7mm Weatherby Magnum


The 7 mm Weatherby Magnum is a powerful 7 mm rifle cartridge offered by the Weatherby firearms company in their Mark V rifles. The cartridge was one of the first cartridges offered by the Weatherby company.
It was developed in the 1940s by Roy Weatherby. The 7 mm Weatherby Magnum did not get a lot of exposure until the early part of the 1950s when the Weatherby rifles became more available. The more popular 7mm Remington Magnum was introduced in 1962 with very similar ballistics when compared to the 7mm Weatherby. It is a great cartridge for a one-rifle hunter that shoots long distances. It has taken game of all sizes around the world.

Hunting

The 7mm Weatherby Magnum is useful for all American plains game including the great Bears and the American Bison. It is also particularly useful when African and Australian plains game are hunted. It is an ultra high velocity cartridge giving about 300-400 fps higher velocity with lighter bullets than the more popular 30-06 Springfield which is regarded as considerably fast. It is quite easy to flinch in anticipation of the significant recoil. Care must be taken to confirm what twist rate was used, as the earlier West German 7mm Weatherby's used a 1 in 12 twist vs the faster 1 in 10 twist for those of later manufacture. The 1x12 twist rifles will not stabilize bullets over 150 grains, while the 1x10 twist rifles will stabilize bullets weighing up to 175 grains.