Description
Roy Weatherby cartridge from 1944 is still the most successful proprietary magnum ever made, and the Weatherby 300 WBY Mag 195gr Hammer Custom is the modern lead-free answer to what it was built for: putting a heavy 30 caliber bullet a long way downrange with authority.
- What a Monolithic Copper Bullet Changes
- Weatherby 300 WBY Mag 195gr Hammer Custom Specifications
- Honest Notes on Shooting the 300 Weatherby
What a Monolithic Copper Bullet Changes
Hammer bullets are turned from solid copper on a lathe rather than swaged from a jacket and a lead core. That construction produces a bullet with no core to separate, no jacket to shed, and a bearing surface deliberately kept short to reduce friction and pressure. In a cartridge as overbore as the 300 Weatherby, less bearing surface means more velocity at the same pressure.
On impact the nose petals shear off in the first few inches and fan outward, then the shank continues on close to its original diameter. The result is two wound mechanisms at once: several radiating petal tracks plus a deep straight-line channel. The Weatherby 300 WBY Mag 195gr Hammer Custom is a genuine exit-wound bullet on elk-sized game, which matters when a blood trail is the difference between recovering an animal and not.
Because there is no lead, this load is legal in California and in every other jurisdiction with a non-toxic requirement. That is worth knowing before you plan a hunt rather than after.
Weatherby 300 WBY Mag 195gr Hammer Custom Specifications
Weatherby publishes 3075 feet per second and 4094 foot-pounds at the muzzle from a 26 inch barrel, with a G1 ballistic coefficient of 0.550. At 300 yards the bullet is still doing 2567 feet per second with 2854 foot-pounds. Zeroed at 300, it prints roughly 3.3 inches high at 100 and 9.2 inches low at 400, which is a genuinely forgiving trajectory for a hunting rifle.
The one thing a copper monolithic asks for is velocity. Petals need enough speed to shear, and below about 1900 feet per second a Hammer behaves more like a solid than an expanding bullet. With the Weatherby 300 WBY Mag 195gr Hammer Custom that threshold sits well past 700 yards, so it is not a practical limitation for hunting, but it is why these bullets do not suit low-velocity cartridges.
Copper is also less dense than lead, so a 195 grain copper bullet is physically longer than a 195 grain cup-and-core. Weatherby factory barrels handle it, but if you shoot a custom 300 Weatherby with a slow twist, check the rate before ordering a case.
- Cartridge: 300 Weatherby Magnum
- Bullet weight: 195 grain
- Bullet type: Hammer Custom monolithic copper
- Muzzle velocity: 3075 feet per second from a 26 inch barrel
- Muzzle energy: 4094 foot-pounds
- G1 ballistic coefficient: 0.550
- Lead free: yes
- Case: brass, boxer primed, reloadable
- Series: Weatherby Select Plus
- Rounds per box: 20
- Manufacturer part number: M300195HCB
- UPC: 747115452279
Honest Notes on Shooting the 300 Weatherby
Buy the Weatherby 300 WBY Mag 195gr Hammer Custom if you hunt elk, moose or bear with a 300 Weatherby and want deep penetration with an exit wound. It is also the load to buy if you hunt anywhere lead ammunition is restricted.
Skip it for deer inside 200 yards. The bullet will work, but you are paying premium prices and burning barrel life on an animal a far smaller cartridge handles, and the meat damage from a 300 Weatherby up close is significant regardless of bullet type.
Two practical cautions worth stating plainly. The 300 Weatherby recoils hard in a light rifle, and most owners run a muzzle brake, which makes hearing protection mandatory rather than advisable. And expect a copper monolithic to shoot to a different point of impact than lead-core ammunition, so re-zero rather than assuming.
Other Hammer Custom loads: the Weatherby 270 WBY Mag 134gr Hammer Custom and the 6.5-300 WBY 129gr Hammer Custom. For a bonded alternative in a bigger case, see the Weatherby 30-378 WBY 180gr Scirocco II. Weatherby publishes complete Select Plus ballistics charts on its own site.
MAG5 Firearms stocks Weatherby Select Plus ammunition and the Mark V rifles built for it. Ask about lead-free requirements for your hunt area before you order.
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