weatherby accuracy

dynaman

are weatherby's all for show or do they match up to other brands for accuracy. on high power rifes

CapnMidnight

Welcome to the forums. I think Weatherby still gaurentes 1moa out of the box, in todays world thats not all that special. Just about any QUALITY rifle and good ammo will match that. It's all in the eye of the buyer.
For what it's worth.
W.D.

tsr1965

quote:Originally posted by CapnMidnight
Welcome to the forums. I think Weatherby still gaurentes 1moa out of the box, in todays world thats not all that special. Just about any QUALITY rifle and good ammo will match that. It's all in the eye of the buyer.
For what it's worth.
W.D.


Actually Weatherby's Gaurantee is 1.5" @100 yards, or that is what it used to be, unless they have upgraded. A lot of other less expensive rifles will do much better, but you have to know what you are looking for. The Tikka T-3 is a good example. I have sold quite a few of them, and at least 80 percent will shoot close to 1/2 MOA.

eastbank

i have a 300 weatherby mk 5 stainless with 26 inch fluted barrel with a muzzel brake. and it will shoot 2.5 inch groups at 300yds with 83gr. hodgens 4831 and a 165 nosler ballistic tip. of course this is from a rest and a leupold 6.5x20 scope. eastbank.

COLT

..In my experience.."they aint what they used to be". Years, YEARS ago they were the nuts for OOTB accuracy....now, a good quality rifle will have great OOTB accuracy better than that of the Weatherby. I sold mine [:D] and bought a .06 Browning A Bolt Medallion w/the ported B.O.S.S.

...I consistantly get 5/8-3/4" 3-shot groups w/150 gr factory rounds @ 100yds. I NEVER got better than 1 1/4" w/ the Weatherby, it was a .300 Weatherby Mag.

...A lot of people poo-poo the B.O.S.S., I love it. If for any reason I want to change bullet weights (heavier/lighter), I take 2 minutes to adjust the B.O.S.S. to the chosen bullet weight, NO re-zero needed! That is GREAT! As an added benefit the B.O.S.S. being ported takes out about 50% of the felt recoil; not that the .06 kicks much but it makes it a real pleasure to shoot. This Browning is the sweetest, most accurate rifle Ive ever had, to be OOTB...[^][:p]

...I have an old mint Rem 700 that is wonderful, love it...but the Browning has it beat...[;)]

....B.O.S.S. = Ballistic Optimization Stabilization System.
Somehow the B.O.S.S. stabilizes and stops the harmonics that are generated in the barrel when you fire, thus keeping the barrel extremely stable; it's made me a believer...[^]

haroldchrismeyer

In my experience, the ones made in Japan have the best accuracy. Usually the best looking wood too.

MG1890

Dynaman -
My Accumark .280 is very accurate. 120gr. Sierra Gamekings & H4831 make 1/2", 5 shot 100 yd. groups, all winter long, in our informal weekly nighttime benchrest matches. This with 6x42 Leupold. More magnification & less mirage would help 1/8" or so.

Greg

JustC

MOST of them I have shot were not as accurate as rifles costing less than 1/2 as much. I have shot a few that were accurate, but most would just make the 1.5moa claim[V]. The 9 locking lug or even the 6 lug design is not inherent to accuracy as most of the lugs don't even make contact. I have a MK V action that has been slowly hand lapped until the majority of lug surfaces are engaging, but I wanted it more accurate than original so I had the smith throw a remington barrel on it in 338RUM. The feeding issues have been major and we are still trying to figure out what the extractor needs to work correctly. If I had had it back, I could tell you whether all this made a difference but it is still being worked on. I will say that the few times I used it as a single shot, it was far more accurate than most weatherbys,....but it isn't exactly an OOTB rifle anymore, sooooo......

skyhigh_seller

Had an Ultra lightweight in .257 WbyMag for a short period of time. Did not shoot it much, but 1 hole group w/ factory 117 round nose ammo (everyone at the range said WTH?) and ~.5-.8 MOA with handloads that came with the gun (100gr polymer tipped?).

The adjustable trigger helps.

I think they walk the talk.

stevecrea

I have had a number of Mark V Weatherbys, in 240, 257, 7mm, and 300 (all Weatherby magnums). Out of the box, most of them shot 1.0 to 1.5 MOA, with Weatherby factory ammo. The Weatherby ammo is hot. You can usually get better results with handloads, sometimes by backing the pressure down. The 240 was in this 1.0 MOA range until I rebarreled it with a Shilen barrel, and used a moderate velocity handload. Then it would shoot .5 or .6 MOA. And that was thirty years ago, when .5 MOA was less commonly achieved than today.

These rifles were all Mark V Deluxes. Weatherby uses a pressure point on the barrel on these.

I have not owned one of the Accumarks, but would like to. The Accumarks use a heavier, free-floated barrel, along with a very good action bedding system, and would most likely give better and more consistent accuracy than the models with the pressure point system.

None of the above rifles that I have owned were the Varminter versions, which are probably more accurate. I have also heard that the Weatherby Ultra Light is very accurate, often shooting better than 1.0 MOA.

Weatherby will guaranty 1.0 MOA through their Custom Shop, and I suspect that one of these will actually do much better than 1.0 MOA.

Three or more decades ago, 1.5 MOA, or less, with the hot Weatherby ammo, was considered more than acceptable for big game rifles, which is what these rifles were marketed for. These rifles were generally not marketed as varminters or benchrest rifles. The big Weatherby cases heated the barrels up rapidly, and the ammo was expensive.

dfletcher

I have a Weatherby AccuMark in 340 WM. Accurate enough, I'm usually in the 1.5" arena. Probably a combo of recoil & not having worked up some decent handloads. Adjusting the trigger is very simple and you can easily get about a 1.5 lb pull, although a 2.5 - 3.0 lb is probably advisable for hunting.

Their Varminter in 204 Ruger got great reviews in a recent magazine article, FWIW.

sandwarrior

I have very typically found Weatherby rifles that I've shot in the past to be right around their advertised 1.5 MOA mark. Not usually better. Once in a while I would hear about one doing fantastic(from someone I believed). I ended up with a Win pre-'64 in one and found it to be very accurate. The round/system itself can be accurate. But as JustC said, getting multiple lugs to fit perfectly is a lot tougher than getting two to fit perfectly.

Anyhow, my take on them is they have the name to back up that they are good rifles and hold resale value pretty well. They definitely lean toward being a status rifle more than a super-serviceable rifle.