Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Weatherby Mark V Question

Just responding to your blanket assumption about why people don't like Weatherby rifles.

+1!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well I certainly appreciate everyone's input so far. Thanks for the link stubblejumper, that was interesting. My stable is overwhelmingly dominated by Remingtons at this point, but handling the Mark V piqued my curiosity.

I handload for all of my rifles, so no worries there, and basic tasks like floating the barrel wouldn't be a problem either.

Assuming accuracy is addressed, has anyone found any reliability issues?

Only concern with the Weatherby product is that in my experience the Vanguards outshoot them hands down, at least the 5 I have do.

You guys are a tough crowd...

I don't see how a factory rifle that is guaranteed to shoot 1 1/2" with factory hunting ammo would be considered to be below the bar...I really don't see how a rifle that shoots inside 1 1/2" would be any great handicap in the field.

The Mark 5 is primarily a hunting rifle, not a paper puncher, especially considering how thin the barrels are on the Mark 5. Even so, try it with some match bullets and it will shoot tighter groups. The versions with better barrels will shoot much better. My handloads shoot about 5 times tighter than any factory ammo I have used anyway.

The Mark V is a large dimensioned action...larger than it needs to be for most of the rounds it is chambered in. I like the 6 lugger, but the Vanguard is a much better value...
Weatherby even likes them enough to put their name on them.

TC

And I to your blanket assumption why people shouldn't

I have owned 3 Mk V's. A 300 Deluxe, which shot an inch at 200 yards, but weighed more than Mama Cass, An 06 Lightweight that shot patterns up to 6 inches, shot that one about 400 times trying to get it good, no dice, and a 708 synthetic that I never shot because I couldn't keep it from jamming, about every 4th time it was cycled. First thing I do when I get a new rifle is run some rounds through the mag, have had several, that would not feed. I made at least a dozen calls to Weatherby, who didn't want it back, said let the warranty shop take care of it. The Gander Mountain in Wausau where I got it wanted nothing to do with it, and they are the warranty place for weatherby. They said I should just live with it. That didn't happen as I took it back there one day about a year after I bought it and the dumass behind the counter bought it back from me for $75 more than I paid for it on closeout. Had a problem with an Orion O/U shotgun, too. First it doubled on me several times, then after the smith worked on it, it would only shoot one barrel, and then wouldn't switch. So I had a $1200 H&R. Done with Weatherbys.

That barely was entertaining but certainly not an article of facts. The only negative word he could say about the Weatherby rifle was nothing to do with the rifle at all. It had to do with shooting in hot weather. After 8 shots in a row it would get so hot that the bolt lift got sticky due to high pressure/overheated ammo. A least Weatherby put a bolt handle on that will take a pounding by a 2 pound hammer. More than a few Remington bolt handles have fell off just from the vibration from shooting. If they ever start going off when you release the safety then you need to have the trigger adjusted. You out to see what a Remington is like with not enough sear in the trigger. No need to release the safety. Just cocking one will set it off when you close the bolt handle.

Weatherby never tried to tell anybody they were putting cut rifled Krieger barrels on production rifles. The catalogs and their advertizing clearly state Criterion barrels. The barrels are made specifically for Weatherby by Krieger under the Criterion label so as not to confuse anyone that these were button rifled, hand lapped, premium barrels rather than the publically available Krieger cut rifled barrels. I talked to Krieger about it. It was a joint effort. They are built to the same standards as the finest button rifled barrels in the world are made to and it shows. Krieger could not produce the volume of cut rifled barrels for Weatherby so they decided to do something that was much faster to produce but still would meet what Weatherby was looking for in quality.

You haven't paid attention, if you have a Mark V you need to go and throw it in the trash right now becuase it will not shoot. Also anybody that claims they will has no real knowledge of gun or hunting or anything. I'm so broken hearted that after 15 yrs I just found out my 270 wby is junk and won't shoot.

How much is it? The fun of guns is trying them out and not loosing our shirts. If its a good price then try it out. I am not a Weatherby fan by the way but the one 378 that I had was accurate.

My smith/dealer hunts with a Weatherby 338-06 LH because he likes it. He can make anything he wants.

To add that I did a quick search of Gunbroker for some price ideas and they don't have anything firm. Those rifles are not inexpensive however. Someone would have to help with info. on a Weatherby scope also. Not my brand of gun stuff but many like them.

http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.asp?Item=85697229

I made no such blanket statements.I pointed out my own experiences with mark V rifles,the fact that the Criterion barrels are not real cut rifled Kreiger barrels,and that the Weatherby accuracy guarantee is not as good as some people seem to think it is.



Weatherby made a habit of using the Kreiger name instead of simply calling them Criterion barrels.Why do you suppose that was?I believe that they kept using the Kreiger name to mislead people that didn't know better into believing that the barrels were really the well known Kreiger barrels.Judging by the number of people on this and other forums that have claimed to have mark Vs with Kreiger barrels,the ploy appears to have been successful.

Whenever there is a post about Weatherbys you can always rely on Stubblejumper to bad mouth them. Weatherby clearly calls them Krieger-Criterion barrels,and I find it incredulous that myself having owned quite a few MKVs they ALL shot sub MOA and most sub-half MOA, yet his always had accuracy problems. I must add mine have always been MKV Deluxes and one Accumark.

The report on African Hunter was accurate, and it was due to hot weather and Weatherby ammo that I've also experienced some hot issues with but not the rifles. I know I spoke and know the author of the piece, but what SJ leaves out was the abysmal performance of the Remingtons who BTW, offer NO accuracy guarantee on their rifles. You can hate Weatherbys for whatever reason, but saying they are not accurate is bull. jorge

Fondled a Weatherby Mark V Ultralight in 270 Win at one of the local shops earlier today. While I wasn't overly impressed with it, I guess it would do. I sure as hell wouldn't buy one though at the price they want for one! The bolt was sloppy, the metal work was just so-so, and the overall appearance of the rifle didn't strike me as being on par with something that costs nearly $1,700 bucks.

Since I'm going to be "out of service" for the next 2 months due to surgery, I'd be willing to ship my Mk V 257roy Ultralight to any of you Wby proponents who have "never had a bad one" and you can shoot it all you want. Just return it with the load info you used and the target showing the "bughole" group you got with it.

I'm serious, too!

Just as I posted.Weatherby always adds the Kreiger name instead of just calling them Criterion barrels.



If you read through the entire thread,it is plain to see that I was not the only person who had accuracy issues with the mark V.Or did you simply ignore the posts by Mark Dobrenski and others?

I suspect that in a lot of cases where guys have accuracy problems with Weatherbys its because they can't handle them.

In case you suspect that was my issue,take a look at the 300 ultramag targets that I posted.

If you are EXcluding yourself, my offer stands!

I didn't doubt your words and no rifle's prefect, and I did read the entire post, including Mark's who I have a lot of respect for, but to cast ALL Weatherbys in the bad light you always seem to do is not right. At least Weatherby will make the effort to make things right. I've hunted with them all my life and consider them excellent rifles. jorge

You Weatherby haters need to get a clue you act like there have never not been any inaccurate Remington�s, Winchester�s, or savages or any other rifles just them Weatherby�s and if somebody does post on them being inaccurate you put your heads in the sand like it doesn�t happen.

A buddy of mine bought a new 264 Win model 70 worst gun I ever seen nobody can get that turd to shoot looks like he bought a expensive action how knows that might not be any good ether.

Again I have a LH Remington 700 .338 Ultra mag right now that doesn�t shoot well!!!! Probably just my imagination though.