I am thinking about purchasing a .30 378 as my main hunting rfile. I have a Vanguard .308 and it a wonderful rifle. But I have given it to my youngest son. Now I need a new rifle. A closed friend has a .30 378 and advised me that it is great. I have shot it and it is great. But I seeking others pros and cons. I tried the .325 wsm, not happy with the performance. OK fellows, lets you commints.... Thanks

What are you hunting that you need so big a gun as your primary weapon? One of the cons will be the price of the bullets and the recoil. It gets expensive to shoot it very often to be able to get comfortable with the gun and know exactly what it will do. Though you can hunt anything that walks in North America with it and not be undergunned.

The cons are,recoil,very expensive brass and loads,and short barrel life.In fact if it is your primary rifle and you use it to practise enough to learn and to actuallytake advantage of the super flat trajectory,you will be rebarreling it every few years.If you don't practise regularly,you will never develop and maintain the shooting skills necessary to take advantage of this cartridge.It is a poor cartridge choice for a one gun hunter.

btiger53,

Let me review the facts.
You've owned a Weatherby already.
You have shot the 30-378 (another Weatherby)
AND LIKE IT!

Well, about the only parts lefts are: (1) enduring the barbs of those who don't want you to use such a big stick, and (2) some expense issues that while may be true, maybe no big deal for you, and(3) perhaps some hearing issues:

** Expensive ammo (I'm betting you may know that already, plus if your reload, then no big deal).

** Throat erosion. The 30-378 is overbore and barrels don't last a long time. Worst case, you may have to replace the barrel by 1000 rounds.When you are operating at this level, some consider it to be simply a cost of doing business.

** Muzzlebrake. When you tried your friend's 30-378 it MAY have been with a muzzlebrake and if you were at the range then you were probably wearing ear protection. If you usea muzzlebrake when you are hunting, if you wish to preserve your hearing, then you MUST wear hearing protection for EVERY shot. If the cost of a set of Walker's game ears for you AND your son is not an issue, then I think you are all set.

Dare to be different if you can handle the above; however, be prepared for criticism. Seen it before.

BTW, when you go to the range with it to practice, take along the old .308 and mix the two, the 30-378 will probably be the "work" part of the session and the 308 will be the play part. I'm a believe in skill transference between different long guns (even shotguns and 22LRs in the mix), especially if the two are sighted in the same, sayzero at 200 yards.

I never said that the 30-378 was not a good cartridge,rather that it was a poor choice for a one gun hunter.I have owned a 30-378 and I own two 3000ultramags myself,but I have several rifles with similar trajectories to practise with in order to spread out my shooting and make barrels last much longer.The 300ultramag brass is also much cheaper than 30-378 brass.By the way all 30-378s do not wear the weatherby name.A friend owns a sako trg-s chambered in 30-378.

I agree with everything. I think its a great cartridge, in my mind there is no such thing as overkill. I hunt with a 300 rum and here the bs of its to big for whitetails all the time I have other guns but seem to favor this one.

Also dont rule out the 300rum they are not quite as fast but still put'em down range very good, and are alot cheaper to shoot.

I was fondling a 30-378 the other night when I was picking up my new gun and she was nice. It was a accumark with a big swarovski on it, accubrake, talley rings and basesands only had a few down the tube for $2000 and you could probley get it cheaper there easy to deal with let me know and I'll give you there number they beat everyones price they also have a few 30-378'swithout scopes. GOOD LUCK with that cannon

Not to be a party pooper but IMHO the 30-378 is borderline worthless unless you are planning on shooting big game animals at 500 yards and longer regularly. It is so far over bore it isn't funny. A case this large needs at least a .338 bore and that is still pushing it IMO. A .375 bore is right where it should be. For a 30 caliber bore the 300 Weatherby is at the upper limits in regards to getting great velocity with very acceptable barrel life (about 3100 - 3200 fps).

Cons are.......You will have throat erosion. That is an extreme ammount of powder and heat generated inside that huge case and it all has to be forced out a very small 30 caliber hole which eats away at the steel. Others are extreme muzzle blast, barrel that heats up incredibly quickly, high cost of ammo and reloading components when compared to other cartridges (about $4 every time you pull the trigger for factory ammo), and it probably isn't going to give you the accuracy you might be expecting out of a gun costing as much as a Weatherby.

Pros are....... It is "sexy" and it says Weatherby on it.

He hasn't owned a Weatherby before. What he has owned is a Howa with the Weatherby name stamped on it. Which IMO is a better rifle.

I completely agree with Stubblejumper. It is definetly not a good choice for a main hunting rifle or for a single gun hunter.


Let me edit the word worthless to say "extremely specialized".

In checking three different loading manuals, there is only 100 fps difference MAX between the 300 RUM and the 30-378. It seems like a lot of extra expense for no real difference in performance. The rifles and ammo and brass is much less for the Rem. However if you want the other one and don't get it, you may regret it later.

Couldn't have said that better myself.

I contacted Weatherby after listening to the Addicted boys talk about barrel eating. If Iinteligently shoot this gun at the range, meaning don't overheat it, I will get at least 2000 rounds out of it, but what do the folks at Weatherby know compared to the pros we have here.

If you reload 116.8 grains of H50BMG and a 200 Gr Barnes TSX. 3/4" group at 200 yards.

I left the brake on mine and use QB2's in the field. You can google them "QB2's Hearing" They are quick and comfortable.

Good luck with yours....I love mine and can't wait to get out and put the hurt to a few critters.

That all depends on just how muchaccuracy you are prepared to lose before rebarreling.The accuracy will start degrading long before 2000rounds,but if you are willing to accept the accuracy loss you certainly could get over 2000 rounds out of that barrel.


So just how many of those groups have you fired?What is your average group at 200 yards?I have fired an .080" group at 100 yards with my 300ultramag,butit certainly is not the average group for that rifle.