Opening note – The Weatherby site now sells loaded ammunition and brass directly over the Internet. The prices are still Weatherby like, but it’s nice to have a direct supply when you need one.
Only man, not the rest of God’s creatures, could make a big deal out of a new millennium. Why ? Because we’re man, and we’ll make a big deal out of anything. Example ? Sure, the Porsche Boxster.
New millennium…bold new ideas, it’s time to rethink, reinvent, recreate, and reiterate the wheel as best we can, solving perhaps what had been unsolvable in the old millennium. I thought I’d start by tackling a couple of e-mail questions that had remained unanswered throughout 1999.
The .338/.338-.50 BMG Sabot
Dear Joe,
Everyone knows the .338 Winchester Magnum is a more efficient cartridge than the .338-378 you keep writing about. I’ve been told there is virtually no meaningful ballistic difference between the .338 Winchester and the fancy smancy .338-378 Weatherby, so tell me how to load the .338 Winchester to .338-378 performance levels.
Response –
Sure, I’ve recently found it is possible to get almost the same external ballistics from the .338 Winchester as the .338-378 Weatherby.
Start with the .50 BMG case, which should give you about 300 grains of capacity. Fill the case half full with RL 30, drop in a loaded 250 grain .338 Winchester round, and pack the rest of the .50 case with more RL 30. Bore out the base of a 680 grain .50 caliber bullet to make room for the .338’s 250 grain bullet protruding from the .50 BMG case, then seat and crimp the .50 caliber bullet in it’s normal position.
For a real performance boost, you can shorten the .50 case neck to .50″ and blow out the shoulders to about .780″ for an increased capacity to about 360 grains, as illustrated on the right. There were several other approaches that were considered, however, this seemed the most reasonable way of getting Weatherby performance out of a short magnum Winchester round. Other rounds may be adapted to the cartridge-in-a-cartridge loading technique. In recent testing, this combination got the .300 Ultra Mag to go almost the same velocity as the old .300 Weatherby mag. Bullet expansion on contact appears to be, well, damn spectacular.
Joe
1998-1999 Holiday Season Dashboard Hula Doll
Joe,
I’ve heard the dashboard hula doll gift idea from this past year’s Real Guns Christmas “Gift Ideas for Christmas” was a limited edition, and modeled after a high profile celebrity. It this correct ? Do you know if they are still available ?
Response –
Do you mean this one ? Hadn’t really noticed any similarities. I know it was a windup-and-play model, something about “Wind me up and watch me sing and dance for the Clintons”. The only problem I’ve had with mine is that the head is so disproportionately large for its body, it tends to fall over on its pedestal the moment it opens its mouth.
This model had been available at Kmart, but I haven’t seen one advertised there for some time.
Joe
To all of the nice people who stop by Real Guns – Best Wishes for a safe holiday season and health and happiness in the coming new year.
Thanks for making the site effort enjoyable
Joe D’Alessandro
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