Do you think this could be the caliber and not so much the gun? I've often wondered about the free bore that Weatherby�s have to achieve their high velocities. I only have one, and it's really a Howa (Vanguard). It's a 300 Wtby Mag and is the most finicky rifle I own. When I got it I was expecting to use it as a versatile tool. Flat shooting light bullets for open country, heavy bullets for big game. Never did find a light bullet load to shoot worth a damn. I did get heavier bullets to group, but never one that was very sleek. I should say I always tried to keep the velocity near max, otherwise what is the point? In the end it's taking a place in the safe that should be filled by a 338 win. My experience with 7mm Rem and 300 Win's is they are MUCH easier to tune a load for. After all my effort I am not about to part with it, but it�s like a bad marriage, I stay with it out of spite. I wonder if Remington has bettered the whole Weatherby line buy achieving the equivalent velocity though use of a bigger case, more powder and skipping the free bore trick?

makeminestainless,



Over the years I have owned many Wbys and all the way through to the 460. I have also had a direct involvement with many others including match grade barrels on Rem 700s chambered to the Wby calibres from 257 through to 300.



The first thing a Wby calibre must have is a freebore diameter that is very close to bullet diameter. I believe this freebore diameter is one of the reasons for varied reporting on Wby accuracy. Combine excessive freebore diameter with a very thin and long barrel and you have a potential monster on your hands



I am inclined to agree with you that in equal barrels a Wby calibre is not as accurate with as many load combinations. However, I have not found them to be restricted to only heavy bullets for accuracy. Not long after the Made in US rifles came out I had a 270 Wby stainless that was very accurate and its most accurate loads were the factory loaded 100 grain (Hornady) and reloads with both the 100 grain Hornady and 100 grain Speer hollow point. Yet the same rifle was not very accurate with 110 grain Sierras



One of the most interesting Wbys is the 460. I have owned 2 of them and the accuracy was quite unbelievable and that also seems to be the case for other 460 owners. Yet the 460 (and 378) have the biggest freebore of the Wbys. With Hornadys they have a full 3/4" run to the rifling. Shooting with a bag of lead shot behind the gun my experience has been that the 460 was the most accurate of all big bores I have used, including the 416 Wby which does not have the big Wby freebore. I have owned plenty of 375s with match grade barrels of medium heavy weight (.72" at the muzzle) but none have eve equalled the accuracy I obtained with the Mark V 460s (both were bedded and free floated from the barrel lug forward)



It is also worth noting that gun makers like HS Precision who guarantee .5" for their rifles in 30 calibre and under do offer all the Wby chamberings.



Mike

I own two Weatherby rifles, both are tack drivers after tweaking loads and becoming familiar with them. One is a .257 Wby Accumark the other is a cheap Sporter model in .340 Wby. The Accumark will be heavier and stiffer than the other Weatherby rifles, and the stiffer the better as far as accuracy goes. My grandson of 15 kills upwards of 10 Deer yearly with the .257 and will shoot nothing else. The Accumark rifle will be as accurate as the shooter can shoot it. If you don't reload shooting is going to be expensive, but the more you shoot it the better you will get. My .340 is exceptionally accurate and is the cheapest line Weatherby has, it all depends on how much work the shooter wants to put into the rifle. The more time spent the better you both become, it will tell you what it can and cannot do, if you can live with it's best and your best, you will have a good shooting tool. Good luck and good shooting.

I always seated my bullets to the COL listed in the book. I really have very little left in magazine length to seat them any further out. I always thought the blunter bullets did better because they had less gap to jump to engage the rifling. Do Mark V�s have more room in the magazines?



I have a long 257 Roberts chamber in a short action (thanks Remington! ) that I used as a single shot for varmints. Same sort of problem, if I set the bullets out far enough to be accurate they would not fit in the magazine. I finally got a dedicated 22-250 instead. The Roberts is now set up as deer only (bigger target) so it can be a repeater again.



You may very well be right that on average they are much better, as I am using a sampling of one rifle, and it's their budget model. It's definately true you see a lot of .257 Wtby's out west that have been used extensively!

I own five Weatherby rifles. They are all the most consistently accurate rifles I own. The Accumark in 340 Weatherby shoots 225gr factory rounds into one jagged hole@ 100 yards. The other rifles are regular MKV Deluxes and they are all sub .5MOA shooters. The 1.5" guarantee is just a benchmark, held over from the early 50s when most folks used iron sights and scopes were not all that reliable. The 1.5" accuracy still remains sort of a standard today, except of course in aficionado shooting cirlces like this forum for example where 1.5" is considered below par. During my life, I've owned in excess of 15 Weatherbys and they have ALL exceeded the 1.5" by a considerable margin, but the Accumark is really superb. Certainly worth the money. jorge

I HAVE Since shot out the stock barrel on my .340Wby from too much 1000yd shooting just a little over 1000rounds this summer alone. the barrel itself is close to the 3000 round count. It is in the process of getting an new HEAVY installed and it will probably spend the rest of it's and my days as a bench rifle for loooonnngggg plinking. with 300gr MKs.

that said, I am now looking for another .340 to replace it.
Once I found THE LOAD, with 250gr GameKings it had religiously shot 1/2-3/4" groups forever, and it shot the 300gr MKs even tighter. the norm was 8-9" groups at 1000yds.

I decided to rebarrel it after the groups finally openned up to 1 1/2" - 2". Something still acceptable for a hunting rifle, just not mine.
All the people I know who have Weatherbys and have gotten past the "bite" have been extremely happy with the accuracy of the rounds and rifles.
It's strange, rifles built and sold for their "magnum" performance and speed really have been also major sleeper guns for out of the box accuracy that rivals a lot of the custom builds.

I'm getting another one.