Weatherby Nation

dubyam, I will have to admit that I think I just read some of your best stuff.  Now don't let that get to your head but you did a good job on answering the questions.  Oh, by the way I still have a box of 140gr and a box of 150gr TSX's that if you want them I will send them to you for your 270, just let me know and they are yours. 

Agreed.  Dubyam's responses were spot-on and very helpful.  I appreciate everyone's insight. And CircutRider, that sounds like a great deal.  As you know I'm looking for a .270 WBy Mag, so I'm gonna' have to top yer offer and add a whole $h!t load of Norma brass to sweeten the deal!

My local Sportsman's Warehouse has a brand new Mark V Deluxe 270WM for $1500 right now. If hadn't just bought my 300 it would be mine!
On the handloading question RCBS is tough to beat. I used a Rockchucker for 20 years until I started loading the 300WM and wanting a bigger press opening and went to Lyman Crusher II. Get the Rockchucker supreme kit and it will have everything you need except for dies, and components.

+1 for Sportsmans Wharehouse. I got my .270 roy Deluxe there a month ago for 1499.99. It was on clearance. Gun counter guy said they would be on sale until they sold 'em.

Please give me the contact info. for Sportsman's Warehouse!!!

http://www.sportsmanswarehouse.com/

My local store is Roanoke, VA. They have the Mark V 270WM above.

Mine is in Chattanooga Tn but no more .270 WM....... I bought it already.

Lucky Bastard.

I am now thinking about the 7mm Wby Mag instead of the .270 Wby Mag. Comments?

I mean no disrespect to all you 270WM fans, but for hunting purposes, wouldn't a 7mmWM be better? Ballistically very similar but with the advantage of being able to use heavier bullets! What say all of you?

Ridgerunner,

I guess it all depends on what you want to hunt and what you already own.  If your hunting tends to be more toward the antelope, sheep, goats, and deer range, then maybe the .270 is better.  If big Mulies, Elk, or similar will be mixed in once in a while, you'd probably want the heavier bullets offered by the 7mm.  I have Weatherby's in .257, .270, and .300 on the lower end so a 7mm wouldn't really fit.  realistically, they are so similar ballistically that it probably doesn't matter.  In that case I'd go with Weatherby's first cartridge; the .270 Weatherby.

As I said in my post on the first page, the 7mmWby is better suited to some medium game such as elk, but for thin-skinned game and long distances, the 270Wby really outshines the 7mmWby due to the ability to launch 130gr bullets of stout construction at 3500fps.  The 7mmWby is a great round, certainly, but for thin-skinned game the 270Wby is the better choice.

Dubyam, this is an honest question and I mean no disrespect to anyone, but I am interested to know why a thick-skinned animal would require a larger caliber. To try and to put this in perspective: obviously, the devestating effect of a .460WM would be alarming overkill on varmints and a .22 would be insane to use on a Cape Buffalo, but when two calibers are so close ballistically, how do you make the distinction that one is better than the other?  The great Jack O'Connor took plenty of dangerous game with the venerable .270.  Are we meerly talking about perfect shot placement?  Are we talking about bullet fragmentation at closer ranges?  Because this can be ovecome by the use of a premium-quality bullets like the Nosler Partition. Or are we talking about a bullet that completely shoots through the target?  Or is it ballistics, body-mass or a combination of all?  I recently read that a .416 Rigby will penetrate better than a .450 NE due to it's superior velocity.  Since a .270 WM has impressive velocity (as does the 7mmWM) it stands to reason that both would penetrate very well.  Why would the 7mm be better for thick-skinned game and what does bullet weight have to do with why one load is better than than another (other than a particular load shotting better out of a particular gun)?  If we are talking about perfect shot placement and if power alone cannot make up for inaccurate shooting, why would the slight difference in size and power that the 7mmWM offers make a difference?  I suspect it probably doesn't really matter that much since a .270WM can do the job on anything up to and including Moose (if we do our part), but I have heard it said that a .270 would be at the lighter end of the spectrum for the larger species... Then there's Jack O'Connor...  All this might be idiotic and I'm probably rambling at this point, but I think you probably understand where I am going with this line of questions...  What are you thoughts?

First of all, no offense taken, no disrespect observed.  I think you intuitively understand where am about to go with this information.  Jack O'Connor was a great hunter, shooter, and writer.  In all reality, I own a 270Wby that I will hunt elk with if given the chance, and never think twice.  But, the primary function of that rifle is white-tails.  Now, why I believe a bigger caliber is better for thicker skinned game is primarily based on the bullet weights available.  The 7mm offers the utility of 175gr bullets for bigger game, which is a roughly 17% more bullet weight versus the 150gr .277 bullet.  This adds to the momentum when striking tougher game.  Momentum is massxvelocity, as opposed to energy which uses velocity squared.  Now, momentum is the measure of the bullets ability to maintain it's motion, which is huge as far as penetrating tougher game is concerned.  As far as peneration, a faster bullet is going to penetrate less than the slower one (if both are expanding bullets) as the faster one is going to expand more quickly (due to higher hydraulic pressure) and thus have more resistance sooner.  So that's why, if I were buying primarily for elk, or more as a combination gun, I'd look at the 7mm, but looking at 90% white-tail use, I'd opt for the 270Wby as I've described.  Really, there's probably not a nickel's worth of difference, but I like the long point blank range of the 270Wby for thin-skinned game.  You won't get quite as flat with the 7mm.

This is a great place to get info on the Weatherby rifles. Which I am researching on the caliber and what game it can take. It seems to me that the .224 caliber all the way to over the top can take deer. Mind you with a good shot a .224 caliber can kill the deer. My main question is what caliber should one get when shoot game with the least amount of meat damage. .240 caliber sound like a good pick for someone who hunt deer, wild boar, and smaller. I don't think there will be a time when I want an Elk. I don't care about the recoil. If it hit, it hits I can take it. If its tease me with a push I'm happy with that as long as my game is dead.