01/10/2026
I was able to harvest this beautiful Ibex last March with a prototype 25 Wby RPM, making it the first animal taken with the new cartridge. I count it an honor to walk in my grandfather and father’s footsteps in “field testing” our newest products…especially rifle cartridges. I can remember back to the 1980’s when my dad went to Africa to test the newly released 416 Wby Mag on a Cape Buffalo. Then, there are the black and white photos all around our offices of my grandfather in the field testing his new cartridges in the 1950’s. Each of these 17 Weatherby cartridges over the past 80 years hold a special place in our line up. But you know what? Not all cartridges are for all people…especially today. You have those who want the fastest, those who want efficient, those who want high BC bullets and those that want lighter bullets screaming fast. You have belt lovers and belt haters. The same is true with rifles really…lovers of fine wood stocks and those that prefer newer materials like carbon fiber on their stock. There are those that will never compromise barrel length for performance and those that want a barrel as short as possible to make it more suppressor friendly. But, guess what? The great thing is…we have ALL those things in our line up! The 25 RPM isn’t meant to replace the 257 Wby Mag…just like a new carbon fiber backcountry isn’t meant to replace the classic Mark V Deluxe that is in its 68th year of production! My hope is that the different generations and demographics of shooters and hunters can respect each other and the diversity of preferences when choosing a firearm or cartridge. Our customer base has grown and widened significantly over the years and we welcome all those into the Weatherby family of firearm ownership. My grandfather’s favorite cartridge was the 257 Wby Mag and for good reason. It is still one of our best sellers today and I don’t see that changing. As for the 25 Wby RPM, it holds a different purpose as it is intended to shoot heavier, high BC bullets that were not around when the 257 was launched in the 1940’s. Those “heavy for caliber” bullets are gaining popularity and we listened to the feedback from our customers and launched the fastest “production” 25 caliber cartridge to date designed to shoot those heavier bullets when spun up in a faster twist barrel. In the end, cartridge development is at the core of who we are and I’m incredibly proud of my team on the launch of the 25 Wby RPM. Oh, and rifles are a pretty big deal to us too…so stay tuned next week for what will probably be our most exciting rifle launch of the year! And yes, I got to “field test” that too and will be reporting on that soon 😉.
