I have a Mark V Deluxe on Gunbroker that I took in trade a while back that I've been trying to sell for a while. It's almost like new (98-99%) and I have it listed cheap and still no interest.

How the hell does Weatherby sell these things for $2K when I can't sell this one for way less than half that?

It's easier to give away herpes than sell a Mk V Deluxe.

Rant over.

the styling is rather extreme, to say the least.

the ammunition is very expensive, and can be difficult to come by.

JMHO...

Thanks and you are 100% correct. Maybe I'll just keep the thing and hunt with it. It's damn pretty so I'll be hunting in style, for sure. Ammo is no problem since I handload so I'll just order some dies from Midway.

What gets me is who's buying these things new for $2K+ when I can't get rid of one at a bargain basement price?

There is a mind set for some types of consumers.
Those that think they are buying the most elite high performance sporting item would never consider buying a used rifle. It has to be new.

Just like many men that would buy a 2 seat sports car would never buy one used. You have to buy it new to be exclusive with the latest in high horse power and other refinements.

That is why old Corvettes can be such a good buy for those that can be happy with 150 mph instead of 155. Old guys will buy Corvettes but they usually buy older rifles - meaning classic Mausers, Mannlichers and Model 70s.

Also I'guess some might fear throat erosion. But like dedicated left hand rifles there does seem to be a big loss to take from new to used.

But aren't cars, as others have said, just the same.If it works for you keep it. I'd personally never want a Weatherby. Don't like the style and have no need for the extra performance their cartridges give.

A "plain Jane" 270 WCF answers my needs fine.

The market for used lefthand rifles is bigger than the supply because many old hunters used rh rifles, young hunters always buy lh.

The same reason high end custom rifles hardly ever bring the dollars put into them.

Those who can afford a 800 dollar rifle are not looking for something like a WBY.

Plus the cost of ammo if you don't reload 10 boxes and one has the price of the rifle or more.

Not to mention that Mark V's are dodgy at best when it comes to accuracy.

I always thought that Weatherby's were for the newbies who get told what rifle to buy by a salesman in a high end gun store or the newby who remembers that his granddad has a Weatherby back in the 70s and shot a deer through the eye, every year at 800 yards.

I bought a used LH German Wby 270 mag. in perfect condition - altho' 1961 manufacture date. ...on a silly whim, since I didn't need it, and I had no room for it. But, I enjoy it. It really is accurate and comfortable to shoot. The trigger sucks, but that's MY problem to fix. I took a deer with it last year.....but the range was 50 yards....and the thoracic cavity was reduced to mush. So, the cartridge is "overkill".
Still, I prefer my Mannlicher carbines, tho' they are right-handed. They are just easier to carry and shoulder. Possibly my preferences are a factor of age (mine). I am 73, and with short arm length.

I think Roy Weatherby was very good at selling hype. He invented some very fine cartridges to be sure. But much of what he created and sold was hype. As another said, Mk V's aren't very consistent in the accuracy department, and no one wants to spend a bunch of money on a pig-in-a-poke. Personally, I think they are pretty overpriced to begin with. $3400 for the Dangerous Game Rifle? $6700 for the Safari Custom? $2200 for a Deluxe? Ouch.

LWD

No doubt at 2000.00 min. they are a stretch. However for 800 or so I consider this rifle a steal provided it is as described. In fact
I have this rifle in the Japanese 26" version and it is a flat out elk killing machine and shoots little bitty holes with the 168 gr TTSX. Mine has been tweaked and is in a Micky stock with all the bells and whistles done to it. Even at that one can pay the 800 or so spend a little and have a killing machine.

A good point was made about round count. Unless you know/trust the seller you could really get burned. I can't speak for all Mark V's but mine(.300 WBY) is wonderfully accurate, as are the majority of the ones people I know shoot. Hand loading,of course, is the ideal way to get the most consistent accuracy from them, as it is for most rifles. When on the bench I just hold mine as I would hunting with my forend holding hand lying on a rolled up blanket and it's consistently sub-moa and often sub half moa or better. It's accuracy limitations are mostly of my doing. The trigger won't adjust much below 3.5 lbs as it's "lawyered up." I did my own trigger job and it will go down to around half a pound with the adjustment screw still in enough for it to not fall out from recoil.No creep, breaks like glass and cost me nothing. Are they expensive? No doubt about it.Are they worth it? You betcha! As with all things some people wouldn't be caught dead with one.Many folks don't want to spend more for a used rifle then what they could spend on a new one. At least Weatherby doesn't have a huge quality control problem and they do stand behind their product with outstanding customer service. No matter what your preference in guns guys, best of luck shooting what you have and God Bless!

Too much glitz, shine, gleam and glamour for this ol' Ozark hill farm kid. That and there ain't a deer, elk or moose walkin' the planet that can't be killed dead with a 200-250 gr. or so bullet at 2200-2500 fps so Roy's whiz-bangs don't impress me much. I would prefer the well used and cared for old pre-war Mauser with a good bore and some character and patina to the shiny canoe paddle.....but I admit to being an old throwback and sorta set in my ways. Still, it is a mystery to me why a 2K rifle for half that hasn't sold and especially one with the Weatherby reputation.

I have two Weatherby Mark V's for sale on the AR Classified-Firearms that I thought were price fairly and no inquiries. I thought a 378 & 416 Wby would be snapped up on this site. They are almost like new with HS Precision stocks.

As far as selling, some of it is as mentioned and some of it is just timing. It isn't quite hunting season yet so buying isn't in full swing.

And there almost has to be some cooling in sales. Guys are bought out. Here the gun stores have had 4 or more monster sales years. You have gun shows. You have GunBroker There has been buying, buying and more buying.

My early days I had modest rifles. I saw those Weatherby's in the magazines and on TV and I wanted them. When I got out of college and working I soon got a Weatherby 300 Mag and I used it on hunts all over in the US, in Alaska, in Africa and others. I bought several others too, and as guys said here, they were all new.

I wasn't even close to being set up with the quality reloading gear that I have now, so I was using Weatherby ammunition. If I had been I might still have them.

Over time, and having other Winchesters like the old shotguns and lever guns, I started using more Winchesters and they are much easier to get local area work on should you have a problem or want something more customized.

Weatherby is a great company if you need them . They support their products and the hunters and hunting too. I never had any complaints, save a couple of grouchy guides, with my Weatherby's. When I ordered a custom one, we called and talked to the guys in the shop. When Weatherby had a recall on some Vanguard bolts, they sent me shipping packets and I got in the FedEx and back in a week. Nice. My Marks Vs never had any trouble and downed animals with authority. And in spite of some pretty big recoil, those stocks soak it up and keep it off your face. Mostly anyway. My 378 was a mule - no question about that. I remember it well. I think it is about that time I decided to go back to standard cartridges.

I can't say it is true, but I heard several times that Carters right here in Houston is the largest, or was the largest Weatherby Mark V seller in the US. So location is a part of it. When I sold my Weatherbys, I had guys that I knew that wanted them. I still see some of them, still scoped and hunting just as they were 10 or 20 or more years ago.

I have some buddies who are incredible shooters and have some eye popping rifles and other guns. Fully rigged up with the best scopes and with suppressors and other goodies. But they don't hunt and they don't own many sporting type guns. Maybe a couple of hunting shotguns. So they are buyers, but not for mine or for your type rifles.

But costs have changed things, and has just general styles, as well as all the above. Somewhere there is probably a guy trying to sell some other guns to buy yours.

And for hard to sell, try selling a Sako in 338 Win Mag. There are Sako dealers who havent sold one in 338 in years. As he said, the move is mostly to the lighter cartridges now. But it can change tomorrow.

Weatherbys sell great in Dec to March. Tax refunds and all the missed opportunities that a little more gun would have fixed in the eyes of the new customers. The other problem is there are now 3 bajillion Mark Vs from Germany to Japan to now again the US especially in 300. The market is flush with em. Used Ultra lightweights and Accumarks still get good dollars and sell rather quickly another sign that the new hunter wants durable, lightweight, weather stable, super featured techno enhanced catch phrase of the day stocks. Most current modern rifles wood or synthetic will outshoot their operators.

I have exactly One Mark V Deluxe in .300 Weatherby Mag. that I bought in a pawn shop in Fort worth at a hell of a bargain.

The owner of the shop had been trying to sell it to me for almost 3 years. I would not even look at the thing because it was a Weatherby, and I am hard on guns.

I stopped by the shop one day and the owner started his spiel about the Weatherby, so I finally looked at the thing. It is a Mark V Deluxe in .300 Weatherby, and at the time, was topped with a 2.5 x 7 Weatherby premier scope.

It is a great looking and feeling gun, but I knew I could not afford it. I asked the guy what he would take for it, and he said $500.00.

I told him I would be back in a few minutes and went and borrowed the money and have not regretted my decision. The Weatherby scope began having problems so now it wears a 3 x 9 Leupold scope. I consider it one of the best purchases I ever made.

The glossy Weatherby is old news. What's in now are AR's.

As for myself I prefer the traditional bolt rifles with checkered walnut stocks.

I never did like the Weatherby stocks with the inlays, angle forends and their cartridges either.

It's an old market that's filled for now.

Weatherby seems alive however selling imports from Asia.

I've decided to just keep it and hunt with it. It has the 24' bbl which I like and I only have about $800 or so in it. I'll just need to round up some dies and brass.

I have one Weatherby, a MKV but with the dull finished stock and bead blasted metal in .257WM. I won it in a sales contest and it is a real shooter. Hate the stock tho.

The only Wby I've considered is a .338-378 and I don't even know the model. My neighbor had a .30-378 with a glass stock and fluted ss barrel. It shot very well, but I don't need another .308" gun.
I would find some fun in the bigger brother with 300gr Matchkings.

Weatherby rifles sell. I don't think I would be far off saying that most likely 65% of Wby. sales are in the caliber of 300 Wby. Then you have some sales of 7 Wby,270 Wby. and 257 Wby. It would be a toss up to see which of those sell more than the others. The Vanguard series have more typical calibers to offer and often they are priced very well and will move off the shelf if you have salespeople instead of order takers.
As to the 340 and up stuff I could count on one hand how many of those I ever sold in all the years I have been in the gun business. I never stocked anything above 300 Wby. I had a good consignment business but still sold very few Wby. above the 300 Wby.
I sold a zillion 416 Rem. Mags., a few 416 Rigby and only one .416 Wby. Sold a fair number of side by side double rifles.
Still not all stores today carry Wby. ammo or if they do it is not a broad range of caliber.

quote:

Originally posted by SquirrelNut:
I have a Mark V Deluxe on Gunbroker that I took in trade a while back that I've been trying to sell for a while. It's almost like new (98-99%) and I have it listed cheap and still no interest.

How the hell does Weatherby sell these things for $2K when I can't sell this one for way less than half that?

It's easier to give away herpes than sell a Mk V Deluxe.

Rant over.

I have two of the Weatherby Deluxe models and am very happy with them. Both have quite a bit bigger bore than .308. They weren't at all hard to sell to me when the price was right.

Well, just found out I have to replace a cylinder head on my 16 yr old's Isuzu Rodeo so it'll be going back up for sale.

If anyone is interested PM me and I'll send you pics. It's yours for $850 shipped otherwise I'll throw it back on Gunbroker.

Let me recommend that you mention which caliber the rifle is chambered. Mk V's seem to be chambered in a lot of different cartridges.

quote:

Originally posted by SlamFire:
Let me recommend that you mention which caliber the rifle is chambered. Mk V's seem to be chambered in a lot of different cartridges.

THat would help, wouldn't it?

It's a .300 Weatherby with a 24" bbl.

I have a 270 Weatherby Mark V with a 26" barrel I bought for $800 used with some good scratches on the stock. It shoots sub .5 MOA with 150g Noslers Partitions at 3300 fps (handloads). Yet even though I've always wanted one, I like the Rem 700 BDL in 270 I gave my youngest son better after having used that 270 for almost 40 years. So I'm hunting elk this year like last with my 500 Jeffery. They don't run and they don't get up ...

I have a .240Weatherby with a 26" barrel made on their Big action(9lug). I like it because it so different from everything else I have. I later realized after I bought it it was also a very rare gun too.

I find this thread most interesting. I live in Australia, Weatherby rifles are not very popular here, but their cartridges get talked about a lot. I have not and will not ever own a Weatherby rifle, but I have a 270 Wby, 340 Wby and a 375 Wby, all on Model 70's. I had a 300 Wby barrel on my switch barrel, but I didn't keep it long, it was finicky with powder and bullets, unlike my 300 Win, so I off laoded it with less than 200 rounds through it.
It appears that the same rings true here, only people after high end rifles purchase them, and the resale value just isn't there either.
I have rifles worth more and less than a MK V, I just don't like them, that's why I would never buy one, even if second hand AND the price was right.
I do believe there are far better designed rifles out there for better cost than a Weatherby.

Cheers.

Used Weatherby rifles tend to bring what they are worth in comparison with other used rifles.

In my opinion what makes a used Wby most difficult to sell is the price and availability of ammunition. I have sold a couple used MK Vs and everyone I've sold to a handloader. Just an observation.

If it were up here it would have sold quickly at that price. The 24" barrel probably isn't helping though. Sure, I've read 100 times how the 2" isn't going to make any difference but my chronograph still picks the 26 as the winner.

People either love or hate Weatherbys, and those that hate them were never the target audience in the first place. I'm not the hugest fan there ever was but still ended up with a few Mark Vs. Even though I prefer the look of a modern classic stock nothing feels like a Weatherby.

Give it some time, it'll sell.

Many years ago, when I was working at a major Houston gun shop part time, to feed the habit, we had a saying: "There are three kinds of people that buy Weatherbys.... Doctors, Lawyers, and Assholes! Back then, there were only a few lefthanded rifles available and a buddy of mine got a good deal on a used Mark 5 in 300WTBY. It fell to me to develop a handload for it and I quickly found it loved 180 gr. Hornady S.P. and H4831. It made just over 3000 fps and would put 3 shots into 3/4".
Townsend Whelen said that only accurate rifles are interesting and that is true, and that is how I came to appreciate Weatherby's. A few years later, a friend brought me a Mark 5 in .257 WTBY that had gone from shooting well with factory ammo, to shooting pie plate sized groups. I glassbedded the stock and that rifle shot 1/2" groups with the factory 117 gr. RN. I struggled to give that rifle back! I love classic style rifles but I can appreciate that the Weatherbys are more than just "Flash", they do shoot! When my buddies 35 year old .300 stock developed a crack behind the recoil lug, I repaired it, glassbedded it and put in two crossbolts. I stripped off the worn Ploy finish and redid it in a matte Poly, put a Decellerator pad on it and matte blued it. A new matte Leupold 2.5x8 scope and I have to say, It is a very handsome rifle! Weatherby's are not for everyone, but they are good rifles!

+1

I do remember when I lived in Arkansas, the many deer hunters out of Little Rock and Hot Springs who Had To Have a Weatherby in 300 Wby Mag; and how in the spring a lot of them ended up, slightly used, for sale on consignment (pre-Internet). Personally I like my MkV Sporter in 340 Wby as it shoots accurately enough for me with handloads and brings more power than the Vanguard in 30-06. Well, accurately with 225gr Hornady's, as I suck when it comes to the 250 grainers.

I'm not a doctor or a lawyer, so I must be an A-hole.

Chasing downmarket dollars with the Vanguards have destroyed their raison d'être.

Several fan favorite chamberings are available in brand new rifles with a $500 street cost.

I have disparaged Weatherby rifles all of my shooting life. I don't like the flashy looks, I don't like the hyped up action design (nine locking lugs!), and I don't like the whole Roy Weatheby mystique, with the idea of burning a lot more powder for a small gain in performance.

I have talked to African Professional Hunters who share my opinion and have a long list of horror stories to back their opinions up.

That said, since I started having problems with my right eye, I have been forced into the world of left handed rifles. So far I have tried out a LH Winchester Model 70 and a Ruger 77 Mark II. The other day I happened across a LH Weatherby Mark V in .300 Weatherby and the price was surprizingly modest, so now I am waiting for it to arrive. If I find that I like it, it will be in line for a new stock, however.

I would never disparage Weatherby rifles because the two I shoot extensively are real shooters. I have a .340 Sporter Model that I have taken a huge Alaskan Yukon Moose with as well as several Elk and Deer. With 225 grain North Forks or 250 grain Barnes XLC's it is awesomely accurate. I also shoot a .257 Wby Accumark that puts 120 grain Nosler Partitions in one ragged hole when I do my part. I also shoot several Model 70 Winchesters and a Sako but accuracy wise the Weatherbys take a back seat to none of them. My grandsons and son also help me shoot them and consider them fine hunting rifles in any field. Good shooting.

Not crazy about the exaggerated PG or the beavertail forend, but also not "put off" by the looks. The comb makes for much less cheek slap when compared to a prewar M-70.

Problem for me was that I was able to get two .300 Roys from Remington back in the late '80s for the price of one WBY Mk5. Those 700s both put 5 into 3/4 to 1" at 100 every time. Maybe I'm lucky with load development. They have been very lucky rifles for my son and I.

As to the Mk5, number of lugs is just not something I'd worry about. The kid's first CF rifle, .243 WCF Ultralight, is a tackdriver and has the rare quality of placing different weight projos into the same group.....even with 6 lugs and all.

Sam