Is this 300 WBY leade beyond hope?

[Bob Wright]

A friend's rifle I'm helping him reload for. It's a Weatherby Vanguard, 300 WBY mag. Gun is shooting very bad, velocities were 80 ES. 2 days of Wipeout cleaning got 90% of the copper and carbon ring. Have not shot it after all the cleaning and photos.
These pictures acquired from a Teslong bore scope in the leade area.
One picture shows the leade erosion. Part of the other leade rifling is barely visible/gone. The other shows cleaner leaching out of the fire cracking which gives some indication of depth of cracks.
So,
-continue searching for a load?
-is this chamber toast?
-is it salvageable by re-chamber?
-rebarrel?
I certainly have concerns it is shot out....

 

[HSmithTX]

I have seen them a lot worse and still shoot plenty good for hunting, so if it were me I would probably give it another try after polishing the throat and freebore a bit. You have nothing to lose but a few more components, and I would look very closely at the crown also before shooting as beat up throats usually indicate beat up rifles LOL.

 

[Bob Wright]

He tried the "don't clean it forever" for unknown round counts. Some will swear by, or at it. I usually clean every thirty rounds as it shows on the target for my 7RM.
Regardless, I think this one has been shot hot many times, as I watched him go thru 10 rounds quite quickly as his frustrations were showing, and we had only worked out to 75 yards sighting a new scope on my test rifle.

 

[tobnpr]

Hard to tell, but I concur with above, certainly seen much worse.
I'm more interesting in seeing where the lands become defined and how even the erosion is up to them.
I'm guessing he wasn't handloading previously- so no idea of how much the throat has eroded since new (or when he acquired it)?

Regardless, I think this one has been shot hot many times, as I watched him go thru 10 rounds quite quickly as his frustrations were showing,

Needless to say, I'm sure you schooled him that this is about the worst thing you can do unless you intend to keep the smiths and barrel manuf's busy.

The Wby's have a mile of freebore to begin with- so I would expect it's not particularly sensitive to a reasonable amount of additional jump, but others here with more experience with this particular cartridge may say otherwise.

Setting back is always an option if the barrel is in otherwise very good condition, but I'd shoot it since the cleaning- if it was as bad as you say it would definitely have an affect. I'm more interested in how it shot previously, as you didn't give a baseline. In a lightweight hunting rifle, with no brake- it takes a specific skillset to be able to shoot a beast like that accurately. If he, and/or you aren't absolutely confident you're able to drive it for greatest accuracy I'd stick it in a lead sled or similar rest. First thing I always question when it comes to heavy hitting magnums is shooter error- it's not meant to be a knock on anyone, it's just a simple fact.

Interesting one. Keep us posted.

 

[Bob Wright]

Hard to tell, but I concur with above, certainly seen much worse.
I'm more interesting in seeing where the lands become defined and how even the erosion is up to them.
I'm guessing he wasn't handloading previously- so no idea of how much the throat has eroded since new (or when he acquired it)?

Needless to say, I'm sure you schooled him that this is about the worst thing you can do unless you intend to keep the smiths and barrel manuf's busy.

The Wby's have a mile of freebore to begin with- so I would expect it's not particularly sensitive to a reasonable amount of additional jump, but others here with more experience with this particular cartridge may say otherwise.

Setting back is always an option if the barrel is in otherwise very good condition, but I'd shoot it since the cleaning- if it was as bad as you say it would definitely have an affect. I'm more interested in how it shot previously, as you didn't give a baseline. In a lightweight hunting rifle, with no brake- it takes a specific skillset to be able to shoot a beast like that accurately. If he, and/or you aren't absolutely confident you're able to drive it for greatest accuracy I'd stick it in a lead sled or similar rest. First thing I always question when it comes to heavy hitting magnums is shooter error- it's not meant to be a knock on anyone, it's just a simple fact.

Interesting one. Keep us posted.

Yes, the Wby cartridges do heat fast.
In this case, the Free-bore is not a lot. It's the Vanguard version. Once I seated a bullet to touch lands it was more like a typical 30 cal cartridge using a 185 class bullet. The boat tail would be at the neck/shoulder or deeper.
Accuracy wise, no targets to look at from his history.
It was bad this day though. Wowie...
He had a sled to shoot it, he's a big guy and only shoots big magnums. No brake, so he was taking the whole recoil smack.

I'll get better pictures tonight.

All his brass is junk as the pockets are loose. He's going to get new brass when it becomes available. Right now, we wait.

 

[Bob Wright]

At 12 o'clock looking into breech
At 3 o'clock
At 6 o'clock
At 9 o'clock
In order of photos.

I had a hard stop on scope and measured up to .15 of missing/eroded lands at 9 and 12 o'clock area.

 

[Lefty7mmstw]

Heck, I'd toss a 220 hpbt or similar in it and feed it something in the h1000/7828 range and see what happens... before that though, I'd scrub the throat with JB or similar until most of the fire cracking is gone. I had some fire cracking in my 300rum and she went dull for the first few inches; I hit her with JB until I couldn't see the damage and she shoots like new again. I won't rule out another barrel in a few hundred rounds, but I'm not shooting it a lot lately either. I re-bbl'd my 7rum and have a second 300rum now also.

 

[jrock]

Is the barrel free floated? Is the recoil lug or action bedded? I would do that before shooting. I've fixed quite a few guns with those simple fixes.
How far up the bore is the fire cracking?
What bullets and powder combos have you tried? Maybe it needs a different combination.

 

[Willys]

Weatherbys need to be bedded.

 

[Monteria]

I'm pretty sure I have some brand new primed 300wby Hornady brass left from my last order. Probably 50 or more. If you are interested, I'll count it up.

My Vanguard wilderness got a Carbon Six prefit in 300prc.

 

[26Reload]

Had a shilen 65 barrel that had been used as a 260rem for several years...had it rechambered to 65284 and put a lot more bullets thru it.....throat was firecracker for about 5"....shot okay..but not anything great.....
I always wondered if Eric Cortinas cleaning with CLR would have prolonged the life just a touch....plug the barrel below the firecracking and fill it to the shoulder(or fill he entire barrel)....leave it filled for a few hours then push out the plug and check it..see how much garbage is being removed..swab a patch and run it thru....check it again...then hit it with a good brush and scrub the hell out of it...shouldn't take long to get it to bare metal....then look at the firecracking..make a decison..but before pulling the barrel polish the hell out of the leade with brush..then polish with fine carbon...see if it shoots....
I bet it will shoot a little better..for a little longer....
Just make sure to clean the CLR out thoroughly...brake cleaner works best...
I do this cleaning in my 3 ss barrels....makes them very shiny and accurate.....til the next time.....

He only suggest using in ss barrels with no paint...as clr will remove bluing an paint.....
But since the barrel may be on its as out..shouldn't be a biggie

 

[Netz]

A friend's rifle I'm helping him reload for. It's a Weatherby Vanguard, 300 WBY mag. Gun is shooting very bad, velocities were 80 ES. 2 days of Wipeout cleaning got 90% of the copper and carbon ring. Have not shot it after all the cleaning and photos.
These pictures acquired from a Teslong bore scope in the leade area.
One picture shows the leade erosion. Part of the other leade rifling is barely visible/gone. The other shows cleaner leaching out of the fire cracking which gives some indication of depth of cracks.
So,
-continue searching for a load?
-is this chamber toast?
-is it salvageable by re-chamber?
-rebarrel?
I certainly have concerns it is shot out....

After a thorough cleaning, scrubbing and polishing the barrel, try filling the heat cracks with a colloidal graphite applied with a soaked patch. The carrier will evaporate and leave a very thin coat of graphite that will most likely improve the gun's performance.

 

[338 dude]

At 12 o'clock looking into breech
At 3 o'clock
At 6 o'clock
At 9 o'clock
In order of photos.

I had a hard stop on scope and measured up to .15 of missing/eroded lands at 9 and 12 o'clock area.

As a last resort on another friends weatherby we tried David tubbs final finish abrasive bullets and we definitely saw an improvement I was shocked

 

[26Reload]

Could it be rebarreled to 338??