Weatherby Rifles and Cartridges

[WAPITIHUNTER]

I thought it might be interesting to start a thread just for us Weatherby owners.

Tell about your rifle, caliber and any outstanding shots you have made or outstanding hunts you have had while using your Weatherby.

I'll Start.

I have a Weatherby Mark 5 Weathermark Alaskan in .300 WBY. It has the Electroless Nickel Finish and black composite stock. Topped with a Burris 4x16 Signature Series scope with the Range finding Reticule.

I bought it 16 years ago from Welchers Gunshop in Tacoma.

I hand load for it and my two loads that I have developed are a 165 gr Hornady Interbond ahead of 86 grains of RE22 @ 3455 fps. The other is a 180 gr Nosler Balistic tip ahead of 84 grains of RE22 @ 3260 fps. I am using Weatherby brass which is made by Norma. Good stuff! Both loads are 1" accuracy or less at 100 Yards.

My Most memorable hunt with it is as follows.

North side unit in Oregon 2001 either sex elk tag. Opening day my brother Finnman and I find ourselves hunting a 16 square mile roadless area surrounding Nipple Butte.
We decided to go in from different sides and see what we could scrounge up. Right at first light way over a couple ridges from the road I spy this nice herd so there I go. Down I go and then up I go. It is straight up and straight down, very steep. I crest this ridge and plop down , dial up the range finding reticle on my Burris 4x16 Signature Series scope and wow! they are still 800 yards away. So down again and up again, this time it was scary steep. I finally make it up to where I think the Elk are and they blow out of there up and over the ridge. CRAP! Up and Over I go to hopefully spot them on the other side. I crest the top of the ridge and find a nice rocky outcropping on the top of the ridge. I am standing there over looking this really nice basin full of Sage brush and scattered Juniper trees and what's this an Elk way on the other side. Then another and another pretty soon a herd of 40+ elk are all over this hillside. I make a scan looking for branched bulls but no such luck. I get on the radio and let my brother know that I am going to shoot a spike because I don't see any big bulls. I settle into the rock pile and extend the legs of my Bi-pod all the way out. I snuggle into the rifle and look across and standing on the top of the ridge is a spike, I decide that he is the one. I am thinking to myself that it is all of 500 yards maybe even a bit farther, I have forgotten all about my range finding reticle at this point and am relying on instincts. I put the crosshairs a solid foot over his back get rock steady and slowly start putting pressure on the trigger. Unexpectedly the gun goes BOOM A good amount of time passes and the echo is dissipating and I hear SMMMAAACCCKKK The entire herd gathers together and takes off to my right, What a sight that was. The bull is just standing like a statue for a good 30 seconds. All the sudden he snaps to and where did everybody go. He starts running  toward me and the lead starts flying. He turns and goes side hill and disappears. Half an hour later I am over where he disappeared and there he is in his bed looking back over his shoulder. I drop down put the cross hairs on the back of his head and lights out. Don't ever do that. His eyes popped out of his skull and his head turned to mush. The first shot took him mid body and just a hairs width in front of  the shoulder. It put a softball size hole I could stick my fist through in the meat. It did not exit and I never found it so I think it was in the soft tissues inside the chest cavity. That was a 165 grain Hornady Interlock. When we got there to pack him out I took my brothers range finder to the top of the ridge where the elk had been at the shot and ranged back to the rock pile a distance of 538 yards. I was 2 miles from the road I came in from and 3 miles from Where we rode the rental horses in. No trails and allot of wind fall. It took 6 hours to ride in, quarter the Elk and load him on the Horses and walk out. They all rode out and because it was my elk I got to lead my horse out with the Elk on it. My brother Finnman shot his 2x2 bull less than 5 minutes after I had. We deboned his and packed it out in two trips that day and got my elk out the following day. We were two sore dudes.

To this day that was the Elk hunt that stands out the most in my mind as a TRUE ELK HUNT.

[WAPITIHUNTER]

Here is what the rifle looks like. I don't have a picture with the elk so you have to settle for one with a deer from Oregon.

[ing]

I'm thinking about buying a Mark V Accumark in 300 WBY without the accubrake. Any objections? My next choice would be the same gun chambered in 257 WBY.

[huntnphool]

257 is a nice one, welcome to the site

[WAPITIHUNTER]

I'm thinking about buying a Mark V Accumark in 300 WBY without the accubrake. Any objections? My next choice would be the same gun chambered in 257 WBY.

No objections here. Stop thinking and start buying. Excellent gun and caliber.

Bye the way 

[257 Wby Mag]

Well, guess you know what my favorite is. I bought mine 10-11 years ago down at 4 corners in Castle Rock. Its a Mark V Ultra Light Weight, 257 Roy. Over the years, I've stacked up a impressive # of critters with it, ranging from Whitetails, Muleys, Blacktails, Black Bear, Antelope, coyotes and even a prarie dog or 2. I've shot the factory 100 Hornady Spire Points from day one, as they produce minute of nats ass accuracy. It wears a Claw sling, 4.5x14x44 Ziess, and Talley rings and bases. Farthest buck shot was 502 over in Idaho, farthest coyote was 408 down around Dayton. It has a homemade paint job too, the factory light grey stock got too stained with blood. grin...

[257 Wby Mag]

I know, its been posted before, hard to argue with that, factory rifle and ammo? Yep.

[ing]

Thanks. I'll start buying as soon as I sell my Kimber. I put it in the classifieds section of this site, but cant find it.  Maybe it just hasnt posted yet. 

[WAPITIHUNTER]

Outstanding 257. Thats impressive. I always liked the 257. I really like the .240 also.

That thing is a tack driver for sure. AWESOME!

[buckhorn2]

I have a 22-250 accumark a 257 accumark and a 300 accumark all are mark 5;s. They all shoot really well I shot my antelope at 625 yards with the 257 in montana last season. I use H4831 in all of them with accubonds for bullets and norma brass. I have 4.5 by 14 50 mil. on  the 300 and 22-250 and a 4.14 50 mil on the 257 with the boone and crocket that takes a little getting use to but works when you get use to it. I also have a 378-338 custom weatherby with a 6.5 by 20 leupold I reload for with 8700 powder for long range shooting it holds 117 grains of powder shooting a 250 grain accubond it;s a neat gun.

[WAPITIHUNTER]

That .338-.378 would be and Elk smasher. Nice set of Weatherby's you have there and nice shot on the Antelope. Congrat's.

[norsepeak]

A 117 grains!!!!!!  holy crap that's a lot powder!!!!  I'm only using 98 in my Allen Mag.  That's a cool rifle though, I bet it'll buck the wind at long range nicely.  I've got a 300 wtby Vanguard, pushing 165 and 180 grn. Nosler ballistic tips and Barnes tsx over some Retumbo and H1000. I've got a Leupold VX-II 3-9 on it.  I like it, but it won't hold a candle to my Allen Mag.