Weatherby rifles and cartridges

[specweldtom]

mt; MK V's are U.S. made now. Originally made in Germany, then in Japan for a long time, now here. I believe the Vanguards are still made by Howa in Japan.

I heard that someone bought Remington. Anybody know?

Tom

 

[specweldtom]

7ultra; great thread, lots of opinions. I don't know much about the small caliber Wbys (see my signature and previous post), but I've got to throw this in: The .338x.378 that I'm building has chronographed a very modest 2760 fps instrumental, on an Oehler 35P, with the 300gr Sierra mkhp. 5 rds, s/d 7. Using Oehler Ballistic Explorer, that load will deliver just over 2,000 ft# at 1000yds, and just under 1,000 ft# at 1 mile, and it's just a starting load. It put 5 rds in 3/4" at 100yds, will fit in the magazine well, and the rifle weighs 13 lbs. To me, that's a helluva start.

I don't know much about the "designer" cartridges, but I do know that for a caliber that has available factory brass, this one delivers the mail.

IMO, if a factory Wby MK V won't shoot good enough to suit you, it's a great action to build a custom on. You may have guessed---they're my favorite.

I told JECustom that his .30x.378 (5 shots in .091") might not win a benchrest match, but it would if he shot first!

Have fun, Tom

 

[Ahab]

Strange, my new Weatherby .257 Ultralight gets great groups with my dialed in handloads. It's never seen factory loads. Please don't tell it has a long throat. A bunch of guys at my gun club have Weatherby's in various calibers and not a one complains of accuracy problems. I bought mine based on that fact and i liked the trigger. Oh yah, our local gunsmith agrees with J E Custom.

 

[J E Custom]

Weatherbys

Ahab

A side note on freebore.

Weatherby uses lots of freebore to hold down pressure and increase
velocity.

I heard a man complaining about his 30/378 blowing primers at a gun
shop and had to know why because this is a very bad situation.

When I ask him what kind of rifle he had and he replied very strongly
"IT.s A CUSTOM rifle so theres nothing wrong with it" .And after asking
who the smith was I knew the smith and his reputation is impeccable,

Turns out that the owner had heard all this bad press about freebore
and told the smith to go with standard freebore.

NOTE" with any standard freebored rifle chamberd in Weatherby caliber's
factory ammo is very hot.

So two things happened to him ,he had to load down and he lost velocity
( the reason for going to Weatherby in the first place )

No question that seating the bullet close to the lands is good for accuracy
but a rifle with freebore can be set up to be very accurate.

Just a side note to my other post
J E CUSTOM

 

[J E Custom]

Weatherbys

This was a very good thread and really got a lot of responses
good and bad .So after a lot of though I decided to make some
observations and give everone something to think about.

First I would take a poll that ask everone on this website what thier
favorite action is (only one could be selected) and my guess would
be that the most were Remingtion's . not because they are any better
than any other action but are the most available of all the actions.

So would a poll tell you much ? possibly not .

And for the benefit of the younger shooters that have so many choices
to make when buying a rifle or having one made consider this !

When I started shooting in the 50's the choices were few. Example"
There were only 3 or 4 factory rifles that were available to the masses,
Remington, savage,Winchester And surplus military rifles. Browning, sako
and weatherby were to high end for most of us.

As far as custom rifles most custom gun makers used the mauser
because they were also readily available. and custom actions were
to pricy for most and hard to get.

So when I hear that a custom action is the only way to go I have to
question that thinking. I hear tight, smooth, true, square and all the
things that go with a custom action and should for the price. But some
of the finest shooting rifles I have owned were built on Mauser actions
that were none of the above, but were set up with good chamber,s
and headspace with properly fitting stocks.

I would love to build all of my custom rifles on custom actions but most
people cant pay that much for a full blown custom .The point I'm trying
to make is any action set up right can be very accurate.

What it boils down to is what ever action you like is the one you should
start with and then at some point go with a full blown custom if you feel
the need.

It would be a dull world if every one liked the same thing,

So just because I cant make something work does,t mean others cant
and with all the knowledge on this website almost any question relating
to shooting can be answered.

I hope this all made sense
J E CUSTOM

 

[rotorhead]

I like weatherby mark V's some shoot good and some don't but I have always been able to get one to shoot with only minor work. some need bedded some need free floated some need barrel pressure if your willing to tinker if it doesn't shoot you can get it to shoot.

Keep in mind some folks on the forum are extreme accuracy nuts and I guess all of us are to some point but Weatherby makes hunting rifles and there hunting accuracy is usually sufficent out to some normal distance 3-400 yards if you want to shoot 1000 you'll most likely have to work on any stock rifle. If you want to shoot 1000 build a rifle and you will most likey get there. I have worked loads up for many of the "quote" unaccurate rifles such as Ruger. I like rugers. fit and finish for a factory gun is absolutly great and strength is definatly not an issue. all I have come across shoot good for normal hunting I can usually get them to shoot better and it is rare that I can't get one to 1moa I will say the weatherby 257 and 300 are there really great calibers.
How accurate is what you will expect. If you expect extreme accuracy you can expect a extreme price. so really its how much money do you want to spend.

I have a friend that is wanting to hunt first and shoot second. he doesn't have any long range experiance maybe out to 300 and he was contimplating building a 25-06 but the price is kinda high I told him for you normal hunting he should buy a stock rifle of his choice and I will do any wok to get it to shoot. As it stands he will probley spend 1000-1200 for rifle and scope instead of twice the amount to shoot 1/2-3/4 inch group better for his nonimial distances.

Rh

 

[DIRTY 30 RUM]

If you are looking for good terminal effect the the 257 is great for that. I have a Mark V with a noodle barrel that will shoot .243" @ 4174 fps. That rifle is stock as a rock minus reloading. If you chose the 257 you will love it, now with the light bullets it will not carry the energy out far, but from 0 to 400 yards enjoy.

 

[Michael Eichele]

Who the he?? dug up this thread?

 

[7ultra]

Oh goodness, I can't believe this thread is still going...**** near 3 years and looking at the safe, no Weatherby. Funny thing is, I completely forgot about this thread and ended up building a semi-custom Remington, in a 7mm BR no less. Oh well, thank you for all the good intentions and information shared.

7ultra

 

[CK1]

I'm a little late to this dance but do have an opinion.

First, I own two Accumarks (.257 Weatherby and .308 Winchester). But I'm not in love with the rifles.

I don't care for the trigger or the safety. The trigger issue may get resolved with an after market Timney. The safety can't. The fit, finish, barrel and Mark V action are IMO outstanding.

What I am in love with are the Weatherby cartidges. I own not only the .257 Weatherby Accumark but a Sako 75 S/S in .300 Weatherby. With those two cartidges, I have N.A. covered. I absolutely love the performance.

CK

 

[hurejager]

problem?

brian b yes you will catch flack!i shoot a.300wea at1000 yd matches & deer hunting. 2 friends collect weatherbys & shoot them to 600 yds just fine.i also rode harleys before they were GLAM. 3rd gen rider 5% weather,i ride.do you,wanna be

 

[ks270]

I have owned alot of rifles over the years,at least 30 different bolt actions.I like the Weatherbys alot.I have a 270wby in the ultra light weight accumark.It shoots 130gr nolser partition at 3400fps and 1 inch groups at 200 yards.I have never seen one that would not shoot 1.5 groups.The action and the freebore may not work for the benchrest guys but it works for the hunters.I have seen alot of *** from all of the other gun companys.People that trash a company because of 1 bad gun is stupid! Gun companys build thousands of guns every year you will have some bad ones from time to time.Most people that have problems with their guns not shooting dont know what they are doing!This is my 2 cents from what I have seen.

 

[screech]

im not trying to bash anybody in this but with my not so extensive dealing with weatherbys, i would not buy one. I one dealt with a 257 in a submoa vanguard, a 30-378 and a 338-378 in the accumarks and I wasnt impressed with the accuracy of the vanguard and the two accumarks wont hold point of impact. We also have a 416 in an lazermark and it shoots as good as I expected and it is pretty but just isnt used much.

We still own all except for the 30-378 because the make great fillers for the gunsafe.

oh, nightforce scopes and handloading were used in testing on all except for the 416 wich wears a 3-9 leupy.

 

[enigma]

I've own four weatherby's 270wm, 300wm, 30-378wm, 388-378wm I loved all of them they all shot less than a inch at a 100yds.I still have my 388-378wm I've killed 15 white tail deer with it in the past 2 years most of them over 300yds but those are my guns.But on the 338-378 accumark I had to loc-tight all screws with the red loc- tight because after 10 shots screws would start coming lose..But I love the gun