Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Weatherby Ultra Lightweight

Anybody own/shoot one of these in a magnum chambering? How's the accuracy?

I have one in .270 Win that I just purchased of Gunsamerica and haven't shot it yet. I hear they shoot real well, but heat up very quick due to the thin barrel. Once my VX-3 arrives I will let you know. Very well balanced rifle.

I had one in 270Wby.
Shot very well with the 140gr TSX in front of RL22 and 215M primers.

Tried 3 different Ultralights all in 30.06, had zero luck in the accuracy department but damn they shouldered good and of course fit and finish was top notch....I'm even toying with the idea of trying one more time in the same 30.06 caliber, from what I've read here it seems most guy's on this site have had good luck with accuracy, maybe I just have had some rotten luck......Good luck...........547.

Awfully expensive rifle to have that much bad luck!

I didn't like the magnum chamberings in the Ultralight because they didn't feel that light. But maybe that's not such a bad thing with a 300 Weatherby Magnum.

547,
I also had trouble with my 30-06 ULW at first. Bedded the action, removed the pressure point, and touched up the crown and she's a shooter now. I personally believe the crown was the biggest issue. But having an accurate sub 7 lb 30-06 really makes justifying buying another rifle difficult.

I bought a .280 rem in weatherby ul and have never had any regrets.shoots moa with federal premium accubonds. I love my .280 snd i will never part with it. I have to sako 75's
one in stainless synthetic .270 wsm and the other in .308
grey wolf both shoot sub moa with several different factory
loads and i feel are even bettter made than my weatherby ul
but when i hit the woods 99% of the time i reach for the my
.280 ultra light. I have only shot one magnum weatherby ul
it was chambered in .257 weatherby and it shot great.

Smokepole:

I just bought one in .300 Weatherby and after a couple of load trys (inn which I was kinda thinking that maybe I made a mistake ) I found a load that it liked.....and it really liked it (0.5" 3-shot group @100yds). In retrospect it is very similar to the other light barreled guns that I have concerning load development (i.e most are finicky until you find something that they like).

I like the way the rifle handles and the light weight.....until I shoot it off of the bench . Is kinda brutal there!, but offhand or standing it is tolerable and as usual with game in the sights who would know!

I think I'm going to like it and hopefully it will work out well in Alaska this fall!!

PennDog

Smokepole,

My Dad has one in 7mm Rem. Mag. and it is a very accurate rifle. Can't tell you any specifics, but he certainly doesn't have a problem keeping 3 rounds within an inch at 100 yards. He got the 7mm Mag since he was concerned that the standard caliber 6 lug rifles would be "too" light. I believe the magnums go around 6.5 lbs, which is still pretty light for a Mark V action in my opinion.

Test

I agree, At $1400.00 a pop I had to quit trying.......I didn't tinker with any of them though as far as bedding or recrowning, I didn't think I should have had to for such an expensive rifle..................547.

I have 2 in 280 rem and 338-06, both are very accurate. Friend had a 270 win, very accurate, another friend bough a 300 win mag, also very accurate.

Love the rifles and will always have one.

Mine's in .257 Weatherby. Handles very nicely, even with the 26" barrel and prints .75 / 1.00 inch groups regularly with 100 Grain Barnes bullets screaming down the tube.
Tough to beat that combination.

Thanks for the input guys.

What are you guy's calling "very accurate" I consider a rifle that shoots MOA or less very accurate, if it wont do that I don't keep it...............Thanks 547.

547,

All the guns mentioned above are less then 1". Now with that being said, all but the 300 win mag was handloaded for and sufficient time given between shots to allow some cooling. The barrels heat up very quickly. There have been loads especially in the 338-06 that I could not get to print less then 2" but I have 1 load, 180 Nosler that will always do under an inch and a 210 Nosler that is just under. The 280 I'm still playing with but the 140 Nosler have gone under an 1" already. The 154 Hornady are next to play with.

Another point, these guns are not made to be target rifles or long range rigs, they are hunting guns for those who are humping their rifles all day through hill and dale. Even at 1-1 1/2" groups the weight, balance and carry ability would still make up for 1/4-1/2" of accuracy IMHO

How is the recoil with the 300 WM. I would love to add one to my fleet.

Thanks Chip for your group sizes. I agree and think guy's squeezed this kind of accuracy out of these pencil barreled Ultralight's mainly because of the time they have taken working up a handload for their given rifle, I gave up handloading cartridges many years ago and only shot factory loads in the Ultralight's I owned, I think this was the deciding factor in why I couldn't get the accuracy I required...I understand that the Ultralight's for-ta is not going to be at a benchrest competition but for this money I think they should be more accurate than they are, accuracy can be attained from pencil barreled rifles. I've seen Ultralight Arm's that are super accurate and have owned Sako Finnlight's that were very accurate in this weight range.................547.

547:

I know that you disciussed this before but I was'nt paying attention to the details (usual for me my wife would say), but did you send any of the Weatherbys back to the factory for resoultion? It is my understanding that these guns are required to shoot less than 1 1/2" at 100yds with "premium" factory ammo. I did have a buddy that had an original Mark V that he could'nt get to shoot with anything (factory or handload) and Weatherby took good care of him - if I remember right they rebarreled the gun for him.

Anyway just wondering,
PennDog

JTD,

the 300 WM is not bad at all and believe it from Weatherby's stock design more then anything. Also in the mags, add another pd of weight to the rifle as its built on the 9 lug mag action. I've shot 30-06's of other manufacter that felt far worse.

547,

I hear ya and not arguing but it can be done. The NULA is an unfair compaison in a way as your paying at least twice as much. The Sako I have no experience with but all who shoot 'em love 'em and they are known for accuracy.

I don't care which one your shooting, a pencil thin barrel heats up quick and time inbetween shots are going to be needed to shrink the groups

Smokepole-you given any thought to a Kimber Montana in a 300 WSM?

Just a thunk.

Dober