Have a hankering to get a new Mark V Weatherby Deluxe with a woodstock. Any feedback on these rifles would be much appreciated. Accuracy, feeding etc.

Thanks,
AR

I has one in 270 Wby with a stunningly beautiful hunk of wood on it. I was surprised by the excellent accuracy but being young and dumb (at the time), I had to part with it to get me over the money hump for a Dall sheep hunt.

I've never heard of feeding issues with a Mark V.

A gunsmith buddy of mine does a ton of cartridge, load, velocity, pressure testing and used the MarkV actions.

Like all the other brands out there, some shoot better than others.

Zeke

No experience or interest in Weatherby rifles: however: In the great book "The Last of the Great Brown Bear Men" which tells the story of probably Alaska's greatest brown bear outfitters, Bill Pinnell and Morris Talifson, they have a very brief description of the rifles they used over their 40 yrs. of outfitting for brown bears. In that section, they make the comment that the brand of rifles their hunters brought, the ones that gave the most problems were Weatherbys. Don't know if that was feeding issues or not but found that interesting. They probably had more experience in what works and what doesn't in rough conditions than anyone of their era. You never find that kind of stuff in gun magazines.

Somebody can make any brand of rifle not function if they don’t know what their doing or don’t take care of it. Ask any guide living today.

I’ve had a Deluxe in .257 Wby for a number of years. Nice workmanship, wood is very nice and like every other Weatherby I’ve owned it’s accurate and reliable. But I maintain it just like I do all my other rifles and not just reading about them in a book.

I have a 20 year old mk V in 270 wby it has served me well taking many heads of game. It still shoots grapefruit sized groups at 300 yards after thousands of rounds.

I just bought a brand new Weatherby Vanguard MeatEater in their proprietary Weatherby camo, grey tungsten, with twisted/fluted barrel, threaded barrel with a removable muzzle cap for my new Banish 338 suppressor, three position safety, etc. etc. etc., in caliber 6.5 PRC, for $849.99. I also subsequently ordered a Weatherby muzzle brake for it for another $59. It's also a guaranteed Sub MOA Weatherby rifle. Great rifle and great price! It's only my second Weatherby rifle. My other is a Weatherby Custom Shop 257 Weatherby.

quote:

Originally posted by devere:
No experience or interest in Weatherby rifles: however: In the great book "The Last of the Great Brown Bear Men" which tells the story of probably Alaska's greatest brown bear outfitters, Bill Pinnell and Morris Talifson, they have a very brief description of the rifles they used over their 40 yrs. of outfitting for brown bears. In that section, they make the comment that the brand of rifles their hunters brought, the ones that gave the most problems were Weatherbys. Don't know if that was feeding issues or not but found that interesting. They probably had more experience in what works and what doesn't in rough conditions than anyone of their era. You never find that kind of stuff in gun magazines.

After 40 years of wanting a Weatherby rifle, in 2009 I finally bought my first one, a Vanguard chambered in .300 Wby. Being a gun nut and tinkerer, I re-stocked it in AA Fancy walnut that fits me and I pillar and glass bedded, floated the barrel, had a KDF muzzle brake installed, put recoil reducer in the stock, switched the trigger to a Timney, and I checkered it in my favorite 5 panel wrap around pattern. The result is a rifle that I am proud to carry, it's felt recoil is less than the recoil of my .308 Win, and it has shot 3-shot groups with 4 different brands and weights of bullets.

I've successfully used that rifle on multiple hunts in Montana, Texas, and four international hunts. It quickly became my favorite rifle.

Because of the good experience that I've had with my .300 Wby Vanguard, I bought two more Vanguard rifles, one in .223 and the other in .308 Win. Both of these rifles will also shoot 3-shot sub moa groups. I have shot somewhere between 1000 to 2000 shots with these three rifles...all without a single problem.

quote:

Originally posted by Cougarz:
Somebody can make any brand of rifle not function if they don’t know what their doing or don’t take care of it. Ask any guide living today.

I’ve had a Deluxe in .257 Wby for a number of years. Nice workmanship, wood is very nice and like every other Weatherby I’ve owned it’s accurate and reliable. But I maintain it just like I do all my other rifles and not just reading about them in a book.

Some guides also don't maintain their rifles. On one of my African hunts we started by checking the zero of our rifles. One of the hunters opted to use the Outfitter's .375 H&H camp gun. When he shot it I picked up one of the cases, I looked at it then picked up a second case and told the PH that his gun had a rust build up in it's chamber. He looked at me like I was crazy and asked why I thought that. So I showed him the two fired cases that had identical indents on their side. He then took out the bolt and with a flashlight, we could see the rust build up in the chamber.

quote:

Originally posted by buffybr:

quote:

Originally posted by devere:

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Cougarz:
Somebody can make any brand of rifle not function if they don’t know what their doing or don’t take care of it. Ask any guide living today.

I’ve had a Deluxe in .257 Wby for a number of years. Nice workmanship, wood is very nice and like every other Weatherby I’ve owned it’s accurate and reliable. But I maintain it just like I do all my other rifles and not just reading about them in a book.

Some guides also don't maintain their rifles. On one of my African hunts we started by checking the zero of our rifles. One of the hunters opted to use the Outfitter's .375 H&H camp gun. When he shot it I picked up one of the cases, I looked at it then picked up a second case and told the PH that his gun had a rust build up in it's chamber. He looked at me like I was crazy and asked why I thought that. So I showed him the two fired cases that had identical indents on their side. He then took out the bolt and with a flashlight, we could see the rust build up in the chamber.

Yes I’ve seen that myself.

In my quoted post above I was speaking about some of guides clients.

Get the Weatherby if you’re hankering for one.

I have a gaggle from 224 - 416 and all are incredibly accurate with both factory ammo and handloads.

The Weatherby Vanguard is actually a rebranded Japanese made Howa rifle. Nothing wrong with them although a bit on the heavy side but they are not a Weatherby Mark V.

The Vanguard usually needs some work on the factory trigger to get a good one and shoots better if the barrel is free floated as do most of the cheaper plastic stocked rifles.
The Vanguard stock is quite solid, hence the weight, and they are an all metal very reliable rifle.

I sold a number of Weatherby Vanguard series 11 rifles as a dealer and found the trigger much improved over series 1. I am hard to please when it comes to triggers.
The OP is talking MkV anyway. They are a premium priced rifle of proven design and continue to sell well. That wouldn’t be the case if they were a POS.

quote:

Originally posted by Cougarz:

quote:

Originally posted by buffybr:

quote:

Originally posted by devere:

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Cougarz:
Somebody can make any brand of rifle not function if they don’t know what their doing or don’t take care of it. Ask any guide living today.

I’ve had a Deluxe in .257 Wby for a number of years. Nice workmanship, wood is very nice and like every other Weatherby I’ve owned it’s accurate and reliable. But I maintain it just like I do all my other rifles and not just reading about them in a book.

Some guides also don't maintain their rifles. On one of my African hunts we started by checking the zero of our rifles. One of the hunters opted to use the Outfitter's .375 H&H camp gun. When he shot it I picked up one of the cases, I looked at it then picked up a second case and told the PH that his gun had a rust build up in it's chamber. He looked at me like I was crazy and asked why I thought that. So I showed him the two fired cases that had identical indents on their side. He then took out the bolt and with a flashlight, we could see the rust build up in the chamber.

Yes I’ve seen that myself.

In my quoted post above I was speaking about some of guides clients.

Yes, I knew you were. I just wanted to include that some guides also don't take care of their rifles.

To your point, a few years ago I was hunting in Newfoundland. One day my guide and I met another hunter and his guide. We talked to them a while and when they left my guide asked me why I had been staring at the other hunter's rifle. I told him that I couldn't believe all of the rust that was in the muzzle of his rifle.

I have a number of Weatherby rifles in various calibers from 257 Wby to 378 Wby. I sold the 240 and the 460 years ago. I have hunted with them in Alaska for brown bear, British Columbia for black bear, several trips to Africa for various game and out west with no problems ever with a Weatherby. I wouldn't hesitate to take one on another hunt away from home.

Since this discussion is headlined as New Weatherby Rifles, here is my new Weatherby Vanguard MeatEater as discussed above, in 6.5 PRC, topped with a Swarovski Z-5, 3.5X18 44mm BT, Plex scope, with an Outdoorsman's custom ballistic turret and a removable muzzle brake. I also have a Silencer Central Banish 338 for it that is moving through the BATF.

I bought a Vanguard2 in .257Wby from a gentleman this year who replaced it with a MarkV in the same caliber. The rifle has been more than agreeable to shooting both CEB ESP Raptors and Barnes TTSX so far into sub-MOA 5 shot groups. Very mild recoil.

That being said, I've spent a little time behind said gentleman's MarkV's in both 30-378 and 257 doing load development for his RSA plains game hunt last fall. Both rifles shot similarly well and seemed very quality pieces. His have composite stocks, not sure if there is a large felt-recoil difference in the two, though both of his were also braked (LOUD!). Arjun, you can pick Bob's brain about both rifles at dinner tomorrow night in NY.

All,
No intention to hijack this as I have never owned a Weatherby. As an aside, Roy Weatherby's biography is a fascinating book about an entrepenuar that truly created an industry. If you can get the book, read it.

I would be interested in the new Weatherby's made in Wyoming - as to accuracy and such if someone has a lot of first hand experience.

I just took delivery of my new Left Hand Deluxe 6.5-300 that I ordered back in April, and I gotta say, Weatherby has certainly upped their game. I have about a dozen or so L/H Deluxe guns from Germany and Japan including some Varmintmasters, but the Sheridan Mark V is definitely nicer than any of them. The bluing is impressive to say the least and the finish work on the wood is fantastic....and I love the wide smooth face trigger. Wood to metal fit is excellent as well. The only thing I might change is the plastic magazine follower. Not a big deal on a plastic stocked gun, but on a Deluxe, I would prefer steel.

I'm still waiting on a 338-378 that I ordered in November of 2021. Still no word on when it will ship.

Tony

PS: I haven't shot the 6.5-300 yet, but have a Swarovski 4-16x50 mounted up and ready to go.

quote:

Originally posted by devere:
No experience or interest in Weatherby rifles: however: In the great book "The Last of the Great Brown Bear Men" which tells the story of probably Alaska's greatest brown bear outfitters, Bill Pinnell and Morris Talifson, they have a very brief description of the rifles they used over their 40 yrs. of outfitting for brown bears. In that section, they make the comment that the brand of rifles their hunters brought, the ones that gave the most problems were Weatherbys. Don't know if that was feeding issues or not but found that interesting. They probably had more experience in what works and what doesn't in rough conditions than anyone of their era. You never find that kind of stuff in gun magazines.

Though books can be wrong and the internet can be full of rubbish and astroturfers, at least there is a chance of truth getting through there. Magazines, on the other hand, have advertisers to placate and are wary of publishing anything that might upset them. I learned this personally when a review I wrote on a new Sako in 1987 had five paragraphs removed where I complained about the moving of a gas port, considering the slim bolt shroud. I don't expect any magazine will ever review my book on scopes, either, since it micturites in their consomme.

In regard to the Weatherby, I seem to recall that PHs in Africa had noticed some feeding-or-extraction problems with the Mark V, too.

Thank you all for your input. I have decided against buying one because after adding a scope one would be looking at a 9 lb+ rifle. A bit heavy IMO for a deer rifle!

They are on the heavy side. A lot of the Weatherby rifle bad press is from hunters who never shoot, buy a 300 Weatherby then are terrified of the recoil and miss everything they aim at. I bought a used Mark V in 270 Weatherby cause I gave my BDL in 270 Win to my son. Very robust, very accurate but definitely too heavy for the caliber. I have a 7.5 lb (unloaded with scope) Rem XCR II in 375 Weatherby. It kicks a bit but is lovely to hunt with.

quote:

Originally posted by chuck375:
They are on the heavy side. A lot of the Weatherby rifle bad press is from hunters who never shoot, buy a 300 Weatherby then are terrified of the recoil and miss everything they aim at. I bought a used Mark V in 270 Weatherby cause I gave my BDL in 270 Win to my son. Very robust, very accurate but definitely too heavy for the caliber. I have a 7.5 lb (unloaded with scope) Rem XCR II in 375 Weatherby. It kicks a bit but is lovely to hunt with.

But Weatherby also makes very lightweight models too.

That's true, I always wanted a Mark V walnut/rosewood in 270 Weatherby and at $800 couldn't pass it up. It's wearing a Zeiss Conquest 4-16x scope now cost about as much as the rifle lol

I bought a deluxe in .257 last year. Always wanted one so I made it my retirement present to me. Wood is stunning. Tiger striping the full length on both sides. It isn’t my primary hunting rifle so it will only be used on sunny days. I have stainless rifles for the many rainy days we get here on the west coast.

My .257 goes out in all weather, sun, rain and snow. Doesn’t hurt it a bit.

Somehow after hundreds of years blued steel and wood can’t survive now that stainless and composite rifles here.

Here's a pic of two new Sheridan Wyoming Weatherbys.

Top is 6.5x300 and bottom is 338-378.

I shot some groups with the 6.5-300. All shots were off the bench at 100 yards. 3 shot groups measured center to center. Swarovski 4-16 Habicht installed. Sinclair rest, front and back.

Weatherby Factory 140gr Hornady, Group 1 - 2.5"
140gr Accubond 1.1"
143gr ELD-X 7/16"
130gr Berger Hunter 1-3/8"
140gr Partition 15/16"
Weatherby Factory 130gr Scirroco 1.1"
Weatherby Factory 140gr Hornady, Group 2 - 3.1"
120gr TTSX 3/4"

Tony




This was the best group of the day.

quote:

Originally posted by dogcat:
All,
No intention to hijack this as I have never owned a Weatherby. As an aside, Roy Weatherby's biography is a fascinating book about an entrepenuar that truly created an industry. If you can get the book, read it.

I would be interested in the new Weatherby's made in Wyoming - as to accuracy and such if someone has a lot of first hand experience.

I agree the book is fascinating. Have always been a Roy Weatherby fan.

I have a Wyoming 30-378 Accumark. I like it a lot. Never had any other version so can’t compare. It is very accurate and has a good trigger. Stock fits me well.

I had a MkV Deluxe on order for 18 months before I gave up and bought a Hunter Bronze in .270Wby. I’ve only had it out once, but it shoots great.

The only Weatherby rifle I have had experience with was a MKV in 460WM.

Shot and killed hogs just fine.

quote:

Originally posted by TonyRumore:
Here's a pic of two new Sheridan Wyoming Weatherbys.

Top is 6.5x300 and bottom is 338-378.

I shot some groups with the 6.5-300. All shots were off the bench at 100 yards. 3 shot groups measured center to center. Swarovski 4-16 Habicht installed. Sinclair rest, front and back.

Weatherby Factory 140gr Hornady, Group 1 - 2.5"
140gr Accubond 1.1"
143gr ELD-X 7/16"
130gr Berger Hunter 1-3/8"
140gr Partition 15/16"
Weatherby Factory 130gr Scirroco 1.1"
Weatherby Factory 140gr Hornady, Group 2 - 3.1"
120gr TTSX 3/4"

Tony




This was the best group of the day.

They are so bright I have to wear shades