7mm Weatherby: Why so little attention?

[Calvin45]

Just tossing this out there to generate discussion and probably ruffle feathers but the more I see about this old cartridge the more I can't understand why it's so far removed from the commercial success of 7mm-"anything else"magnums. It's what the 7mm rem could have been but wasn't. It nips right on the heels of the STW, Nosler, and RUM cartridges out of ordinary hunting rifle barrel lengths with waaaay less powder. Whatever about the curvy shoulder voodoo, I don't know that there's anything to that, but it hasn't been crippled by an arbitrarily low SAAMI pressure and hooray for freebore. (Also the .270 weatherby comes to mind for the same virtues…).

So what are your thoughts? It wouldn't be hard to fire form brass, and we love tinkering with things enough that the weatherby case design and expensive factory ammo can't possibly be all there is to why this round isn't more popular…can it?

If I ever get a 7mm of any kind this will probably be the one.

 

[FEENIX]

Just tossing this out there to generate discussion and probably ruffle feathers but the more I see about this old cartridge the more I can't understand why it's so far removed from the commercial success of 7mm-"anything else"magnums. It's what the 7mm rem could have been but wasn't. It nips right on the heels of the STW, Nosler, and RUM cartridges out of ordinary hunting rifle barrel lengths with waaaay less powder. Whatever about the curvy shoulder voodoo, I don't know that there's anything to that, but it hasn't been crippled by an arbitrarily low SAAMI pressure and hooray for freebore. (Also the .270 weatherby comes to mind for the same virtues…).

So what are your thoughts? It wouldn't be hard to fire form brass, and we love tinkering with things enough that the weatherby case design and expensive factory ammo can't possibly be all there is to why this round isn't more popular…can it?

If I ever get a 7mm of any kind this will probably be the one.

"IF" I want a certain chambering, I never worry what others think about it.

 

[HSmithTX]

Finding ammo and brass has always kept me from going to the Weatherby magnums, plus very few factory guns chambered for them when compared to whatever Win or Rem magnums. I want a 340 really really bad and have for 20 years but I haven't jumped yet.

 

[xsn10s]

The weatherbys I loaded for shot really well. 270 WBY being really accurate. Brass is spendy, but so is the hobby lol.

 

[Calvin45]

"IF" I want a certain chambering, I never worry what others think about it.

There's no IF here…I'm a die hard .30 caliber guy, not worried but am interested in a time-wasting sort of way as to what others think about this particular chambering. Seems to be a real sleeper.

 

[Carlos88]

Just tossing this out there to generate discussion and probably ruffle feathers but the more I see about this old cartridge the more I can't understand why it's so far removed from the commercial success of 7mm-"anything else"magnums. It's what the 7mm rem could have been but wasn't. It nips right on the heels of the STW, Nosler, and RUM cartridges out of ordinary hunting rifle barrel lengths with waaaay less powder. Whatever about the curvy shoulder voodoo, I don't know that there's anything to that, but it hasn't been crippled by an arbitrarily low SAAMI pressure and hooray for freebore. (Also the .270 weatherby comes to mind for the same virtues…).

So what are your thoughts? It wouldn't be hard to fire form brass, and we love tinkering with things enough that the weatherby case design and expensive factory ammo can't possibly be all there is to why this round isn't more popular…can it?

If I ever get a 7mm of any kind this will probably be the one.

I have a Remington 700 in a McWoody stock. Very accurate with RL25 and 140 TTSX's. A great caliber in my opinion.

 

[xsn10s]

I was always more of a 30 caliber guy. but for years now I've been lusting after some 7mm of some kind. I say if that turns your crank just get it. I'd want a fast twist to launch 180 gr boowits.

 

[bsnyder]

10 twist was my biggest hang up. My best friend has my old one. I moved on to a 28 nos with a 9 twist them another friend had to have so I let him the I bought another 28 with a 8.4 twist to shoot the heavies and the longer monos. Then I found a twin to a rifle a mentor had in a 7stw with a 9.5 twist. Then I had a 7 max put on a tikka with an 8 twist of all my favorites are the stw and the max. The 28 I bought has a 24 inch barrel and I just haven't fallen back in love with it yet but it has less than 120 rounds so there's still a chance.

I shoot deer and antelope with it and it killed fine. If you want a 7mm wby I say get after it.

 

[Calvin45]

10 twist was my biggest hang up. My best friend has my old one. I moved on to a 28 nos with a 9 twist them another friend had to have so I let him the I bought another 28 with a 8.4 twist to shoot the heavies and the longer monos. Then I found a twin to a rifle a mentor had in a 7stw with a 9.5 twist. Then I had a 7 max put on a tikka with an 8 twist of all my favorites are the stw and the max. The 28 I bought has a 24 inch barrel and I just haven't fallen back in love with it yet but it has less than 120 rounds so there's still a chance.

I shoot deer and antelope with it and it killed fine. If you want a 7mm wby I say get after it.

ah…I had overlooked that little detail. Didn't realize they were factory standard 10 twist. That does chang things.

 

[Calvin45]

Again, let the record reflect I'm not presently wanting one, I'm happy with my .270 and .300 win mag. But if I ever for some reason need a 7mm this looks like a winner.

 

[BillLarson]

I have seen alot of Weatherby shoot at the range.All are superbly finished.And for a factory gun...VERY ACCURATE....

 

[Plinker147]

Back in the day you could buy 50 rds of 7rem brass for $30ish. 7 mm weatherby brass was $20 for 20 pieces of brass. Extremely expensive for the times. Weather by mark 5 rifles were extremely expensive at the time. Seemed like only the rich guys that went on safari type hunts had them. 7 mm weather by was only offered in weatherby rifles. I think both of those killed the round. When they produced them in cheaper lines of rifles they killed like a mule and weren't very accurate. Mark 5 were accurate but the cheaper ones weren't. I think a lot of that was shooter induced because of the recoil. I think price is what killed most of weatherby stuff. So many other 7mm came around that did the same without extra expense of a weatherby. Back in 1990 I was going to buy one in 270 and all these factors steered me away.

 

[240wby]

I think the main issue was the 10 twist, but if you're going to build one then it's probably irrelevant. I rebarreled mine as a 9 twist and it shoots really well with 150-175gr that I've tested. Brass is relatively expensive, especially now when you can find it. Peterson has started making brass for it recently, so that is a big plus.

 

[jessej]

Just tossing this out there to generate discussion and probably ruffle feathers but the more I see about this old cartridge the more I can't understand why it's so far removed from the commercial success of 7mm-"anything else"magnums. It's what the 7mm rem could have been but wasn't. It nips right on the heels of the STW, Nosler, and RUM cartridges out of ordinary hunting rifle barrel lengths with waaaay less powder. Whatever about the curvy shoulder voodoo, I don't know that there's anything to that, but it hasn't been crippled by an arbitrarily low SAAMI pressure and hooray for freebore. (Also the .270 weatherby comes to mind for the same virtues…).

So what are your thoughts? It wouldn't be hard to fire form brass, and we love tinkering with things enough that the weatherby case design and expensive factory ammo can't possibly be all there is to why this round isn't more popular…can it?

If I ever get a 7mm of any kind this will probably be the one.

All it needed was a little Hornady marketing and it would have been the new king of 7's