Weatherby 307 Journey SD, Examined and Reviewed

Ultimate yr Weatherby made information with the creation in their Type 307, a Remington 700 based totally motion that was once designed and made at their Sheridan, Wyoming, headquarters. The 307 is meant to be a modular motion that bridges the distance between the Howa-made Forefront and the flagship Mark V Weatherby movements. This Remington 700 genre makes them appropriate with extra portions, and along with manufacturing rifles, Weatherby gives the motion as a stand-alone merchandise too. The 307 was once to start with presented in two fashions, the Alpine and Vary XP, however in early 2024, the corporate paid homage to the classic-styled Weatherby looking rifle with the brand new walnut-stocked Weatherby 307 Journey SD — a rifle that shone like an oasis within the Kalahari once I first opened the field.

Weatherby 307 Journey SD Specifications

See It

• Cartridges: .30/06 (examined), .270 Win., .240 Wby. Magazine., .257 Wby. Magazine, .270 Wby. Magazine., .300 Wby. Magazine., 6.5 Wby. RPM, 6.5-300 Wby. Magazine., and 7mm PRC
• Barrel: 24 inches, fluted, 1:10 twist, threaded ½-28
• Receiver: Type 307, Remington 700 sample, black Cerakote
• Inventory: Walnut/Rosewood
• Cause: TriggerTech, 2 kilos, 11 oz. (measured), adjustable from 2.5 to five kilos
• Weight: tk kilos, tk oz. (measured with empty mag)
• Value: $1,650

Key Options

• Remington 700 footprint
• Lengthy-action design
• Black Cerakote end on metallic portions
• Hinged floorplate mag
• Muzzle threaded ½-28 (radial muzzle brake and thread protector integrated)
• Conventional Weatherby-styled walnut inventory
• One-piece Picatinny rail optics mount

Overview Highlights

• Conventional-styled looking rifle using Weatherby’s 307 Motion
• Nice accuracy with top rate ammo
• Crisp adjustable cause
• Mag didn’t at all times feed easily
• Wooden end noticed when rained on
• Accuracy: 1.004 inches (reasonable of 17 five-shot teams with 4 forms of ammo)

The Weatherby 307, A Rifle to Bridge the Hole

Weatherby has been arduous at paintings because the corporate’s relocation to Wyoming a couple of years in the past, and the emblem has dramatically expanded the scope of rifles they produce — in each fashion and subject material. We’ve noticed expansions in their long-standing Forefront and Mark V lineups, however between the ones, there was once a hefty worth and high quality distinction. The Vanguards — necessarily Howa 1500 movements — are nice mid-priced looking rifles, typically beginning at round $800. To leap as much as the Mark V, alternatively, will value you an extra $700 to get within the ballpark, with costs beginning at $1,500 for the Mark V Hunter. The Weatherby 307 is particularly meant to be the center flooring. The next-quality, American-made rifle that’s priced between $1,000 and $2,000. Making an allowance for the absence of Remington Palms available in the market, a Remington 700 genre motion was once the logical selection. It’s appropriate with extra equipment, shares, and aftermarket triggers than absolutely anything else. Moreover, the platform has been round lengthy sufficient that an skilled rifle maker must have little hassle getting them to shoot neatly.

The Weatherby 307 Motion

There aren’t numerous surprises within the Weatherby 307 motion, however some great touches past what the usual Remington 700 motion gives. At its core, it’s nonetheless a easy two-lug, push-feed motion with a 90-degree bolt throw, plunger ejector, and two-position protection. The Type 307 has a flared ejection port that’s longer on the backside than on the peak, and is derived usual with a Top 44 Picatinny rail for optics mounting — regardless that it’s appropriate with usual Remington 700 bases. 

The Weatherby 307 has a bolt with some sensible options, together with an M16-style claw extractor and easy tool-less takedown for simple repairs. An good thing about the M700 platform is cause compatibility, and Weatherby suits the fashion 307 with TriggerTech Box triggers which can be crisp and adjustable right down to about 2.5 kilos. 

The motion is given a Cerakote end and it runs easily with little wobble or slop. The bolt cocks simply and the locking lugs really feel clean and comfortable when rotating the bolt into battery. The Weatherby 307 Journey SD includes a hinged floorplate mag this is tightly have compatibility however simply launched via a button within the entrance of the cause guard.

The Weatherby 307 Journey: A Nod to the Classics

The visible point of interest of the Weatherby 307 Journey SD is, in fact, its fancy walnut inventory. Wooden-stocked looking rifles may well be out of date in many ways, however they indisputably haven’t been banished to obscurity. In reality, we’ve noticed quite a lot of new rifle fashions presented in wood trim in recent times. To a few other folks, a rifle simply isn’t a rifle with no wooden inventory.

I used to be taken again once I first pulled the Weatherby 307 from its wrapping, admiring the wealthy wooden grain. I’m no Jim Carmichel, knowledgeable in wooden inventory making, however I will indisputably respect the wonderful thing about this piece of trees. The inventory is crafted in conventional Weatherby genre with a pronounced Monte Carlo comb, rosewood-capped pistol grip with white diamond inlay, a flat-bottomed forend, and capped with a rearward-slanting piece of rosewood. 

Beneath the hood, the inventory is fitted with aluminum bedding pillars and a reinforcing polymer block embedded quite in the back of the balk lug recess. The balk lug recess has some glass bedding, nevertheless it’s minimum. Motion have compatibility is tight and repeatable, and the pillars do away with any slop or compression. That is vital for torquing this motion, because the M700-pattern movements don’t be offering numerous thread engagement with the entrance motion screw.

For a manufacturing inventory, the metal-to-wood have compatibility is nice and the barrel channel is calmly spaced. There’s a quite asymmetric have compatibility and extra house within the inletting across the cause guard on my pattern, however that’s getting nitpicky for a $1,650 rifle. The one criticism I’ve concerning the inventory is its end. Regardless that gorgeous, it doesn’t maintain publicity to moisture neatly. Whilst on the vary someday, I had a few 15 2d spat of rain that peppered the gun. When the rain dried, that facet of the inventory had already noticed — one thing that may take the appliance of extra end to mend or cover. Wooden shares can’t be anticipated to be as sturdy as composites in inclement climate, however there are lots of wooden finishes that received’t dissolve just like the Depraved Witch of the West on the first raindrop..

A Mix of Vintage and Fashionable

As foolish as it’s, one of the crucial options of the Weatherby 307 Journey SD that I to find maximum interesting is the hinged floorplate mag. Removable magazines have their deserves, however I’m a sucker for top-loaders. This — together with the walnut trim — produces a rifle that has an overly old-school really feel. But it surely doesn’t imply you’re sacrificing the benefits of fashionable tech both. The matte black Cerakote end seems sharp and is tougher and corrosion resistant than the bluest bluing that was once ever blued. 

The bolt and cause are simply adjusted and maintained, and the threaded muzzle lets in the usage of a suppressor. Oddly, Weatherby selected to roll with a ½-28 thread on all their Type 307 rifles. That’s usual for .224-caliber and 9mm barrels, however a ⅝-24 threading is what we in most cases see on higher calibers like 6mm, 6.5mm, and 30-caliber. The rifle comes fitted with a radial muzzle brake, however when you don’t need to use that or a suppressor, you’ll be able to use the integrated thread protector that matches effectively at the finish of the fluted barrel with out compromising the basic glance.

The Weatherby 307 Journey SD at the Vary

Function units and fancy shares apart, it’s the rifle’s efficiency that actually issues, and I used to be just a little frightened once I first took the Weatherby 307 Journey SD to the variety. That’s as it wasn’t my first revel in with the 307, or my 2d. I’d had the danger to check out each preliminary fashions of the 307 chambered in .308 Win. again in 2023 and each shot lovely poorly. My trepidation melted away as I published the primary crew with this .30/06 regardless that. The tight cluster of holes was once an early indication of the way the rifle plays.

To check the accuracy doable of a rifle, it is helping to have high quality, correct ammunition that you’ve proofed thru different good-shooting firearms. On this case, I had two fit M1 Garand quite a bit that shot lighting fixtures out in a customized Winchester M70 with a heavy Krieger barrel — Hornady’s M1 Garand 168-grain ELD-M and Freedom Munitions 168-grain A-Max. Each shot extremely neatly out of this sporter-weight rifle. I had respectable effects with a budget-priced Sellier & Bellot 150-grain Cushy Level load — reasonable of one.490-inch 5-shot teams — however would be expecting some variability with maximum looking ammo. I additionally had nice effects hand loading 180-grain Nosler Accubonds over a price of IMR 4350.

You could have spotted in fresh months that we’ve got been converting the way in which we symbolize and provide accuracy information, the use of higher 20-shot crew sizes and phrases like imply radius. Out of doors Existence has lengthy strived to provide the most productive, maximum informative information conceivable, and regardless that we’ve leaned on averages of five-shot crew sizes for many years, we notice that it simply isn’t nice sufficient anymore. Higher pattern trying out has proven us a extra detailed image of the way each and every rifle shoots, or even busted some myths about accuracy and cargo building. 

I gathered the knowledge within the desk above via compiling collection of three- and five-shot teams into 20-shot total teams. The barrel is permitted to chill after each and every three- or five-shot crew. That is simply finished and may even mean you can reach a extra correct 0 in your looking rifle. Most significantly, it takes each and every shot under consideration and will provide you with a practical image of the way you’ll be able to be expecting your rifle to accomplish. Curiously, I when compared 20-shot strings compiled with three- and five-shot teams and they’re just about an identical. On this case, the three-shot teams have a marginal edge, however this is most probably throughout the variability of 20-shot pattern sizes. Different rifles are appearing just about no distinction between three- and five-shot teams which pours some chilly water at the outdated tale of a flier brought about via capturing greater than 3 pictures at a time.

Sensible Capturing

I spent reasonably a little bit of time capturing the Weatherby 307 Journey SD from sensible box positions too. I ran it off a barricade and a bagged tripod, in addition to offhand. The rifle in most cases handles neatly, however takes some being used to when you’re acquainted with short-throw bolts. 

I did have blended effects with the interior mag. With some ammo, the rifle gave the impression to feed and serve as utterly superb, however with different quite a bit, the bolt would regularly fail to select up the following cartridge when that cartridge was once at the port facet of the double-stack mag. I’d be hesitant to make use of it in a state of affairs the place I wished absolute reliability — a minimum of till I proved it with many repetitions. This factor isn’t distinctive to this rifle, and plenty of Remington 700-pattern weapons may also be finicky feeders now and then.

Execs and Cons of the Weatherby 307 Journey SD

• Execs: Wealthy, handsome wooden; great, even Cerakote end; suppressor able; simple bolt repairs and cause adjustment
• Cons: Inventory end noticed with a couple of rain drops; mag had hassle feeding infrequently

Ultimate Ideas at the Weatherby 307 Journey SD

I’m actually glad to peer Weatherby hit this worth bracket with high quality weapons which can be constructed within the U.S., and the mix of basic genre and fashionable options is a profitable combo. I’m reasonably happy with the stellar accuracy that this rifle displayed — particularly making an allowance for the minimum bedding it has. I’d like to peer a tougher inventory end, however making an allowance for the associated fee, I believe it’s a actually forged worth.