defeating myself before I even got started. Crappy deal!
I am told by many that the 7mm Rem mag will shoot most all the long range bullets with usually good groups, so why not a weapon that cost +twice that of a Rem 700.
Crappy deal!

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It's simply the twist rate, a 150 bt from a 7wby will be very effective to 5-600yds in trajectory, wind and terminal performance. I used to shoot 115gr ballistic tips from my 257wby out to 1/2 mile on steel. Speed will compensate more than you realize. Heck if it makes you feel better my first lr gun was a 308. Compare the ballistics lol

Just to ease your mind. This bullet will expand well all the way down to 1800fps. If you start it around 3250, easy in a 26" barrel, You reach this point between 800-900 yds. You will also reach the 1000ft pounds of energy threshold at about the same point. 5-600 yds you have plenty for Elk. Don't know exactly what you are looking to kill at this range, but most anything in North America except big bears with big claws and teeth will be toast. And, If I was a Griz, I wouldn't want to get shot in the lungs with it for sure!!

pdRenner . are you saying there is a .402 jump

DUSTY NOGGIN said:

pdRenner . are you saying there is a .402 jump

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It is designed that way

Orange. What bullet are you talking about?

.402 seems like a very long jump to me..

I have not read every post, but here goes.
Japanese made Mark 5's had slow for calibre twists. I would be 100% sure your rifle has a 1:12" twist, which is why it shoots poorly with 175's.
Checking the twist is easy enough with a cleaning rod if the handle spins freely.

The other thing is the free bore.
I have quite a few Weatherby chamberings, all but one have a .375" freebore. My 375 Weatherby has the original .500" freebore and gets impressive velocities for a 24" barrel.
I DO NOT try to reach the rifling, I work with mag length and tune from there.

There is accuracy in there somewhere, just try different seating depths and don't worry about how far the bullets are jumping and try a 160gr and see if it shoots then better.

Cheers.

PDRENNER said:

Orange. What bullet are you talking about?

.402 seems like a very long jump to me..

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7MM Weatherby has about a half inch of freebore. The old German guns were nearly 3/4", and if memory serves, 1-12" twist. A 300 RUM has this concept too in a SAAMI chamber, but the freebore is less. So do some others. This is why everyone who shoots a RUM puts an extended length magazine in it for VLD bullets or shoots it single shot. This is not a conventional throat and has a different leade angle. The jump allows higher powder charges for a given cartridge capacity, and higher velocities. All the rules for OAL are thrown out the window. The 7MM Weatherby performs best at long range with medium weight bullets. On heavy game at shorter range, 160gr partitions are the go to bullet. It is a fine long range cartridge for most any game in North America, loaded with the right bullets. It is a very easy cartridge to load for. Some of the new VLD bullets like to jump. The ABLR from Nosler seems to be one of them. 1-10 twist will hold the weight down to about 160grs, unless you use a round nose bullet, but the whole Weatherby concept is high velocity, so they have always built their rifles with very conservative twist rates and lots of freebore to enhance this. Please don't lead the OP down the path of chasing the lands. It will only frustrate him and doesn't apply here. Everyone on this site will agree that maximum accuracy in almost every cartridge can be obtained by carefully adjusting seating depth. This doesn't apply so much here because if you had a bullet long enough to reach the lands the twist would keep you from being able to shoot it accurately, even if you single loaded it. Roy Weatherby built his whole business on the "Speed Kills" concept, and believed in it. Years ago he shot some Zebra with his .257 and some 87gr bullets loaded nearly 4000fps. They are said to be very tough and take a lot of gun. He got several DRT kills with it even shooting them in the paunch. Used the trip for some convincing ads back in the day. The OP will be fine with his gun. It will be accurate enough, shoot flat, and kill a long ways.

Op, please reread orange dusts posts and only his. He is spot on for reloading wbys and is giving good advice.

I don't even measure the distance to the rifling in wbys. Never have. Heck I've used bullets I could drop into the chamber and load an empty brass behind it and not touch the bullet

dok7mm said:

Nope, not what I said. If you don't have a comparator, use your OAL instead of a comparator. It's not as accurate, but will work.

So, one more time. Seat a bullet (we're talking the bearing surface) approximately .280 inches into neck, measure your OAL make 3 of these (6 is better, shoot in 2 groups of 3). Then seat another group .010" OAL deeper and so on, until you see the junction of the bearing surface/ ogive very near the mouth of the case. That's as far as you go. No offence, but you really need to find an experienced reloader to show you, step by step, until you get this squared away. We all started at zero knowledge, so don't feel bad.
Good luck at figuring this out.

PS. You can shoot the test at 100 with a starting load.

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The much safer way to do this without a comparator is to just load some so long they'll barely stay in the brass when they contact the lands.

Smoke them with a candle flame, chamber, extract and measure.

Blindly jamming them all the way into the lands and firing them can create dangerous pressures.

lyotehunter said:

Try a 175 hornady ELX. and see what that does before you spend lots trying to fix. I would find a bore scope also.

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Knowing he probably can't stabilize anything that heavy that would be a waste of money on a good but fairly expensive premium bullet.

Odds are pretty good he won't be able to stabilize anything over 160-165gr.

Orange Dust said:

The very long freebore gives the extra expansion room before hitting the rifling that allowed the Weatherby cartridges to exceed others of similar size in velocity. You cannot reach the rifling in this cartridge with any bullet that I know of and still feed it through the magazine. This freebore can be a problem with the newly popular VLD bullets. Some will shoot ok in this cartridge and some will shoot like a shotgun. The cartridge was designed for flat based bullets. It seems to like the short boattail on the Nosler Ballistic tip line. There are some VLD bullets that like to jump aways, but, like I said earlier, try the 150 BT, and some 7828. This is a known combination that will shoot well, if the rifle is sound. Forget about the lands, freebore, and just load to factory length.

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I"ve seen WBY's shoot both the accubond and LRX very well too.