@436 Great looking rifles. I mean really great.
May have already commented on this somewhere in the previous pages, but I've had 2 REALLY BAD ones... Accumark in .338-.378 Wby, and Super Predator Master made around the same time as the gentleman with the beauties above in the 90s in 7mm-08. Neither would hold 2 MOA no matter what I did. Took the big boy to a Weatherby certified gunsmith who called me back to verify I was getting 2 3/8 MOA because he said he couldn't get that himself. He recrowned it and that didn't work, so we sent it to Weatherby and they kept it 4 months and sent it back no signature so it was lying on the front porch of the Mobile home I was renting late one evening with a nice factory target of 5/8". No explanation of what load was used, what, if any issue was found (soon found out that answer), or what yardage the target was shot at. I figured out that the target was evidently at about 25 yards because the gun did the EXACT same thing with multiple types of their $120/box ammo (in 2003 $). In case anyone is thinking I flinched, I took the brake off and groups IMPROVED by 1/4", but still 2 1/8"! I'll never forgive Weatherby for that! And to top it off, when I sold the thing for half the cost, I put the money on a new Remington 700 LSS .375 RUM that drilled 5/8" groups with Remington factory 300gr A-Frame Safari ammo! So with a $700 rifle and $60 box of ammo (vs $1800 and $120), I mounted a 1.5 - 6X42 Nikon Monarch Gold scope and lived happily ever after.
The previous one was a heavy barreled 7-08 that wouldn't quite make 2 MOA. That was before the 338-378 debacle. I traded that one in for about half what I paid ($1100 in mid-90s $) telling the store owner the issue. When I saw him several months later, I asked him about it and he said it was a torque issue. He said there had been a rash of returned Mark Vs around that time for accuracy issues that turned out to be improper torque between action and stock. He said it did fine after the torque adjustment, but didn't go into grand detail. Not sure if anyone had thought to look at that with the .338-.378 or not. I have heard other similar accounts of poor accuracy with that particular cartridge.
After those, I have had a REALLY GOOD one more recently in about 2014. I snagged a Lazermark in .270 Wby and the first handload I made with 130gr Barnes TTSX was a solid sub-1/2 MOA load! Very impressive!
Had 2 mediocre ones in 7mm Weatherby that would do about what Roy guaranteed - 1 1/2 MOA, and 1 .280 Rem in Mark V Classic that was very ho-hum on accuracy.
I've had a couple of .257 Wbys, but not in the Mark V. My last was a Vanguard with 24" barrel before they started putting 26" pipes on the Vanguards here a couple years back. 2 shots would go through one hole, and the 3rd was ALWAYS well over an inch out somewhere else.
Then I tried one of the first 6.5x300 Wbys in that same Vanguard. It was a sub-MOA gun! Barely, but sub-MOA nonetheless. 26" barrel in that one, but still not enough to burn all that Reloader 50 it loved so well. Velocity was not on par with those advertised from the Mark Vs. I decided I wasn't going to put up with all the bluster and blast for being short-changed on performance.
Then there was the .300 Wby I tried in the 24" Vanguard. Mistake! 3 MOA! Varied seating depths, bullets, powders, you name it; it just wouldn't hit the broad side of a barn at 500yds (quite literally).
My favorite to hunt with was a Vanguard Back Country (the high dollar model with pillar and glass bedding, Cerakote, and nice, lightweight stock). The .240 Wby was stupid accurate in that rifle, and the 2-stage trigger was customizable to get a pretty light 2nd stage break. Great looking and great handling rifle. If only it had utilized a 26" 1:8 barrel, it would still be my EDC rifle in hunting season.
That is the biggest issue I have with Weatherby. They develop these great cartridges like the .240 (no freebore like the larger iterations) and now the 6.5 RPM and neuter them with short barrels and/or slow twists. They are boringly predictable and have been since Roy had his ballistics guru back off saying 1 1/2" 100yd accuracy was plenty good enough. An egregious error that is likely the single reason we aren't talking about Weatherbys now like we discuss Bartlein and Defiance.
Today's Mark Vs are more innovative, but ridiculously overpriced, IMO. I do love the action, but would have to rebarrel most of them properly.
I wouldn't hesitate to buy a new Mark V in .240 Wby or 6.5 RPM, or even another 6.5x300 Wby, IF they were properly barreled and twisted.
Perhaps the finest of all the Weatherby cartridges for accuracy is the .340. That round has the reputation of being a tack driver, and mine certainly was - but it was a Sako 75 Hunter with 24" barrel (not ideal, for sure). Overall, in the Mark V, I wouldn't hesitate to buy a .270 Wby or a .340. If I could rebarrel it properly, a .240 might be my top pick of all time. My experience has been a mixed bag, for sure. I'd say if you're going to buy a Mark V, buy it in a Weatherby cartridge chambering (except the .378-based cartridges unless you're going to Africa where it won't matter if it shoots 2 1/2 MOA) and buy it in a classic wood configuration. That way, if it turns out it's not a great shooter, it still makes a great mantle piece and a great heirloom.
