Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Why aren't Weatherby's mark 5 more popular

They have Remington's 3 rings of steel, Sako's short bolt lift....

But you never hear of them in competition?

The main reason is they're not as common or cheap as a 700 action. They're also heavy which is a concern in some competitions.

They are very well built actions but the styling of the stocks has fallen out of favor for more straight come classic styles with dull finishes.

everything horseman said, plus mk5's started out too expensive for the common gun buyer. weatherby's are like sako, kimber, cooper, and any other high end rifle. most folks don't have that much scratch, or they don't want to spend that much. weatherby caught on and brought out the vanguard, which i am sure outsells the mk5 by at least a 6-7 to one margin. ymmv

I have to agree with that.

Do they make Mark v with detachable magazines?

Price and limited cartridge offerings.For WBY money I'd rather a Sako or a Nosler Custom rifle.

One reason that I haven't owned more than I have is that I don't like the Weatherby stocks, especially the wood stocks. I can live with the synthetics for a while, but have always ended up replacing them with either Pacific Research/Rimrock or McMillan stocks. I end up with a rifle that costs at least half again as much as similar rifles from other manufacturers.

That said, I kind of like the stock on my new Back Country .300 Win Mag--it may have more staying power than the factory stocks on the other Weatherbys that I have owned.

Anyone ever calculated the amount of bearing surface on the 9 lugs of a MK V vs. 2 on a Rem, Win, etc?

Mating 18 surfaces seems like maybe more complex and easier to bugger up than mating 4 on a traditional 2 lug bolt.

I know this is a common complaint about MK V actions but truthfully every MK V bolt head I've ever looked at seemed like wear was even on the back of all the lugs. I'm sure some aren't but I've not ever seen it. I've seen more than one 700 with only 1 lug making contact.

Competition actions are usually trued up, and it's a hell of a lot easier to true up a 700.

Because of the stock design my MkV 270 Weatherby has less felt recoil than my 7mmRem Mag or 264 Win Mag or several other comparable cartridges.Yeah I like mine and am glad not every dog and dickhead has one. You asked. Magnum Man

The MK V is a schit action. Heavy,9-lugs is a [bleep] joke,their triggers suck and the mag capacity wanting. I've setback lugs and broken triggers both. None of which is subjective. Weatherby's get better as you diminish the lugs and the 2-luggers are the pick of the litter and by light years. Hint.

Now stock ergo's are somewhat subjective and I can suffer most of their mainstay stock designs,though they ain't favorites.

Roy's chamberings have always been farrrrrrrrrrr better in their relative merit,than the Company's rifles.

Re-hint.

Ive hunted with a 340 wby for over 40 plus years in my case and my two sons , as soon as they were old enough to handle the rifles have both hunted with 340wby rifles since each boy was about 20 or so, all of the wby 340s were converted to fibermark rifle stocks as soon as those were available, after awhile you get to know the few minor flaws but the basic rifles both accurate and dependable , only my 375 H&H sakos are in the same class in my opinion, Ive never cared for the wood stocks but really like the fiberglass versions

40 years is a fair stretch for a receiver...how many barrels do you figure you've shot out upon it? I've a 20yr old receiver,that's on it's 6th,though it assuredly ain't a Weatherby of any ilk.

Funny how it works.

several of those 340s are on second or third barrels ,If I remember correctly, I had http://www.shilen.com/ do the last few and got good results, but that was over 15 years ago, so they don,t wear out barrels that quickly ,like a 257 wby would, but then I generally only shoot 20-40 cartridges a month thru the individual rifles, and don,t always bring the same rifles to the range

Why aren't they (Wby Mark-5's) more popular ?
They are ... we just don't let the unwashed masses in on the secret handshake !
- - -
There are lots of things that work well, that aren't
necessarily used in benchrest or "competition".
Not to mention ... your "bolt-handle" not falling off !
- - -
You couldn't buy any of these from me ...

My AT&T rifle - SS Mark-5 25" in .300 Roy
SS Mark-5 25" (Blackstar barreled) in .300 Win-mag
Mark-5 Accumark .340 Roy

... Silver Bullet

Even a time-machine loses half its value ...
the minute you drive it off the lot.

Cost was the only thing that kept me out of the market. Time eventually rectifed that issue though.

I owned a Super Big Game Master (SBGM) before they dropped that name and started calling them Ultra Lights. I loved mine, no problems at all.

I would like to have another one, but wholesale cost on an Ultra Light is a little over $1400; I just can't justify that.

They always seemed very heavy to me in the butt area.. Also when I started shooting and buying my rifles, Wea. had a horrible reputation for accuracy.. Now this was in the late 50's and 60's.. I know that has changed for sure..

I love the Weatherby MK V Ultralights but after My 4th brand new Ultralight rifle I still couldn't find one that would shoot so I gave up the quest, at $1350.00 a pop I had to quit....Another thing I never liked about the Ultralight rifles was they have chrome moly actions, you can't buy a stainless Weatherby MK V, in todays market that is ridiculous!................Hb

I think the best idea they had with the MkV action was when they were going to take the Varmint Master action and chamber it for the .250 Savage and called it the Whitetail Deluxe. It was to be a lightweight gun but it never went into production for some reason.....bastids!!