6-5-300wby

My brother is asking for help on a DU Weatherby rifle in 6.5-300. He sat it back and was going to sell it but I think he's decided to shoot it. He doesn't reload and saw some ammo was over $100/box occasionally finding some for $60/box

I've loaded for tons of rifles just never messed with this cartridge and thought I'd see if you guys have any first hand advice?

Also if you've been able to find any once fired brass.

Also can you neck down 300 wby without having to turn necks?

Barrel life is about 400 rounds, maybe 600 if you baby it. So make sure you don't really mess around with too many combinations. I like H1000 because it's very temp stable, I like a bonded or a mono bullet. 127lrx, Accubond, or partition for hunting.

Midway has new brass also think Peterson ran some not too long ago so you might be able to find some of theirs. The necking down of 300bee brass might work but it depends on the reamer and brass used.

JP_Gunner said:

Also can you neck down 300 wby without having to turn necks?

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This is how I obtained my initial brass, no problems and I used a match chamber with .004" neck clearance. Mic'd at .0035" neck clearance on fired brass, .0005" bigger than my 264WM brass, no issues there either. My brass is Remington 300 Weatherby.
My 6.5-300 Weatherby brass is Weatherby, it is dearer than gold here…

Cheers.

I've settled on the ABLR 142gr as my bullet. Tried the 127gr-129gr options but found bullets 140gr upwards carry more authority way out yonder for med/large game. Getting 1/2" groups with 0.0200" jump.

I think 400-600 rounds is a very conservative estimate on barrel life. You should get 800 or more in a hunting rifle!

Now if you shoot 10 round groups quickly you might get lucky to see 500 rounds of barrel life which is still around 20-30 hunting seasons worth.

6.5x300wby likes SLOOOW powders like RL33, 24n41, N570 especially with the heavies. N570 burns hot so you might want to avoid that one if you are really trying to conserve the throat.....which is pretty much a losing game in 6.5x300wby lol

If its a weatherby vanguard....have fun and shoot the heck out of it then take that Howa 1500 clone and rebarrel it into something else later on.

I seriously considered a 6.5x300wby for awhile. I read all I could find on the cartridge. And one thing I found is that even after guys were fully invested in the cartridge with brass and dies and everything else....few chambered a 2nd barrel in 6.5x300wby. I had a few VERY reliable sources tell me that the cartridge was finicky.

I'm not trying to knock the cartridge at all because it's a freaking monster! I'm just saying that it's definitely far from being house broke. YMMV

JP_Gunner said:

Also if you've been able to find any once fired brass.

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WBY occasionally has them for $1 each, but they are currently out of stock. You can request an e-mail notification when it is available. https://weatherby.com/store/once-fired-brass-20-count/

I bet once you work up a good load for the 6.5-300 he won't re-barrel to something different. N570 and 156 bergers are probably the most impressive for distance but a bonded or solid is probably safer up close. My brother bought me mine for something to mess with when I had knee surgery and then decided he wanted it back after we realized what an awesome cartridge it is. I allow 4 minutes between shots during load prep. It tunes very quickly though, about like a creed, better than prc from my experience 4 different bullets.

Something I should say, I definitely saw accuracy fall completely after 3 firings ( weatherby brass) if I didn't anneal. This is the cartridge that convinced me to purchase an amp annealer. I anneal every time now

nealm66 said:

Something I should say, I definitely saw accuracy fall completely after 3 firings ( weatherby brass) if I didn't anneal. This is the cartridge that convinced me to purchase an amp annealer. I anneal every time now

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FYSA on annealing ... https://www.longrangehunting.com/threads/keeping-it-simple-with-reloading.291717/

Recently considered this cartridge. But with the advent of better 25 cal bullets, a fast twist 257 Weatherby seems like it might be a better idea. Only trouble there is Weatherby's 257 are 10 twist. I'd want a 7 twist in either one. So, both are a build your own from what I can tell.

If one bought a factory W 6.5-300, would it likely be accurate?

fruitnut said:

Recently considered this cartridge. But with the advent of better 25 cal bullets, a fast twist 257 Weatherby seems like it might be a better idea. Only trouble there is Weatherby's 257 are 10 twist. I'd want a 7 twist in either one. So, both are a build your own from what I can tell.

If one bought a factory W 6.5-300, would it likely be accurate?

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JP Gunner, I'm with you. I got mine from a DU winner in my area cheep!! They didn't know what a 6.5 x 300 Weatherby was!! I have Factory ammo in Weatherby and some new ammo loaded in Peterson brass. Got it 2 years ago!! Have not shot it yet but I have everything to reload for it!!! I have also Weatherby brass I got from them, so 100 total brass.
One of these days!!!

I didnt find it very finicky after I dropped it in a B&C stock. This was a Vanguard synthetic.

I ran mine past 400 rds before making it a 22" 7mag for specific hunts. The barrel shot great and was smooth still. I used Ramshot LRT W LRX, n 147Eldms.

I. Verfied the lrx load to 1080yds. With this case you dont need super bullets to reach out pretty far.

I necked dwn 300wby brass with zero issues.still have 70-80 brand new.