AusVarmint

i just noticed my rank or whatever it is.

has anyone used one of these and what are your thoughts? what does it compare to?

I am yet to use one, but may get a shot of one in the future as a mate has just picked one up.

I believe the weatherby cartridge is ballisticly comparable to the 22-250 case

edit - just saw this picture.....

A really expensive 22/250.
Cheers...
Con

yeah, there doesn't seem to be any practical advantage.

i'm thinking of trying a 222 magnum with a fast twist barrel.

andrewk wrote:yeah, there doesn't seem to be any practical advantage.

True doesn't even match the 22/250 but I do like the idea of a 22 belted case even if it serves no purpose. Definetly something different.

andrewk wrote:i'm thinking of trying a 222 magnum with a fast twist barrel.

Have a look at the 5.6x50 if you are after max performance and something a bit different on the 222 case head size.

hey i like that. gears are turning....

Well guys, I actually owned one for a while, back around 1980. It was a genuine Weatherby rifle made in Japan.

It was probably also one of the worst shooting rifles that I have ever owned. It came with 100 cases and a set of dies, and I wasted a lot of time on the range trying to get the thing to shoot. I had it bedded and the trigger lightened off, but I think that the barrel was that poor that it was never going to shoot anyway. It averaged about 1.75 moa with handloads.

Ballistically, it was no better than my Rem 700 22/250 heavy barrel, and that rifle would shoot rings around it.

I finally did the best thing one could do with a rifle like that and made it someone else's problem. I advertised it in the SSAA mag and the phone went mad. Eventually some guy on a property in Qld bought it, as he had a collection of Weatherby's and just wanted a .224 Magnum.

Good riddance, I reckon.

I have had 2, 224 Weatherby magnums in Mark V Varmintmaster rifles.
Probably one of the best handling and balanced rifles ever made,shame they are no longer produced.
The 224 Weatherby Magnum cartridge gives velocity a little less than a 22-250 but both the rifles I had would easily shoot 5 shot groups under and inch.With there preferred loads they would shoot groups a lot smaller.

Charlie

CBM wrote:I have had 2, 224 Weatherby magnums in Mark V Varmintmaster rifles.
Probably one of the best handling and balanced rifles ever made,shame they are no longer produced.
The 224 Weatherby Magnum cartridge gives velocity a little less than a 22-250 but both the rifles I had would easily shoot 5 shot groups under and inch.With there preferred loads they would shoot groups a lot smaller.

Charlie

Except that brass is 2 to 4 times more expensive which really makes it impractial as a varminter when there are cartidges out there that match or exceed its ballistics that are of much better value IMO.

kjd wrote: Except that brass is 2 to 4 times more expensive which really makes it impractial as a varminter when there are cartidges out there that match or exceed its ballistics that are of much better value IMO.

who cares???


it aint all about the bloody brass cost, I am a poorby and i can afford to feed a 300wby!!!

norma brass is not overly expensive and it is awesome brass

How many bits of brass do you have for the .240?

I only ask as if I was paying for weatherby/norma brass instead of Remington, federal or Winchester I would have well over $1k worth of .243 brass. How many shots in a shooting trip would you take out of the .340? Last trip I went away was close to 200 shots, the trip before was between 450 and 500 out of the .243 alone. If I was using weatherby/norma brass I certainly wouldn’t be happy about buying it.

Can’t find any prices online but 100 Pieces from cabelas will set you back US$162.99 per 100. The ballisticly superior 22-250 will set you back US$34.99 for 100. I've used US prices as I can’t find a website that lists .224 wby brass in aus.

If you were a dedicated varminter firing a few hundred shots a sitting, why would you choose an inferior cartridge that costs more to run?

Sure once you increase in size the weatherby's stand alone, but we aren’t talking about firing 20 shots a trip here, and in the small cases the WBY aren’t head and shoulders above the rest, and in some cases a bit behind. I guess there is the novelty of owning one of a dying breed(.224) but for me it comes down to practicallity, i would imagine Keith is suggesting the same...

A few thoughts,

I am only guessing but the difference between using a 240 WBY and a 243 is, that you are only ever going to need one shot to do the job with the 240 not miltiple shots like a 243, thus saving the need to carry and buy lots of brass.

Better still you can get a 257 WBY,the most impressive small to medium game cartrdige around.

I think 224 WBY brass is a bargain compared to my 460 and I usually have a least 3-4 boxes of crackers for it and currently another 400 projectiles on standby.(yes you can reload when you are away on a hunting trip)

I can never understand why people like bashing Weatherby cartridges,I guess it comes down to the old saying, "If you have to ask how much something costs you cannot afford it"

I buy and shoot the rifles and cartridges I like because they do the job required effeciently and that is what makes me happy,after all isn't that what our sport is all about?

If being practical cost wise is a priority we all would be shooting single shot lithgow 22's.

One thing that is never mentioned is that the original Mark V Weatherby Varmintmaster rifle is still one of the lightest best handling rifles ever built

Keep smiling,

Charlie



.

CBM wrote:A few thoughts,

I am only guessing but the difference between using a 240 WBY and a 243 is, that you are only ever going to need one shot to do the job with the 240 not miltiple shots like a 243, thus saving the need to carry and buy lots of brass.

Better still you can get a 257 WBY,the most impressive small to medium game cartrdige around.

I think 224 WBY brass is a bargain compared to my 460 and I usually have a least 3-4 boxes of crackers for it and currently another 400 projectiles on standby.(yes you can reload when you are away on a hunting trip)

I can never understand why people like bashing Weatherby cartridges,I guess it comes down to the old saying, "If you have to ask how much something costs you cannot afford it"

I buy and shoot the rifles and cartridges I like because they do the job required effeciently and that is what makes me happy,after all isn't that what our sport is all about?

If being practical cost wise is a priority we all would be shooting single shot lithgow 22's.

One thing that is never mentioned is that the original Mark V Weatherby Varmintmaster rifle is still one of the lightest best handling rifles ever built

Keep smiling,

Charlie



.

Given there are numerous Weatherbys id like to own i would say you're a typical fanboy, wishing Roy was still around so you could be the mother to his illegitimate child. To the point you cant even read the part where i outlined the WBY outperforms pretty much everything when it comes to their larger cals

I used the .243 as an example of my varmint rifle and the amount of shooting it does, compared to your .224 WBY that takes how much game a year? And now, lithgow .22's aren't practical out to 500 metres, then again nor is the .224WBY but i can see how you would draw that comparison.

In any case, the two prices i gave comparisons were between a .224, not a 240 and certainly not a .257. Perhaps you would be best served reading and accepting the facts as presented, rather then suggesting one cant afford an inferior product.

Keep your chin up

GriMo is right.

We are talking about a varmint cartridge (sorry anything that is in .224 is a varmint or target cartridge IMO).

The .224wby is a pointless waste of time when you have the likes of the 22-250 220swift and other cartridges that outperform and brass price is less than 1/4 of the .224 wby.

Sure there are some great weatherby cartridges and I can understand paying the premium price for those when you talk about big game hunting. That said I don't believe that two hunters of equal skill level that the Weatherby would give them the edge over a non-weatherby cartridge (except maybe in their mind).

What I love is the pretentiousness the Weatherby diehards possess. All I said was the 224 Weatherby is impractical as a varminter when there are cartridges that exceed its ballistics that are better value and you girls all get your knickers twisted.

Redline, thing is mate I wasn't talking about a 340wby I was talking about a varmint cartridge where brass is ridiculously expensive. Its fine if you are only going to have 50-100 pieces of brass but when you do a lot of shooting and take away 300-500 rounds away with you each trip its stupid to have a inferior cartridge that its brass costs more.

don't worry boys, i just moved up to a cheaper and better performing cartridge.... 22-250!