Anyone using a Super Big Game Master or Ultra Lightweight??? I'm thinking I might buy one and wanted your thoughts. Are they worth the money?

Mark, I just got a 270 Win in the ultra-lightweight about 8 weeks ago. Unboxed it, started cleaning it, and worked the safety back and forth it was very stiff. Put a drop or two of Kroil on there, and kept cleaning the barrel, fiddled around for thiry minutes or so and went back to working the safety. It remained stiff for the next 4-5 cycles until it snapped in half--it is a cast part.

Weatherby was polite and apologitic, and gave me the name and contact info on their service center for this area. To my chagrin, 4 weeks after the service center received my gun, they call and say, 'we don't have any safety levers in stock, and neither does Weatherby, it will be about 8 to 10 weeks before we think we will see them'. Great, 10 weeks and not a round through my rig, and no notice of it coming my way yet....I'm not super-pissed yet, but I'm getting more so as each day goes by. I liked the rifle in terms of fit and finish otherwise, but I'm not real happy with my Weatherby--whoever made it for them--so far.

Good luck--Don

I like some of Weatherby's cartridges, but have never cared for his rifles, or scopes. I would take a magnum mauser over the Weatherby any day of the week.

Most manufacturers are using cast parts of one kind or another.

Buckshot...seeing you on accurate alot more now then over at castboolits.

Mark,
I have one of the "Ultra Lightweights" in 257 Weatherby Magnum. It uses the Mark V action (9 lugs) rather than the 6 lug Varmintmaster action they used to use. The rifle is a little heavy to be an "Ultra Lightweight" rifle in my opinion, coming in right at 7.5 lbs. The B&C stock by itself ran 33 ounces on my rifle. That stock doesn't work for me, the Weatherby stocks have never fit me well. I sent the rifle off to have a honest lightweight stock put on it. When I talked to Brown Precision, they said these new "Ultra Lightweight" rifles are indeed Mark V actions, but they are trimmed down substantially and a stock that fits the regular Mark V would not work for one of these "Ultra Lightweights".

The trigger isn't real good right out of the box either. Heavy and bit gritty, but that can be cured. I haven't shot mine enough to say if it is real accurate or not. With 2 factory loads, it did better than MOA off the bench at 100 yards. I shipped it off before doing any load work.

I have 3 Ultra Lights...none in Weatherby calibers. 338-06, 280 and 25-06. All are accurate..moa or better...and function flawlessly. 2 years ago I lugged the 280 all over the hills north of Casper, WY. Got a nice Mulie and a respectable 'lope. Mine are very "lightweight"...going a hair over 6 lbs with Zeiss 3x9's on them. The 338-06 is a touch heavier due to the larger barrel contour...but still very light. I like 'em. Give Hendershots a check...they carry them on a regular basis...and they are good folks.

Gary

So are we talking about Weatherby calibers or Weatherby rifles?

I just nailed a 30-06 Spr. Weatherby Vanguard, Leupold VXII, 3 - 9x 40mm scope. 85% maybe better, whatever the wear, it's cosmetic, not structural.

$367 out the door, "20% Off."


Forged receiver, in 30-06 there's no need for a complicated, high tech. bolt lug design. A birdseye hardrock maple furniture would be wonderful, but synthetic is good underwater, and when frozen stiff.

When I was a kid, back in the 50's and 60's. The Weatherby was as good as it got. But this was the Mark V, in 300 Weatherby Mag.

-- Still, there's that "cultural memory." Weatherby is still building fine rifles, no BS.

I have owned two mark Vs,one in 257wby and one in 300wby.Both were a disappointment as far as accuracy is concerned.My factory 700s were more accurate.

Picked up this Weatherby Vanguard in 30-06. Cleaned up it's more like 95%. And $350, because I picked up a couple other items at the pawn shop.

Std. production Winchester ammo and it groups tighter then a frog's butt. Nice fit/finish. Great trigger. Feels good when I raise it up and aim.

I love my mark V in 270 wby. I have had it about 5 years and taken a lot of critters both at home and in Africa. It will shoot 2 inch groups at 200 yards and between 3-5 inches at 300 yards. The trigger is crisp and breaks at about 3 lbs. For a deer/plains rifle it is hard to beat.

Never owned a Weatherby,
But being a true Quarterbore nut the thought of a .257 Weatherby has crossed my mind a lot latly. But I think I would go with the vanguard.
A better reputation for accuracy. But I would not turn my nose up at either the super big game master or the ultra light.
But for the price I thni I would rather use a good mauser action and have a custom built...tj3006

My next rifle will probably be either a Sako finnlite or Weatherby Ultra light in .270. Both feel great to me! The accumarks also feel great but I don't want to carry that much weight.
I'm still looking at a .270 Weatherby ultralight outfitter model which is used at $1500! I'm too cheap to spend that kind of money so I'll probably hold out for a while longer.

Where the Weatherbys are a lot of bang for your buck is in the big 378 case.

I just bought a 338-378 Accumark brand new for $2650AUS. Will fit a Jard 6-10oz trigger kit in it and toss a 3-15X50 NXS in Near bases and rings on it. Free float and bed it in Devcon.

I had one years ago when it was a wild cat and it grouped under an inch at 200 yards. The blast is nice on cold days

I've had three MK V's two older jap built guns the one in .257weath the other a .300Weath. The .257 was a nice rilfe that shot very well. the .300 was a stock cracking misfiring NIGHTMARE rifle. I had three mechanical AD's with that rifle.

The last MK V I had was an ultra light weight .300 Weath. It was OK in the accuracy department. The trigger was marginal but I fixed it. Everything else was OK but not great. I think for the money you can do better. But it is a decent rifle.

In that price range I really like the Kimber products and have had really good luck with them. If it were me I'd buy a M-8400 Montana in .300 Win.

Yesterday I got my rifle back from the Weatherby authorized service center. It had a big note in the box saying that this service center had closed, and my rifle had been returned (after 11 weeks) NOT REPAIRED. argggggh!

Sent it out today to another service center, hoping for better results. I guess I am glad that I got it back at all from the closed service center.........

One of these days--months--I'll get to take her out and shoot her--I hope!

I have two of the Ultralightweights, one in 30-06 and one in 338/06. I have not yet shot the 338-06 but the 30-06 is a tack driver with the Barnes 168gr XLC (handloaded). The 30-06 weighs less than 7 lbs. with a 3x9 leupold mounted, and thats with a 24" barrel. The 338-06 will weigh about a quarter pound more due to the slightly heavier bbl contour. It is one of the best handling rifles I own and I own a lot. That humpback stock looks awkward but it works well and their recoil pad is nice to have on these light guns too. I'm satisfied with the ones I own. BTW, you can get Talley custom lightweight 2 pc. QD rings and bases for these rifles which weigh next to nothing. These normally only are available to custom gunsmiths but Weatherby made a deal with Talley that if you own one of the Ultralightweights you could get them. They are very nice mounts too.

Freakish that's what that is.

Weatherby's Mark V's are IMO one of the tuffest no bullsh!t action/rifle on the market.
IS WEATHERBY IS TUFF .

But in this senario I dare say that safety has taken a heavy blow(Somewhere along the line).
But saying that a titan can stumble to one knee once is this lifetime .

quote:

Originally posted by 340Wby:
Freakish that's what that is.

Weatherby's Mark V's are IMO the tuffest no bullsh!t action/rifle on the market.
IS WEATHERBY IS TUFF .

But in this senario I dare say that safety has taken a heavy blow(Somewhere along the line).
But saying that a titan can stumble to one knee once is this lifetime .

Nice choice of calibre for your handle mate