Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire another Mark V catastrophe

Long story longer. I recommend to anyone that has doubts about the Mark V read Stuart Otteson's Books "The Bolt Action". These are the best I know form and engineering stand point books that have ever been placed in print. I personally do not care for any push feed action for hunting, but will admit that for strength some of these actions have it all over the CFR actions that many of us love for hunting. They (some of them) can be made much more accurate than any CRF action in this world. I just don't care to own any for hunting.

I can relate one Weatherby ammo and factory rifle failure of my own knowledge and research into the events and I might say due to my own efforts the avoidance of a law suit of the Company I was employed by at the time.

We at that time period were the largest Weatherby dealer in the USA. We out sold all other dealers by a wide margin. The year we had the then brand new Weatherby Vanguards for sell, we did a large volume business.

During the first sells of this Vanguard rifle they were chambered for the .300 Winchester ctg and not for the .300 Weatherby ctg.

I had brought to me in the gun shop a rifle and a story. It seems the customer bough a Vanguard rifle one day and returned two weeks later and bought a box of ammo. He told the clerk that he had bought a Weatherby .300 just two weeks before in the same shop and needed a box of ammo to test fire the rifle. Liam and his side kick Elmer took the rifle out to there neighborhood shooting/dump and after preliminary trials finding a piece of short 2x4 to use as a chambering assist devise proceeded to chamber the .300 Weatherby ctg in the .300 Winchester chamber. It did take some effort on the twosomes part but seeing as how the rifle was new and everybody knows how new stuff can be, they thought nothing of the effort (probably thinking it would loosen up with use) First shot out of the box Liam reflecting on the effort thought it best to let his best buddy Elmer to take the honor of the first shot. I don't know how long the two intrepid sports fans spent finding that vary same 2X4 to help easy the effort of opening and in preparation for that vary important second shot, never the less the effort was soon rewarded and now Liam was in full readiness for that all important second shot.

Unfortunately the Gods of steel and design no longer smiled on their efforts and the rifle went through rather sudden changes. The stock made of wood in those day came apart in several pieces and the floor plate/trigger guard found are intrepid friend Liam's forearm. Liam and Elmer after reflection gathered up the as sundry pieces of the add for mentioned rifle and directly returned in from the dump, looking for blood and the dumb folks that sold him the bad Weatherby rifle.

They were in a rather peculiar position of being unable to get the bolt open to show the store owner the bad offending Weatherby ctg that was the cause of all this misfortune as they had lost the ejected 2X4 and was unable to open the bolt. I had no difficulty what so ever opening said bolt mounted in a stout bench vise and with the manly use of a six foot cheater bar on the bolt handle. Surprise of all, melted in the bolt face of said action was melted the the fact that he did use a Weatherby ctg in a .300 Winchester chambered rifle.


As to the Mark V, sure are a lot of shooters that shoot some mighty hot BR stuff through that action and have done so for a great many years.