240 Roy

[GriMo]

Sorry Tez,
. I think Weatherby's are an affliction whose bubble bursts the moment you hammer something with it and realise it does nothing very much different to what your mates' much cheaper rifles do. All the Wbys bar the 257 and 378 are now closely matched by a factory cartridge or a semi-popular wildcat. The only Wby that offers something significantly different to me is the 257Wby ... and I'd be making brass from 7mmRemMag rather than pay the extortion being charged for Norma brass.

Cheers...
Con

that is the biggest load of crap ive ever read imo
you have obviously not seen the difference in power even on pig sized game with a 378wby compared to a 375h&h or ask lowndsie what difference there is between the 338-378 and a 338win. even 500lbs of energy is noticeable on game with the size of exit wounds but considering many wby calibres are near 1000lbs of energy more per given projectile weight in a calibre you sure as hell notice the difference.
if you were to fire 3 bullets of the same weight at 1000, 2000 and 3000fps the second hits 4 times as hard as the first and the third nine times as hard. velocity is a huge part of killing. for example the 30-378 with 180gr pill hids harder at 400yards than what the .308 does at the muzzle.

As far as I can tell we are not comparing the difference of a 338/278 to a 338 win.

The comparison was drawn between a 240 wby and a 6mm06 was recommended. Uncle nick rates the highest velocity as 3900. Sure you can get faster but ill use commercially available data as a reference. The 6mm06 does it at 3708. 200fps really wouldn’t be all that noticeable on a 6mm 70gn projectile.

3708 2137 ft lbs
3900 2364 ft lbs

200ft lbs difference in energy is a difference that cannot be taken away or denied. However out of a 6mm projectile are game animals squarely hit going to notice the difference assuming both projectiles are of equal and consistent quality? I highly doubt the kill would be any less emphatic. Given the fact we are talking about vermin, and varminting, not pig/buff shooting the 200 ft lbs would surely go unnoticed by our furry friends.

You may also note the heavier into the bullet range we go the more effective the 6mm06 becomes

The 6mm06 drives a 105gn pill at 3218 fps and 2415 ft lbs
The 240 wby drives the same pill at 3250 fps and 2463

48ft lbs is sweet FA

And just for the sake of it the difference between a 338/378 and a 338 win in a 250 projectile is significant.

338/378 250gn @ 3112fps for 5377 ft lbs
338 win 250 gn @ 2750 for 4199 ft lbs.

over 1k ft lbs difference is significant. 48ft lbs aint.

all these loads are max that I could find for all cals. and by max im referring to as fast as it can be driven given commercial load data.

im not trying to bash Weatherly’s, far from it, as their are quite a few I would happily own. Just keeping the weatherby-itis in check and providing a third party comparison of the two 6mm rounds mentioned.

[460wby bunny shooter]

yes we were talking about the 6mm mob but i wrote my post as old mate thinks there are only two calibres that offer a real advantage and the rest doesnt make much difference. clearly he hasnt had to much experince in the field with many of the other cals. i agree and have owned and still own many non weatherby calibres and they all kill great. i also have all bar 2 of the weatherby calibres in my safe and the two that i dont have now i have owned and i can tell you they kill hands down better than the standard cals and the biggest advantage they have over std cals is there ability to shoot heavy bullets much better.

[Tez]

240Wby is king of the factory hunting 6mm's,that's common knowledge .

When I get my 240Wby(Right after my 270Wby ),I will meet anyone's challenge if they think other factory hunting 6mm's offer the same or better in performance & ballistics.
All I can say is better have a Mark V action if you wanna keep up,coz I'm gunna be loading those bastards red-hot at the end of the day.

And on the topic of not much difference in killing power in the field,well mate that's a big call & we will leave that alone.

And we will leave all the wildcats out coz that just gets messy.
Maybe I'll just build a 240-378Wby,mmmmmm .

[460wby bunny shooter]

he he id imagine barrel life would be great

[brad]

in regards to the 257wby mag does anybody have any idea as to the differance between it and my 25/06AI and say 117gn pills ?
i dont actually have any figures on the 25/06AI but i know i am pushing them about 6gns over standard 25/06 max charges ?

[460wby bunny shooter]

i run 71gr of 2213sc behind the 117gr hornady projectiles if that helps

[lowndsie]

Fiqures are a good guidline but are nothing close to doing a field comparison. My last trip to QLD saw both the use of some standard cals as well as mark's wthby collection and the wthby's preformance is as good as is claimed. All the rifles I own atm are standard cals and they have worked fine for me but I dont pretend for a second that they are up to scratch with the wthby cals.

The only arguement that seems to circulate that is negative towards the wthby cals is the barrel life.... what seems funny to me is that in the same sentance, pleople claim that wthbys dont offer much increase in velocity and killing energy but yet they seem to have a noticible increase in barrel wear???.... just doesnt make sense to me.

My 10cents worth anyways.

[dave]

Barrel life i think is something paper shooters and in accurate hunters worry about........if your aims is true then there is no need for a follow up shot

[Tez]

The .240 Weatherby Magnum

By Chuck Hawks


The .240 Weatherby Magnum was introduced in 1968, and it was the last Weatherby caliber introduced while Roy Weatherby was still alive. The .240 Weatherby case is unique. It is a standard length and diameter cartridge with a .473" rim diameter, the same as a 30-06, and it will work through any standard length action. Like all Weatherby cartridges, it is a belted case with a double radius shoulder. It is a very cute magnum cartridge, with a powder capacity much like that of the 6mm-06 or 6mm-284 wildcats. Norma manufactures Weatherby brand ammunition. The .240 has a SAAMI maximum average pressure of 53,500 cup.

Weatherby touts the .240 as a combination long range varmint and big game cartridge. It certainly has the ballistics to back up those claims, but for a varmint rifle it burns an awful lot of powder, kicks pretty hard, is quite noisy, and heats up its barrel very quickly. Burning so much powder behind such a small diameter bullet generates a lot of heat that dissipates rather slowly, so to prevent burning out the throat of a .240 rifle the barrel should be allowed to cool between shot strings (which should be kept short). While these limitations are perfectly acceptable for a big game rifle, they do not an ideal varmint rifle make.

The .240 Weatherby is the highest velocity commercially produced 6mm cartridge. It will drive a 100 grain bullet about 150 fps faster than the 6mm Remington from a 26" barrel, less from a 24" barrel. Of course, if the 6mm is measured in a 24" barrel and the .240 in a 26" barrel, which is the case with factory load ballistics, the difference goes up to about 300 fps.

Bob Hagel, a gun writer whose opinion I respect, called the .240 Weatherby "just a little more of the same thing" when comparing it to the 6mm Rem. He went on to relate that he had killed a number of deer-size animals with both, and "in nearly all instances performance was good."

.240 Weatherby factory ammunition is offered only by Weatherby, and like all Weatherby factory loaded ammo it is expensive. Bullet weights of 87, 90, 95, and 100 grains are currently offered. The .240 case is unique and cannot be formed from any other existing case, which has limited the cartridge's popularity with reloaders. Never the less it is an exceedingly effective long range cartridge, and its approximately 14.5 ft. lbs. of recoil can be managed by most shooters.

Current Weatherby figures claim a muzzle velocity of 3406 fps for a 100 grain spitzer bullet from a 26" test barrel. At 100 yards the velocity is given as 3136 fps and the energy as 2183 ft. lbs. And at 400 yards the velocity is still 2415 fps and the remaining energy an impressive 1294 ft. lbs.

The trajectory of that load (using a Nosler Partition bullet) is as follows: +2.8" at 100 yards, +3.5" at 200 yards, 0 at 300 yards, and -8.4" at 400 yards. That will do for deer to about 350 yards, and qualifies the .240 Weatherby as a true ultra-long range rifle.

At one time Weatherby supplied Mark V rifles for the .240 with both 24" and 26" barrels, but the latest reference I have at hand (a 2002 Weatherby Catalog) shows that the .240 is only available with a 24" barrel. It is still a very flat shooting caliber but it will not achieve the advertised ballistics in the shorter barrel.

Handloaders have a wide selection of bullets from which to choose, since the .240 Weatherby uses regular .243" bullets. The most common bullet weights are 70, 75, 80, 85, 90, 95, 100, and 105 grains.

For examples of the velocities that can be achieved in a rifle with a 24" barrel, I took the following loads from the Speer Reloading Manual No. 13. The good folks at Speer chronographed their loads in a Weatherby Mark V hunting rifle with a 24" barrel, using Weatherby brass and CCI 250 primers.

With the Speer 80 grain varmint bullet in front of 50.0 grains of IMR 4831 powder the MV was 3327 fps; in front of 54.0 grains of IMR 4831 the velocity rose to 3583 fps. Using a 100-105 grain bullet and 45.0 grains of W760 powder the MV was 2922 fps. A maximum charge of 49.0 grains of W760 gave a MV of 3206 fps. (Note that this is exactly 200 fps less velocity than claimed for the factory load with the 100 grain bullet.)

Using figures from the Speer Reloading Manual a 100 grain Grand Slam bullet that starts with a MV of 3200 fps from a 24" Weatherby rifle barrel will be traveling at 2914 fps at 100 yards, 2645 fps at 200 yards, 2392 fps at 300 yards, and 2153 fps at 400 yards. The remaining energy at 400 yards is a satisfying 1029 ft. lbs. The trajectory for that load looks like this: +2.5" at 100 yards, +2.4" at 200 yards, -2.6" at 300 yards, and -13.4" at 400 yards. The maximum point blank range (+/- 3") is 305 yards.

[GriMo]

lowndsie, the best thing about figures is they are accurate and repeatable.

they also provide a benchmark that cannot be changed by outside factors that will provide an advantage to a particular cal. energy is energy. velocity is velocity. same projectile at the same speed = same energy.

The difference between the 240 wtby and the 6mm06 isnt that amazing. yeah im sure some wtby cals compared to standard cals is very impressive. but in some cases it really doesnt make a huge amount of difference.


tez, ive seen that quoted a few times now. doesnt offer any new info to me...

[lowndsie]

Maybe you should try a couple mate and see what you think then!!!

[GriMo]

lowndsie, just making the point this thread is about a 240 wtby, none other. it just happens to be a wtby cal that doesnt exceedingly out perform its competition.

Im sure there is a noticeable difference in many, but in this case its nothing amazing

thats all i was trying to demonstrate, and provided figures to demonstrate it. I never denied the fact certain wtbys fr out perform the competition. infact i provided examples to support that fact. but in the case of 6mm, wtby isnt that amazing.

[bushchook]

Tez ,
Nothing against Weatherby and think the .240 would perform quite well if my .243 AI is any indication . Would make a great roo and goat gun .
Definitely would not choose a MkV as the basis for a really serious long long range varmint rifle though . Too hard to get all those locking lugs bearing evenly and to my knowledge no really good trigger available .
Think you'll find there is bugger all to choose between the .240 and the 6mm/06 or 6mm/.284 in terms of outright velocity .
Go to longrangehunting.com if you want to see what the real long range nuts are buying .

[dave]

Look you guys theres nothing any of roys cartridges can do that a standard .243 cant do bwahahahahahah

[Stonewall]

Compare a .243 in a 22" barrel with a .240 Weatherby in 26"and with 75 gr you have a 300-400 fps advantage for the .240 .With 100 grain loads in both you gain 300 + for the Weatherby cartridge -think of it as a 25/06 that takes 6mm (.243 dia.) bullets. You put a lot more powder in the .240 .My favorite extreme example is : 6 PPC -70 gr -3100+ fps with 24.8 gr H-4198 and my .240 with 58 -60 gr MRP for 3850+ with the same bullet. No difference at all between this and the 6-06 really -just factory brass for the .240 and a belt.
I like this more than the .257 myself. I have a .243 also. It likes IMR-4350 with 75 gr Sierras at 3300 fps .