Hello Fellow AR Colleagues,

I just found a used Weatherby Mark V DGR in .458 Lott in quite beat-up condition for sale at an area gun shop. I can pick it up for $1,000 and I'm not sure if it's worth it. I need another .458 Lott like, well, I need another .458 Lott, as it were, since I already have a beautiful one in a Ruger RSM.

Here's the thing: that damn rifle is calling to me! I swear I instantly knew what caliber it was just seeing it propped up on the shelf... Call me crazy, but I just knew...

What do you all think of this rifle? It doesn't have the drop-belly floor plate, which makes me think it may be pre-DGR, but otherwise it looks exactly like every other DGR I have seen. The stock has some fairly scratches (it's the syn. kevlar one) and someone home-gunsmithed the sights with what looks like jig paint, but otherwise the rifle looks sound, just quite dusty and grungy. Anyone here ever shoot any Mark V's in the big calibers? I have a few in smaller bores that I love- but I'm not familiar at all with these DGR's.

Thanks,

John

John

In the eyes of many (me included) the Weatherby Mark V is not a true DGR.

I had one in .460Wea that I fired some 3000 full throttle rounds in it. (500gr/2600fps).

It never had one slightest problem whatsoever.

Despite of that flawless performance, I still wouldn't use one as A PRIMARY DGR, but I would have no problem using one again.

To me any rifle is a tool, not piece of pretty shit for a show.

It is the performance what counts the most.

Pyzda

Pyzda,

Well said! I am going to pass on this one, as I already do have a TRUE DGR and this one wouldn't serve any purpose above and beyond what my Ruger RSM will do. Now if I can talk them down to $500....

-John

Ah yes, passing on a Weatheby is one of the signs of a knowledgeable Big Bore afficionado. If they only would weld the sights on the Weatherby sideways, then they would achieve the "street Cred" they deserve! Yo Dude, where them Elephant at? I'm gonna pop a cap in that Ele's ass!
I be Pimpin and stylin now!

I was waiting for Rob to chime in.

I have a Weatherby Accumark in 340 Weatherby and I like the gun. However, we had to put several shims in the rear scope mount to get it to get the scope mounted correctly. In the process of figuring that out, I think the scope got screwed up. Now, when you turn up the power, the POI walks up and to the right. I am going to have to pull the scope and send it back in to get it checked. I really like the caliber though and brass is easy to find.

I think I would opt for a CZ in .458 Lott and send it to Wayne at American Hunting Rifle for a #2.

I have a 460 Weatherby DGR with 2800 rounds run thought the barrel with NO muzzle break... It worked fine on my cape buffalo. One shot and he was history.I'm a firm believer that you pay for what you get.

I be gettin my FOR-SIXTY gold plated to match Mah teeth. Wha is dat ELE? I be smokin his ass! You can't bet no Weatherby with no other Rifool-Rob

I'm definitely not qualified to give a valid opinion of the Weatherby as a DGR, but I had the chance to put a handful of rounds through one today. It's the third time that I have shot a .458Lott, and I was amazed at how comfortable that butt-ugly rifle was to fire. I find the Weatherby-style Monte Carlos to work well at reducing felt recoil, and this was the most pronounced example yet. Even without the muzzle brake, that gun was a pussycat compared to the RSM and the CZ that I tried in the past.

Now I gotta get some gold caps on my teeth so I will be qualified to own a Weatherby Mark V DGR.
I might even shoot it.
I am a riflecrank.

Not sure I follow all your posts about the Mark V DGR being "gangsta" but here's a .40 Cal "DGP" (dangerous game pistol) I can relate to!



"Don't get caught half-stepin' wit yo weapon on safety, foooool!"

-John

Nothing wrong with a Mark V action...one of the first modern actions able to house the large mega-calibers we like today. And a 458 Lott will do anything an African hunter would need done.

I can't comment on the value because I don't know what the market is like over there but there's nothing wrong with the design of the action & in fact, it's stronger than most.

I bought one in .416 something like 20 years ago & had it rebuilt to a .500 Jeffery about 10 years ago. I've hunted no end of DG with it & it's taken no end of abuse over that time period & have never had a single problem of any nature with it.

Without meaning to insult anyone I have to say that to suggest a rifle can't be considered a DGR because it's built on the the Mark V action is utterly ridiculous.

Weatherby Mark V has many strong points that are not fully appreciated.

Based on my personal experience the action/bolt manipulation is about as smooth as an action can be.

No bolt wobble in any position, a single stack magazine will feed like no other.

The lock-up is short fast and positive. The action WILL NOT STRETCH with high power loads.

It has far more steel in the ring (thicker walls) than a two lug action.

Bolt and the receiver are from 4340 one piece forgings. Receiver hardness low 40 HRC, bolt hardness low 50 HRC.

Bolt material ultimate tensile strength based on the HRC hardness is in 220 000 PSI. range,

The bolt lugs have about .365 Sq. inch area.

When the bolt is open the bolt knob/handle is virtually in a horizontal position, far away from a scope if one has to have one.


Now the weak points,with the .416 Rigby head the weakest point by far is the extractor.

I never had any problem with it, BUT just by looking at it was probably more good luck rather than anyting else.

Plunger ejection, good if kept clean, dry silicon lubricated and most importantly avoid primer piercing or else.

The most prevalent critisism of the Mark V is that the nine locking lugs are not bearing equally.

If that is so, it is because the hardening is done after the machining.

However, all of the nine lugs can be made to bear evenly and the best possible way is to use a precision grinding machine for both, the receiver and the bolt as well.

An extra great care has to be taken with the cooling while grinding the inner receiver lug recesses.

The usual lapping method to fix the problem is the wrong way to do.

Because of the weak extractor I would not use Mark V as a primary DGR for life or death situation.

Pyzda

Pyzda

I've never had an extractor problem or any other problem for that matter with mine in the 20 or so years I've had it & have hunted an awful lot of DG with it & although more or less retired now I have every confidence in it as a very good dangerous game rifle.

I'd be interested to know how many, if any Mk Vs have failed in a DG hunting situation & wonder if you know of any?

On the serious side, as I've said before my personal experience with Weatherby has been TERRIBLE. I've owned 7 and still have two a For-SIXTY and a TWO SEVENTY FIVE. The other 5 had issues, like a barrel with half the rifling missing, a .30-378 with a funnel shaped muzzel, a 340 that grouped 6 inches at 50 yrds off the bench, a 300 with feeding problems and 378 with muzzel break threads off center. Sorry but thats 5/7 problems from one manufacturer To be fair the last Weatherby I bought was 7-8 years ago and maybe they have corrected their QC issues by now, but I won't ever buy another one. I've also noted that a great many who show up at the range with weatherby's are POSERS, can't shoot worth a damn and seem more interested in informing me of the cost and value of their Weatherby's rather than any ability to shoot it. Sorry guys that image is just not for me. If you like your Weatherby great, I think they suck. BTW the wanna be "gansta"s here in LV just love Weatherby's and Gold plated Desert Eagles. Its the flash that attracts em. FLAME SUIT ON, although honestly I'm just having a bit of fun with this. I actually don't care! -Rob

I've got to say the only reason I bought mine originally was because it was the only left handed DG rifle I could buy in the UK at that time but now I have it, I love it to bits.

Shakari

I bought mine .460Wea. as my first ever rifle, the reason I bought it was that it was the most powerful factory chambering available.

I only ever bought one pack of 20 factory ammo, but fired some 3000 full power handloads 500gr./2600fps. in it

Apart from the integral muzzle brake, the total length and the shiny stock I can not say one bad word about it.

However like any man made tool it has design features that have the potential to be troublesome for many.

After all mine .460Wea. and your .500Jeff. never failed once, but some other owners (like Rob) were not so lucky and had many problems with Mark V.

Just the luck of the draw.

Over the years I saw more failures in custom made Mausers 98 and ZKK 602 than I saw in any other actions I can think of.

Maybe the correct word would be COMBINED.

These were mostly created by the smiths with not the slightest idea what is needed in a proper DGR, were attempting to convert it to something else.

(BIGGER AND WIDER) that had a recoil 5-8 times more of the original chambering.

Not taking into considerations the special overall needs that are required in DGR.,such as TO RETAIN, FEED, EXTRACT AND REJECT FLAWLESSLY IN ANY POSITION THAT THE RIFLE MAY BE IN.

STEEL BED THE ACTION with a secondary barrel lug, right through cross bolts, rear tongue relieve etc.

It doesn't automaticaly mean that because it is a Mauser 98 or a CZ action it is a DGR.

If it is going to have any of above mentioned problems it is not any better than an off the shelf pushfeed action.

As a matter of fact, I would far rather take the risk with the Weatherby potentially weak extractor in otherwise sound Mark V than to take an ill converted Mauser 98/CZ with the potential risk that ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN (FAIL) so to speak.

Pyzda

I certainly think a lot of people might buy the big Weatherbys for the wrong reasons and maybe that's why one sees a fair number of secondhand, hardly used ones on the market but mine has been a delight to own and use and I'd quite happily and confidently put it up against any other B/A dangerous game rifle for suitability of purpose....... The rifle has saved my life on several occasions and I have to say, I much prefer it in it's .500 Jeffery, short barrel, extended mag etc format rather than it's original one but design of sights and length of barrel etc don't alter the action which has always worked tickety boo for me.

There's always the PF/CF argument but as far as I'm concerned, that doesn't hold water at all. Both are different, both can stuff up if not operated properly but both will work perfectly well if the operator does his bit correctly and therefore it's nothing more than a matter of choice.

As you say, anything can fail and that was proved by the space shuttle but I don't reckon the Weatherby action is any more prone to failure than any other and to condemn it as 'not a DG action/rifle' would be about as logical as condemning the space shuttle missions and everything they achieved as a total failure because one seal failed, once.

I forgot to address Rob's comments and although I'm not doubting him for a moment, I am surprised indeed that one person should have the bad luck to end up with so many duff rifles from one manufacturer but I'd have taken them back to whoever sold them to me and at the very least, got my money back.

quote:

Originally posted by Robgunbuilder:
Ah yes, passing on a Weatheby is one of the signs of a knowledgeable Big Bore afficionado. If they only would weld the sights on the Weatherby sideways, then they would achieve the "street Cred" they deserve! Yo Dude, where them Elephant at? I'm gonna pop a cap in that Ele's ass!
I be Pimpin and stylin now!

Deleted, why waste my time...

I tend to doubt the 5 out of 7 problems with Weatherby rifles which were described. If the poster had pointed these out to Weatherby, they would have been remedied.

Weatherby is one of the few companies that offers an accuracy guarantee. If one of the problems was a bore with half the rifling missing, that sounds to me like a rifle shot to death and the bore worn out.

buy it. i have a dgr in 460wby, whilst it is a beast , i am more than pleased with the way it functions and handling. i have used all sorts of loads in it, and they all seem to group really well. a dgr for 1k???? buy it. the only thing i found wanting is, the rifle in 460wby is a tad too lite weight, with such a chambering. i have never had any issues with the rifle. they are a great thing, even if you don't run it full throttle, you still have ample power for anything. grab the 458 lott....

Unlike my good friend Rob, I've never had any problem with any of nearly a dozen Weatherby Mark V rifles through which I've put 1,000s of rounds.

If I had nly one bolt gun for everything that walks it would be a Weatherby Mark V Euromarket or Safari Custom in .416 Weatherby. In fact I've had a couple of both and each performed perfectly in my hands and those of my father.

Hello

One thing the big Weatherby's have that the mauser and ruger don't is the single stacked magazine that is loaded from the bottom. For a true dangerous game rifle it allows the gun to be reloaded while one round is still in the chamber ready to go! On the others the action is opened and requires stacking shells in the mag. Watch some of Buzz's dvds and you can see were the ability to open the floor plate and reload the mag while a hot round is chambered able to be fired could be an advantage!

Regards
Mark