Why is there not much talk about Weatherby Rifles?

[2ndson]

A friend of mine took a .378 wby to africa hunting dangerous game once. He had to duck tape the floorplate closed because it would open up and shells would drop to the ground, once the rifle went bang.

 

[Varmint Hunter]

A friend of mine took a .378 wby to africa hunting dangerous game once. He had to duck tape the floorplate closed because it would open up and shells would drop to the ground, once the rifle went bang.

It sounds like he didn't shoot it very much BEFORE he took it hunting. My 460WBY would blew the floor plate open every time I fired it. I eventually returned it to WBY. They fixed the problem but the repair made it rather difficult to open the floor plate manually when you wanted to..

 

[nealm66]

I've had extremely good luck with weatherby vanguards. I'd like to buy a mark v but will probably build off a custom action. But all of the vanguards My brother and I have purchased are easy .5 either with premium ammunition or some handload tweaking.

 

[Sanford338]

I own several custom built rifles. Own 3 Weatherby's, my 257 MK5 RC is the most accurate and favorite non custom I own. It loves anything in 100 grain, but the TSX & TTSX are its favorite. Clover leafs 1/2" or better ... it's a lazer beam, one and done. It's dropped anything I've pointed it at... but as mentioned.. my most favorite to shoot & ive got lots to choose from!

 

[257WTBY]

I am a Weatherby guy. I have or have had about every caliber they made in the Mark V at one time or another. Some shoot phenomenal out of the box some take tinkering. I have a 340 WTBY Ive had for close to 30 years and that rifle has accounted for more big game (read elk moose and bear) than any other rifle I own. I use a Mark V Ultra light in 257 for deer = bang flop. Ive owned a few vanguards definitely not to the quality of the action compared to the Mark V. Secondly for me the factory stocks fit me well they are just comfortable to shoot especially the Accumarks. Are they the best rifles made at one time I would have said yes to factory built rifles, right now there are a lot of manufacturers building very nice very accurate rifles. I own Remingtons, Tikka,s Begara's Winchesters, Brownings and a few others but if it came right down to it and I only had one rifle for hunting everything I'd take my old nickel plated MK V 340 and never question my decision. It just piles those 250 nosler partitions in little tiny groups well under 1in at 200 yards and hits like Thor's hammer.

I am sure Weatherby has turned out sub par rifles at times just like every other manufacturer thats built a rifle. Ammo is expensive even reloading the brass isnt cheap. Are they a magic rifle NO do I enjoy them yes but every story has two sides and some dont care for Mark V and to that I say to each their own. I dont think you will go wrong buying a Mark V (Im looking at CarbonMark right now haha). Lots of great rifles being made now days and I think a lot more on par as they should be, but 60 years ago it was a lot harder to compete/compare with a factory Mark V.

 

[257WTBY]

I own several custom built rifles. Own 3 Weatherby's, my 257 MK5 RC is the most accurate and favorite non custom I own. It loves anything in 100 grain, but the TSX & TTSX are its favorite. Clover leafs 1/2" or better ... it's a lazer beam, one and done. It's dropped anything I've pointed it at... but as mentioned.. my most favorite to shoot & ive got lots to choose from!

I agree 257 WTBY equals bang flop. Perfect deer caliber... I just received my reamer from Manson and a 1-7 twist Rock Creek C/F barrel. I am having a 257 WTBY put together now for the heavies hoping to shoot 130 grain hammers or blackjacks... If it works out I will be testing it out on a cow elk later this fall.

 

[asd9055]

I agree 257 WTBY equals bang flop. Perfect deer caliber... I just received my reamer from Manson and a 1-7 twist Rock Creek C/F barrel. I am having a 257 WTBY put together now for the heavies hoping to shoot 130 grain hammers or blackjacks... If it works out I will be testing it out on a cow elk later this fall.

I have 5, a german, a japanese and 3 us made, all MKV. All shoot well. I have a friend, he has a US MKV/ He can not get it to shoot well.
Would I buy another one? For sure. I want a 257 and a 6.5 WBY RPM

 

[Sanford338]

I agree 257 WTBY equals bang flop. Perfect deer caliber... I just received my reamer from Manson and a 1-7 twist Rock Creek C/F barrel. I am having a 257 WTBY put together now for the heavies hoping to shoot 130 grain hammers or blackjacks... If it works out I will be testing it out on a cow elk later this fall.

Sweet! Show us the finished version... hammer bullets from what I've read perform as well or better than Barnes. I do like the heavier weights... good luck!!

 

[jarnold37]

I became interested in accuracy early on. Weatherby seemed to be the horsepower king in each class and realized that Waeatherby chamberings have about 1/4" jump to the riflings which allowed a peak in pressure before bullet contacted the riflings. Even though their velocities were a bit higher, it sacrificed in another aspect. A building li der of very accurate rifles said you can seldom have benchrest type accuracy when the bullet jumps a 1/4" inch and slams into the rifling. I always leaned more towards accuracy and the reason the Weatherby rifle was expensive was the attention to the beautiful stock. That is good for some, but I thought that extra money was better spent on optics, triggers, quality barrels etc. But from a financial standpoint, the beautiful Weatherby will most likely appreciate in value as time goes on, but I have a different interest which is accuracy

 

[Deleted member 115360]

I became interested in accuracy early on. Weatherby seemed to be the horsepower king in each class and realized that Waeatherby chamberings have about 1/4" jump to the riflings which allowed a peak in pressure before bullet contacted the riflings. Even though their velocities were a bit higher, it sacrificed in another aspect. A building li der of very accurate rifles said you can seldom have benchrest type accuracy when the bullet jumps a 1/4" inch and slams into the rifling. I always leaned more towards accuracy and the reason the Weatherby rifle was expensive was the attention to the beautiful stock. That is good for some, but I thought that extra money was better spent on optics, triggers, quality barrels etc. But from a financial standpoint, the beautiful Weatherby will most likely appreciate in value as time goes on, but I have a different interest which is accuracy

I've got a literal pile of Weatherby rifles, mark V and vanguards. I'd challenge you to find a more accurate factory rifle in either category that can match them in features and design. I've never owned a weatherby that wasn't a sub minute rifle with factory ammo. If functional accuracy is your thing, it's hard to beat a Weatherby. If you want cartridges designed to make animals dead, Roy is the king.

 

[257WTBY]

Sweet! Show us the finished version... hammer bullets from what I've read perform as well or better than Barnes. I do like the heavier weights... good luck!!

Hope to show you soon my hold up was the stock from McMillan it took 9 1/2 weeks to come in but I have everything now and as of Saturday morning it was in my gunsmiths hands.

I have a mark V Ultra light that was originally a 280 Rem now its a 280AI and it loves 143 grain hammer hunters. My 21 yo. daughter uses it for all her hunting. The time only thing she ever says bad about it is off the bench it has a little kick but then again she 115lbs soaking wet...

 

[436]

@436 Great looking rifles. I mean really great.

Thanks, they are fun rifles.

 

[436]

@436 Great looking rifles. I mean really great.

Thank you, Sir. Cheers!

 

[cape cove]

As for accuracy with my Weatherby rifles, ( 3 shot groups) my 257 Vanguard is slightly over 1/2 MOA, my 270 Weatherby is .75 MOA, my 7mm Weatherby is appx .75 MOA and my 30/378 is MOA. Not benchrest accuracy but none the less good hunting accuracy.