Weatherby Mark V 257

Awesome setup! Good looking rifle. And that caliber is an absolute hammer on deer.

How do you like them mounts, I was thinking of trying them on my new rifle. Have you used the Talley before?

If I were ever to get the wants for a Weatherby, it would be what you have. That's a very nice rifle you have set up the way I like them. .257 Weatherby Magnum - what a round.

My Dad gave me a Mark V in .300 WM... I really wish it was a .257 because I really don’t need that much horsepower.

Beautiful rifle and great groups .

Stay safe.

I had to rebed my .257 Accumark, the aluminum bedding block was not indexed into the stock correctly. After that, using 69 grains of IMR-7828 with a 120 Hornady HP I was rewarded with aggs in the 0.6s. Fast and deadly....




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Drooling...

You need to see if that thing would kill an antelope

redneck2 said:

You need to see if that thing would kill an antelope

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The .257 WbyMag will indeed kill an antelope, and a lot more. It has long been my favorite caliber for pronghorn and similar game ever since I was in about the 5th grade and drooled over pictures of Weatherbys in hunting magazines and memorized Weatherby's ballistic tables. Many years later I managed to locate and buy one of those early rifles that were the stuff of my boyhood dreams, and have used it on a number of antelope hunts like here::..

Is that an early Southgate Weatherby Mauser ? With a Balvar 3-9 ?

Gordon said:

Is that an early Southgate Weatherby Mauser ?

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Looks like it to me, too; a lot like the sixty/seventies Browning/Mauser (FN) bolt-action rifle offerings. I much prefer the looks and handling of the more "toned-down, "classic" style stocks over the typical Weatherby MarkV "California Dreaming" wood stock configurations.

Gordon said:

Is that an early Southgate Weatherby Mauser ? With a Balvar 3-9 ?

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Mr. Gordon has a sharp eye. That is indeed one of the early SouthGate Weatherbys built on an FN action and the stock wood is mesquite. I once met a custom stockmaker who had worked for Weatherby in the early days who told me mesquite was a bear to work with and hard on cutting tools, especially checkering tools, and that the varnish they used tended to turn red with age. Which is why old Weatherbys have a reddish hue. The scope, as Mr. Gordon points out is a Balvar 8, which was pretty hot stuff in those days(very expensive.) and 60+ years later still compares well with today's scopes. Added photo here is a cautionary warning about giving your wife first shot on a hunt, or she's liable to use your rifle to bag a super buck, like this record book trophy....

The "stockmaker you knew" wasn't Joe Dutra ? He was Weatherby's Gunsmith (which included stock making) during the period and I got to know and get some of his rifles when he was getting old in San Jose Calif.in mid 1980s. He had a side business of producing odd "swamped" octagon barrel contours in his basement . Any way I too had a Mesquite stocked .378 Weatherby on a Shultz and Larsen action from that period. I sold it not too long ago as it was a horrible kicker. Most of the big caliber rifles of the old custom Weatherby series were "Desert Ironwood" which is that variety of screw bean Mesquite. Indeed a notorious difficult wood to work with but unbeleiveable tough. Your .257, sir, is flawless and the custom checkering pattern very attractive !

Offfhand said:

Mr. Gordon has a sharp eye. That is indeed one of the early SouthGate Weatherbys built on an FN action and the stock wood is mesquite. I once met a custom stockmaker who had worked for Weatherby in the early days who told me mesquite was a bear to work with and hard on cutting tools, especially checkering tools, and that the varnish they used tended to turn red with age. Which is why old Weatherbys have a reddish hue. The scope, as Mr. Gordon points out is a Balvar 8, which was pretty hot stuff in those days(very expensive.) and 60+ years later still compares well with today's scopes. Added photo here is a cautionary warning about giving your wife first shot on a hunt, or she's liable to use your rifle to bag a super buck, like this record book trophy....View attachment 872291 View attachment 872292 View attachment 872293

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Pretty Rifle! I have never seen one of those early Weatherby's, you are lucky to have such a work of art.

Offfhand said:

The .257 WbyMag will indeed kill an antelope, and a lot more

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I trust you understand that my comment was purely in jest. I’ve always pretty much assumed the .257 to be perhaps the ultimate antelope rifle. Shoots about as flat as a high performance varmint rifle with moderate recoil

I have a good friend that owns one made long ago. He’s never shot it as factory ammo runs $4 +/- each

Unfortunately it was stored for many years in a regular, old fashioned glass front gun cabinet with felt to protect the barrel. The felt held moisture and there are deep pits on the outside of the barrel. Otherwise it’s pristine

Gordon said:

Any way I too had a Mesquite stocked .378 Weatherby on a Shultz and Larsen action from that period. I sold it not too long ago as it was a horrible kicker.

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It hurts just to see the size of that round. Roughly equal to a milk jug. I’m sure it’s really good for something, but I’m not sure what “something” is. Big bears maybe

I knew a guy that had a .30-378. Only shot it with a brake. Loud rascal. Barrel life was 800 or so rounds IIRC. He sold it when the first barrel was shot out.

Good to see. I shot a doe the other day with a 7mm PH. Same as exit as you got, they been very consistent. Tho think I'll go back to speer hotcors the almost 1/2 the cost now.

mshootnit said:

,117gr Sierra ProHunter bullet (discontinued)

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..... It's a shame they discontinued that one; as it's my favorite .25-06 bullet and I intend to give it a try in my 257 Weatherby Vanguard. Fortunately I still have a few boxes of them. If I knew they were gonna drop that bullet I would have stocked up even more. Never used that bullet on a whitetail but I know for a fact that they perform flawlessly on Pronghorn Antelope.

mshootnit said:

Thanks, first Mark V for me. Been a Vanguard owner for awhile.

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I am a current Vanguard owner and like it a lot. Killed several deer with it.
A Mark V is my bucket list rifle. Not sure what caliber I want, but I'll get it sooner or later.

There isn't really much comparison between the rifles though. From what I read, the only thing "Weatherby" about a Vanguard is the name stamped on the barrel.