The .378 Weatherby Magnum was designed by Roy Weatherby in 1953. It was an original

belted magnum The term belted magnum or belted case refers to any cartridge, but generally a rifle cartridge, with a shell casing that has a pronounced "belt" around its base that continues 2–4 mm past the extractor groove. This design originated with the B ...

design with no parent case, inspired by the .416 Rigby and headspacing of the belted .375 H&H Magnum.Any Shot You Want, The A-Square Handloading Manual, pp. 479,480 The 215 magnum rifle primer was developed by Federal specifically for this round. The cartridge can hold upwards of 7.13 g (120 gr) of powder. The 378 Weatherby Magnum cartridge also has the double radius shoulder design found on the first and smaller proprietary line of Weatherby magnum cartridges. The motivation behind the development of the .378 came from the disappointing performance gains of the improved .375 Weatherby Magnum over its parent case, the .375 H&H Magnum.Sierra Bullets Reloading Manual, Rifle, Second Edition, pg.287http://www.nrainsights.net/first%20freedom/weatherby.asp /Official Journal of the National Rifle Association Roy Weatherby in 1953 killed an African elephant with one shot while on safari. However, in using this event as a marketing tool, it was revealed some African countries have a minimum 10.16 mm (.40 caliber) bullet size for hunting dangerous game. Weatherby responded by necking up the .378 to 11.63 mm (.458 caliber) and called the new cartridge the .460 Weatherby Magnum, which was introduced in 1958. Considered a safari-grade cartridge, the .378 Weatherby Magnum is appropriate for taking all African game animals from large African antelopes, Nile crocodile,

hippopotamus The hippopotamus ( ; : hippopotamuses or hippopotami; ''Hippopotamus amphibius''), also called the hippo, common hippopotamus, or river hippopotamus, is a large semiaquatic mammal native to sub-Saharan Africa. It is one of only two extan ...

, to the Big Five game. Some hunters on the North American continent employ the .378 for American elk,

brown bear The brown bear (''Ursus arctos'') is a large bear species found across Eurasia and North America. In North America, the populations of brown bears are called grizzly bears, while the subspecies that inhabits the Kodiak Islands of Alaska is ...

s, and

polar bear The polar bear (''Ursus maritimus'') is a hypercarnivorous bear whose native range lies largely within the Arctic Circle, encompassing the Arctic Ocean, its surrounding seas and surrounding land masses. It is the largest extant bear sp ...

. The .378 Weatherby will generate considerable free recoil, an average of 104 J (77 ft·lbf) from a 4.1 kg (9 lb) rifle. This compares to 27 J (20 ft·lbf) from a rifle chambered for .30-06 Springfield or 49 J (36 ft·lbf) for the .375 H&H Magnum. The .378 has been responsible for numerous

wildcat cartridge A wildcat cartridge, often shortened to wildcat, is a custom cartridge for which ammunition and/or firearms are not mass-produced. These cartridges are often created in order to optimize a certain performance characteristic (such as the power, si ...

s, being necked-down as the .22 Eargesplitten Loudenboomer and necked-up as the .500 A-Square. Some of the .378 Weatherby Magnum wildcat cartridges are shortened versions, like the .30-378 Arch (7.62 mm) and the .460 Short A-Square (11.63 mm). Some .378-based wildcats have gone on to be part of the Weatherby line: .30-378, .338-378, .416 and .460.

Footnotes

{{DEFAULTSORT:378 Weatherby Magnum Pistol and rifle cartridges Magnum rifle cartridges Weatherby Magnum rifle cartridges

See also

Footnotes