Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Weatherby Mark V Question

I currently own a Mark V Wby in 7 Wby Mag.. I knew when I bought it, it could turn out to be a bad purchase. Once you lay your money out, you never really kow if you're buying a shooter or not. You just try to convince yourself that it's going to be a good gun and that you made the best decision you could.

I looked at Kimbers but quickly dismissed them after hearing some of the horror stories on this board with Kimbers' service department.

I looked at Remingtons but decide I wanted a cut above.

I set my focus on the Wby Mark V, bought it and when I went to the range, the worst it shot out of 20+ handloading recipes was 2.5" and that was only two of the 20+. The rest all shot under 1". Imr 7828 & RL22 shot mirror image groups only 100 fps apart.

I now am hunting with the Scirocco 150. It shoots 1/4-3/8" groups at 100 yds. I took my first Axis Does with it in August. I am incredibly proud of the gun. It is top notch engineering and quality. Probably will move on to the NorthFork 140's.

From the start, I was leaning toward dropping the cash to build a custom. The more I studied necessary components the more I kept finding them in the Mark V. Strong action, short bolt throw, great custom barrel, completely adjustable trigger were some of the character traits considered. The Mark V was the obvious choice for me. Now it is CeraKoted in Graphite Black, Custom 20 oz. stock, Swarovski 3-10x & Talley mounts. Loaded and ready for Whacking Duty it weighs 7 3/4 pounds.

I am very satisfied and don't think I will ever have need of another rifle. Least ways, I aint lookin' for one.

I must add, I have seen the standard action Mark V Ultralights be finicky in accuracy. I have friends that shoot the UL in 257 Wby Mag and are literal tack drivers but that's a magnum action. The standard actions can be hard to get along with. If you handload thought, I don't see how you could go wrong. They are sweet rifles.

Both my 257wby and 300wby were fibermarks.Luckily for me,I bought them when a sporting goods store went out of business,so the price was well below normal,and I managed to get my money out of them when I sold them.

I have owned and seen Remington�s, Savage and Winchesters not do it. Besides I don�t see any accuracy guarantee on the Remington site. They should really be embarrassed. Big claims but no guarantee�.

The mark Vs do not have custom barrels unless ordered from the custom shop with one,or unless the factory barrel has been replaced.In fact the so called Kreiger barrels are actually Criterion barrels.Criterion is a company owned by Kreiger,and their barrels are button rifles unlike the real Kreiger barrels that are cut Rifled.Calling a Criterion barrel a Kreiger is the same as calling a Chevette a Cadillac.They are both owned by the same company,but are far different products.

From the Kreiger barrel site

Just to be clear I have not do anything to my Mark V but adjust the trigger, which had to be done on every remington that I have owned and still own. Also had some pressure point probelms on 3 remingtons I have owned. I have seen more than a few M700 Sendero's require work out of the box. I'm a big fan of remington so I'm not a Wby fanatic by no means. The fact is that most guns that are factory store bought will not shoot as good as a custom gun period, but there are exceptions. The other fact is most people can not shoot good enough to ever know the true potential of any gun.

I am not saying this is you Joe-but in all honesty with the Rem's
,Savages, Winchesters etc if it aint shooting sub 1.5 from the get go then there is issues somewhere.

Either the gun has a serious issue and or generally I've found it to be the nutt behind the butt that has the issues more so. And I would guess those fellas are the ones that should be embarraessed........

I've not ever seen one of those that wouldn't do sub 1.5" from about the get go with no tweaking.

Now the Wby is another issue, I have seen that.

Dober

Very true,but when you pay the high price for a Mark V,you should be able to expect it to shoot as good as any other gun costing as much,custom or otherwise.



Also true,but when I can consistently shoot much smaller groups with other rifles in similar chamberings,I can rule out my shooting abilities as a factor.

I'm with ya on that Mark.

So if Krieger's button rifled barrel is the chevette of the barrel world where does that leave the rest of the poor schmuck button rifled barrel makers like Lilja, Hart, Pac Nor, Douglas and Shilen?

I bought all my Weatherby's used from people who couldn't get them to shoot. 3 Accumarks and one real skinney barreled German 300Wby that the previous 3 owners said wouldn't shoot under 6". I didn't even clean that one and went right out and shoot a bunch of under 1/2 groups with one measuring .291" I hated it too due to the kick and sold it to buy the Accumarks. My 300Wby Accumark with the chevette barrel doesn't get shot at 100 yards much as I usually spend my time running groups on steel at 500 yards and over. Best group to date was a sprawling 3" group at 885 yards. I'm pretty sure you couldn't bring enough ammo to even walk them in at 885.

All 3 of my Mark 5's triggers are adjusted to under 1 pound without any creep. That would take an aftermarket trigger to get this quality on a Remington. New Sendero's cost more than I paid for any Weatherby.

Again you missed the point.It is a Criterion barrel,not a Kreiger barrel.

There are some very high quality button rifled barrels available,but that is not the point.The point is that some people were mislead by Weatherby into believing that their rifle has a
real Kreiger Barrel.



I hunt with my triggers at 44ounces,as a one pound trigger pull would not be practical on a hunting rifle that is used in cold temperatures.The remington triggers work well at 44ounces.



And new mark Vs cost most than a new sendero,some almost double the price.

Yes our are right if I the Mark V I bought would not have come in after being shot some I would have been very disappointed. The last M700 I bought and still have is a 300RUM and it shot a 1.25 3 shot group right out of the box first the shot I fired in it. After 4 or five trips to the range and 3 boxes of bullets later it was around .75" - 1". Needless to say not bad. After a trigger job and a muzzle brake it will shot .5- .75" and it will throw a 1" group sometimes but that happens after shooting a lot. I bought a 30-06 in a 700 adl that would not shoot better than 2" group and that was trying several different loads and bullets and factory ammo also. I sent it on its way because it was going to cost me as much as paid for the gun to get it to maybe shoot better. I have had a couple experiences like this with remingtons but I have owned a lot more 700's than Mark V's. I guess I bought the only Mark V 270 wby ever made that will shoot under a 1" group. Since it's the only one I own then my experience doe not count and since you say it will not shoot and its a bad gun then I'm going to have to sell it or cut it up into little pieces and throw it in the trash!

Seriously a Rem 710 is about as much as joke for a rifle than anyone has made.

Of course some mark V rifles will shoot Sub MOA,but for the price they all should.After all most of my 700s shot sub MOA as did my S&W 1500,my tikkas,and my Sako.None of the rifles mentioned cost as much as the regular price of a mark V.



I would never own one myself,but the ones that I have seen would do better than 1-1/2" at 100 yards.

Absolutely no doubt no argument that the 710 is the sorriest SOB to come down the pike.

But, if you had me bet on a a group of 710's and a group of MK 5's I would put all my money on the 710's whipping butt and then some when it comes to accuracy out of the box.

No doubt, get of out the wayin, game delaying slam dunk that would happen!!!

Dober

I have 5 Wby's, all on the 6 lug action - 223 rem SVM, 240 Wby mag Accumark, 25-06 Fibermark, 280 Rem Accumark, 30-06 Accumark. They all shoot good - by good I mean with handloads, 3 shot groups under an inch - the 223 is typically 5 shots under 1/2" (sometimes way under). I bought the 223 new, all the rest used (some were as new - the 280 was the most "used"). The only rifle I did anything to, was to rebed the fibermark and float the barrel. The accumarks and SVM were good to go out of the box. Now, I have Tikka T3 and 595, Rem Model 7 and 700, Winnie Model 70, Cooper M21. They all shoot good - the dogs I have gotten rid of. What's my point? I don't know, other then a lot of guys seem to condemn Weatherby's and point to a custom 700 as better. They are probably correct, depending on the level of smithing into the 700. For the $800 or so I paid for the Wbys, an $800 rem rebarrel and stock will shoot about the same or better, depending on the reloads and what not. The Coopers are a cut above those mentioned. The T3 is the most accurate, cost effective out of the box I've had experience with.

Just rambling - buy, shoot and enjoy what you want. Trade off the dogs if and when you get one.....

My Mark V 257roy UL is a sad dissapointment, but for now I still have under $100 invested in reloading components trying to get it to shoot under 2.5"

The opinion of an African Professional hunter

http://www.african-hunter.com/lessons_learned.htm

Mark

That�s my point exactly most people go out and buy a Weatherby in a .300 or .340 and get the crap beat out of them develop an flinch cause they can�t handle the recoil then turn around and bad mouth the rifle when on along it�s them.

By the way I have a .338 Ultra mag that won�t consistently shoot under an inch, even put a new McMillan on it and bedded it, trigger work, you know the normal stuff to get them to shoot to no avail.

So sending it off to APS to get a .338?????? don�t have a name for it right now but it�s based on the 270 AM which is based on the 300 Ultra case.

I seriously doubt that is my situation at all.Below are groups fired with my 300ultramag,which is more powerful than either my 257wby or 300wby.

And I never said it was!!!! So what�s your point?