Weatherby Mark V Rifles

Danricgro

I was wondering what you guys think of Weatherby Mark V rifles. I have always been fascinated by them for some unknown reason and am curious what the general consesus is about em.

Teach

Overbore and overpriced, IMHO. They take the "Ackley Improved" concept and totally overdo it. The radiused case shoulders instead of having straight tapers was more of a gimmick by Roy Weatherby to create a visual effect than any real improvement in design, and burning huge amounts of power for a moderate increase in velocity is a prime example of the law of diminishing returns. Weatherby was quite the entrepreneur, back when the shooting world was willing to jump on the bandwagon for just about anything with a slick marketing strategy. His first offerings were built on Mauser actions, so the Mark V design was not necessary to the success of the cartridge. I have an old German-made Mark V in 7MM Weatherby that a customer gave me after I did a repair on the stock- - - -broken right through the wrist area. I don't see much, if any advantage in performance over my 7 Mag. The Mark V action, with its 9-lug lockup and short bolt throw is nice, but the Browning BBR .308 I got at an estate sale had virtually the same setup. The game isn't going to notice a couple hundred FPS difference, and whiz-bang chamberings will never make up for a shooter's lack of skill. The deer get just as dead when my nephew shoots them with his 7X57.
Jerry

MileHighShooter

yea I don't know where people picked up the improved performance from the shoulders. Roy did that so every garage gunsmith under the sun couldn't replicate his rounds, back then with less precise machining, made customers have to go to him. Good marketing.

I like most of the Weatherby cartridges. The rifles are nice, very shiny usually, but just not my thing. However I have never really heard anyone complain about owning one.

Bigslug

Everything Teach said plus, with nine little bitty locking lugs, I have serious, SERIOUS doubts about all of them actually making full contact (or contact at all) on a mass-production action. Three big locking lugs (instead of three clusters of little ones) would do the same job - probably better - for less money and time on the mill.

Then there's the "freebore" of the Weatherby chamberings. Part of Weatherby's velocity gains come from the first quarter to half inch of barrel, which has had the rifling bored out of it to create a gap in which the bullet can get a bit of a jump start. While some of these rifles shoot very well due to the endless list of variables involved, this is generally not gonna do you any favors in the accuracy department.

And styling. I'm not sure what alien species needs a cheekpiece that high with a buttpad that low. The straighter stock of say, a Ruger, will manage recoil far better.

While Weatherby has done a fair number of stainless and synthetic-stocked guns, I have always had my suspicions that the "classic" Weatherby look came about when some tank-top wearing slob of a hunter was given a makeover by Queer Eye for the Straight Guy. The guns DO make a statement, but there has been much debate over the years as to exactly WHAT that statement is.

Weatherby

Having owned, shot, and hunted with a Mark V for over a quarter century I'll give my opinion.

First the Free bore....they are hunting rigs not bench guns.

Mine don't seem to know they are freebored as they both shoot extremely well especially for a hunting gun.



The stock design you love it or hate it I love it....hate Rugers BTW

Buford

I have two Weatherby Mark V Deluxe rifles one in 300 and the other is 7mm. I have been quite pleased with them, as to accuracy no problem there. I can put them in the bullseye every time. They are not target rifles that's for sure, the slim sporter barrel gets hot fast. They are however a gorgeous accurate hunting rifle.

KENFU1911

If You like the way they look...they work fine, but I think there are better options out there....other than Savage of course...............:jester: .....Ken

Nomadac

I have two Weatherby Rifles s Sporter Mark V in .300 Wby. mag with Accubrake and a Eurosport .270 Wby. mag. both of which are very accurate. I prefer the stock design, which is a personal preference.

I previously owned a German Mark V in .270 Wby. mag. until a burglar broke into my home, while I was on vacation and stole it along with 12 other firearms. They did not get the bolt, as I always stored it in a different location, so the gun was useless to shoot. A Bolt-less rifle is probably worthless, as it would have to be sent back to Wby. to have a new bolt installed.

wizard78

I've owned, shot and hunted with many Weatherby rifles ranging from the sweet little XXII to the thumper 460 Custom shop. Most of mine were of German manufacture but I had a couple made in Japan. At present I have 2, a 340 Custom shop and a 300 Mk V. As said earlier, you either like them or not but trying to belittle a particular brand because other rifles will accomplish the same results or better, is nonsense. There will ALWAYS be other rifles that can do the same or better than another manufacturers brand. It's a matter of personal taste. To me their accuracy was excellent and the finish and style were to my liking. The didn't bang me straight back like many Winchesters that I owned and the polished blue with fancy wood made me want to just stare at the finish in awe. They were never sold as benchrest, target guns but they could hold their own right out of the box, and then some, against most other manufacturers except maybe Sako. My favorite was a Euromark in 270 Wby mag. The satin finish stock and semi gloss blueing were superb. At 100 yds, the factory ammo came close to touching holes and for me shooting, that says a lot about the ability of the rifle. I only fired 3 shot groups because of the thin barrel. That one went to my Nephew as an early inheritance and he still uses it. To relate to likes and dislikes, I used to hate stainless guns. Little by little though they grew on me and now some of my favorite are my Ruger Hawkeye stainless and walnut mannlichers. It's all a matter of taste and not always function. Welcome to the forum.

The Euromark.

Danricgro

Well I see they are quite polarizing. Thank you for your replies.

Zee

That is a beautiful Euromark, Wizard. I don't like the 'bling' models, but the satin ones are very attractive.

snake284-1

Danricgro wrote: »

I was wondering what you guys think of Weatherby Mark V rifles. I have always been fascinated by them for some unknown reason and am curious what the general consesus is about em.

You couldn't give me one. Shotty workmanship and lousy accuracy. I don't even know if they're safe to shoot!!! LOLOLOL!!! Right!

Just kidding. I have one Weatherby that I'm falling in love with. It's a Lazer Mark 300 WBY. Mag. It has a 26 inch barrel not counting the Muzzle Brake. The brake makes it very pleasant to shoot. It's a beautiful, accurate rifle.

I bought it this past Spring used for $1,000 from an aquantance. I worked up a 180 grain Bullet load with Remington brass, Sierra Game King bullets and Winchester Magnum Rifle Primers. It's smoking hot with RL-25 Poweder at a shade under 3,200 FPS and a shade under an inch at 100 yards.

snake284-1

There is some gain with the double radius. Notice I said "Some!" But it may or may not be calculable. Any time you smooth out a pipe or vessle, the flow rate will improve. But it's such a small amount in a relatively small tube as a cartridge neck that it's not worth worrying about. I also agree with Milehighshooter that Roy may have done this to make his cartridges hard to copy at home.

As for Freebore, there's another way to look at that. You can seat bullets out further, gaining velocity and possibly accuracy. Also, it can lesson chamber pressure.

Dalebow

Love my Mark V and Accumarks, little bedding and trigger work and they will flat shoot. Much less work to get them to be tack drivers, much less than my Model 70's and a lot of my Rem 700's. I have my 257 weatherby zeroed at 300 yards, only 6 " low at 400 and then the turret reaches out to 1000 yards, killed yotes at 700, have not tried past there yet with my factory 80gr TTSX's. I love the gun for antelope and will be using it on 3 hunts this fall. I really think I may buy a 300 weatherby mag accumark, cerekote, lap, bed, trigger job and have the only 2 rifles that I will ever need for everything from yotes to the bears. I will keep my Blaser R93 becuase for travel its light and breaks down and is in 300wsm, 130grain for deer, 150 grain TTSX for caribou/sheep, 180grain for elk/moose/bear and Ive got it all covered.
To answer your question you will never regret a mark v

CMW

I own six weatherbys: a 300, 30-378, 7mm, 340, 378, and a 460. All of the rifle will punch several bullets through the same whole and they dont even have great optics sitting on them. These rifles have moose, elk, beer, and deer. This year alone i killed five deer with the 30-378 and i killed three with it last year. These guns look, handle and shoot flawlessly. In my opinion these are my favorite production hunting rifles. And the part about the several hundred fps being meanial is crap. Out of the 8 deer ive killed with it in the last two years the one that ran the farthest went 40 yards and piled up. Most dont even take a step. Even the ones shot at 300 yard pile up right where they stand. In my opinion Roy Weatherby was a great man and his 9 lug action is the best. It is the strongest production action made and is super smooth, plus it has a super short bolt through.

MileHighShooter

Teach wrote: »

I have an old German-made Mark V in 7MM Weatherby that a customer gave me after I did a repair on the stock- - - -broken right through the wrist area. I don't see much, if any advantage in performance over my 7 Mag.
Jerry

Missed that comment a few months back

Now Teach, the proper statement should have been flipped AROUND to the 7 Rem Mag doesn't offer anything over the 7mm Wby...lets not forget which one came first :tooth:

stepmac

Mark V's have seen their day. Back when Roy Weatherby first turned them out they were all the rage. Beautiful things and hard shooters. I had a MkV 7mm WM once. Fantasticly beautiful rifle. Shinny metal, and stock. The darn thing kicked the pee wadden out of me and I sold it. It had one of those nifty Weatherby scopes on it too which took a hunk out right between my eyes. They didn't make enough locktite for me to keep that scope screwed down. I kept banging it with my head.

I too love beautiful rifles with finely figured wood. Look around, you'll find one. Get something in 308 and you'll shoot and enjoy the rifle forever. Get a 300 WM and you'll shoot it once or twice a year, if that. Remember, one of the rules of shooting a hard hitting rifle is not to practice with it. Practice with another similar rifle that is fun to shoot so you don't develop a flinch. Shoot the boomer a few times first, to zero the scope, then shoot the other gun so that your subconsious forgets the punishment you received from the cannon. So why get the cannon in the first place?

Zee

Because they are fun to shoot.

You have some really jacked up ideas. Interesting.

stepmac

CMW wrote: »

I own six weatherbys: a 300, 30-378, 7mm, 340, 378, and a 460. All of the rifle will punch several bullets through the same whole and they dont even have great optics sitting on them. These rifles have moose, elk, beer, and deer. This year alone i killed five deer with the 30-378 and i killed three with it last year. These guns look, handle and shoot flawlessly. In my opinion these are my favorite production hunting rifles. And the part about the several hundred fps being meanial is crap. Out of the 8 deer ive killed with it in the last two years the one that ran the farthest went 40 yards and piled up. Most dont even take a step. Even the ones shot at 300 yard pile up right where they stand. In my opinion Roy Weatherby was a great man and his 9 lug action is the best. It is the strongest production action made and is super smooth, plus it has a super short bolt through.

Are you getting such clean kills due to the Weatherbys that you are shooting, or by the fact that you are a good shot and know where to place it? If one likes shooting Weatherbys then by all means shoot them. Why not? I don't like the punishment and sold mine. A 308 has always works fine for me. I shoot a lot of rifles. Most of my hunting is done with a 308, Win 270, 257 Rbts (prong horn), a 222 and a little 17 (for sage rats).

I just bought an old Win Model 71 in the original 348 and have yet to run a round through it. Peep sights. I'm not going to shoot it until I get the dies. I plan to reload cast bullets at around 1600 fps. Should be fun.

CMW

Im a good shot but I will admit that two of the shots on the 8 deer mentioned were "bad". One was a 80 yard liver shot where the deer went five yards, the other was a 250 yard shot that hit the deer slightly forward of the heart and lung. That deer didnt even kick, just fell. When i opened up the deer the lungs and insides were almost completely jellied, yet the bullets main mass did not enter them. I was using a 180 grain hollow point and it was running at 3400 fps. There was also no exit would. When the bullet entered it fragmented completely and destroyed everything on the inside. I even found tiny pieces of brass on the inside of the opposite rib cage that the bullet entered. I give alot of the credit for this to the extra fps of the 30-378. My point is that a deer shot in the liver with a 308 loaded with the same slug going 2600 fps would have ran much farther. It would certainly do the job, but the 30-378 and such other weatherby calibers are bllisticly superb to there smaller more comonly known counter parts.

JerryBobCo

CMW wrote: »

It would certainly do the job, but the 30-378 and such other weatherby calibers are bllisticly superb to there smaller more comonly known counter parts.

I think we're about to get into the debate between heavier bullets moving at moderate speeds versus smaller bullets moving at faster speeds. I used to belong to the latter camp, and am now coming around to the heavier bullet/moderate velocity side.

CMW

I prefer heavier bullets going really really fast :rotflmao:

beartracker

I love all of my Mark V rifles and cartridges, I think they are great. Of course I could bore you to death with all the great targets these hunting rifles have shot like Weatherby posted and man are they fun to shoot and hunt with.

snake284-1

stepmac wrote: »

Are you getting such clean kills due to the Weatherbys that you are shooting, or by the fact that you are a good shot and know where to place it? If one likes shooting Weatherbys then by all means shoot them. Why not? I don't like the punishment and sold mine. A 308 has always works fine for me. I shoot a lot of rifles. Most of my hunting is done with a 308, Win 270, 257 Rbts (prong horn), a 222 and a little 17 (for sage rats).

I just bought an old Win Model 71 in the original 348 and have yet to run a round through it. Peep sights. I'm not going to shoot it until I get the dies. I plan to reload cast bullets at around 1600 fps. Should be fun.

Hell, everybody that owns a Weatherby in this thread has already said it's not a bench gun. Go back and read the posts. We who have them like them for many reasons and because of what they are, fine, well made rifles. Mine is accurate and slings a 180-200 grain bullet about 100 FPS faster than its closest competitor. Now that's not earth shaking and not a good reason to buy it. I bet most of us didn't buy them for the slightly improved balistics, but it does have them. I bought it because like some others here, I have always, all my life, been intrigued by them, and I think they are very well built and well made. If you want to know the truth, the Remington 700 is probably a marginally stronger action. It only has two locking lugs, like a Mauser, but they are huge and it's made of stronger steel than the old Mauser (of course the Mauser is no slouch either). But the Mark V is a fine rifle and is smooth as glass. For a production rifle the fit and finish is immaculate. And I will challenge anyone who doesn't think all those lugs bear. It's not impossible to make them all contact. LAP Those Joe Dogs in. Even the two lug actions benefit from lapping the lugs. Of course you want to check head space afterward. Just a little TLC in the machining and fitting process is all it takes. In other words, They're ain't no fly in the Mark V's Soup!

beartracker

snake284-1 wrote: »

Hell, everybody that owns a Weatherby in this thread has already said it's not a bench gun. Go back and read the posts. We who have them like them for whatever reason because of what they are. Mine is accurate and slings a 180-200 grain bullet about 100 FPS than its closest competitor. Now that's not earth shaking and not a reason to buy it. I bet most of us didn't buy them for the slightly improved balistics, but it does have them. I bought it because like some others here, I have always, all my life, been intrigued by them, and I think they are very well built and well made. If you want to know the truth, the Remington 700 is probably a marginally stronger action. It only has two locking lugs, like a Mauser, but they are huge and it's made of stronger steel than the old Mauser (of course the Mauser is no slouch either). But the Mark V is a fine rifle and is smooth as glass. For a production rifle the fit and finish is immaculate. And I will challenge anyone who doesn't think all those lugs bear. It's not impossible to make them all contact. LAP Those Joe Dogs in. Even the two lug actions benefit from lapping the lugs. Of course you want to check head space afterward. Just a little TLC in the machining and fitting process is all it takes. In other words, They're ain't no fly in the Mark V's Soup!

Yep we shoot Mark V's because we like them. One point though and that is that the Remington 700 is not close to the strength of the Mark V and I like both actions.

beartracker

I love my 340Wby, not only for how it shoots but I love it's looks (custom)

snake284-1

beartracker wrote: »

Yep we shoot Mark V's because we like them. One point though and that is that the Remington 700 is not close to the strength of the Mark V and I like both actions.

I guess we will agree to disagree on that. But I love em both too.

stepmac

CMW wrote: »

Im a good shot but I will admit that two of the shots on the 8 deer mentioned were "bad". One was a 80 yard liver shot where the deer went five yards, the other was a 250 yard shot that hit the deer slightly forward of the heart and lung. That deer didnt even kick, just fell. When i opened up the deer the lungs and insides were almost completely jellied, yet the bullets main mass did not enter them. I was using a 180 grain hollow point and it was running at 3400 fps. There was also no exit would. When the bullet entered it fragmented completely and destroyed everything on the inside. I even found tiny pieces of brass on the inside of the opposite rib cage that the bullet entered. I give alot of the credit for this to the extra fps of the 30-378. My point is that a deer shot in the liver with a 308 loaded with the same slug going 2600 fps would have ran much farther. It would certainly do the job, but the 30-378 and such other weatherby calibers are bllisticly superb to there smaller more comonly known counter parts.

Yep, with the round that you are shooting you create a heck of a lot of shock. Those Weatherbys are indeed killing machines, no question about it.

Zee

snake284-1 wrote: »

I guess we will agree to disagree on that. But I love em both too.

Just out of curiosity, why does anybody care which one is stronger? Seems superfluous to me.

snake284-1

Zee wrote: »

Just out of curiosity, why does anybody care which one is stronger? Seems superfluous to me.

Nice to know.

Zee

cpj wrote: »

You signed up for the word of the day again, didnt you?

I may not be a smart man.....................but I am learned one. ;-)