As you may recall from a few weeks ago, in our most recent episode of the intrepid gun writer, the writer (me) flew off into the wild blue yonder again after an exciting two days in the tropics of southern Florida.
I had been there hunting iguanas with Harold Rondan, the iguana removal guy, and Tony Stratis and Lawrence Taylor of Gamo, the air rifle company. We piled up the iguanas (they are a terrible pest there), the hospitality was great and it was a lot of fun. In truth, though, after a couple days in the Florida heat and humidity, I was ready for a cooler clime and I got it.
On Wednesday morning of that week, I flew to Sheridan, Wyoming, the new home of world-famous gun manufacturer Weatherby.
You rifle guys out there already know all about Weatherby. The founder, Roy Weatherby, was a bona fide firearms genius and national treasure. The story goes that Mr. Weatherby’s start to firearms fame began with a wounded deer in 1942. Because he never found that deer, he would spend the next 10 years developing rifle cartridges he believed would be more effective for taking game.
Weatherby was a wildcatter – a devoted handloader who delighted in coming up with new and innovative rifle calibers. He believed a fast bullet was essential for ethically taking game, and some of his cartridges, including the .257 and .270 Weatherby Magnums, remain the fastest in their caliber class. While only a few of his creations went on to become commercially available from other brands, his signature line of Weatherby Magnums will forever have their place in the accurate rifle world.