Build a 7mm Weatherby mag

[Kingofthemountain83]

I have a Weatherby Mark V 7mm mag 26" barrel, that is in need of a new barrel and stock... Got to where the tightest groups I can get are about 2" at 100 yards with the occasional flier that may miss the target... 2 years ago I had the gun checked out by a smith, bore scoped the barrel and through it all... He said it was shot out and the stock developed some water issues over time... Not surprised by either of these things... He showed me on the screen, a lot of the rifling missing and the internal stock issues... I'm happy with the trigger and he said that was in good working order... Nice clean break at 3#... I haven't looked into anything yet and was just looking for ideas, recommendations, people, places, things you'd do to build off this action? It's the trap door model from 1986, made in Japan... Can it be converted to a detachable mag?

[b23]

Don't feel bad about your poorly shooting 7 Wby mag because you aren't alone.  Back in 1987 I was at a gun shop and came across a MkV in 7 Weatherby mag that seemed like way to good of a deal to pass up so I bought it.  It too was a Japanese made MkV and it was used but looked nearly new.  I was barely 18 at the time and still had a love affair with Weatherby's.  That rifle turned out to be hands down the worst shooting POS I have ever owned.  On it's best day it maybe shot two inch groups and it didn't really matter what bullet or ammo I put through it.  Ironically I shot a lot of game with it but back then most of my shots were usually well under 200yds.  Hunted with it for a number of years until Weatherby came out with the Accumark and I sold it and bought one of those in 300 Wby which turned out to be one of the very best shooting factory rifles I ever owned.

When rebarreling it the easy part is selecting a barrel because any of your top tier barrel manufactures Krieger, Bartlein, Brux, Hart, Lilja, Benchmark just to name a few will be good to go. 

As for what 7mm to have it chambered in I'd skip past another 7 Wby mag and instead look heavily at the 7 PRC.

I haven't paid much attention to Weatherby's for some time so I'm not sure who if any make a detachable mag conversion kit for MkV's so I can't help there.

[10mmg]

Food for thought. Many of the older 7mm WM had a slow 12 twist barrels making them tough to find a good load with the new better bc bullets. If I was going to re-barrel and keep the cartridge I would look for a faster twist that can handle the new heavy for caliber bullets. It has the ability to speed along like a 28 nosler wit heavy bullets if you can get the twist rate right.

[Kingofthemountain83]

Thank you b23 and 10mm... I hadn't even thought about rechambering it... It use to be a tack driver... I do like the 7PRC... Food for thought...

[str8meat]

Factory 7 mm weatherby barrels usually are a 1-10 twist. Kid at work has 1 and bullets over 150 rifle seems to be finicky. 140 Barnes shoot lights out in that gun, he isn’t a hand loader but keeps his brass and us handloaders do our part for him. If you handload have the brass , dies stw why switch chambering? Hart barrels make sure the best .284 barrels out there. Upgrade the nasty old weatherby triggers and a solid aftermarket stock and see what happens. I have found the best thing to keep accuracy is the action screws .

[Kingofthemountain83]

I've never reloaded but do have a press, die, and a bunch of brass for it... I planned on reloading but have never started... It use to give sub 1" groups with factory Weatherby 154gr spire points... They also worked great on deer and elk for cup and core bullets...

[b23]

They also worked great on deer and elk for cup and core bullets...

LOL!  You make it sound like cup and core bullets are a bad thing.  Don’t believe the over hype of others there’s nothing wrong with cup and core bullets they kill stuff just fine. 

[Kingofthemountain83]

They also worked great on deer and elk for cup and core bullets...

LOL!  You make it sound like cup and core bullets are a bad thing.  Don’t believe the over hype of others there’s nothing wrong with cup and core bullets they kill stuff just fine. 

I like them... Think they'd be better if they were bonded but hey... Had a couple separate on elk and a bear but did the job... Where would you get a stock from?

[poor_choices]

I’d consider a different chambering if you’re going to rebarrel it anyway. The standard Rem Mag and the PRC are probably the best options for a 7mm with factory ammo available. The 28 Nosler would be a good one too if you want the extra performance.

I don’t have any personal experience with this product or company, but I do know someone that used this DBM setup for a MK 5 and he was happy with it. I have used the Wyatt’s magazines used in this bottom metal and they worked alright for me.
https://www.lrplongrangeprecision.com/products/long-range-precision-1002-7024

[Kingofthemountain83]

I’d consider a different chambering if you’re going to rebarrel it anyway. The standard Rem Mag and the PRC are probably the best options for a 7mm with factory ammo available. The 28 Nosler would be a good one too if you want the extra performance.

I don’t have any personal experience with this product or company, but I do know someone that used this DBM setup for a MK 5 and he was happy with it. I have used the Wyatt’s magazines used in this bottom metal and they worked alright for me.
https://www.lrplongrangeprecision.com/products/long-range-precision-1002-7024

That is cool... I like that... I'd chose 7 PRC to rechamber... Need to find a smith in western WA...

[bearpaw]

I have a Weatherby Mark V 7mm mag 26" barrel, that is in need of a new barrel and stock... Got to where the tightest groups I can get are about 2" at 100 yards with the occasional flier that may miss the target... 2 years ago I had the gun checked out by a smith, bore scoped the barrel and through it all... He said it was shot out and the stock developed some water issues over time... Not surprised by either of these things... He showed me on the screen, a lot of the rifling missing and the internal stock issues... I'm happy with the trigger and he said that was in good working order... Nice clean break at 3#... I haven't looked into anything yet and was just looking for ideas, recommendations, people, places, things you'd do to build off this action? It's the trap door model from 1986, made in Japan... Can it be converted to a detachable mag?

If you like the rifle itself and want to keep it and just want it to shoot better, the most economical solution is to rebore the barrel to another caliber. You could make it a 300 wtby or a 340 wtby, after reboring you have new rifling.

I had them rebore a 300 wtby to a 340 wtby:  http://www.35caliber.com/index.html