Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Weatherby Ultra Lightweight question

Looking to improve the accuracy of my ULW. I'm planning on bedding the recoil lug at a minimum. I've read conflicting info on floating the barrel. I've torqued the action screws per Weatherby and the results are not bad. 1.5 - 2" groups with 160gr Barnes Vor-tx. Should I remove the contact point or leave it? 2-3 rounds into about an inch, with a random flyer. What say the 'fire..

Send it to Hill Country Rifles

Send it back to Weatherby with a letter explaining. Good luck

What Melvin said, my 06 Ultralight shoots very tiny groups with the WallyWorld Winchester grey box 150's.

I have one of the original grey-stocked ones in .280 Rem, and I love it. It's an honest 1.0-1.5 MOA rifle. With Federal Premium 150 grain Partition ammo, it'll do 1.0-1.2" for 3 shots from a cold barrel every single time, hot or cold, rain or shine.

I have thought about bedding it and removing the pressure point to float the barrel. I'm concerned that accuracy might suffer with such a thin barrel, and then I'd be trying to recapture the conditions that I had before. In the end, I've decided to leave it alone. What can't I hunt with the 150 grain Partition at around 1 MOA? With the skinny barrel on this thing, I'm not even sure that floating it would yield an improvement.

IMO any ultralight that turns in 1.5 and under performance is doing just fine and probably shouldn't be monkeyed with.

My Weatherby UL 280 (also an old gray stocker) will group around 1.5 consistently, with enough 1 inchers thrown in occasionally to tease me.

I wouldn't change a thing. After all it's an ultralight. It's job is to be sweet to carry and accurate enough to get the job done.

I went through your accuracy troubles with Weatherby MKV Ultralight rifles, a rifle in this price range shooting no better than 1.5" to 2" groups was not acceptable to me, I tried 5 different brand new MKV Ultralight's before I gave up on getting one that one shoot,I didn't send any of them back to Weatherby as I thought that would be a waste of time, I just sold them to save the trouble, there are too many other brands of lightweight rifles that will shoot MOA consistantly to bother with Weatherby Ultra-lightweight rifle's IMO.....................Good luck with your Weatherby Ultralight accuracy issues.................Hb

I got lucky. Mine in 7mm Wby would shoot under a half inch, with my neck sized handloads. Never did shoot any factory ammo. The thing I didn't like was that after 4 or 5 rounds, the barrel got very hot and then it would open up to 1.5-2". So if you're wanting to shoot 5 shot groups, this is probably not the rifle for you.

Is that all you have tried in that rifle?

I am very "pro" Weatherby UL and have owned or been around 8 or 9 so far and I currently own 2. I bed both the tang and lug along with an inch or so of the shank. I removed the speed bump and floated the tube. Once I had a load I liked, staying at an inch or better was no problem. The only thing I find inconsistent is the trigger and mine have been replaced by Timney's.

Also, if you also bed the bottom metal then torque is a non issue IMHO.

Have you checked your stock to see if the contact is out of whack? With the aluminum bedding block, it is easy to see how much, how little and where your rifle is making contact.

It seems to throw one no matter what I use. I'm not too upset with the accuracy, I like the gun. I was only asking if it makes sense to remove the contact point. I think I will, it's the #2 and really isn't all that small in diameter. I'll bed the tang and the recoil lug while I'm at it.

My 280 UL is 1/2" accurate with Federal blue box 150's. I have a handload or two for it and it is a very nice rifle.

I like it well enough so it stays. I took three to find the one that'd shoot good.

Bed it, I have had a couple ULW, one 257 Wby and a 270 Win, both shot under MOA consistantly. The 270 had a pressure point on the barrel and it would shoot 0.5-0.75 with pretty much any bullet. The 257 had a fully floated barrel and didn't shoot quit as good as the 270. I shot reloads out of both.

I had a 300 wby ul that drove me crazy. I'm talking 5" groups at 200 yds w/many popular bullets and powder.
Then started seating bullets deep....like ogive just above the case mouth deep. Shazam.....gun went under moa to 300 yds.
I've never seen a gun respond the way this one did. Hell probably burned 1/3 of my barrel life looking for the powder/bullet fix and it was seating depth!

Don't forget to redo the crown. With mine that was the cure for the flyer. Bedding and removing the pressure point did a lot tighten up the group but the crown got it to moa.

My ULW in 30-06 has kept me from getting some really nice rifles because it just fills so many niches.

I just bought a UL in 7mm Wby, have shot it twice in six days, and I have the same experience. I shot a mostly under two-inch groups at a 300yd range a week ago, and, sadly, about the same at the 200-yd mark today. It was from a rest, so I wasn't doing anything special. I walk down range after every six shot anyway which lets it cool down and gives me some exercise.

It is bone stock as it is. So, is there any advantage to me having a good gunsmith I know floating or bedding or whatever? Or should I leave it alone?

I had a Super Big Game Master in 7 RM and found it to be heat sensitive

My 2� worth. I have 4, .240, .270, .280, and .308. The .270 is stock and shoots well and consistently at 1" or less. The .308 shoots pretty well but haven't shot it enough to say exactly how well but around 1". The .240 has been trying and still haven't figured it out. Three different stocks (original gray, newer tan inletted for SBGM barrel and bedded, and a deluxe wooden handle that I bedded the shank on. It shot 3 in around a half or less in the original stock part of the time and then 2" sometimes. Took out the speed bumps and the fore end kept pulling up to the barrel. Weatherby said they were necessary and some ungoldly amount of pressure. It seems as though the aluminum bedding blocks out toward the end pull up when torqued down without the bumps. Bottom line is I haven't been able to figure out a one size fits all bedding recipe for the ULWs. I am open to more ideas if anyone has them.

Guys, thanks for the help. But, over the weekend I fixed the issue. Walked into the local shop and there was a Forbes 30-06 on the wall. After picking it up, there was no question it was a better fit for me. Traded in the ULW on the spot. Hope everyone that posted enjoys theirs, they are nice guns.