Overall lengths for Weatherby cartridges.

[Conan_568]

I mostly shoot Sharps rifles, but I do own a 338-378 Wby Accumark.
I read somewhere that Weatherby has some freebore before the rifling starts so the bullet gets a run at the rifling and can be seated out farther to allow for more powder.

I know the rod method of finding the OAL for my Sharps rifles, you want that bullet to be into the grooves.
How do you determine what the OAL for a Weatherby is?
Do you do the rod method then subtract a certain amount?

 

[rem338win]

If you find the lands with anything other than a 300gr matchking or lapua, I will be suprised. Don't bother searching for the lands, Weatherby is serious about their freebore.

 

[Boomer]

The procedure I use is as follows:

1) Use the cleaning rod method to measure from the bolt face to the muzzle, and mark the rod with tape or some other way.
2) Push a flat base bullet base forward into the lead until it contacts the rifling, then use the cleaning rod to measure from the nose of the bullet to the muzzle, and again mark the rod at the muzzle.
3) The length between the 2 marks equals the length from the bolt face to the lands. It may require a bump with the cleaning rod to free the bullet.
4) Take the bullet you intend to load and place it nose down in the muzzle and twist it while holding pressure on it to score a line, this line marks the forward edge of the bullet's bearing surface.
5) Seat the bullet in the cartridge so the length from the case head to the score line equals the length between the two marks on the cleaning rod.
6) From here you can experiment with the OAL to find the sweet spot.

My understanding is that the amount of freebore found in Weatherby rifles could be significantly different depending on the year of manufacture and location of manufacture; whether in the US, Germany, Japan, or the newer ones made once again in the States.