7mm Weatherby: Why so little attention?

[SSG Graybush]

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

Well there's plenty of .284 8T blanks out there, get one spun up in 7 wby mag. No big whoop. I did a 26" 7 RM in 8T for the heavies, shooting a 180 vld-h at 2900-2925 fps depending on the temp. Shoots constantly at .4 ish moa.
For a 7mm, get a 8T to stabilize up to a 195 gr Berger or a 168 gr Barnes.
I developed a load for a buddy's 270 wby mag with a 130 gr ttsx's or tsx I cant remember and 7828ssc. Pretty easily got it to .75 moa in a week right before a WY trip. By using Seirra accuracy load charge weight and played with jump. I was surprised by the recoil. Or lack there of I should say. I like the newer short fat steep shouldered cases but the old belted mags got it done as well.

 

[Aussie Hunter Steve]

The 7mm Weatherby originally came out with 1 in 12" twist that wouldn't stabilise heavy bullets. They only went to 1 in 10" after Remington had captured the market with their faster 1 in 91/4" twist 7mm Rem Mag but by then it was too late....

 

[Skimbleshanks]

7 wby doesn't do anything that a 7 rem mag wont do. Or at least not better enough to warrant the high cost, or dificulty of finding ammo. If you need more than a standard 7 mag the stw is a real step up in performance.

 

[cape cove]

head separation in 3-4 firings

With all due respect if anyone has case seperations with any belted mag at 3-4 firings it is because the sizing die is not properly adjusted to headspace off the shoulder with a .002-.003 shoulder bump.

 

[tomsd]

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.

My buddy loved his 340 Wby - favorite Elk rifle and he has a safe full of rifles - some never fired - Like a .338 HE WON IN A RAFFLE.

 

[WildRose]

I have often wondered how a custom 7 Weatherby would shoot with reduced freebore to match the 7 Mag's freebore, or at least have the freebore adjusted for the appropriate VLD bullet. All that bullet jump (~.300)does nothing good for the bullet alignment with the bore(getting the bullet started straight in the throat).

You'd be going in the wrong direction. Heavy for caliber VLD's typically need more, not less freebore to shoot optimally as compared to more conventional bullets.

The big issue is the slow tw rates they have always used.

As a rule WBY's have been extremely accurate right out of the box so getting them to shoot was just never a problem.

I don't know that they still do so but for a very long time your new rifle came with a signed proof target showing it's accuracy with their factory ammo.

 

[WildRose]

Feeding issues

Eh? No, that's never been a problem.

 

[john k]

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'm a 7mm man and have tried several times to talk myself into purchasing a MK V in 7mm Weatherby but that twist and availability of ammo/brass/components and being primarily a whitetail hunter has prevented me from taking the plunge. It has very impressive ballistics.

 

[WildRose]

I know the Dakota came first but isn't the .28 Nosler the exact same thing at this point?

Close but not quite.

 

[hoeram]

I own a 28 Nosler Chistensen Arms Ridgeline & 7MM Wby on a custom 700 action everything else got changed. The 7MM shoots better than the 28 Nosler but the 7MM is a Beanland custom. I like both, I found the 28 a little more picky on the reload side.Velocities are not that far apart in the same weight bullets.

 

[WildRose]

With all due respect if anyone has case seperations with any belted mag at 3-4 firings it is because the sizing die is not properly adjusted to headspace off the shoulder with a .002-.003 shoulder bump.

Having loaded many thousands of them over the last forty years I'd say it's more often a problem of brass run too hard for too many loads rather than a sizing issue most of the time.

Most dies don't work the case body all the way to the belt and running hot loads it just eventually develops enough of a bulge as to seriously weaken the case.

In all these years though I've only seen one actual case failure resulting from it.

 

[Calvin45]

Eh? No, that's never been a problem.

If anything they've got to be about the slickest feeding cartridges out there…not a single sharp edge or angle on the front end of the case combined with being belted. I Iike the belted cartridges.

 

[WildRose]

If anything they've got to be about the slickest feeding cartridges out there…not a single sharp edge or angle on the front end of the case combined with being belted. I Iike the belted cartridges.

I've see a lot of vodoo written about Belted Magnums but that's the first time I've ever heard or seen anyone make such a claim.

I just can't find any factual basis to support such a statement.

 

[cape cove]

Most dies don't work the case body all the way to the belt and running hot loads it just eventually develops enough of a bulge as to seriously weaken the case.

I know exactly what you mean. This normally happens when you have a die that doesn't match up well with your chamber. In other words you have to bump the shoulder to much to get the base sized enough for easy chambering resulting in poor case life due to seperations. Bumping the shoulder the proper .002-.003 then results in the base not being sized enough. There are a few ways around this, the Larry Willis die is one. I size for 5 belted mags and have only needed this die once. My belted cases normally bite the dust due to loose primer pockets more than anything else, never due to seperations. JME