KB et al: About 20 years ago - I was a Commercial Real Estate Broker for a guy here in SD who built many Apartment Buildings and he had more than a dozen trips to Africa and had Lions, Giant Eland, Zebra, whatnot - mounted in his big office. He hated the Weatherby waaaay back when - 60's and 70's - especially as it was really too fast in some situations for the bullets they had - which would just break apart.
Now - with the better/stronger/better combo/cast bullets - it could be a very interesting choice.
And a friend of mine back in Oregon did have the .340 WBY (and yes - the highest Caliber offered in the gun store add was the .338 Winchester) - along with a small arsenal - including a .30 in .300 Mag. He used to take the WBY with him when logging in Oregon - and set up a smallish - one gallon - paint can across 700 to 1,000 yard canyons, and he could hit them just about all the time he said.
He thought that was just fine if he came across a big elk - and he did drop a nice one - which is mounted in his living room. It was "only" a 5 x 5 but with a very nice basket - which weighed out to about 650 lbs - so it was probably more Roosevelt sub-species than Rocky Mountain Elk - although they do cross breed in some places in Oregon. The critter was going away - slightly under him - at about 700 yards - and it dropped right away - having been shot through the neck.
And yes, the WBY shells look like they could hold a ton of powder - and for under $600 - and a guarantee of sub-MOA - it could be a very interesting rifle to hone in.
I haven't yet really futzed with my 4x4 Mossberg - just took it to an indoor range - and it seemed to be shooting about an inch and a half equivalent (little under an inch at 50 yards) - with the first half of a box of standard/Winchester Core-lokt? 180 grain bullets - and will start shooting it more to see if it can find something off the shelf it likes better - and then start to "lean" on a friend of mine to cook up a few handloads.
Before I bought it - I had called the Mossberg factory rep repeatedly to ask about accuracy - and he said they had some of them shooting under an inch (again - it has an Accu-like trigger - they knocked off - or copied/licensed from Savage - as did Ruger, etc) - and if I didn't like it - he said send it in and they would re-barrel.
With the 2" muzzle brake - beyond the 24" barrel - the 4x4 Mossberg shoots very softly - and I think I mentioned my buddy said it felt like his Ruger .308 - that he really has dialed in to under half an inch. He's got a bad shoulder - and had to sell his 7 Mag - that he also loved and had dialed in nicely.
So - time will tell if my "cheapie" Mossie can reach out there - and again - if not - it's good enuff to "abuse" in thick woods (the type of stuff I grew up hunting in) - and with all the great advice in here - will try something else out for a truly long range rifle.
Thanks again all.
Tom
