.240 WEATHERBY MAGNUM

The .240 Weatherby Magnum gets little respect. Knowledgeable varmint hunters will spend a lot of dough to build up a custom 6mm-284 or one of the variations of the 6mm-06 wildcat rounds to get the ballistic features already available in a .240 Weatherby Magnum factory rifle: flat trajectory, good performance in wind and the ability to anchor larger game more reliably if called upon to do so.

- JIM MATTHEWS

With Weatherby’s .240, there is also the huge advantage of having factory brass available, so less money and time are invested when compared to making cases for one of the 6mm wildcats.

Even when all that is pointed out, most varmint hunters will snort at the idea of a .240 Weatherby Magnum as a viable varmint hunting option. For sure, part of the problem is that .240s are only available in Weatherby Mark V and Vanguard rifles (or custom rifles), limiting choices. Well, that may not be as large of a problem these days. A count on Weatherby’s website revealed there were several different rifle configurations available in the .240 Weatherby Magnum. Rifle limitation is hardly a drawback.

Other comments heard about the .240 Weatherby Magnum are that it’s expensive to shoot, it is overbore, and it doesn’t offer that much more performance over other 6mm factory rounds on the market. Yes, Weatherby or Norma .240 brass is more costly than .243 Winchester brass, but in the scheme of varmint hunting, that cost is really a small part of the equation. The expense of brass is far less (especially when considering time involved) than making 6mm284 or 6mm-06 wildcat brass.