Don't see these rifles get much chatter, at least on Arf.com.  

Any Weatherby fans here on the Bolt sub-forum?

Whatcha got?

And how's your Weatherby's practical accuracy in the field as compared with other makes of bolt rifles you've shot or hunted with?

I have a synthetic stocked Vanguard in .30-06 that l really like.  Weatherby's also wear a longer than now normal barrel,  24" which l really like.

But the Vanguard is really just a Howa 1500 action.  And they are well regarded actions.

I really don't have any experience with the Weatherby Mark V actions.



Eta: finally added a picture.

The stock is a black synthetic that l kryloned od green.  While l had the recoil pad off l filled the stock cavity with expanding foam.  I think l also added it to the cut outs in the forearm.  Then trimmed the excessive.  Didn't add much weight but now it doesn't have that hollow sound when you strike it.

I’ve got one!

But it’s not really a Weatherby. I have the chassis rifle in 6.5 Creedmoor. The action is made by Howa and the chassis is an MDT.

It’s an accurate gun with hand loads and the Hornady American Gunner 140 BTHP load.

i like my weatherby vanguard [howa 1500]. smooth action but skinny barrel. shoots nice a few rounds then heats up and couldn't strap a suppressor to it so it sits pretty in a boyds stock and is for hunting.

Nice Boyd's stock.  Is it heavy?

300 / 257 / 22

My father in law has a beautiful Weatherby in .300 Winchester Magnum.  When I first saw it I was thinking why not get a .340 Weatherby instead.  He explained he just bought it because of the beauty of it.  Great guy who loves collecting stuff.  Has a huge camera and stamp collections.  Now I got him going on guns.

I've handled a Vanguard and shot a couple Mark Vs.  Vanguard is actually made by Howa for Weatherby... but Howa makes quality guns so no issue there.  Bolt was smooth and their synthetic stocks actually feel pretty nice compared to some other things.

The Mark V is awesome.  I've shot one in .460 Weatherby Mag and one in .300 Weatherby Mag.  Action is ridiculously smooth on them, and extremely overbuilt and durable.  One of if not the strongest bolt actions you can buy.  The only bad thing about them is Weatherby doesn't chamber them in many common calibers.  Most of their chamberings are for the Weatherby Magnum cartridges with only a few other options: typically 6.5 Creedmoor, 300 Win Mag, 338 Lapua, and 375 H&H.

The Vanguard is where you'd need to likely look if you want the more common chamberings like .243 Win, 7mm-08, .308, 30-06, etc.

I have a 257 vanguard and a 257 mark v accumark and my go to rifle is the vanguard. That thing flat out shoots I never doubt myself with it

yah its has some nice weight. not too bad for bench or stand shooting. probably don't want to be hiking with it or free standing.

Nice WBY hat-trick in calibers that cover all the bases.

Is your .257 a MkV Southgate CA/Japan-made rifle?

Reason I ask is, it looks very similar to the Mk V .257 up for sale on my LGS's used rack. It has a 26" pencil barrel, with an 'H' prefix serial #.

Yes

All three are.

The store I use to work at sold a bunch of Weatherbys and I only remember one complaint about accuracy. That was a guy who accidentally swapped brakes with his buddy while cleaning their matching Accumarks in 338/378 Wby. No one caught the switch until we went to the range to diagnose and tried it with the brake off. Hardest dang kicking gun I’ve ever shot but it stacked three on top of each other. That’s when we noticed the brakes were serialized to the gun and it was wrong. Every one I shot was very accurate, for a few rounds at least.

Nice.

How's the accuracy of your .257? ...  I keep hearing/reading that the Southgate/Japan-made WBY Mk Vs were better rifles accuracy-wise than their predecessors.

Yeah, one of the guys at our Club raves about the accuracy of his .257 WBY. It's an Accumark, I believe. He doesn't run a brake on it though.

Finicky.  Pencil barrel is a whip. Front action screw torque will change barrel harmonics.  

When it’s ‘on’ with a load it’s really on.  As far as hunting accuracy goes it’s more than adequate.  Devastating deer sized game round.

Ordered a 307 Mark V Accumark Pro last week.  Because.  Home town made and all.

Have a vanguard in 300 Wby mag, sub moa at 100 with most any factory ammo. Have killed a few big deer with it and one elk. Attached File

Nice!

I'm currently eyeballing a used Southgate/Jap-made Mk V in .257 at the LGS, but the bore shows a lot of copper fouling. Apparently the barrel wasn't cleared particularly well by the original owner. It came in with a few other rifles in an estate sale.  Other than that, it's in great shape and comes with a mounted scope.

What torque specs do you use when tightening that front action screw?

I start shooting a load and if it's open, I tighten a little more and shoot again.  Sometimes I use the old business card under the barrel trick.  The old rifles will have a slot screw.  You can get allen head screws for it.  My rifle like the lighter bullets and factory ammo which is Norma specs.  I also sight it for cold bore first shot.  

If you take the action out of the stock, it's free floated except for a wood hump that touches the barrel.  The tighter the front screw, the more pressure it puts on that point.  It's like tuning a 60's British Sports car's SU carburetors.  It's all feel.

Good info to know. Thanks!  

I like them.

For a pure deer only rifle I would go with a Mark? USA made 257 WeMag.

If you have a We. It has to be in one of their cartridges.

My early '60s Mark V Deluxe in classic .300 Weatherby Magnum.  Scope is period correct original-to-rifle El Paso steel tube Weaver V12 4-12x in Redfield rings and bases.  I inherited this rifle, as-is, in 1976, from a relative that bought it new and who taught me to handload.



Despite the pencil-thin sporter barrel, it is sub MOA accurate with my handloads for the first three shots before the barrel heats up.  Then, groups open up.

With these rifles accuracy is best assessed based on the first shot from a cold bore, as that is how they are used in the field.

Your rifle is really beautiful. A vintage Deluxe Mk V. Looks like it just came out of the box. Back then, weren't they made  were made in Germany?  

I have yet to handle a Weatherby that I like. To me they feel cheap; almost Howa-like.

That in no way means they don’t shoot lights out, if you up one I’d be interested in hearing how it works out for you.

The Mark V action has an neat history.

Wiki

Roy Weatherby had found the Mauser-type wanting due to the case head not being completely enclosed and supported within the breech. While these action types could easily withstand a high pressure of about 70,000 C.U.P, he felt that one which would have the capability of handling 200,000 C.U.P. would fare better with the Weatherby line of cartridges. He had been aware that many handloaders were overloading their cartridges seeking higher performance, which was resulting in blown primers and ruptured case heads. This in turn would lead to hot gases making their way through the bolt and into the shooter's face and eyes and causing injuries to his customers.[3]

Weatherby's requirements included a bolt face which was countersunk into the bolt which would enclose the cartridge's case head while the bolt head was enclosed in a counterbored barrel breach, which in turn would prevent the case head from rupturing. If a rupture should occur, the bolt would have holes through which hot gases could be vented safely towards the side and away from the shooter's face. Further as an extra safety measure he required an enclosed or shrouded bolt sleeve that would prevent the hot gases from making their way through the bolt mechanism to the shooter's face. To Weatherby, the safety and strength of the design were paramount.[4]

The Weatherby Mark V action uses an interrupted screw breech as used on many artillery pieces. The nine lugs are actually sections of a screw thread. The bolt cams forward slightly as the bolt is closed following the pitch angle of the screw thread. Weatherby designed the action type with nine locking lugs arranged in three rows. It was determined early on that these lugs would not protrude outside the bolt but would be of the same diameter as the bolt body itself. Such a design would be conducive to a smooth fluid movement of the bolt through its feeding and extraction cycles.[3]

In spring 1955 Weatherby demonstrated his new action at the annual NRA meetings in Washington, D.C. The action type was shown to Burt Munhall of H.P. White Ballistics Laboratory and to General Julian Hatcher to elicit their opinion of the design. Both were impressed with the design and encouraged Weatherby to commercialize the action as soon as possible. At this time Weatherby had been looking for someone to provide the technical design, drawings and specifications for the design of his new action. General Hatcher suggested that John Garand (of the M-1 Garand rifle fame) would be suitable for the job. However, when contacted Garand expressed disinterest in the project as he was enjoying his retirement.[3]

Walter Howe, the editor of the American Rifleman magazine suggested the Mathewson Tool Company of New Haven which had worked with Winchester, Remington, and the U.S. government designing and building prototypes. While Dave Mathewson managed to build and deliver the design details, the prototype did not include all the features which Weatherby had required, while taking longer than anticipated to provide the prototype design.[4]

It was not until 1957 that the first prototype rifle was built. This was the fifth design model of the rifle as four previous designs had been abandoned. The rifle was shown to Elgin Gates who suggested that the rifle be named the Mark V. This fifth prototype was designed and built with the assistance of Fred Jennie, an engineer hired by Roy Weatherby. It was more streamlined and had a more simplified trigger and safety which would lead to lower manufacturing and tooling costs.[4]

In 1956 Weatherby visited Europe in an attempt to find a supplier for the Mark V action. Steyr-Daimler-Puch, which had been manufacturing the Mannlicher rifle, was eager to work with Weatherby, but the high cost of the initial tooling charges of $200,000 was found to have been too excessive. Schultz & Larsen, which had been building the .378 Weatherby Magnum, was also contacted, but due to an anticipated rise in labor costs Weatherby had to keep looking elsewhere. When Sako of Finland, which was working on the FN Mauser action for Weatherby rifles was approached, it indicated that it had a backlog of production yet to complete and that such a project would have to wait for a year and a half. Also, labor costs in Finland had been rising, which would increase the price per unit cutting into profits. The Birmingham Small Arms Company Limited (BSA) of Birmingham was extremely receptive to the idea of building the action and even attempted to absorb the initial tooling costs. However, it was unable to manufacture the action with the nine locking lugs.[3]

While several companies bid on the contract, Weatherby settled on Precision Foundry Inc. (PFI) of Leandro, California in 1957. It was decided that all major parts would use the investment casting process. Another firm, Gardner Machine Co. of Hollywood, California, would finish all these parts to their final dimensions and Picco Industries of Sierra Madre, California would manufacture the magazine floorplate catch, the trigger sear, and the thumb safety. All the parts thus manufactured would be delivered to Weatherby's South Gate facility where the final polishing, bluing, and assembly would take place. The barrel and stocks were made in-house by Weatherby at the company's South Gate facility.[4]

Due to the investment casting process and issues with porosity of metal, PFI manufactured actions did not easily accept the high-luster bluing process which was a trademark of Weatherby rifles, which resulted in high rejection rates of over 50%. Furthermore, the delivery of component parts by PFI had been irregular, which led to a backlog of orders.[4]

In 1957 Weatherby went back to Europe to visit J.P. Sauer & Sohn, which was at the time primarily a shotgun manufacturer. Udo van Meeteren wanted not only to manufacture the action but also the complete rifle as well. Within two months of the visit a contract with J.P. Sauer & Sohn was signed. In 1958 Fred Jennie visited the Sauer plant in Eckernförde, Germany to help with the setup process. At this time it was decided that receiver and bolt would be made from forgings instead of the investment casting process as Sauer was more familiar with the process. Rifle barrels would be hammer-forged by Sauer, which promoted greater uniformity from breech to muzzle and which in turn led to greater accuracy and longer barrel life. By employing this method of hammer-forging barrels, Weatherby became the first U.S. company to offer hammer-forged barrels in the United States.[3]

In 1970 Weatherby moved production to the Howa factory in Japan. The move was a result of increased costs of production in Europe; Howa was able to make the rifles and at a greater cost savings. The strength of the actions was never compromised—to many, fit and finish are superior to German models and compete well with U.S. models. Howa manufactured Mark Vs until production was brought to the United States in 1994

Thank you.  I also have the original box and paperwork.  Yes, the barreled action is engraved Weatherby Mark V, but also bears the name J.P. Sauer and Sohns, Made in W. Germany (forerunner of SIG).  Roy W. contracted with Sauer to make the barreled actions and perhaps the complete rifles.

Always wanted a XXII....they were made by Anschutz

There were two versions of the Mark XXII.   Original ones were semiauto.  Later ones were/are bolt guns.

The semiauto ones had either tube or detachable box magazines.

They were made by various contracted manufacturers over time.  

Mine was made in Japan in the early '70s and has a detachable magazine, actually two, a 5 rounder and a 10. It wears a period correct El Paso Weaver V7 2-7x steel tube scope.

I got a Vanguard in 243Win with the plastic stock which gives it more recoil than what a MarkV does with its heavier walnut. Been wanting for years to change over to a bright colored laminate or some nice walnut from Boyd's. With the long, pencil barrel I had to install a barrel donut to help take the barrel whip out. Great shooter.

Made by Howa of Japan, but to Weatherby's QC which is very tight.

Even for a cheaper Weatherby, they sure give them very nice deep blueing.

Some Weatherby love....

Wow!  

Talk about a long distance 'sniper' rig.

Love all 5 of mine.

LH Weatherby Mark V in 300 here, been my main elk hunting rifle since about 1980.

I have two older wood stocked Mark V's in 378 and 460.  Also a Weatherby/Beretta XXII.

Tony

Mark V Weathermark Bronze in 6.5 RPM.  First 3 shot group after zeroing was 1 inch at 195 yards with Weatherby factory 140 grain Accubond.  Followed that up with a 3 round group that measured just under half an inch.  At 195 yards.  Few months later I smoked a whitetail at 400.  Can't wait till antelope season this fall.

Attached File

Attached File

Looks like they're almost exclusively offered in only Weatherby chamberings these days.  Seems like they're really limiting their customer base to me?  I'd like a mark 5 though. My uncle has been using a 7mm mag for decades.

I ordered an Accumark a while back.  The only one other than the Vangard series that will chamber in non-Weatherby chamberings.  I did the 300WM since I do not want to get caught in restrictions on availability of ammo.