(new) Weatherby Mark V 300 wbymag review

[stagpanther]

My friend's heirloom Mark 5 finally became smoking toast--and he needed a replacement for his upcoming African hunt. I was tasked to find one for him, a call to Weatherby was a futile effort--they had nothing in stock and a 6 month production back-up; they recommended trying one of their preferred retailers, so off I went.

Pickings were slim and sometimes confusing--but I eventually settled on a simple but very classic-looking Mark V sporter--my friend doesn't like "girlie" modern camo patterned stocks.

Weatherby has definitely upped their game with their new factory--and it shows in this rifle. Bore cutting appears clean and sharp at the muzzle with no signs of tool chatter, the chamber is nicely polished and the freebore to lands also is cleanly done. The biggest changes from older generations Mark 5's are the extensive use of ceracoating and modernization of their famous radial 9 lug in-line bolt--which now sports fluting and a shorter 54 degree throw. Like previous Mark 5 magnums the barrel is not entirely free-floated--although I have not yet removed the stock to examine the innards--it too has a "harmonics bump" that contacts the barrel, but unlike previous generations this one appears to be moved back a few inches towards the receiver--why, I haven't a clue, but I trust they know what they are doing and that it will have no problem grouping within their guarantee--I have yet to shoot a rifle of their's that has failed to do so. The trigger come stock with a pull just a smidgen under 4 lbs--which by coincidence is exactly where my friend likes them. My friend selected low rings to take advantage of the shorter bolt handle throw, though I personally don't especially care for a low scope mount on a rifle that has the significant Monte Carlo swell on the stock that are present in most Weatherby stocks.

Simple, lightweight, classic-looking and powerful--what's not to like?

 

[taylorce1]

That is a pretty rifle!

 

[stagpanther]

I love it!

I'm up against a desperate timeline--I have to zero the scope today and Henri is bearing down on us, winds are already picking up even though we are a day out from the "main event" taking a direct hit on us. My shooting life is never boring.

 

[reynolds357]

My friend's heirloom Mark 5 finally became smoking toast--and he needed a replacement for his upcoming African hunt. I was tasked to find one for him, a call to Weatherby was a futile effort--they had nothing in stock and a 6 month production back-up; they recommended trying one of their preferred retailers, so off I went.

Pickings were slim and sometimes confusing--but I eventually settled on a simple but very classic-looking Mark V deluxe--my friend doesn't like "girlie" modern camo patterned stocks.

Weatherby has definitely upped their game with their new factory--and it shows in this rifle. Bore cutting appears clean and sharp at the muzzle with no signs of tool chatter, the chamber is nicely polished and the freebore to lands also is cleanly done. The biggest changes from older generations Mark 5's are the extensive use of ceracoating and modernization of their famous radial 9 lug in-line bolt--which now sports fluting and a shorter 54 degree throw. Like previous Mark 5 magnums the barrel is not entirely free-floated--although I have not yet removed the stock to examine the innards--it too has a "harmonics bump" that contacts the barrel, but unlike previous generations this one appears to be moved back a few inches towards the receiver--why, I haven't a clue, but I trust they know what they are doing and that it will have no problem grouping within their guarantee--I have yet to shoot a rifle of their's that has failed to do so. The trigger come stock with a pull just a smidgen under 4 lbs--which by coincidence is exactly where my friend likes them. My friend selected low rings to take advantage of the shorter bolt handle throw, though I personally don't especially care for a low scope mount on a rifle that has the significant Monte Carlo swell on the stock that are present in most Weatherby stocks.

Simple, lightweight, classic-looking and powerful--what's not to like?

Nice rifle. Cosmetically WBY has upped their game. I am not so sure about mechanically. The Japanese Mark V are top of the heap in my mind until I see some serious accuracy from the U.S. rifles. With just a tiny bit of tinkering, the Japanese Mark V were insanely accurate.

 

[stagpanther]

With just a tiny bit of tinkering, the Japanese Mark V were insanely accurate.

So I've heard. My buddy is the classic Weatherby customer--he wants a rifle first and foremost for hunting reliability--which is not just that it goes bang--but that the animal goes down with the first shot. Whether or not a Weatherby is really better at that than others may be debatable, but like many shooters the typical Weatherby hunter tends to be very dedicated to sticking with what they have used and has a very long track record of successful kills. I'm taking this puppy out today and putting some 180 gr ttsx factory ammo through it, but I'm not taking many shots since the 300 IS a throat burner, no matter who makes them.

 

[stagpanther]

I just got back from first firing, quite problematic for me because we are in Henri's direct path and the winds are steadily building, I thought I might get some lulls to squeeze the shots in but basically I was shooting into a washing machine of 25+ mph winds. The first few shots did in fact group inside 3" @ 300 yds--but they were pretty far off the point of aim and so I'll have to go back out to find the "absolute" zero. Assuming we don't get washed away in the storm. After about 4 shots the impacts started wandering--but I am certain most of that is due to being a brand new barrel and rapid copper fouling from the 180 gr ttsx bullets. My experience with the Weatherby 300 mag factory ammo is that it doesn't shoot as well as their partitions in the Mark 5's and vanguards I've fired it in, but that may be coincidence.

Working the bolt is taking some getting used to, there's a definite "wall" to close the bolt which requires a push compared to the older style bolt, and if you have muscle memory of older weatherbys you might be tempted to keep pushing up on the handle to eject a spent case. I advised my friend to spend some time dry-firing exercising with the gun prior to actually hunting with it.

 

[sako2]

Stag that's a beauty. Hope it shoot's as good as it looks.

 

[stagpanther]

Stag that's a beauty. Hope it shoot's as good as it looks.

Not mine--unfortunately. Think it will be a great shooter once I find the right cartridge it really likes. I've always like partitions in weatherbys--but of all things--Weatherby has dropped partitions from their 300 wby mag factory ammo offerings--much to my shock and disappointment.

 

[reynolds357]

Not mine--unfortunately. Think it will be a great shooter once I find the right cartridge it really likes. I've always like partitions in weatherbys--but of all things--Weatherby has dropped partitions from their 300 wby mag factory ammo offerings--much to my shock and disappointment.

Don't know if WBY still loads them or not, but the bonded Norma used to shoot lights out. It was like the magic bullet. Never saw a Wby rifle that would not shoot them well. Funny thing is I never saw a Remington 700 300 Wby that would shoot them.

 

[stagpanther]

Well, my usual bad luck has struck once again, I had originally thought my friend had ordered a deluxe--but I called Weatherby to run the serial # and found out it's a sporter. Sort of. Maybe.

I only got my hands on the rifle Friday and on my first outing on Saturday I encountered some resistance in closing the bolt but it eventually snapped shut if I pressed harder. I wasn't that concerned since I figured it's brand new and maybe the sharp edges needed to wear a bit. However consistency of shots would wander badly after just a few shots (I didn't fire more than 6 an outing), and when I cleaned the bore I noticed it was very badly fouled with copper from the ttsx bullets.

I called Weatherby and found out the gun was actually a "limited dealer special edition" which I never saw on the dealer's description--basically a joining of parts around a bronze cerkoted barrel and action and is no longer in production or available--in fact I couldn't find it on the legacy listings either. We discussed the problem of the bolt and Weatherby said they may have an authorized service center take a look at it if I wanted. Problem is--my friend goes wheels up on a plane to Africa this coming weekend.

I started feeling queasy after I hung up--and decided I might as well check the headspace for the heck of it since the spent brass was still hard to close the bolt on. I was very surprised when the bolt absolutely wouldn't close on the PTG magnum belted GO gauge (I've built about a half-dozen bolt rifles based on the belted magnum case), no how, no way (I did leave the extractor on the bolt, but the extractor was properly engaged over the rim of the gauge). My Hawkeye didn't reveal anything unusual in the chamber--in fact the finishing looks quite nice.

With great reluctance I told my friend I didn't have confidence the gun was completely safe to shoot and that if it were me I wouldn't use it on the hunt. He has an old Mark 5 available as a back-up--thank God--and using the same ammo that I was having problems with in the new gun I dropped three consecutive shots around the bull's at 300 yds slightly under MOA--and the scope was even a lower power (10x) than the one on the new gun.

Boy was I relieved, but I still need to figure out what to do about the new rifle.

Don't know if WBY still loads them or not, but the bonded Norma used to shoot lights out. It was like the magic bullet. Never saw a Wby rifle that would not shoot them well. Funny thing is I never saw a Remington 700 300 Wby that would shoot them.

Norma used to make all their ammo--not a surprise. I drilled the guy on the phone what on earth possessed them to drop the partition, he said there wasn't enough demand. I find that very hard to believe, but they are the experts, not me.