Weatherby's Mark V Sporter Part I

The Weatherby Mark V Deluxe is a beautiful rifle. From the varmint/ deer hunting .240 Weatherby to the elephant thumping .460 Weatherby Magnum, the Deluxe is flat shooting, hard hitting and accurate. My one reservation, when it comes to hunting with one more routinely, is the thought of dragging $2,400 worth of very fancy walnut and highly polished blued steel through a rough hunting environment.

The Weatherby Vanguard delivers the distinctive Weatherby appearance and quality at prices as low as $649 by replacing the Mark V action with a standard production twin lug action, by utilizing standard grade walnut and by going with a 24″ barrel instead of 26″. The Vanguard is also limited to a variety of standard, but only a couple of Weatherby cartridges. For folks with a little more budget latitude there is a Mark V alternative that may be a little more rough country ready.

The Weatherby Mark V Sporter has the inherent strength and accuracy of the Deluxe, as well as its classic Weatherby lines. However, it is toned down a bit with standard grade walnut, rosewood tipped and capped, but without contrasting spacers and grip cap diamond blaze. Metal pieces are bead blasted for a low luster blued finish. The Sporter has a 26″ barrel with Weatherby cartridges, 257 through to the 340 Weatherby Magnum, 24″ barrel in 7mm Remington and 300 Winchester Magnums. The MSRP is $1,600.

The Weatherby looks like a large rifle in profile, but it is feels relatively compact in carry. The stock is slender at the wrist and at the forearm, making it very comfortable to shoot from most any field shooting position. The stock is engineered to absorb, disburse and redirect manage magnum recoil for the benefit of the shooter; something it does quite well. It is also a very balanced firearm with the #2 contour 26″ barrel. Eight pounds may seem a bit of extra heft, but I think it is appropriate for a hunting rifle chambered for, in this instance, the .340 Weatherby Magnum.

For the folks who find the Sporter a little too nice for dragging around through the muck, there is the option of the Mark V Fibermark Composite. The Fibermark is essentially the Sporter with a quality synthetic stock in place of walnut and with a modest change in buttstock geometry. The Fibermark version also extends available chambers to include the 240 Weatherby, .30-378 Weatherby and 375 H&H Magnums. At $1,500, the Fibermark shaves $100 off the Sporter’s MSRP. They are both excellent hunting rifles.

The benefit of a company’s magnum experience

The Weatherby’s exterior lines are clean, but there are also nifty touches going on in the interior that are the product of Weatherby’s 60 years or so of building high power rifles. Lately we see V Blocks, rails, frames and all sorts of paraphernalia replacing conventional stock inletting and bedding to get to a more predictable barreled action/stock sandwich. Weatherby’s approach is so effective and so simplistic it is… elegant.

The horizontal green bedding sections below hold reinforcing cross bolts and are machined to mate to the bottom of the action as solid support points. The forward recoil lug on the action fits closely into the forward glass bedded recessed location. Mark Vs chambered for larger cartridges, like the .378 Weatherby, receive an additional recoil lug on the barrel and a corresponding second glass bedded recess in the stock. The barrel floats in the stock’s barrel channel with the exception of one narrow pressure pad located at the forearm/forend junction. The result of all is a relatively light stock that can easily handle the rigors of heavy recoil without fracturing, while providing predictable and stable support of the rifle’s barreled action for enhanced accuracy.

The action is quite compact for its large magnum capacity. The trigger is very clean and fully gunsmith adjustable. Let-off weight is nominally set at 3.5 lbs and is adjustable. The trigger on this particular rifle checked… 3.5 lbs. The safety is a direct intervention type; directly locks the firing pin, locks the action in the closed position and disengages the sear and renders the trigger inoperable.

Pictured below, left to right, a Remington 700 bolt, a Weatherby Mark V bolt and a Vanguard bolt. In addition to the large, fluted bolt body, the Mark V has three rows of locking lugs at three positions around the bolt. Beyond the issue of superior strength, the spacing of the lugs results in the Mark V having a shallow 54º rather than a more typical 90º lift which means improved low scope mounting with plenty of large eye piece clearance.

The bolt closes into a recess in the barrel, fully enclosing the cartridge case in three rings of steel; bolt head, barrel shank and receiver. If you are a shooter over an extended period of time, particularly a handloader and hunter, you will come to appreciate the benefits of this feature.

Weatherby’s .340 Magnum in context

American’s really like their .338″ magnum cartridges and the .340 Weatherby Magnum is a good one. Introduced in 1963 to compete against the 338 Winchester Magnum, it is shown below with a few of the more popular .338″ hunting cartridges. Left to right: 338 Winchester Magnum, .340 Weatherby Magnum, 338 Remington Ultra Magnum, .338-378 Weatherby Magnum.

The 338 Winchester and 340 Weatherby are based on the 375 H&H parent case. Both are blown out cases… most of the taper is removed from the case body span from rim to shoulder for increased powder capacity. Where the 338 Winchester was shortened to fit .30-06 length actions, the 340 Weatherby is a full length case. The Weatherby has 16% greater capacity than the .338 Winchester and 5% greater capacity than its parent, the 375 H&H.

The Remington Ultra Mag is based on the .404 Jeffery, necked down, blown out and shortened. Theoretically it provides 10 more grains of capacity than the .340 Weatherby, however, its overall length is shorter to fit the length of the Remington 700 action. As a result, its bullet is seated more deeply, which effectively makes both of these loaded case capacities approximately the same.

The .338-378 Weatherby is based upon Weatherby’s proprietary 378 Weatherby case and requires the very large capacity of the Mark V action. It is a boomer, perhaps a bit much for most people and available only in a 9 pound version of the composite stocked and muzzle braked Accumark.

The Real Guns Relative Barrel Burner Index assigned to the .340 Weatherby Magnum is 18.9, compared to 15.9 for the .338 Winchester Mag, 20.8 for the .338 Remington Ultra Mag and 19.5 for the .338 Lapua. What does this mean? Just that the .340 Weatherby is probably easier on barrels than any of the .338″ magnums with the exception of the .338 Winchester, which is more of a… petite magnum. The factory freebore spec for the .340 Weatherby is 0.373″ which is actually short in comparison to most smaller and larger Weatherby cartridges, a condition that tends to favor accuracy.

The .340 Weatherby has a SAAMI MAP pressure limit of 62,500 PSI and test barrel nominal velocities of: 200 grain 3,210 fps, 210 grain 3,200 fps, 225 grain 2,860 fps, 250 grain 2,950 fps (Not a typo). Weatherby assigns a muzzle velocity of 2,980 fps to its 225 grain Barnes TSX ammunition, which chronographed 2,987 fps during our testing.

Probably of greater consequence…

With a maximum ordinate of 3″, the .340 Weatherby has a 289 yard point blank range with a minor hold over out to 350 yards. Setting aside the effects of steep angles of inclination on distant shooting, the .340 Weatherby is a dead on cartridge for 90% of hunting situations… maybe 92%.

Shooting impressions… I can do a great Christopher Walken

The only prep for baseline shooting was to set up the scope with an optical boresight, then we shot the center target (right) and then the top left corner target (left) with the first six rounds through the rifle from the sled. Ammunition was Weatherby brand 225 Grain Barnes TSX ammo. The two groups are formed differently, but both measure 5/8″. Not bad for a hot, humid Maine afternoon.

The Weatherby was not as loud as anticipated and recoil wasn’t nearly as significant as anticipated. Another 6 rounds were shot from a conventional rest with about the same results. Recoil was… magnum like, but not unmanageable. I’ve probably been conditioned to expect .338-378 Weatherby like recoil and muzzle break loud, but it was neither.

Final thoughts

The .340 Weatherby and Mark V Sporter make for an impressive combination. With velocity a good 150 to 200 fps greater than the .338 Winchester Magnum, and without an appreciable increase in recoil or muzzle blast, it is an excellent selection for big and dangerous North American big game, even at a distance.

The rifle instills a good deal of pride of ownership, without being so… fancy that it looks out of place at a hunting camp. Throughout a day of shooting, the action remained tight in the stock and with a precise mechanical feel in operation. Very nice rifle and the price is not out of line in the least for this type of product.

Is there anything I would like to see changed? Sure, but aesthetics are always subjective. A minor point – I’d like to see a more satin or even oil finish on the stock. I think this more conservative look would better suit the rifle and make end of season touch up a lot easier. Metal finish? I would not change a thing. Hopefully, we can work in some handload development for this combination before we call this done.

Weatherby’s Mark V Sporter Part I
Weatherby’s Mark V Sporter Part 2