First of all other than paper ballistics I have no real experience with either of the two. But in normal hunting I would think he was talking about the trajectory and just basic stopping power. 300 yards is not really a long distance and the .308 would be fine for most all game.

But their is no question in my mind that the .300 will hit harder at any distance near or far and is definately better at long range.

There is no comparison between the two except to say that they are both .30 caliber.  The .308 Winchester performs best with bullets from 150 gr up to 168 gr.  The 300 Weatherby just starts to come into its own with the 180 grain bullets which would kill the .308 in velocity and energy.  Now how dead is that elk or deer that you shoot with either at 300 yards he wouldn't know the difference, that is unless you make a marginal shot and then where you have a wounded animal and a long tracking job on your hands with the .308 the Weatherby just might of punched a hole clear through the animal with a good wound channel and a short tracking job.  Now if you drop that range down to 100-200 yards then they may just be close to equal but the extra power behind the Weatherby still gets the nod.

I figure the respected gunsmith was trying to make a point, and exagerated in doing so.  My charts tell me that there is a good bit of difference wetween these to cartridges even out to 300yd.

When hunting Its all about the energy!  Energy and what the bullet does after it hits is what kill game.  Its kind of complicated but its our duty as hunters to try and understand it.

Basically if a light bullet and a heavy bullet are traveling at the same speed, the heavy bullet will have more energy.  The heavy bullet will require more charge to get it going the same speed as a lighter bullet.  As the range extends the heavier bullet slows down faster because its bigger and has more resistance in air.  The resistance is a factor between the bullets diamiter, and its shape (sectional density).  This complicated relationship is called balistic coeficient (BC).  Generally, slim long pointed bullets have a higher BC and are more eficient than short, fat, round or flat nosed bullets. 

So a 22-250 can get a 55 grain bullet out to 400 yds and still be moving fast but have very little energy, while a much heavier bullet, say 180 grains, traveling slower can still have more energy. 

The other problem is that when the bullet slows down the effects of gravity pulls it down, this bullet drop or path (called trajectory) limits the afective range of a cartridge and our ability to place the shot.

So the big 300 mags and other big cartridges can push heavy bullets to speeds that keep the trajectory flat and pack a lot of enrgy down range.  So at close range the 308 Win and the 300 Weatherby may not be so far apart but out past 300yds the Weatherby blows the 308 away.

I think thats right::confused2

They are pretty different.  Comparing bullet weight to bullet weight (180gr) at 300 yards with a 100 yard zero the 308 will have about an extra half a foot of drop, quite a bit when considering the vitals of big game.  With 180gr projectiles the 300wby can easily break 3000fps while the 308 is hard pressed to get to 2600 fps

While the 300wby is considerably more powerful it is also considerably more costly to shoot.

BTW, kinetic energy is (mv^2)/2.

m = mass

v = velocity

Kinetic energy scales faster with velocity than mass.  Plus the rate of drop due to gravity is irrespective of the velocity of the bullet or its mass.

I am not versed with respect to "energy" of a particular bullet.  What does energy

have to do with respect to putting a bullet thru the vitals of an animal at 200 yards.

Does the deer care whether he was shot with a 150 grain .308 bullet or a 180 grain

.300 magnum load; does he have time to think about how dead he is?

We are only talking about 300 yards or less.  but I want to hear what all views are

with respect to the positive killing, not wounding of animals.

Am i missing the point relative to energy of a bullet?

The energy of the bullet is what causes the damage to the animal. 

A simple way to describe this would be for you to stand at 20 yards and have somebody throw a tennis ball at you.  Now when it hits it is going to hurt a little but not that bad with very little if any damage.

Now at the same distance have somebody throw a baseball at you.  Both the tennis ball and baseball are relatively the same size but the baseball weighs more and it is going to hurt a lot more when it hits you causing more damage. 

Good anology critter!  I'm sure the guy could have said the same thing for a .270, a 30-06, etc. at distances under 300 yards.  The big magnums are designed for big critters at longer distances than you would normally want to use the others and that's all the guy was trying to say.  There is no need to use a big, expensive magnum where you will never be shooting anything at a considerable distance.  Also, most people probably aren't going to shoot it accurately because of recoil and won't practice much with them either because of the cost of ammo!