240 Weatherby Mag. Pro's and Con's for a build.

M

Mr. Mister

New member
I have a 1951 FN commercial Mauser action that I want to re-chamber.

My goal is to make something that can reach out with accuracy.

I'm not interested in barrel burning Wild Cats but Wild Cats are still up for debate.

Let the opinions fly!

Steve
 
It makes a much better round with a short throat. The standard Weatherby throat is way too long. As for barrel burning the 240 Weatherby has a pretty short barrel life. It will have less life than the 243 which is good for less than 1000 rounds with a fast twist barrel. If you are just going to shoot coyotes that is plenty of barrel life, it will last many years. However if you will ever shoot any colony varmints you might reconsider your choice.

Jack
 
What Jack says above is very true. The brass for the Weatherby is also going to be very spendy. I'd opt for a .243 or a 6MM Remington and you could AI them. I have both and did not bother with AIing them. Performance and accuracy are great. The .243 has a much more plentiful supply of brass.
 
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The .243 was my first choice but I didn't want to change out the bolt face and reconfigure the mag feed. I'm no expert though and maybe none of that needs to happen? I was thinking the 240 WM had the same footprint as the 30-06?

My FN started life as a .270 which is based off the 30-06 if I did my homework right.

So many calibers...
 
Oh your right about the 270 and 30-06 connection but
I'm pretty darn sure that bolt face will have to be worked over since the Weatherby uses a larger diameter case.

You didn't say what your target is that you want to "reach out and touch" but why not go up a step to a 25-06.

Works in the same action and magazine with no changes, and easy to find brass and bullets. It will shoot heavier bullets than the 240/243/6mm, yet has about the same ballistics as a 22-250 but with the extra weight it carries it out even further. Takes less powder but only looses a couple hundred feet per second to the 240, and the barrel should last longer. Excellent deer and antelope round, and long distance coyote.
 
Oops Sorry ---I wasn't quite correct
(I need to put a reloading book next to my computer)

The head size is the same between the 240Wby and the '06 case. In fact their so close to each other in size as to be twins, and the WBY does push a 100gr slug out at about 150 fps quicker. Probably due to the sharper angle on the shoulder.

It just seems to me that if it's a rifle for lots of use, then the 25-06 might make more sense.
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Great to hear about California not passing the law that would number or mark each piece of ammo.
 
I would much rather have a 6mm-06! You mentioned you would rather not use a wildcat, but I would rather work with necked down 25-06 brass than Wea. & you can get better quality brass & much better case life. 25-06 case cap is 65.03gr. of water & 6mm-06 is 63.08 gr. of water. The price of re-chamber & dies for both rounds will be about the same. The velocity is the same with both & with a 6mm-06AI you can get another 100FPS.

For sure, these are not volume rounds. For a volume 6mm, I would look at the 6mmBR & close variants. You will get near 243 vel. with better barrel life(much better). I would get a fast twist barrel for the 105A-Max, but your action is not the best for these rounds.
 
i had a 240 wby built on a 700 rem action. it was a hot-rod. hard on brass and at a dollar a piece was not practical for me.
 
+ 1 for the 6mm/06, Mine will do 100fps above the "quoted" .240 Weatherby ballistics with no pressure problems and uses much cheaper .25/06 cases. It is on an early Mark X Mauser action which is very much like your FN. It has a 10 twist Hart HV contour barrel finished at 26". The .243 Win. & 6mm Rem. are both great rounds and IMHO the Ackley versions are better yet. But since you have a long action might as well make the most of it!
 
Thanks guys-I had a few other guys tell me about that 6mm-06 as well.

Never heard of the 6.5-06, I'll have to look that one up. Glad to see your feeling better Rich!
 
yep, the 6.5's are doing well, I made the tough decision between the 6.5 Gibbs and the 6.5/284, when they commercialized the 6.5/284 that made my decision, I went with the gibbs, I like different stuff!
the 6.5 dia lapua scenar in 140 gr weight has a BC of .615, the 142 gr SMK has a BC of .595, they do better at bucking wind.
I went with the gibbs to gain a lil powder capacity over the 6.5/284 or the 6.5/06 and the AI version as well. according to some nationaly known guys in the know, the gibbs will run right with the 264 WM with better barrel life and use 8 grains less powder, and it uses 30/06 brass also.
RR
 
mathisb12,
The calibers you mention are good ones. I shoot a .257 Roberts A.I. that I built on a Mexican Mauser action, and it is very good. I believe the original question was regarding a long action Mauser 98 action, which is better suited for longer length cartridge. I have two model 98's in .25-06, and am considering having one of them rebarreled for the 6.5-06. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif
 
The 6mm-06 can do everything the 240 Wby Mag can, and it'll do it a helluva lot cheaper. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

My cousin's 6mm-06 is making 3650 fps with the Hornady 87 VMAX, which has a true BC of .400 (we've measured the drop to 1060 yards).

You can make the brass with 25-06 cases, but we use 270 win brass and have good results.

You can seat the bullets with a .243 win seater. We've had no problem doing this, and runout numbers are excellent.

Here's a link to some stuff on the 6mm-06...

http://practicalrifler.6.forumer.com/vie...les&start=0

Dan
 


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