Mark V project

Sunray, 1.5-2" is a decent group for a MK V!? Please tell me that's at least 200 yds then... Ya, your rifle could use some minor work I'd say, especially since you are an experienced shooter and reloader. Regardless of caliber, that thing should be printing 1" groups at 100. All the stuff mentioned above is a great start, one little thing at a time. And remember to let that thumper cool down between shots.
 
I would suggest to clean "all" of the copper fouling out of the barrel, have it free floated, reduce the trigger pull to 3 pounds and fiberglass bed it. Weatherby cartridges love IMR 7828 or other very slow burning powders, using only one bullet, ie: 180 grain. If for some reason that your not receiving sub-moa then I personally would have the firearm re-barreled to a 28 incher. Good luck!
 
I will take all of your advice but I am thinking I may restock it with a Boyds. I used to build stocks from scratch and this may be an opportunity to ease back into that. Also, I am hesitant to do anything to the original stock.

There seems to be two schools of thought between having a pressure point and complete free floating. For those of you that did free float is the consensus that it helped ?


I was looking on the Boyds site and they list a thumbhole stock but they say it will not fit older MkV models. Does anyone know what the cutoff line is for these are. My MkV was built in the 70's
 
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Weatherby only claims a 1.5 MOA group as being their accuracy benchmark. I know there are a few that shoot better but for many 1,5 is about all you get.
A stock may help, a trigger will help you shoot it more consistently but will not change the accuracy of the rifle.

On any Wby rifles we rebarrel, we use chamber reamers with significantly less free bore which DOES improve the accuracy of the rifle. It does however reduce the velocity a little as the massive freebore is how Wby achieves their velocity gains over other cartridges of the same caliber that employ very similar powder charges.

Personally with a rifle that is only capable of 1.5 to 2 MOA groups I would never even consider taking a 600 yard shot on game. The caliber has plenty of killing power at that distance, but to shoot at game 600 yards away knowing that the best accuracy possible with that particular rifle will result in a 9" area that the shot will land in is not a shot I would take or even contemplate. There are too many other variables that will increase the size of the area that the shot will land in. With a 1/2 MOA or better shooting rifle this would be a totally different story.
 
While bedding and stock pressure points are legitimate concerns to address, I consider the trigger pull the most important place to start any tune-up of a rifle... if you are fighting a 4,5 or6 (or more) lb trigger with 20 thou creep,no matter what you do to the rest of the rifle, good consistent groups will be difficult and long range consistency will be next to impossible. If It can be achieved with the rifle (even a hunting rifle) I am trying to test a load for, I will set the trigger as close to 1 lb that I can get it. Then I do my bench shooting until I find what I'm looking for in group size, then set the trigger at 2- 2.5 lbs or so for hunting.
I would spend money on a very good after-market adjustable trigger before spending anything on a stock. Usually any stock can be adjusted, if needed, to work fine with $15 worth of epoxy to bed or $4 of sandpaper to free float (my preference). After addressing the trigger issues, I have had "hunting accuracy" guns turn into "target quality rifles" simply by adding a non-compresable shim or two under the recoil lug and sucking the front screw down tight.

Don't always look for a complicated, hard to achieve resolution to an accuracy problem.

I realize the light trigger advise may start another direction for the thread but the fact is, if your not comfortable or feel safe with a target quality trigger, target shooter sized groups or long range consistency will be a pipe dream for most.
 
sunray said:
"...600 yard..." Can you hit a 9" pie plate every time at that distance? If not, don't even think about taking the shot on game. Not enough energy left anyway.
"...consistently accurate hunting rifle..." You have that now. 1.5 to 2 inches, consistently is great for a factory rifle, but I'd still do the trigger and bedding. Even if it doesn't give you smaller groups.
"...focus your efforts..." Trigger job and bedding. Unless you don't like the factory stock or it doesn't fit you right, changing it will be just a money thing. A barrel would be the same thing. Wolff Springs sells 25 or 27 pound striker springs for $8.29US. Then buy an Acraglas kit.
Once you've done all that, if you're not reloading, you should be. That will give you better accuracy, if you do your part.
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Not enough energy in a 180gr bullet that started at 3200fps at 600yds? What planet are y........nevermind.
 
For the OP, the man that used to be Canada's Weatherby repair guru before he died always suggested take 20 factory rounds, and fire them as fast as you can feed them through the gun. That cured the barrel stress woes he often encountered for many of his clients. That man, though very arrogant by reputation, also made some of the finest custom firearms ever made in Canada.
Do the bedding and trigger at the same time.
 
rem338win said:
For the OP, the man that used to be Canada's Weatherby repair guru before he died always suggested take 20 factory rounds, and fire them as fast as you can feed them through the gun. That cured the barrel stress woes he often encountered for many of his clients. That man, though very arrogant by reputation, also made some of the finest custom firearms ever made in Canada.
Do the bedding and trigger at the same time.
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That suggestion sounds....crazy. I have find that a 3 shot groupdone fairly quickly gets the barrel pretty hot. I was working up a load for my friend's .300 Wby this past September and two 3 shot strings in "normal", not rapid fire, made the barrel almost too hot to touch. I didn't time the shots, but if I had to guess it would be 6 shots in maybe 3 minutes or so.
 
1899 said:
That suggestion sounds....crazy. I have find that a 3 shot groupdone fairly quickly gets the barrel pretty hot. I was working up a load for my friend's .300 Wby this past September and two 3 shot strings in "normal", not rapid fire, made the barrel almost too hot to touch. I didn't time the shots, but if I had to guess it would be 6 shots in maybe 3 minutes or so.
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You wouldn't be the first to call Trillus crazy :)
But his track record spoke for itself. It's not like your worried about eroding the throat on a weatherby...
 
Did he put a sheet of asbestos between the barrel and the stock to keep the wood from burning? :)
 
I have a Mk V 300 Wby (German made, early 60's production, with the long free bore). With 200 gr Nosler Partitions over 7828 or RL22/25 it is a MOA rifle. 26" bbl, but it still gets very warm. I found that letting the barrel cool right down between three shot groups helped a lot. This rifle has a pressure point about 1.5" in from the tip of the fore end. I don't worry about ten round groups as this is a hunting rifle, I have never used more then one shot from it on game, and three should be more then enough insurance. - dan
 
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