300 Remington Ultra Mag or 300 Weatherby
 

Out of these 2 choices which do you prefer and why ?

I think the ballistics are roughly the same.

I would choose the non-weatherby because of the amount of freebore. Also because of the cost of ammo, if I were to buy factory.

Tom

Well, after having both and several 300RUM's, I would say neither. I burned out 2 RUM barrels. One after 1200 rounds and another after 600.

I have moved back to a 300win mag. I can get 3100fps with RL22 and 180gr accubond, but I could get over 3300fps with 300RUM and 180gr. And could get 3200fps with 300Weatherby.

I loved my RUM but it sucks to get a gun shooting well, and after a year of hard target shooting need to get it rebarreled.

I think that I'd choose the 300 RUM of the two, or better yet, the 338 RUM. The RUM is going to be cheaper to shoot, handload or not (and you should seriously consider handloading if you shoot any big magnum), the RUM has a small but real performance advantage over the Wby, and it's not going to smoke a barrel any faster if you take care not to let them get too hot. The reality is that most people will never shoot out a RUM's barrel in their lifetime. Big magnums, for most of us, are not high volume target rifles. They get shot a few times a year and put away. Maybe 50 shots a year, which with a 1200 round barrel life, would last you 24 years before you'd see a noticile reduction in accuracy. If it was a shooter before this the reduction will probably not even be so much as to make it useless as a hunting rifle for most purposes. And if you are like Ridge Runner and have the skills, time, money and patience to become a serious long range hunter, changing a barrel is similar to a race car driver changing out a set of tires. A $400-500 rebarrelling job is cheap compared to the cost of a serious LR rifle to begin with.

As for freebore length, I can't imagine that the RUM has all that much less than the Weatherby. The truth is that more freebore gives higher velocities at perhaps, but not always, a small cost to accuracy.

Mike

Which ever one feels best to you. Good luck.

Mike I usually agree with what you say for the most part, but its obvious here, you have not owned a RUM. I have owned 3. Your wrong on several accounts. I bet most on here shoot more than 2-3K rounds a year. And I can push a RUM to blow the doors off a weatherby by 150fps. Lastly, you will see .5" freebore in a weatherby and .1 for a RUM. I don't know about you, but 5X is a lot. If you ever shot a 338RUM, you will remember it. I felt it was much more brutal than a 338win mag.

I doubt that even 10% of the folks that frequent these boards shoot anywhere close to 2K rounds per year from bolt action rifles, though I'm sure there are a few, let alone that many from one particular rifle. Especially a big boomer like a RUM.

And I did say that the RUM has a "... small but real performance advantage over the Wby..." 150fps is a real advantage, but it is also less than 5%, making it a fairly small difference.

And yes, I have not owned a 300 RUM. I've shot one once, in an unbraked M700 XCR that probably weighed a fairly light 8.5-9lbs. It was a real kick in the nuts. I've not shot the 338 RUM, but, hey, go big or go home, right?! ;) Of course, were it my 338 RUM, it'd be sporting a muzzlebrake and a Limbsaver pad for sure, and I'd also be wearing my PAST pad at the range, too! :happy0001:

As for the freebore... I stand corrected. :)

As for barrel life... I guess a person just has to deal with fast throat erosion as a consequence of extreme performance.

Mike

I like my 300 ultra, however the stout recoil can wear on you. It makes my 7mm mag seem like a pop gun. Of the two choices, the ultramag gets you into a more affordable rifle without giving up accuracy. Im not so much into pushing the limits of what the cartridge can do, but more into doing what others do without pushing so hard. I think where it shines is when you use the heavier bullets and still have room to put a decent powder charge behind it. Now when I bought my 300 ultra back in 2002, ammo was almost half of a weatherby. Anymore it seems almost the same price. It shoots good, so I dont really want to depart with it. Looking back, the 300 win, or 300wsm would of been more practical if anything for me. Next bolt gun will be a normal caliber.

I'm a hunter and not a paper puncher. However, I do like to shoot good groups or I will get rid of a particular rifle. I have a Remington 700 SPS 300 Ultra Mag that I have had for several years. I have had a trigger job (3lbs), a muzzle brake, glassed and floated, and a really nice Nikon Monarch BDC scope put on it. I love my 300 RUM. I will always use this rifle for elk hunting and same sized game. I shot this rifle a lot this year and probably only put a few hundred rounds through it. I really wanted it to be dialed in. I will continue to check it every now and then, and before each hunt to make sure it is on. I will not go out and shoot it for fun because I can't afford to, or want to. If I want to shoot one for fun, I will grab my .223, .243, or a 22lr. I have never been more pleased with the preformance of any cartridge. I just wish I wouldn't have had to spend so much money to make it comfortable and accurate to shoot. Remington should do a better job from the factory.

I still say, " If I could only have one rifle, it would be a 30.06." REESE

Maybe your right, I just assumed regulars visting guns forum would shoot alot. I see the same folks every week on the range.

338RUM is my limit of comfort myself.