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Why does weatherby get a pass?

dryhumor said:
Remember, when I believe, it was the Bank of Boulder that used to advertise them. Deposit X amount of money for X amount of time and pick your rifle. I very nearly did that a couple of times. It was a decent amount of money to tie up back then, when I needed it more in hand.

Seems like for every 50 rifles chambered in a Weatherby caliber, only a couple were chambered in a common caliber. Most of those magnums.
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Thanks for the trip down memory lane. As a teenager, I remember that add in the gun rags and dreamed of owning a Weatherby MK5. But teenager wages weren't going to make that investment happen, but it sure seemed like a good deal to my young mind at the time. Never did buy a Weatherby of any flavor.
 
To answer the OPs question I think it is a legacy thing going back to just after the end of the 2nd World War .
The man had an idea and he and his son proved it to their satisfaction. When I think of Weatherby I envision Africa and dangerous game and beautiful rifles. My friend has hunted Africa and let me shoot his 340, I imagined it to be much worse than it was, glad I had the chance. I was gifted a .270 Weatherby and have hunted elk with it in Colorado. I am sure that a Weatherby rifle would appeal to just about anyone with some form of gun knowledge or even a nimrod but that should not put everyone that owns one in a certain demographic. Granted I'm sure some people will fall into that category,but not all of them. It's all relative after all in Europe a Mercedes Benz is thought of as no more than how a Ford would be seen over here.
Matt
 
I tried a couple Weatherbys years ago. Beautiful rifles, Mark 5s. I like the cartridges but the freebore was very long, I didn’t like that. The brass was expensive, good brass and it’s not like you need a ton of it but it turned me off a bit.


I can see the attraction though…
 
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Did Roy kill a big Alaska bear with a .257 ? My .257 is a mark 5 bought it before I got married and had kids. My .300 is a 700 remington. Poor boys weatherby. I felt like Elmer Keith when I shot through lengthways with that .300. On a drive kicked him out of a weedpatch only shot I had. Didnt do that again. Doug
 
redrockranger said:
There still is nothing that a 30 06 can't do anywhere in the world.
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Agree,.. ^^^ espec with, Today's modern,.. Powders / Bullets, BUT,..
I went from, a .30-06 driving, 150 grain Bullets @ 2,900 fps to the .270 Weatherby driving 150's, 3,077 fps AND,..
in Pre-Range Finder Days THAT,.. "Helped",.. a Bunch.
As a Lefty, in Those Days, My Choices were Savage 110 or Weatherby Mk5 ( T'was, a NO Brainer for, Me ! ).
Remington had NOT, started building, "Lefty's",.. YET !
 
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Sometimes I question people who say that the Weatherby cartridges are older and not as efficient as some more modern ones. I have a 7 mm Weatherby mag and with 72 grs of Norma MRP I can get 3156 ft/sec from my 26" barrel using a 175 gr Hornady Interlock. Is there a "modern" day cartridge that can do much better.
 
Well I guess it's time for me to get flamed for my opinions on the subject that the OP brought up.

I always admired the Weatherby rifles when I was younger. But making just over 1980s minimum wage, it was admiration from afar.

Now that I'm older, hopefully wiser, and in a much better financial situation, it's not so much a dream.

Still I didn't own a Weatherby Mark V until the other year. Now I have 3.
2, I hunt with, one is a Greman made Deluxe that is in the safe.
I was originally looking for the Mark V Hunter in 280AI.
I could have gotten one in another, non Weatherby cartridge, but the 280AI was hard to find at that time.

As for Weatherby's newer cartridges. Weatherby promotes them as hunting cartridges. They aren't trying to pretend that you can shoot a fly off of a T-Rex at 3,000 yards.
That and I can walk into a gunshop and ask for a Weatherby Rifle in any number of cartridges.

When I was looking for another 7mm-08, all that was available from most of the manufacturers was the 6.5-30TC, or 350 Legend.
 
When I was 20 years old I took a job at the LGS. I didn't know much about firearms when I started but I caught on pretty quickly. My first rifle was a LH Rem 700 in 30-06. It didn't take long before I bought one of those snappy Mark V LH rifles in 7Wby. We had a custom built LH 460Wby on the shelf that a customer ordered and never picked up. He lost his 50% deposit. The rifle sat on the shelf for a couple of years but who really wants a LH 460Wby? I made a couple offers on the gun but the boss always turned me down. One day he asks if I really want the rifle. He said if I just paid the balance due that it was mine. I walked out with the rifle at less than half of its value at the time.

A few boxes of 500gr solids really taught this 150lb kid a lesson. That thing was brutal. I let my buddies shoot it too. None of them would shoot it a second time. LOL I immediately started reloading Hornady 300gr hollowpoints. Even the 300grainers recoiled but they were livable. I'll never know why I bought that rifle because the only thing that I ever shot with it was fat PA groundhogs. Eventually, I regained my senses and sold the rifle to the next fool.
 
danny said:
I don't get that, but "ok".

Edit: To you, Cooper must be "white trash", too. I think I get it. White thash guy buy nice expensive rifle, wealthy guy buy cheap, junky rifle.

Danny
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No, a Cooper is a different animal, they shoot very well. Weatherby is expensive, but what do you get besides a name and expensive ammo. Sure, the rounds are fast, so are lots of others without the "cool" name.

I own 4 Coopers, they all shoot better than any Weatherby dreams of shooting.
 
Weatherby was aimed at well heeled hunters who really want "The Best". They were well marketed and nice to look at, but accuracy shooters weren't that into them. One of the things that set their cartridges apart was the rounded shoulder, which drove a lot of people crazy. Minute of water buffalo was plenty accurate.

I actually did a photography project with them. I met and photographed Roy and Ed when they were still in Southern California. Back in the early 80s.

They were incredibly nice to me and very respectful.

Weatherby has always been a bit like Leica in my mind. Largely bought by well to do professionals who want to be able to say they have the very best.
 
RCE1 said:
Weatherby was aimed at well heeled hunters who really want "The Best". They were well marketed and nice to look at, but accuracy shooters weren't that into them. One of the things that set their cartridges apart was the rounded shoulder, which drove a lot of people crazy. Minute of water buffalo was plenty accurate.

I actually did a photography project with them. I met and photographed Roy and Ed when they were still in Southern California. Back in the early 80s.

They were incredibly nice to me and very respectful.

Weatherby has always been a bit like Leica in my mind. Largely bought by well to do professionals who want to be able to say they have the very best.
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There is nothing wrong with some pride in ownership and identifying with a brand or two that you like, unless you get all creepy fanboi about it or go all 6.5 or Creedmoor weird.

Danny
 
With the Weatherby rifles I have and have owned I've always been happy with their accuracy. All were slightly less than MOA with the best being a 257 that shot slightly less than .75 MOA. Weatherby has always said that they don't chamber target rifles but make hunting rifles.
 
Lonny in ID said:
Thanks for the trip down memory lane. As a teenager, I remember that add in the gun rags and dreamed of owning a Weatherby MK5. But teenager wages weren't going to make that investment happen, but it sure seemed like a good deal to my young mind at the time. Never did buy a Weatherby of any flavor.
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I hear ya. I had chances through the years to buy them. Most of those were magnums; and a lot of them had some pretty spiffy looking wood. Just never did buy any of them. Those older ones carry good value nowadays.

I would be curious what a fast twist 257 WM would do, with an appropriate freebore. That might be interesting….
 
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