This article, penned by Roy E. Weatherby, originally appeared in the November 1955 issue of The American Rifleman. To subscribe to today’s monthly magazine, visit NRA’s membership page.
On safari in Africa two years ago, my British white hunter looked at me as if I had just announced my intention of running for Prime Minister of Britain. “Come now, Weatherby,” he said, “surely you’re not trying to tell me that a .300 Weatherby Magnum shooting a 150-grain bullet is more powerful than my .470 with a 500-grain bullet?”
This reaction was not unexpected, since it was identical with that of another white hunter in Africa five years before, and countless numbers of other skeptics before and since. For nearly nine years now, ever since I wrote my first article on high velocity, I’ve been bombarded from all sides by hunters and shooters wanting to know how I can have the gall to maintain that a .300 Weatherby Magnum is more powerful than some of those English double barrel rifles.
Ours is an age of tremendous progress and discovery and I would like to answer some of the many questions concerning high-velocity rifles which come my way every day. I have studied ballistics for many years and have applied this knowledge to hunting in the field for game animals, both large and small, the world over. I believe I have learned a great deal about killing power.
I have said many times, and will continue to say, that a .30 caliber, 150-grain bullet traveling at 3,600 feet per second will outkill and outperform a 500-grain bullet at 2,000 f.p.s. That’s a big statement, but before we’re through I think you’ll understand how it can be justified.
Look At The Past
Not long after the development of smokeless powder, our government changed first to the .30-40 Krag cartridge and then to the .30-’06 Springfield. Most sportsmen followed suit, dropping their old big-bore rifles in favor of these lighter and more powerful .30-cal. cartridges. Yet there were still a great many who refused to believe or admit that the .30-cal. bullet at 2,700 f.p.s. was more powerful than the old .45-cal. at 1,300 f.p.s. However, in due time, most people accepted the fact that the .30-cal. bullet was superior in every respect. Why? Because the increased velocity made for much better accuracy and increased killing power!
In the years since smokeless powder was invented, the arms and ammunition makers have made a great many improvements. We now have slower burning powders capable of driving bullets at ultra-high velocities. Too, we have much better metals, enabling us to increase our breech pressure from about 20,000 pounds per square inch to 50,000 p.s.i. and more with safety.
As these improvements in powders and metals were made, improvements in rifles and ammunition quickly followed. One great stride came in 1925—a new creation called the .270 Winchester. This was just the .30-’06 necked clown to .270-cal. The .270 was soon recognized as one of the greatest killers of all time. The reason? Again, velocity! Then along came the .220 Swift. This, of course, was designed as a varmint rifle, but men were soon killing antelope, deer, and even elk and bear with the little 48-grain bullet from this rifle. Now, don’t get the impression that I advocate going after dangerous big game with that small a bullet. I merely want to point out that even such a tiny bullet as one of 48 grains., if traveling at something like 4,000 f.p.s., can do an unbelievable amount of damage. Believe me, when it hits the target, something’s got to give!
Don’t Forget Behavior On Game
Now, to my statement about the comparative killing power of the 500-grain, .470-cal. bullet and the 150-grain, .30-cal. Weatherby Magnum bullet. Sure, the .470-cal., 500-grain bullet has a muzzle energy of 5,030 foot-pounds, compared to the 4,460 ft.-lbs. muzzle energy of the 150-grain bullet. But, let’s not get too carried away with this muzzle energy business. Let’s keep in mind that the smaller, high-velocity bullet behaves much differently from the larger, slower-moving one. The .470 bullet will plow into an animal with a terrific impact and keep right on plowing. If the animal isn’t too big or too far away, the bullet may go on through. If you hit that animal in the heart, he will usually die right then. A good lung shot will usually kill him in fairly short order, too, and you won’t have to follow him very far. But suppose you hit him in the paunch, the ribs, the ham or any of a number of non-vital spots. What then? Well, usually you’ve got a nice trailing job cut out for yourself, and even then, you may never locate him.
But let’s say we take the same shot at the same kind of animal with that little .30-cal. bullet at 3,600 f.p.s. That lightweight bullet at high velocity will break into many pieces inside the animal, and the resultant shock does the killing. The terrific destruction of tissue, coupled with damage to the central nervous system, is almost unbelievable. The average hunter doesn’t take the time to perform many autopsies on his kills, but in the course of my research, I have performed dozens on animals of all sizes to learn what causes death even when hits are in non-vital areas. I can assure you there have been many times when I’ve shaken my head and thought: That tiny bullet just couldn’t do that to this hulk of an animal—but the fact remains, it did!
High Velocity Is Essential
A bullet must reach a high velocity before it will cause this explosive destruction. Naturally, if we could get that big 500-grain bullet traveling at 3,600 f.p.s., it would do the job even better than the 150-grain bullet. But with what we’ve got to work with today, we can’t get it going that fast. Imagine the tremendous pressures to obtain that kind of velocity with such a heavy bullet, to say nothing of the recoil. I’m afraid that, for the time being at least, we’ll have to content ourselves with lighter bullets if we want to achieve such velocities.
Just as we avoid bullets which are too heavy, though, we must also avoid the other extreme—those which are too light. A little item known as sectional density (obtained by dividing the weight of a bullet in pounds by the square of the diameter in inches) enters the picture, and we soon discover that this relationship between diameter and bullet weight is very important. In other words, we could take a bullet of only 75 grains in the .30 cal. and get it going out of the muzzle like blue blazes. But there’s a hitch. At a relatively short range, the remaining velocity would be less than that of a 220-grain bullet at the same distance. Why? Simply because that .30-cal. bullet encounters a certain wind resistance, and a bullet weighing only 75 grains just can’t buck a 4,000 f.p.s. wind effectively. On the other hand, the heavier bullet, with the same cross-sectional area, will maintain its velocity longer due to its greater inertia.
So we find that we must strike a compromise. By using the 150-grain bullet, we can get excellent velocities and killing power up to most reasonable hunting ranges, better for most situations than with either a lighter or heavier bullet. Beyond about 200 yards, the 180-grain bullet is a bit superior, and beyond about 400 yards, the 220-grain bullet is better because remaining velocity is greater. The point to remember is that these velocities, whether at 100 yards or 400 yards, are considerably higher than those of the 500-grain bullet of which we were speaking earlier!
Double-Barrel Rifles Don’t Compare
I have killed dozens of head of large game—deer, bear, moose, etc.—with the little 100-grain, .257-cal. Weatherby Magnum at over 3,700 f.p.s. muzzle velocity. I’ve killed them with the .270, using both 100-grain and 130-grain bullets, and with the .300 and .375 Weatherby Magnums with bullets ranging in weight from 150 grains to 300 grains. But, lest someone jump to conclusions, let me say that I have also killed plenty of game with the big British double-barrel rifles. To my way of thinking, there is no comparison when it comes to killing power. Just give me the velocity, and I’ll kill the animal more quickly and painlessly than the guy with the ‘big gun.’ I don’t mean to imply that you can make instantaneous one-shot kills every time, even with high velocity. There is always the exception to the rule.
One of the questions I’m frequently asked is how I happened to start thinking in terms of high velocity. Well, it all started when I wounded a deer many years ago. This one got away, in spite of a solid hit, and try as I might, I could not find it. I knew then and there that I was under-gunned, although I was shooting a . 30-’06. I felt that if I could only get that same bullet going fast enough, it would explode inside the animal’s body and produce a quick, painless death.
That word ‘explode’ brings up another point. I’ve had people tell me, that they’ve ‘heard’ that high-velocity bullets explode on an animal’s hide, that they won’t get on into the ‘boiler room.’ Well, I won’t say that is entirely impossible, but it’s never happened to me, nor have I ever seen it happen to anyone else.
I have killed elephants, rhino, Cape buffalo, grizzly, moose, etc., with a single shot. I get letters from people all over the world reporting similar experiences. In view of these things, I’m just not about to believe that these bullets are going to blow up on the surface of a whitetail’s rump!
Flat Trajectory, Too
There are other advantages to high velocity, advantages which are important to the average hunter. We all know that hunting trips are expensive and take up a lot of hard-earned time as well as money. Consequently, when we do go hunting, we want to get our money’s worth. This means getting a shot at some worthy game and making that shot count. Frequently, one shot is all you may get. How does velocity enter into this?
High velocity takes much of the guesswork out of shooting. Range estimations do not have to be so accurate, for with the extremely flat trajectory of high-velocity ammunition, there is a lesser margin for error. Let’s compare the trajectories of the .30-’06 and the .300 Weatherby Magnum, both with 150-grain bullets. At 200 yards, the trajectory of the former is 2.5”, of the latter 1.5″. Then compare the remaining velocities. You will find the .300 Magnum bullet at 200 yards is still traveling at 3,040 f.p.s., practically the same as the .30-’06 bullet’s muzzle velocity! These things mean that more hunters can bring home a nice trophy or a supply of meat instead of excuses.
Let me be the first to admit that more meat will be ruined than with slow, heavy bullets. I’m sure most of us would rather sacrifice a little meat than follow a blood trail for hours. And, what’s more important, we all prefer to see our game die quickly and painlessly. What kind of bullet to use? I believe it doesn’t take a great deal of difference, so long as it is a good, accurate bullet of proper construction. With such bullets, just give me the velocity, and I’ll kill the animal.
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