300 Weatherby vs 30 Nosler. Factory velocities measure up?

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Despotes

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Do the velocities of the factory ammo reflect reality? The Nosler site says, "The 30 Nosler eclipses the velocity of the 300 Weatherby" I'm finding that hard to believe. Marketing BS?
Is the 300 Weatherby in factory rifles inherently less accurate due to long throat...? Fact? Myth?
 
Despotes said:
Do the velocities of the factory ammo reflect reality? The Nosler site says, "The 30 Nosler eclipses the velocity of the 300 Weatherby" I'm finding that hard to believe. Marketing BS?
Is the 300 Weatherby in factory rifles inherently less accurate due to long throat...? Fact? Myth?
Click to expand...
Accuracy issues from a 300wby?

Not inherently. I own one in a mark V, and it's a tack driver. I had a different model a few years ago, and it was a shooter too. As far as velocities:

The 30 nosler has a Sammi spec 1-8 twist and factory loads are heavy and long, whereas the 300wby was designed in the 50's and was designed with a 1-10 twist barrel, and seems to perform best with bullets between 150 and 200gr.

If you spin up a 1-8 twist barrel on a 300wby and load some 225gr bullets, they will probably be so close that it won't matter. The nosler cartridges are only impressive if you are willing to trade a huge pile of powder for a tiny increase in velocity over the cartridges that were designed when Roy Rogers was still popular.
 
Put a fast twist barrel on a 7stw and the 28 nosler is irrelevant..

Put a fast twist barrel on a 340wby and the 338 lapua isn't impressive..

They just burn a whole bunch of powder to get a tiny, tiny bit of m.v.

Roy Weatherby was the most impressive ballistician in history. He made stuff in his garage in the 50's that the best engineers of today are still chasing. Even the 6.5x300wby was created in the 60's. America didn't want anything to do with metric cartridges at the time, but he was way ahead of his time.
 
I second the good accuracy from the 300 weatherby. They've had a lot of practice and really have it dialed in. I feel there's other 30 cals with more zip for sure but weatherby makes ammo that matches they're guns extremely well. There shouldn't be any crazy fishing around for an ammo that your gun likes. Just find out what they typically use for they're guaranteed sub moa, buy it. Done. That's been my experience with the three weatherby calibers I own. Another thing I've done is chronographed factory premium and it's been spot on and very consistent.
 
Group shot last weekend outta my mark v with a krieger barrel,nosler brass 200 grain partition seconds 81 grain of imr 7828. Best this gun has ever shot. Measures .346 at 100
 

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In the world of accuracy, Weatherby seems to get away with breaking many of the rules. Belted cases, long throats, funny shoulders, less-than-perfect triggers….. yet, somehow they mike a darn nice rifle that puts the bullets where they're supposed to go. My .300 isn't all that particular but with a little trial & error I've got it shooting reliably inside 1/2 MOA with 180 gr TTSX. That velocity with that bullet is a terribly good combination. So far it has worked on everything from coyotes to eland & moose. The .30 Nosler looks pretty good at first, but really, you're not really gaining all that much.

The cartridge I think still has the most untapped potential is the .257 Wby. Get that in a 1:7 barrel with heavy, long monolithics and it'll be a game-changer.
 
orifdoc said:
In the world of accuracy, Weatherby seems to get away with breaking many of the rules. Belted cases, long throats, funny shoulders, less-than-perfect triggers….. yet, somehow they mike a darn nice rifle that puts the bullets where they're supposed to go. My .300 isn't all that particular but with a little trial & error I've got it shooting reliably inside 1/2 MOA with 180 gr TTSX. That velocity with that bullet is a terribly good combination. So far it has worked on everything from coyotes to eland & moose. The .30 Nosler looks pretty good at first, but really, you're not really gaining all that much.

The cartridge I think still has the most untapped potential is the .257 Wby. Get that in a 1:7 barrel with heavy, long monolithics and it'll be a game-changer.
Click to expand...
I've been waiting to get my 270bee from the Smith with a fast twist er shaw barrel. Can't wait to load those 170 or even 175's.

But the next one will be a .257bee with a 1-7 or 1-7.5. I agree that the .257 loaded with those 135's or maybe even bigger will be an impressive machine. Bad medicine for animals under 400lbs.
 
Despotes said:
Do the velocities of the factory ammo reflect reality? The Nosler site says, "The 30 Nosler eclipses the velocity of the 300 Weatherby" I'm finding that hard to believe. Marketing BS?
Is the 300 Weatherby in factory rifles inherently less accurate due to long throat...? Fact? Myth?
Click to expand...
Speed first. Here is Nosler data directly from their site. This is apples to apples or as close as they list it, with retumbo powder and a 210 grain bullet, max load to maximize speed capability.
  • 300 WBY = 86.0 grains at 3008 fps
  • 30 Nosler = 84.0 grains at 3008 fps
So the answer is yes, and perhaps no. No time to look up ALL the data from every maker. Someone else might see some difference. If you are going to hand load, I would likely go with the 30N, more components and things available and a bit less expensive.


Accuracy - ANY well built rifle loaded with the right ammunition can and will be accurate. We are talking splitting hairs though. In the end, between the two, flip a coin and shoot what you like
 
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Hecouldgoalltheway said:
Accuracy issues from a 300wby?

Not inherently. I own one in a mark V, and it's a tack driver. I had a different model a few years ago, and it was a shooter too. As far as velocities:

The 30 nosler has a Sammi spec 1-8 twist and factory loads are heavy and long, whereas the 300wby was designed in the 50's and was designed with a 1-10 twist barrel, and seems to perform best with bullets between 150 and 200gr.

If you spin up a 1-8 twist barrel on a 300wby and load some 225gr bullets, they will probably be so close that it won't matter. The nosler cartridges are only impressive if you are willing to trade a huge pile of powder for a tiny increase in velocity over the cartridges that were designed when Roy Rogers was still popular.
Click to expand...
Well said!
 
The 300 Bee is an amazing cartridge. Bad things have been written about every aspect of the case and chamber. The fact is, it had to be torn down for anyone else to compete with it. The belt, non-issue. Radiused shoulder, maybe not a benefit, but certainly not an issue. Free-bore, allows ultimate flexibility especially if you want to single load. Capacity, especially with newer powders is practically optimal. And availability has always been very consistent of ammo and brass.
 
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Despotes said:
Do the velocities of the factory ammo reflect reality? The Nosler site says, "The 30 Nosler eclipses the velocity of the 300 Weatherby" I'm finding that hard to believe. Marketing BS?
Is the 300 Weatherby in factory rifles inherently less accurate due to long throat...? Fact? Myth?
Click to expand...
Absolutely MYTH ! I own 7!
 
I here rumors of another weatherby cartridge coming about. I wasn't too excited about the 6.5 rpm but I really love my 6.5-300. I think it's cool that Ed shares his dad's passion and isn't just content with the obvious success of what already exists. My only concern is if he develops another I can't live without if you know what I mean
 

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