My son just bought a used Weatherby Mark V at a local gunshop. Nice older gun with a nice wood stock and beautiful blueing. They said it had been there quite a while (like 11 years!). On the left side of the barrel it is marked:
Mark V
Weatherby
300 MAGNUM
on the right side is marked: P537xx Made in W. Germany
The gun shop said the rifle was chambered in 300 Winchester magnum, NOT 300 Weatherby Magnum. To prove it they chambered a round of Remington 300 WinMag factory ammo. After bringing it home I got to wondering if a 300 WinMag round would chamber in a 300 WxbyMag chamber? Looking at the cartridge dimensions it looks like it would. We did a little more research on the 'net and it seems the P serial number indicates it was built in '69-'73 in (then) W. Germany. We saw in another spot that Weatherby did not chamber rifles in 300 WinMag until the mid 90's.
I think the gun shop was wrong and we have a rifle chambered in 300 WxbyMag, not 300 WinMag. But we don't have a round of 300 Wxby ammo to check with. We will go back to the store on Monday and try a 300 Wxby round to verify, but I was wondering what the folks here could tell me about the rifle, and if Weatherby ever made 300 WinMag rifles in Germany.
Thanks in advance for any info.
Mark V
Weatherby
300 MAGNUM
on the right side is marked: P537xx Made in W. Germany
The gun shop said the rifle was chambered in 300 Winchester magnum, NOT 300 Weatherby Magnum. To prove it they chambered a round of Remington 300 WinMag factory ammo. After bringing it home I got to wondering if a 300 WinMag round would chamber in a 300 WxbyMag chamber? Looking at the cartridge dimensions it looks like it would. We did a little more research on the 'net and it seems the P serial number indicates it was built in '69-'73 in (then) W. Germany. We saw in another spot that Weatherby did not chamber rifles in 300 WinMag until the mid 90's.
I think the gun shop was wrong and we have a rifle chambered in 300 WxbyMag, not 300 WinMag. But we don't have a round of 300 Wxby ammo to check with. We will go back to the store on Monday and try a 300 Wxby round to verify, but I was wondering what the folks here could tell me about the rifle, and if Weatherby ever made 300 WinMag rifles in Germany.
Thanks in advance for any info.