Weatherby 340 ?

[JP Hunter]

Anyone shoot the Weatherby 340? What factory grain shoots good? Can this be a long gun? My 300 RUM is not looking good so may barrow this from my uncle for Oct 17 CO elk trip. Last minute changes suck!!!!!!!! My rum was shooting well . Thanks for the help.

JP

 

[Broz]

I remember when I first started loadint for my 340. I was loading 225 gr and lighter bullets with poor results. A gunsmith friend of mine said " The 340 Wby is all about 250 gr. bullets at 2900 fps. " So I decided to try a box of factory Wby spire points in 250 gr. They shot into a small clover leaf under 1/2". I set that rifle up with a Leupold 3x9x40 with BC reticle and bought a few boxes of factory 250 spire points. This gun has and will take elk out to 500 yds. with ease. Plus the Leupold BC reticle is spot on out to 500.

Jeff

 

[specweldtom]

Ditto on the 250's. Try the 250 Nosler partition factory ammo if you can. Every .340 I know about has liked them. The .340 with 250 gr bullets is Elk poison. If the rifle will group minute of Elk, it will tump them over at 500 yds.

Good hunting. I hate scrambling too. Tom

 

[Long Time Long Ranger]

The 340 wby is an excellent long range elk rifle and I hae taken elk over a thousand yards with it.. I built my first one back in the late 70's when I realized the 7mm-300 wby and 7mm caliber was not a good long range elk choice. The 340 is the best on the 300 wby case. I posted velocities on here a while back for several rifles in each of the popular 338 cartridges. All rifles were with 28" barrels. There was 174 fps difference between a fast 340 and a slow 338-378 with all the ultramag and Lapua stuff in between those two. Take away the fast and slow barrels and on average there is 100-150 fps difference between the 340 wby and the 338-300 ultramag or edge on this site and the 338 ultramag. 250 fps difference to the 338-378. Top reloads in seven different 340's I did shot the 250 grain bullet from 3012 fps to 3065 fps. I have never seen an elk that noticed the extra 100-150 fps. All of these rounds are exceptional performers on elk to any reasonable range a person would shoot one. All of my work was done with the 250 sierra gameking which was the highest BC available at the time. Now I think the 225 AB would be the best choice for the 340 wby because of the high BC and higher velocity than the 250. Bottom line you can do anything with the 340 wby that you can do with the ultramag stuff. Just not a lot of difference.

 

[angus-5024]

The first rifle I bought myself was a .340Wby. It will do anything that my .338 RUM will do. Im kickin myself for selling it to my Dad (he loves it too). It is close to the RUM in velocity but on a nicer (personall prefrence) action. If your uncles .340 is stainless BEG him to sell it to you. You can build just about anything on that action.
Wy .340 liked almost any 250grainers I ran through it, but I specifically recall the gamekings. I never shot this rifle beyond 400 yards, becuase it was before I got into LR hunting. I dont know about factory loads, but you should be good with most factory loads, i think Wby garantees MOA with their factory loads, although I dislike Barnes bullets. Have fun on your elk hunt!
JM

 

[JP Hunter]

Thanks guys that takes a load off my shoulders. Now I just need to find some amo. I think it needs to be sited in but shouldn't take too long. Thanks again!gun)

 

[Long Time Long Ranger]

Try the 250 nosler partition factory loads. If you reload try 7828 powder with the 250 grain sierra gameking. You should get 2950 fps+ with the factory 26" barrel.