Hells Canyon rifles

[the hunter]

They're nice rifles.
I handled a Hell's Canyon Speed and Weatherby Mark V side-by-side, both chambered in 30-06. The HC was priced around around $1k, while the Weatherby was $1699.
The HC was miles ahead of the Weatherby IMO.
HC had smoother action, lighter, stock was plenty stiff (unlike a lot of plastic rifle stocks), finish was top notch, and the trigger was great, would be just as good as my Sako and Winchester M70 triggers with only minor tweaking and adjusting. It broke clean everytime with basically no creep. Assuming the accuracy is there, I'd have no problems owning a Hell's Canyon.
Now, the Weatherby was the exact opposite of the HC. Heavier, bolt was a lot rougher to operate, and the trigger was absolutely awful for the price. Fair amount of creep and it didn't break clean. Just my two cents.

But.....but.... it's a Weartherby.

 

[MudRunner2005]

So Manitou, what do you mean by "...and no comparison" (between Howa and Miroku).

BTW, I think when my A-Bolt was made back in the '90s Howa made it.

Eric B.

Howa has never made any Browning products. I used to sell guns back in the early 2000's, and we had to learn all this info. Browning guns were made in the USA (originally, and for many years), then Belgium, and now Japan.

 

[MudRunner2005]

They're nice rifles.
I handled a Hell's Canyon Speed and Weatherby Mark V side-by-side, both chambered in 30-06. The HC was priced around around $1k, while the Weatherby was $1699.
The HC was miles ahead of the Weatherby IMO.
HC had smoother action, lighter, stock was plenty stiff (unlike a lot of plastic rifle stocks), finish was top notch, and the trigger was great, would be just as good as my Sako and Winchester M70 triggers with only minor tweaking and adjusting. It broke clean everytime with basically no creep. Assuming the accuracy is there, I'd have no problems owning a Hell's Canyon.
Now, the Weatherby was the exact opposite of the HC. Heavier, bolt was a lot rougher to operate, and the trigger was absolutely awful for the price. Fair amount of creep and it didn't break clean. Just my two cents.

Weatherby is living off a name, and that's it. Their QC has gone WAY downhill. If I was to buy one, it would be a sub-moa Vanguard...MUCH better rifles for the money, over the Mark-V series.

 

[bbckfh]

Provenance and the argument re: Howa aside, I have two X-Bolts. Both are short actions, and one is being rebarreled to 6.5cm now, since I shot out the .308 barrel. One in the OEM stock, the other in a McM Gamescout.

Love them. Won't get rid of them.

They're light, accurate, and handy.

The features list appeals to me. Many touches that are extras over and above a m700.

The only complaint I have is that the bolt lift is heavier than my brother's mod. 70. It doesn't have the sexy roller-ball cocking piece of the Curtis Axiom, but I didn't expect that for a factory hunting gun. It's not something I've ever noticed in the field, just when fiddling with it or at the range.

I wouldn't mind being able to use those great rotary mags when hunting, and an AICS at the range, but that is not yet to be. To be honest, I like the rotary mags so much that I'd consider using them for my ARC Nucleus build if their internal length was longer (it's a 6.5PRC).

So to answer your question: Browning over Weatherby any day.

 

[drtony]

Weatherby is living off a name, and that's it. Their QC has gone WAY downhill. If I was to buy one, it would be a sub-moa Vanguard...MUCH better rifles for the money, over the Mark-V series.

MudRunner2005,

Can you elaborate? I just bought a mark v accumark in 300 weatherby for hunt this fall. It's at weatherby right now getting inspected as I have not been able to get it zeroed. It shoots so far to the right my scope ran out of adjustment.

Honest curiosity as most people seemed to speak highly of weatherby.

 

[MudRunner2005]

MudRunner2005,

Can you elaborate? I just bought a mark v accumark in 300 weatherby for hunt this fall. It's at weatherby right now getting inspected as I have not been able to get it zeroed. It shoots so far to the right my scope ran out of adjustment.

Honest curiosity as most people seemed to speak highly of weatherby.

That sucks, and is ironic that your having a manufacturing defect issue with your Accumark... At least Weatherby offered to look at your's.

I bought a brand new Accumark .257 Wby back in 2008... I took it to the range, zero'd it with my brand new Zeiss 3-12x56 FFP scope... Shot a beautiful pin-wheel cold-bore shot. Got her dialed in, and then over the next 5-6 years I only shot a single shot, or a 3-shot group at the beginning of season to check zero, before taking it hunting, and then shot a few deer each year with it. So, it took me quite a while to get to 50-75 rounds down the bore. At around 50-75 rounds I noticed that it started tossing fliers during the 3-shot groups... Then it started tossing every shot after the cold-bore shot. At first I figured either the load, or atmospheric changes/weather/temp, or something strange was causing the issues. After a while it persisted, so around 2014 I took it to my gunsmith who borescoped it, and told me the barrel was caving in (manufacturing defect). He recommended I call Weatherby to get it fixed. So I did... They pretty much (in churched-up terms) called me a liar and told me to screw-off. So, I got rid of the gun, bought another Rem 700, and been happy since. I wasn't mad about the rifle being a lemon, as that happens with every brand. I was ****ed at how they treated me when I brought their ****** barrels to their attention. After MUCH research, I found that sometime in the mid-2000's Weatherby had stopped using the same cut-rifled Krieger barrels they had always used in the Mark V series rifles, and had started using MUCH cheaper and inferior button-rifled Criterion barrels...And didn't bother to tell anyone, hoping to improve their profit margins, while steadily climbing the MSRP's of all their rifles.

So, that's why I say Weatherby is living off a name. They no longer take pride in the rifles they build, now it's all about numbers, profit margins, board members, and lining their own pockets at the expense of the end-product the customer gets.

 

[drtony]

That sucks, and is ironic that your having a manufacturing defect issue with your Accumark... At least Weatherby offered to look at your's.

I bought a brand new Accumark .257 Wby back in 2008... I took it to the range, zero'd it with my brand new Zeiss 3-12x56 FFP scope... Shot a beautiful pin-wheel cold-bore shot. Got her dialed in, and then over the next 5-6 years I only shot a single shot, or a 3-shot group at the beginning of season to check zero, before taking it hunting, and then shot a few deer each year with it. So, it took me quite a while to get to 50-75 rounds down the bore. At around 50-75 rounds I noticed that it started tossing fliers during the 3-shot groups... Then it started tossing every shot after the cold-bore shot. At first I figured either the load, or atmospheric changes/weather/temp, or something strange was causing the issues. After a while of this persisted, so around 2014 I took it to gunsmith who borescope it, and told me the barrel was caving in (manufacturing defect). Recommended I call Weatherby to get it fixed. So I did... They pretty much (in churched-up terms) called me a liar and told me to screw-off. So, I got rid of the gun, bought another Rem 700, and been happy since. I wasn't mad about the rifle being a lemon, as that happens with every brand. I was ****ed at how they treated me when I brought their ****** barrels to their attention. After MUCH research, I found that sometime in the mid-2000's Weatherby had stopped using the same cut-rifled Krieger barrels they had always used in the Mark V series rifles, and had started using MUCH cheaper and interior button-rifled Criterion barrels...And didn't bother to tell anyone, hoping to improve their profit margins, while steadily climbing the MSRP's of all their rifles.

So, that's why I say Weatherby is living off a name. They no longer take pride in the rifles they build, now it's all about numbers, profit margins, board members, and lining their own pockets at the expense of the end-product the customer gets.

Great... if that's the case, I just waisted a LOT of money on a gun! Fingers crossed!

Customer service has been nice thus far. I just hope I get a working rifle back before my hunt (only reason I bought the gun).

 

[Kmccord]

That sucks, and is ironic that your having a manufacturing defect issue with your Accumark... At least Weatherby offered to look at your's.

I bought a brand new Accumark .257 Wby back in 2008... I took it to the range, zero'd it with my brand new Zeiss 3-12x56 FFP scope... Shot a beautiful pin-wheel cold-bore shot. Got her dialed in, and then over the next 5-6 years I only shot a single shot, or a 3-shot group at the beginning of season to check zero, before taking it hunting, and then shot a few deer each year with it. So, it took me quite a while to get to 50-75 rounds down the bore. At around 50-75 rounds I noticed that it started tossing fliers during the 3-shot groups... Then it started tossing every shot after the cold-bore shot. At first I figured either the load, or atmospheric changes/weather/temp, or something strange was causing the issues. After a while it persisted, so around 2014 I took it to my gunsmith who borescoped it, and told me the barrel was caving in (manufacturing defect). He recommended I call Weatherby to get it fixed. So I did... They pretty much (in churched-up terms) called me a liar and told me to screw-off. So, I got rid of the gun, bought another Rem 700, and been happy since. I wasn't mad about the rifle being a lemon, as that happens with every brand. I was ****ed at how they treated me when I brought their ****** barrels to their attention. After MUCH research, I found that sometime in the mid-2000's Weatherby had stopped using the same cut-rifled Krieger barrels they had always used in the Mark V series rifles, and had started using MUCH cheaper and inferior button-rifled Criterion barrels...And didn't bother to tell anyone, hoping to improve their profit margins, while steadily climbing the MSRP's of all their rifles.

So, that's why I say Weatherby is living off a name. They no longer take pride in the rifles they build, now it's all about numbers, profit margins, board members, and lining their own pockets at the expense of the end-product the customer gets.

I have never owned a Weatherby, but after spending so much on the rifle, I can understand how upset you must have been, but if it shot great with a crappy barrel, just imagine what it would have done with a custom barrel, Brux, Bartlien, Krieger, Proof research etc. I have a Win 70 and Ruger M77 MKII, the barrels have not been shot out, but I plan to send them off to a Smith and have them upgraded along with a stock. They shoot good, but can only imagine how much better they will be after the upgrade.

 

[Creedmoor shooter]

That sucks, and is ironic that your having a manufacturing defect issue with your Accumark... At least Weatherby offered to look at your's.

I bought a brand new Accumark .257 Wby back in 2008... I took it to the range, zero'd it with my brand new Zeiss 3-12x56 FFP scope... Shot a beautiful pin-wheel cold-bore shot. Got her dialed in, and then over the next 5-6 years I only shot a single shot, or a 3-shot group at the beginning of season to check zero, before taking it hunting, and then shot a few deer each year with it. So, it took me quite a while to get to 50-75 rounds down the bore. At around 50-75 rounds I noticed that it started tossing fliers during the 3-shot groups... Then it started tossing every shot after the cold-bore shot. At first I figured either the load, or atmospheric changes/weather/temp, or something strange was causing the issues. After a while it persisted, so around 2014 I took it to my gunsmith who borescoped it, and told me the barrel was caving in (manufacturing defect). He recommended I call Weatherby to get it fixed. So I did... They pretty much (in churched-up terms) called me a liar and told me to screw-off. So, I got rid of the gun, bought another Rem 700, and been happy since. I wasn't mad about the rifle being a lemon, as that happens with every brand. I was ****ed at how they treated me when I brought their ****** barrels to their attention. After MUCH research, I found that sometime in the mid-2000's Weatherby had stopped using the same cut-rifled Krieger barrels they had always used in the Mark V series rifles, and had started using MUCH cheaper and inferior button-rifled Criterion barrels...And didn't bother to tell anyone, hoping to improve their profit margins, while steadily climbing the MSRP's of all their rifles.

So, that's why I say Weatherby is living off a name. They no longer take pride in the rifles they build, now it's all about numbers, profit margins, board members, and lining their own pockets at the expense of the end-product the customer gets.

That definitely sucks. Everyone let's a lemon through every now and then. What's even worse is the customer service. I had a bad experience with ADG brass, but they took care of me. They sent me a new batch of brass from a new lot and paid for me to ship my old brass back for inspection. That's how customer service should be. A good customer service will smooth over alot of bad stuff. Criterion may be cheaper and buttoned rifled, but dang do they shoot. At least mine does anyway. They seem to be making quite the reputation for themselves.

 

[MudRunner2005]

I have never owned a Weatherby, but after spending so much on the rifle, I can understand how upset you must have been, but if it shot great with a crappy barrel, just imagine what it would have done with a custom barrel, Brux, Bartlien, Krieger, Proof research etc. I have a Win 70 and Ruger M77 MKII, the barrels have not been shot out, but I plan to send them off to a Smith and have them upgraded along with a stock. They shoot good, but can only imagine how much better they will be after the upgrade.

I was going to have my smith rebarrel it if Weatherby wouldn't fix it, but then after they told me to screw myself, I was so ****ed I couldn't even look at the gun sitting in the safe, and wanted absolutely nothing to do with Weatherby ever again, so I traded it off.

 

[MudRunner2005]

That definitely sucks. Everyone let's a lemon through every now and then. What's even worse is the customer service. I had a bad experience with ADG brass, but they took care of me. They sent me a new batch of brass from a new lot and paid for me to ship my old brass back for inspection. That's how customer service should be. A good customer service will smooth over alot of bad stuff. Criterion may be cheaper and buttoned rifled, but dang do they shoot. At least mine does anyway. They seem to be making quite the reputation for themselves.

I hope they've stepped-up their game, cause the ones they used to sell to Weatherby sure were junk. It got too thin where they fluted it (too close to the bore) and when it got hot, it started caving in, and stayed caved-in when it cooled back down. It got so bad I couldn't even run a jag and wet patch through the bore without hitting about 8 tight spots in a 26" barrel... That's junk.

 

[Kmccord]

I was going to have my smith rebarrel it if Weatherby wouldn't fix it, but then after they told me to screw myself, I was so ****ed I couldn't even look at the gun sitting in the safe, and wanted absolutely nothing to do with Weatherby ever again, so I traded it off.

I don't blame you at all hard to support someone when they act like an assignment, they are not the only game in town.

 

[Kmccord]

**** I hate spell checker, it was *** not assignment, geesh..

 

[milkie62]

So getting back to the Hells Canyon. Wanted a Kimber Mt Ascent but may switch over to the Browning after hearing the good stuff.