340 Weatherby woes

[Bleeb]

Norma MRP was the best, but a close second is 7828ssc. In my Accumark, 250gr Nosler Paritions and 250gr Sierra Gamekings shot sub-moa all day. Play with seating depth.

For reference, my last elk killer load was a 250gr SGK pushed @ 2960fps by 86.5gr of 7828ssc seated at 3.068" BTO. I had loaded hotter, but this was just fine for year round use.

 

[PA farmboy]

I haven’t been able to find mrp powder anywhere so far, got quite a bit of things to play with to hopefully get it shooting acceptably. Amazing how it doesn’t hardly kick with having the brake on it.

 

[RidgeRunner1018]

Yep, all that has been verified to be correct. Boy I’d love to take it on a moose hunt some day! Hard to get anyone I know to go on a hunt like that or for elk, don’t want to spend the money.

I have no input on this thread other than I can completely understand not knowing anyone wanting to spend that much money on a hunt!

 

[BDWMT]

I’ve always had great luck with 7828 and a 250 gr bullet in my 340. Seems like the harder I pushed it the better it shot. I’m at near max loads getting just under 2900 fps and averaging 1 moa accuracy.

 

[Laelkhunter]

I have a .340 Weatherby Fiber Mark. I tried the R22, the 7828, the 7828 SSC, and IMR-4350 with the Barnes 225 TTSX. I got mediocre 1 to 2 inch groups. I happened to find some Alliant R19, and worked up a load (87.0 grains) for the 225 Barnes TTSX and they shot the best. Best group was 1/2 inch, but normal everyday group is .75, and I'm getting 2900 fps. Only 50 fps or so less than the Factory Load with the 225 TTSX. If you can get some Barnes TTSX, give them a try, but clean the barrel first. You want to get all of that other jacket material out of there beforre shooting the Barnes. Don't worry about loading the bullets to touch the lands, you won't ever do that with a Weatherby due to the freebore. I seat the 225 Barnes where the mouth of the case is in the middle of the last groove (closest to the tip), which is where the factory ammo is seated to. Also, you need to wait at least a minute between shots, and 5 minutes between groups.

 

[PA farmboy]

Yeah I have seen where lots of people have had great success with RL 19 and 22 but those are two that I never see available locally.

 

[Sinistram]

I happen to have a dearth of experience with this cartridge, and, as a matter of fact, the exact same rifle as the OP. I went through the load development process almost 20 years ago with mine, and the 225gr. Nosler AB simply wouldn't shoot out of my rifle. A bunch of powders, messing around with the seating depth, and a lot or rounds later, I simply abandoned the combo.

I tried the 225gr Barnes TSX and haven't looked back. With a near-max charge of 7828SSC, 4 shots would touch at 100y out of my rifle while cooking along at just a shade over 3000fps. There is nothing that walks that wouldn't be handled with that combo. It's gobs of energy, good trajectory, and supreme accuracy. It was this experience that sold me on Barnes bullets for life. I'm also of the opinion they're the perfect projectile for Weatherby cartridges (I also load for a 7mm Wby Mag) because they tend to like a healthy bit of jump before hitting the rifling; Weatherbys have that in spades! My seating depth tends to be to the bottom of the topmost groove (nearest the tip). I recommend you give them a try; you will likely be impressed.