How good and what is a good price for the old German Weatherby rifles? Not the Mark V, but appear to be a Mauser copy with the big claw extractor, though they do have a bolt shroud. Are these CRF?

Any input is appreciated.

I believe they were FN 98 actions. I have a friend who has a 270 Weatherby chambered in an FN 98 that was produced by Weatherby. Awesome rifle. I'd actually prefer one of those to the newer Mark X actions myself.

Here is a picture of my two Whbys. a .257 and 300 both Mauser type actions stocked in Myrtle wood.

Were all German Weatherbys built at Sauer & Sohn?? And were they all built on Mauser actions?
- mike

I believe the original Wby's were built on FN actions, they were all Magnums. These are the highly collectible ones and are referred to as "Southgate" models. WHen the supply got short, Roy went to Sauer, I think. My two cents, whether or not it is correct.

Jim

quote:

Originally posted by Jim Kobe:
I believe the original Wby's were built on FN actions, they were all Magnums.

I remember reading somewhere, some years ago, that in the beginning any action "long enough and strong enough" was used by Weatherby for building his rifles. I think that may have included some 1917 Enfields. (Remember that, for logicians, "some" means "at least one.")

I also understand -- I may well be mistaken about this -- that the first Mark V actions were built in Germany.

Weatherby also built some on Mod 70 actions. These may have been customer's guns. I believe the Mark V came out in the late 1950's and was made by Sauer & Son. These continued until the early 1970's when the guns began to be made in Japan. I'd guess this was about 1973. The metal is now made by Saco (NOT Sako) in Maine.

Guys, I have an early Mk5 ser. no. 23xxx with no country of origin marked on it in Weatherby300Magnum and is marked patent pending, It is in very nice shape and the guy I got it from claimed it was made in Germany. What would your opinions be. derf

quote:

Originally posted by derf:
Guys, I have an early Mk5 ser. no. 23xxx with no country of origin marked on it in Weatherby300Magnum and is marked patent pending, It is in very nice shape and the guy I got it from claimed it was made in Germany. What would your opinions be. derf

If you pull the metal work from the stock and look on the bottom of the barrel close to the front ring of the action it should be marked JP Sauer & Sohn. It is on mine.

My 300 #7XXX Says the Weatherby 300 Magnum and "South Gate, Calif." No country markings. The barrel has a "T" in a cricle marking on right side. It is an FN commercial action.
side tang mounted safety

The 257 #6XXX has Weatherby 257 Magnum and "South Gate Calf." with same circled "T".
The safety on the 257 is a flip up shround mounted safety. An FN Commercial action.

Someone locally is selling a very nice LH German Weatherby 300. What would be a good price to offer?

Gents: You are all correct. The FN Weatherbys were made here at Roy's place in South Gate, he also used Schultz & Larsen actions. The first MKVs were built by JP Sauer and they are very well made. A German MKV in 300 Weatherby should fetch about 1200 or so. ANd for you guys that have "mystery" Weatherbys, if you PM me with the Srial #s I can probably give you year/place of manufacture. OR you can send a check to Weatherby and they'll authenticate your rifle. jorge

Rusty, My Weatherby is very similar to yours. Having followed the advice of all of you I have discovered the following, Removing the wood(for the first time for me) I found "Made in Germany" on the left side beside the trigger. The serial number is repeated on the barrel lengthwise under the wood and just ahead of the receiver. It has the "T" in the circle(visible without removing the wood) and the last 4 digits of the serial number are marked on the underside of the bolt. It does not say Southgate of course and also does not say Sauer& Sohn. It also has the same safety as described by Rusty. Oh, and what a nice looking trigger assembly. Now I know why it feels as good as the Timney on my bench rifle!
Jorge, PM's for some reason will not work for me. The Serial No. is 23461.
Roy sure turned out some fine looking Mk5's. This one looks like fine furniture! derf

Derf: Sauer rifles were made from 59-73 ser #s 20001-43730. I was mistaken, MKVs were made in South Gate for ONE year 58-59 and are so marked. jorge

Thank you Jorge. If that is the case then mine is probably from the mid 60's. Interesting! This thing is in real nice shape, I wish my work truck which is 10 years newer looked so good! derf