240 wby

Status
Not open for further replies.
L

Lloyd Smale

Member
Joined
Jan 23, 2003
Messages
1,991
Location
Munising MI
Any fans here? I see wby has it listed as a chambering for the vanguard now. Anyone seen any at dealers yet? I kind of interested in trying it as its one mag round ive never fooled with. Im not looking for a bunch of negitives or guys telling me to make up a 6-06 or that brass is expensive. i know all of the negetives. Im looking for guys that have actually shot stuff with it and what they thought of it and any heads up as to where i can pick one up.
 
Its hard to say anything negative about the performance of any Weatherby cartridge. They are almost all at the top of the list in terms of ballistic performance for their caliber and of more than acceptable accuracy. The .240 should be an excellent heavy varmint/light deer choice.

As a group, their only real drawback is that factory ammo is hideously expensive.
 
As a note the 240wby uses a proprietary case. Can't be made from anything else. They cost well over a dollar a case. The 6mm-06 has almost the same capacity and cases are a lot cheaper. Either would be great rounds.....and hell on barrels.
 
my 257 weatherby might be hell on barrels but at 70 dollars a box I can tell you it don't get shot alot thats for sure.
 
My hand-loaded 6mm Rem stomped the .240 Wea Mag's ballistics. If you do plan to go with the cost of Weatherby brand ammo, and you want a smaller caliber, I suggest the .257 Wea Mag. Given the ammunition cost though, I suggest simply getting a nice Winchester M70, or a Vanguard in .25-06 Rem.

Geno
 
Hey geno what load you running out of you 6. Best loads I've seen are 3100 with 100s.
 
Geno i find that hard to believe. Ive been loading for the 6mm for almost 40 years. It was the first set of dies i ever bought. My 22 inch classic will do 3000 with a 100 but thats right on the ragged edge and primers are starting to show pressure signs. I dont know of one case ive ever ran into in reloading where something that held more powder did worse then a smaller case. Ive seen it where a guy could say that 5 grains of powder didnt make as much differnce as he figured it would but it NEVER was slower. You can argue that 200 fps doesnt make much differnce on game but you cant argue that the larger case cant make that 200 fps happen. At least not if your using a powder that is proper for each round and are loading to safe pressures. By the way i allready have a 257 wby and two 2506 rifles. Im looking at the 240 for something new to play with.
 
I'be been shooting the 240 since the 70's and yes i have shot big game with it, includeing two deer this fall. The truth is, because of the negatives already mentioned in this thread, and because it's just not "that" much better than a 6mm with equil length bbl., i wouldn't have another.

As i've already mentioned in another 240 thread, if i was doing it all over again, i would be shooting a 25/06 with 26" bbl... OR, if i had to be useing 6mm bullets, i's be shooting a 6mm Rem...

DM
 
Having reloaded for the 6mm and .243wcf, I can state that I too see it difficult to equal, much less exceed the velocities of the .240wby.

With the newer powders such as RL22, RL25, IMR7828, and H1000, not to mention the mil-spec surplus WC-860 and WC-872, the 6mm will get close to 3,300fps from a 24"bbl and make 3,300fps from a 26"bbl with a 100gr bullet. However, with the same powders, an additional 100 to 150fps is possibe with the .240wby.

The question though is, should you even go there in the first place. Due to the constuction of the bullets themselves, I don't think that anything is accomplished.
I found a conundrum with the 100gr .243" bullets on deer. At ranges under 50yds (with the .243wcf) the bullets typically "blow up" and fail to penetrate. (ok, blow up may be a bit drammatic, but I seen deer losses to many times due to bullet failure- cores seperating and fragmenting...), whereas at ranges exceeding 300yds, the bullets fail to expand and with small entry and exit wounds, deer a likewise lost due to lack of blood trail.

Withe the .240wby, you are extending the close end envelope another 25-50yds, and only extending the far end envelope by 25-50yds.

I went with the .257wby and find the bullets perform better on both ends of the spectrum than the smaller .243" bullets. Ditto the .22cf's likewise. I've seen the same "issues" with the .22-250 on our "smaller" deer. But, then every one "expects" such from the .22cf's.......

I'm not a fan of the .243" diameter bullets/cartridges, hence I don't own one. (have however in past....).
But, if I were to get another one, It'd probably be a .243 as brass is much more available than with the 6mm. And, with a .257Roberts, I essentially already have one, though be it a 6.35mmX57.

I too suggest going with the .257wby. You can form brass for it from 7mmRemMag brass by simply running the RemMag through your Wby dies. I've done it 100's of times. In fact I only own 12 pieces of .257wby "factory" brass.... Ditto the .270wby from 7mmRemMag brass. Even easier than the .257wby. Just remember that case volumn is down 1-3% depending on make of brass.
 
Lloyd,

I custom built a 240 wby on a Mauser 98 platform. I had ER Shaw do all the metal work. It turned out super nice. I stuck a Nikon pro-staff scope on it and I've been very pleased overall. I handload, so pricey ammo doesn't kill me. I bought 40 pieces of brass and worked up a nice deer load using 95 gr Nosler ballistic tips and R22. I can send you my load data if you're interested.

When the dust settled I think the entire project (less reloading and ammo components) ran me around $850. That was several years back now. I've only shot a bobcat with it so far.

And to the gentleman who claims his 6mm Rem outperforms the 240 wby, I'll challenge that any day. Cartridge capacity typically wins out on chronographs.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top