The
.300 Weatherby Magnum is a
.30This article lists firearm cartridges which have a bullet in the to caliber range.*Length refers to the cartridge case length.*OAL refers to the overall length of the cartridge....
caliberIn guns including firearms, caliber or calibre is the approximate internal diameter of the barrel in relation to the diameter of the projectile used in it....
rifleA rifle is a firearm designed to be fired from the shoulder, with a barrel that has a helical groove or pattern of grooves cut into the barrel walls. The raised areas of the rifling are called "lands," which make contact with the projectile , imparting spin around an axis corresponding to the...
cartridgeA cartridge, also called a round, packages the bullet, gunpowder and primer into a single metallic case precisely made to fit the firing chamber of a firearm. The primer is a small charge of impact-sensitive chemical that may be located at the center of the case head or at its rim . Electrically...
created by
Roy WeatherbyRoy E. Weatherby was the founder and owner of Weatherby, Inc., an American rifle, shotgun and cartridge manufacturing company set up in 1945. Weatherby created an entire line of custom cartridges, and was one of the people responsible for the industry interest in high-speed cartridges...
in 1944 and produced by
WeatherbyWeatherby, Inc. is an American gun manufacturer founded in 1945 by Roy Weatherby. The company is best known for its high-powered magnum cartridges, such as the .257 Weatherby Magnum and the .460 Weatherby Magnum...
. It has become the most popular of all the Weatherby cartridges.
Background
Roy Weatherby already had experience with other custom cartridges such as his own
.270 Weatherby MagnumThe .270 Weatherby Magnum was the first belted magnum based on the .300 H&H Magnum to be developed by Roy Weatherby. It has the characteristic double-radius shoulders and is necked down to accommodate the .277in bullets. Being a proprietary cartridge, the .270 Weatherby has no official SAAMI...
when he created the .300 Weatherby. Like most of his other magnum cartridges, this is based on a blown-out
.300 H&H MagnumThe .300 H&H Magnum Cartridge was introduced by the British company Holland & Holland as the Super-Thirty in June, 1925. The case was belted like the .375 H&H Magnum, and is based on the same case, as also is the .244 H&H Magnum. The belt is for headspace as the cases' shoulders have a narrow...
case, using the signature Weatherby double-radius shoulder.
Performance
Weatherby claims that this is the most powerful .30 caliber magnum rifle commercially available, but the recently introduced
.300 RUMThe .300 Remington Ultra Magnum, also known as the .300 Ultra Mag or .300 RUM is a 7.62 mm caliber rifle cartridge , 7.62x72mm, or .30 caliber rifle cartridge introduced by Remington Arms in 1999. The .300 Remington Ultra Magnum is one of the largest commercially available .30 caliber magnums...
is now more powerful. Of course there are quite a few very large .30 caliber
wildcatsA wildcat cartridge, or wildcat, is a custom cartridge for which ammunition and firearms are not mass produced. These cartridges are often created in order to optimize a certain performance characteristic of an existing commercial cartridge.Developing and using wildcat cartridges does not...
around, not to mention Weatherby's own
.30-378 Weatherby MagnumThe .30-378 Weatherby Magnum is a cartridge introduced by Weatherby in 1996 that uses the same case as the previously existing .378 Weatherby Magnum and .460 Weatherby Magnum, necked down to a 30 caliber bullet. It is offered with bullets between 165 and 200 grains in factory loading, generating...
.
One must note however when comparing the .300 RUM and the .300 Weatherby Magnum the difference in factory loadings. Performance data is often listed on the side of the ammunition box for those who wish to do an in-store comparison. On average the Weatherby cartridge is listed with higher performance. This is because from the factory Weatherby loads its rounds with a greater powder charge than does Remington. This is because Remington generally sells rounds below the cartridges maximum performance envelope so that its recoil will be more forgiving to shooters. In order to take advantage of the greater case capacity of the non-belted Remington round one must handload it to a greater powder charge.
The .300 Wby is in common use by big-game hunters all over the world.
See also
- List of rifle cartridges
- 7 mm caliber
This article lists firearm cartridges which have a bullet in the to caliber range.*Length refers to the cartridge case length.*OAL refers to the overall length of the cartridge....
other cartridges in the same caliber range