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Joined: May 2005
Posts: 7,112 Likes: 6
Campfire Tracker
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Campfire Tracker
Joined: May 2005
Posts: 7,112 Likes: 6 |
I have fired them on several occasions and never liked any of them. But the amount of recoil is not a lot more then some of the 416s on the market. Some 458s kick even harder. A lot depends on weight and the kick you feel is depends also on stock fit. I think the aspect that is also disagreeable is the speed of the kick.
The stock shape of the Weatherby Mk5 is either loved or hated. I can't get along with them. If I shoulder one comfortable with my eyes closed and then open them I find I am looking at the back of the bolt and I have to raise my head a lot to get behind the scope or even iron sights.
I made a stock for a customer years ago on a Weatherby action in 378, and did the stock in an American Classic style. He was very tall and I am not. So it still didn't fit me well but it was not as nasty as the ones I have fired with the factory stocks. I had the comb line set to bring the eye in line with the scope and the kick was more controllable and less panful. So overall I would say that if you have one with a stock that fits you and a stock designed from the "blue print" for the large size pads, they are not all that bad.
When I make a stock for a rifle that kicks I take the measurements from the customer for LOP, drop at comb, crop at heel and cast off. To come up with the drop at toe I take the largest pad I can get and lay it on the line drawing at the top of the line drawn for the comb at the intersection of the length of pull. I trace on the pad and draw in the toe line back to the pistol grip. That drawing gets cut out and glued to the stock blank. I saw it out and build the stock to those dimensions so when its done I need only off-set the pad for cast off and attach it. I then cut the butt to fit the pad instead of attaching a pad to fit an existing size butt-stock. With a perfect fit to the owner, rifles up to the 505 Gibbs are not usually too hard for them to handle. Same with the 378 and 460 Weatherbys.
I am of the opinion that the mistake the manufacturers make is to have the same size butt stock on all their rifle in the most powerful cartridges as they do on their smaller deer cartridges. Stocking a 458 or 460 exactly as you do a 243 makes no since to me. But the factories don't have different patterns to cut out stocks for big calibers and regular calibers.
They should.............but they don't. I agreed with a lot of what you wrote except for the end piece. Weatherby does not use the same stock design for all chamberings. As the barrel contour increases, so do the stock measurements both in the forearm and length of pull. Regarding the stock design, I already covered that in previous posts. The Mark V design is tailored to people with sloping shoulders and shorter necks. The classic design doesn't work for these people with heavier cartridges though can work with lighter rounds where recoil is not a concern.
When truth is ignored, it does not change an untruth from remaining a lie.
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Joined: May 2008
Posts: 1,467 Likes: 5
Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
Joined: May 2008
Posts: 1,467 Likes: 5 |
Stock design, rifle weight and physical stature and conditioning of the shooter are all major factors in the management of a rifles recoil. But attitude toward a rifle and its recoil can make the difference between living with it, ignoring it, despising it or outright rejecting of that rifle with its "horrible kick"! I've been a member at the same range for the past thirty-five years and have made some friendships there. One man, in his fifties, made his own cast bullets and introduced me to some in .458-cal that I used in my .45-70s. On our first meeting, he was shooting a 26" Cowboy Marlin in .45-70, and I my Ruger No.1 LT (long throat) in .45-70, plus my 1895 Marlin in .45-70. I bought some cast bullets from him that weighed 465 grains that were very accurate and "up there" in MV. One day he told me he was going on a bear hunt somewhere north of Lake Superior and would be taking his long-barrelled Marlin in .45-70 loaded with some of his cast bullets, and his father would be going along as well. I wished him well and asked: "Will your father also be hunting?" "Yes" he said. "What rifle?", I asked... "His .378 Weatherby... it's the ONLY big-game rifle he owns and has used it for everything.", he replied. "How old is he?", I quiried".... 83 was the answer! I suspect from all I've read here that it was likely one with the "slim barrels" and light weight, considering his age, and our meeting was sometime in the late 1990s. I was 60 ish, and shooting my light Ruger No.1 LT with upwards of 80 ft-lbs of recoil, and it was my favorite rifle until 2017 when it was traded for another Ruger No.1 in .458 Win at age 82. It's a matter of attitude, given I've had extreme bouts of arthritis over the past six years. While I've lost some height and weight, today I'm 5' 8" in bare feet, and bare skin at 163 lbs. Those are facts with no intent of boasting - as I said, it's a matter of attitude. Bob www.bigbores.ca
Last edited by CZ550; 11/05/22.
"What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul" - Jesus
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Joined: May 2005
Posts: 211
Campfire Member
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Campfire Member
Joined: May 2005
Posts: 211 |
Many older 378's did not have muzzle brakes (there are 2 of them on gunbroker right now). A brake is quite effective on a 378 because the powder weight to bullet weight ratio is high. On the other hand i have never seen a factory 416 or 460 Wby without a brake.
Also older 378's are light. They all have a #3 contour, but not all #3s are the same. When Wby announced the 416 they increased the #3 contour diameter. So older Japanese 378's are lighter than current ones (as someone previously noted).
Bottom line: older, unbraked 378's can be a handful and have certainly contributed to the 378's reputation.
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Joined: Mar 2020
Posts: 600
Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
Joined: Mar 2020
Posts: 600 |
I had a FFL for a number of years, just a hobby, using my other business location. One close friend, over a period if time collected all calibers of Mark V's. My fee was one cartridge (for my collection) & I got to shoot each rifle. I shot them all (standing). Even the large calibers are managable from that position. To shoot them sitting from a bench quickly becomes a bitch after you go past the .300. None had muzzle brakes (a noisy invention), After suffering a Whiplash injury..something you never recover from I have quit the BIG CALIBERS.
"not too grumpy"
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Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 12,540
Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 12,540 |
I've only shot three rounds thru a .378, out of a Mark V. I didn't think it was much worse than a lightweight 12gauge slug gun, to be truthful, but it WAS Magnaported, maybe that had something to do with it. I quit when the third round peeled the front sight up into the view of the scope (yes, it had iron sights on it), and I couldn't see the target any longer. IIRC, it was a 300gr. bullet with 105gr. of IMR-4350, but was 35 years ago, and memory fades.
You can roll a turd in peanuts, dip it in chocolate, and it still ain't no damn Baby Ruth.
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