Rebarreling a Weatherby Mark V 9 lug action for either 6.5 PRC or 7 PRC

[FEENIX]

That's a great looking round, sexy belt Recoil is fine as the Mark V has that squishy recoil pad, comes back fast though. Bought a Quadramax brake the other day for bench work. More so just wanting to have a play with something else for a bit, was even thinking 264WinMag.

I am not familiar with Quadramax brake. Is it a radial brake like the Quatromax by D.F. Maisey Brakes from New Zealand?

 

[JustAnOldCooter]

I just re-barreled my 300 Wthby Mark V Alaskan to 300 PRC. The Weatherby barrel was too thin a profile and would walk all over the place (and it ain't the shooter I can guarantee you on that ;-). I worked with Carbon6 and went with a 26" in bull profile...barrel is super light and I've not had a chance to do load development yet...still working on getting into a McMillan A6 stock before shooting as the factory stock is way too narrow in the front end to accommodate the larger diameter Carbon barrel....there would be nothing left 4" forward of the action.

The folks down at Carbon6 were fantastic to work with - and I am ecstatic about the final product. They do have narrower profiles as options that would be insanely light weight and they still guarantee 1/2 MOA. Other than Carbon6, I'd recommend McGowen as they will make to your specifications and will even install your barrel if you'd like. I've heard fantastic results from McGowen barrels/re-barrel jobs and our local top gunsmith uses them for anything he doesn't have an interest or time to build from scratch himself...he has really high praises for their quality.

On Calibers, I'd depend really on final intent...if competitive or hunitng mostly deer with maybe an Elk thrown in, then I'd personally go with the 6.5 PRC (or 7 SAUM if you can find brass) for reduced powder and excellent ballistics. If for hunting Elk or larger, you may consider the 7 PRC (easier to find factory ammo in a pinch) as it maintains excellent ballistics as well with the ease of finding brass and factory ammo.

Home

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Take care, good luck with your project, and God Bless!

 

[Dr. Vette]

I am happy with the 300Wby and the recoil is fine but anyone that says it is light in a light rifle is lying, bought a brake recently mostly for load development. I was toying with the PRC idea more so just playing around than anything else.

My Dad has a Backcountry TI in 300 Weatherby; 5.6 pounds for the rifle, under 7 pounds with Swaro scope, Talley rings and ammo.

You can shake your head at this, but with the Peak 44 3D Hex recoil pad plus the factory brake that rifle is a dream to shoot. I did the load development for it last year and had zero issues at all. In fact, I'd love to find one for myself. The idea of swapping a Peak 44 stock onto one of my current rifles has run through my head more than once...

 

[mountainman56]

The Weatherby Mark V is an excellent action to build off of and will work fine for what you have in mind. I have one in 375 H&H and one in 300 H&H and am very pleased with both.

 

[banditsghost]

Hi
I have a Mark V ULW currently chambered in 300Wby, excellent shooter overall and un-braked kicks like a mule at 3.5kg scoped.
I was wondering if the Mark V action feeds the 6.5mm PRC or 7mm PRC cases without having to alter the action. I do not wish to alter the rifle other than a barrel and I will be keeping my 300Wby barrel maybe for a later use.
Has anyone got advice on this having done it, and yes I know it is a magnum action and it is long but it just carries so well in the hills.
Cheers
John

To answer your questions, 7 prc will feed through the action just fine, just did this build myself. There is a strong possibility that you will not be able to re use the 300wby barrel again as weatherby puts the barrels on super tight, we had to cut mine to get it off. I have not seen the 6.5 prc in a long action but it should work as I run a 300 wsm through a long action.

 

[JohnCZ]

I am not familiar with Quadramax brake. Is it a radial brake like the Quatromax by D.F. Maisey Brakes from New Zealand?

Yep that's the brake, just my poor spelling LOL

 

[JohnCZ]

I just re-barreled my 300 Wthby Mark V Alaskan to 300 PRC. The Weatherby barrel was too thin a profile and would walk all over the place (and it ain't the shooter I can guarantee you on that ;-). I worked with Carbon6 and went with a 26" in bull profile...barrel is super light and I've not had a chance to do load development yet...still working on getting into a McMillan A6 stock before shooting as the factory stock is way too narrow in the front end to accommodate the larger diameter Carbon barrel....there would be nothing left 4" forward of the action.

The folks down at Carbon6 were fantastic to work with - and I am ecstatic about the final product. They do have narrower profiles as options that would be insanely light weight and they still guarantee 1/2 MOA. Other than Carbon6, I'd recommend McGowen as they will make to your specifications and will even install your barrel if you'd like. I've heard fantastic results from McGowen barrels/re-barrel jobs and our local top gunsmith uses them for anything he doesn't have an interest or time to build from scratch himself...he has really high praises for their quality.

On Calibers, I'd depend really on final intent...if competitive or hunitng mostly deer with maybe an Elk thrown in, then I'd personally go with the 6.5 PRC (or 7 SAUM if you can find brass) for reduced powder and excellent ballistics. If for hunting Elk or larger, you may consider the 7 PRC (easier to find factory ammo in a pinch) as it maintains excellent ballistics as well with the ease of finding brass and factory ammo.

Home

CARBONSIX RIFLE BARRELS Custom, Light-Weight, Carbon Fiber Barrels Built For You. Ready to upgrade your rifle? Improve accuracy and reduce weight with a precision carbon fiber rifle barrel. Our barrels

carbonsixllc.com

https://mcgowenbarrel.com/shop/full-custom-barrel/

Take care, good luck with your project, and God Bless!

From Australia so no Elk as such but we do have Sambar which are similar in size.

 

[Rockbottom]

"My first rifle was a 300WBY back in 86." asd9055

Sounds like the guy I got my .264winMag from, except he didn't wait 20yrs to sell it.

 

[mandl]

Tagging in. I'm interested in this barrel change also, I've got a 340 Wby MarkV I would like to rebarrel into something I would use a lot more. I've looked at the Carbon Six website, and I'm curious as to whether a person needs to worry about headspace being correct when replacing your barrel? Does a guy need go/nogo gauges for this? And thanks to everyone chiming in on this, feel like I'm learning something useful here! And also, when trying to remove a barrel, would heating the action help any??

 

[44-40]

Tagging in. I'm interested in this barrel change also, I've got a 340 Wby MarkV I would like to rebarrel into something I would use a lot more. I've looked at the Carbon Six website, and I'm curious as to whether a person needs to worry about headspace being correct when replacing your barrel? Does a guy need go/nogo gauges for this? And thanks to everyone chiming in on this, feel like I'm learning something useful here! And also, when trying to remove a barrel, would heating the action help any??

Those interested in changing big recoiling Weatherbys for something more manageable, why not just trade for a smaller Weatherby Mark 5 caliber...easy ...they have 243, 257, 6.5, 7 mm, Weatherby cartridges, that pretty much have ya covered.
Weatherby Mark 5 have the same thread as Remington, 700 but just because the thread is the same only means a Rem barrel would thread into the Weatherby reciever, ...the bolt would not fit. I do not know if Weatherby counterbores the barrel.
You must have correct chamber go gauge to install a barrel, for a specific standardized cartridge so it's to print for that standardized cartridge and can load factory ammo in its chamber. Some non standard, or one of the kind wildcat may be chambered differently, and dies made to reload it...a one gun cartridge.

 

[JohnCZ]

This was interesting to see everyones different take on what is a relatively simple question for those who may have done it.

Firstly the recoil of a 300Wby is just fine without a brake, I have shot enough 338Win, 375H&H, 458Win & 460Wby to be able to manage recoil, however for load development I did buy a brake for shooting off a bench, beating yourself up at the range is plain stupid. Considering it is only slightly more than my 300Win, I certainly wouldn't call it HARD recoiling, fast yes, hard no.

There is little info about the 7PRC here in Australia currently and that was my question, simply feeding off the internal box mag of the Weatherby. Now since using Hornady brass in the 300Wby and having primer pockets stretch after one firing at sub-max loads (1.5gr under max) I certainly will not be getting into 7PRC unless a company other than Hornady makes good brass available here in Oz. The Hornady brass in 300Wby is soft in the head/primer pockets, absolute rubbish.

Cheers
John