OK, so here I am being all "no fast sevens for me, thanks" and what to my wondering eyes should appear but a lightweight custom pre-64 Model 70 in 270 Weatherby built by my favorite maker and set up exactly as it should be for long range hunting in mountainous terrain, for sale for about 25% of the build cost.
What do I need to know about the 270 WBY? Does it eat barrel throats? Pet loads? Good zero?
I might buy this rifle tomorrow, so school me tonight.
Thanks,
Okie John
I think that is a terrible idea, please send me the info on how I can buy it.Originally Posted by okie john
Kidding aside, .270 Weatherby is Jim Brockman's favorite Weatherby cartridge. My wife and I each have one on model 70 actions. They have fluted Lilja barrels and Brown Precision stocks. They feed great, shoot flat, hit hard and are quite accurate. I think they feed better than the .270 WSM. There is bunch of high quality factory ammo available. We don't shoot ours enough to worry about barrel life. I would be all over this rifle.
Likes pretty much everything in every caliber.
I was afraid you'd say that.
Okie John
GJM,
I've never been into the Weatherby cartridges. Can you go into a little more detail on this one? A hunting buddy of mine preferred a .257 W for Pronghorn, and that was a nice set up, though factory ammo was just ridiculously expensive, so he didn't shoot it much.
I also viewed Weatherby cartridges as bogus, appealing primarily to hunters that thought velocity listed on brochures was the most important attribute in picking a hunting rifle. It is a pretty interesting story how I ended up with the .270 Weatherby, but it will take enough time, that I need to head to a match now, and will describe it later.
Likes pretty much everything in every caliber.
Perhaps a longer explanation, but hopefully it will shed some light on how I got to the .270 Weatherby.
I started shooting centerfire rifles in the 80's, mostly .308 and .30-06 rifles, which made sense living in the northeast. My wife and I decided to go to Botswana for our honeymoon, and went to Gunsite in 1991, taking a rifle class to get prepared. We ended up going to Africa a number of times, where I settled on a .375H&H/.416 Rigby model 70 based combo for hunting there, and a .308 model 70 for deer hunting and training.
When we moved to Alaska in 2002, Jim Brockman recommended a .338-06, as being a good gun for caribou and moose, but also being suitable for bear defense. I shot a bunch of moose and caribou with that rifle, hunted Canada for goat and caribou with, and generally liked it. I also used it for elk in the west, and ended up having two issues where I mis-ranged elk in inclement conditions, and had to chase them around. That led me to wanting something flatter shooting for western mule deer and elk hunting. Brockman built me up a .270 WSM on a Nisaka action, which was a real shooter. To make it feed right, we had to go to a HS Precision DBM to get the tomato soup can shaped .270 WSM cartridges to feed.
I took that .270 WSM to Idaho, and one shot harvested a mule over 300 and and a bulk elk at just over 400 yards. The problem was I really disliked a DBM on a hunting rifle. Jim Brockman suggested .270 Weatherby as being ballistically similar but better feeding in a conventional model 70 action. I was pretty negative based on various Weatherby cartridge and rifle horror stories -- from magazines coming open (enough so guides often duct taped them closed on client guns) and ballistic tip bullets coming apart in .300 Weatherby in Alaska and Africa. Jim convinced me the .270 was the best Weatherby cartridge, so we built a rifle with it. That rifle worked out well, and started a series of very successful hunts, all one shot stops.
Back to Alaska, I decided that out on the tundra a cartridge flatter shooting than the .338-06 would be an advantage, and started hunting my .270 Weatherby there, too. Ultimately, I decided I wanted a .300 WM in AK, for more mass against bears, and had Brockman build me up a favorite -- a very lightweight .300 WM.
Likes pretty much everything in every caliber.
GJM,
Thanks for the explaining the journey. I enjoy all the bolt gun discussions.
That is a sharp looking rifle. What's the weight and recoil of the 300wm like?
The rifle is about 6.5 pounds scoped, and recoil is brisk but not objectionable in the context of a hunting gun. Wouldn't want to shoot a rifle course with it.
Likes pretty much everything in every caliber.
It helps mitigate felt recoil when shooting from a bench to shoot with enough rest material piled up to be able to shoot with your back straight up, rather than hunched over leaned into it.
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