Oh yes, the world of Weatherby rifles.
To answer the question of if they can be accurized, certainly and to good effect. Only problem are those 54 bolt lugs they think they need /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif!!!
Still, inconsistancy is generally caused by three main factors.
First is consistant pressure holding the receiver into the stock. This is where torquing the receiver screws comes into play.
Second is bedding. If the bedding is unstable you will get fliers weither its when the rifle hits up or right off the start. In this same area, the receiver screws need to be floated for consistant results. That means they should not touch the stock anywhere on teh body of the screw, only the threads should engage the receiver and the bolt head on the bottom metal.
If they do touch this can result in fliers as well. Generally they have to be touching pretty solid to really see a problem but it is a problem. It can also lead to a cracked stock in heavy kickers, float them screws.
The biggest problem with Wby rifles and any factory rifle really is that the chamber dimensions are generally quite loose. The area of critical concern is the throat and neck area but mostly the throat.
Freebore is really not a huge problem with accuracy as long as the diameter of the freebore is tight enough to support the bullet under pressure. I like a diameter of +0.0005" over bullet diameter for my big game rifles and +0.0002" to +0.0003" for my Bench type rifles. Match bullets used in bench guns are held to tighter tolernaces and this is why you can tighten up the throat a bit more without problems.
Generally factory throats are significantly larger in diameter then these numbers and as such there is room for that bullet to woller around in the throat after leaving the case mouth.
Hard bullets will not tolerate loose throats at all. The Barnes X and Fail safe bullets simply will not produce fine accuracy in a loose throated chamber. The reason is that they are so hard that they will not bump up under pressure to fill the larger diameter of the throat and then be swaged down into the bore consistantly.
A soft bullet such as the conventional cup jacketed bullets will bump upto make a better fit. This is why the Sierra Mk will generally shoot well out of most rifles that are set up true.
In the middle ground you have the Ballistic Tips with the solid copper bases that perform much better in tighter throats then loose but not as dramatically as hard bullets.
Another area that results in fliers is poor machining. IF a barrel is not threaded with a quality fit to the receiver it will vibrate more when fired then a quality fitted barrel would. This results in inconsistancy on target. Also, receiver faces can be out of square as can bolt faces, all resulting in variation from shot to shot. If the receiver face is un true, the barrel is stressed when it is torqued to teh receiver. This stress can result in fliers from the start or as the barrel heats up.
Machining and fit is critical to tight groups, I think that is obvious.
So yes, a Wby can certainly be accurized to get great results. Especially is a match grade barrel is fitted and a quality reamer is used to chamber the barrel.
They are like every other modern rifle, get everything true around one axis and give it a stable bedding and it will perform great.
Good Shooting!!
Kirby Allen (50)