7-300 weatherby?

[yobuck]

There is a local gunsmith near me who has a 7/300 Weatherby Ruger no 1 with dies hanging on the wall for $999.
I guess what I want to know is if it's worth picking up. I shoot long range for accuracy for fun and I seen this and had never heard of it. I'm intrigued by it and would like to know what everyone thinks?

A good friend and former member of our camp has one for sale also, as he has retired from hunting/shooting. His was rebarreled by Bruce Baer
with a 30" Hart 9 twist. He claims it to be his most accurate gun, and he has quite a few.
It dosent get any easier than just running a 300 Wby case thru a 7x300 Wby die. Nothing else changes but the neck. Id say the dies would go along with the gun and any brass he would have also. 7828 is the current best choice powder as for velocity for that cartridge. With 162s or 168s 3350 to 3400 fps wouldn't be an issue.
He lives in SE PA, and its entirely possible it sits someplace near for sale.

 

[Gregg C]

Pushing our personal limits pushes everyone to get better. I see it in the rifles being offered to the general public by most of the forward thinking manufacturers. A person can purchase(theoretically) a rifle across the counter that is capable of shooting 1000yds. Was that the case 25yrs ago ? I don't know. All I know is that I set a personal goal of hitting steel at 1 mile along time ago, and am just now getting started in achieving that goal. By pushing my limits. And the equipment that I need to do that is available, and relatively affordable. I think that its people like us, pushing the limits, that caused the manufacturers to push their limits. And I totally agree with Bravo- my limits are my own.

 

[Buck Buster]

The circle of people capable of taking a buck at 1,700 yds is infinitesimally small. Not one in a thousand hunters is even capable of making a thousand yard shot.

I have a friend that lives in Lock Haven PA that was a regular shooter at the PA's Original 1000 yard benchrest club north of Williamsport PA and they have killed elk I believe it was in Utah at over 2000 yards with his 338- 378 ! They shot it about 300 yards below another hunter that they could see standing above where the elk was ! It was an amazing story and I forget some of the details, this happened maybe 12 years ago or more and it sticks in my head that the actual yardage was close to 2500 yards ! It took them a couple shots to get on their mark, but then hit the elk once and it went into cover and then laid in a small opening that they were able to put a finishing shot into it ! Simply unbelievable what that gun can do ! This gun isn't one that a person would carry around, it weighs I believe 40+ pounds !

 

[yobuck]

I know a guy named Jim, and another named Boyd from there who were regular shooters at that club.
Jim made a few annual trips for Elk but not to Utah, and the gun wasent his, it belonged to another former shooter who was the group leader.
Jim told me he stopped going because he wasent happy about the way things were going with the hunting, and he wouldn't elaborate on that.

 

[Buck Buster]

I know a guy named Jim, and another named Boyd from there who were regular shooters at that club.
Jim made a few annual trips for Elk but not to Utah, and the gun wasent his, it belonged to another former shooter who was the group leader.
Jim told me he stopped going because he wasent happy about the way things were going with the hunting, and he wouldn't elaborate on that.

Does this story sound familiar to you ? I can't remember his name for sure but I think it may have been Jim ! I haven't seen him for years, I don't even know if he is still living or not. The name Boyd doesn't ring a bell, but the fellow I am talking about made some really nice long range shooting benches that you could crank them up and down, he used a sprocket and chain under the table ! He was friends with a fellow from up above Renovo who also shot with his wife up at Bodines ! I bought a Barr & Stroud rangefinder and a pair of 10X80 Flack binoculars from him !

 

[yobuck]

Does this story sound familiar to you ? I can't remember his name for sure but I think it may have been Jim ! I haven't seen him for years, I don't even know if he is still living or not. The name Boyd doesn't ring a bell, but the fellow I am talking about made some really nice long range shooting benches that you could crank them up and down, he used a sprocket and chain under the table ! He was friends with a fellow from up above Renovo who also shot with his wife up at Bodines ! I bought a Barr & Stroud rangefinder and a pair of 10X80 Flack binoculars from him !

Well you just nailed it down with your last post, it is the same Jim. I also know the guy and his wife you mentioned, they happen to be neibors at our camp.
Actually he owned the gun, but he no longer goes either. I think you would find the story you cited didnt involve them at all, and was an entirely different group. I know them, but only in passing, not well at all. But there is a lot more to that story that seems to get left out, depending who's version you hear. The real version is it was something like 2900 yds and they couldn't kill the elk at that distance. They had only crippled it to the point it couldn't get up and move off. It got late, so they went over the next day and finished it.
To their credit, they stated to a very close friend that is was in fact just much too far for that gun. And by the way the shooter happens to be one of the very best shooters at the Williamsport club to this day. So its not a situation of an unqualified shooter. It's simply a fact that all these things have a limit, especially on live targets.
The 10x80 flak glasses you mentioned if in good clean condition are the absolute finest glasses one could ever look thru.
One problem with them for PA long range hunting, 10 power, which is no doubt why Darryl sold them to you. Their much larger cousins, the 20x120s suffer from the same issue, which has led us to where we are today.
Jim did make very good shooting benches.

 

[Buck Buster]

Well you just nailed it down with your last post, it is the same Jim. I also know the guy and his wife you mentioned, they happen to be neibors at our camp.
Actually he owned the gun, but he no longer goes either. I think you would find the story you cited didnt involve them at all, and was an entirely different group. I know them, but only in passing, not well at all. But there is a lot more to that story that seems to get left out, depending who's version you hear. The real version is it was something like 2900 yds and they couldn't kill the elk at that distance. They had only crippled it to the point it couldn't get up and move off. It got late, so they went over the next day and finished it.
To their credit, they stated to a very close friend that is was in fact just much too far for that gun. And by the way the shooter happens to be one of the very best shooters at the Williamsport club to this day. So its not a situation of an unqualified shooter. It's simply a fact that all these things have a limit, especially on live targets.
The 10x80 flak glasses you mentioned if in good clean condition are the absolute finest glasses one could ever look thru.
One problem with them for PA long range hunting, 10 power, which is no doubt why Darryl sold them to you. Their much larger cousins, the 20x120s suffer from the same issue, which has led us to where we are today.
Jim did make very good shooting benches.

I told you I didn't remember all of the details, but that gun should be good to 2500 yards I would think if it was actually 2900 yards, that last 400 yards has got to be taking a lot away from it ! My 308 Norma Magnum is still kicking up a lot of dirt at 1550 yards but it is dropping real fast, it drops 6 ft from 1500 to 1550 yards, but out to about 1300 I would not be afraid to shoot a deer it's that last 200-250 yards that it is running on empty so to speak ! It is very accurate though I hit an oak leaf out on Bull run dead end when I was sighting it in checking my click sheet that was amazingly on the whole way out, the leaf was at 1300 yards and I missed by about a foot the first shot, then I only had to go a couple of clicks each way to put my crosshair on the leaf, the next shot the leaf went air born !Very pleased with it for all that it is ! When you wrote Darryl that struck home still don't remember Jim's last name but I remember Cassel, that may not be spelled right ! I guess a lot of things have changed from what some say on here, up at Bodines is where I learned a lot watching and talking to the different shooters ! Many at that time only neck sized and seated the bullet just part way and then seated each round in the chamber before shooting it ! That was supposed to be the most accurate way, now I see that full length sizing is better by what I have read on here, I full length everything but my 308 Norma because it shoots so good I hate to change, I guess I could get a FL die ant try a couple groups I could always go back, But I don't shoot it that much ! Are most the shooters at Bodines full legth resizing now ? I know groups keep getting smaller so something has changed ! Nice communicating with you yobuck , and have a great 2019 ! I will have to look on line for a Bodines schedule, I would like to go back up and see some of the guns they have now . The last time I was up there were some there that didn't even look like a gun they were all metal and huge big block actions I think they were called, huge guns !

 

[yobuck]

The 338x378 is not a 2000 yd gun. At least not a (good) 2000 yd gun as for hunting. That particular gun was a 338x416 IMP, which has a little more capacity than the standard 378 case. Darryl had one also, and (claimed) he got 3200 fps with the 300 SMK. I asked Bruce Baer who built the gun about that, and he said no he dosent, at least not without locking up the gun.
Nobody in our area that I know, were ever invited to watch him shoot the gun at any distance, let alone over 2000, which he can in fact do from his place.
Mind you now we are friends, and have been for about 40 years. But it is very important when discussing this type stuff to insist on seeing it also.