I owned a few Wby.'s over the years. I had a 340 that i thought was the cats meooow, untill i took a shot at a moose at fairly close range. The moose didn't go down, and when i racked the bolt back, it came out in my hand!!! I fumbled around untill i got the bolt back in, and finished the job.
The bolt stop had broken in half, and it was a very common problem at the time. It's been corrected now.
Those 9 locking lugs are so small, that "junk" (like a very small stick or dirt) can fall in there and jam the gun, and also if you look them over carefully, you will see that they all aren't even touching. Even after fireing many many rounds several of lugs still won't be touching. ALL of these actions should have been lapped in, before the bbl is ever fitted to it!!!
Then there's the stocks. I've sent back a couple because the stocks were so full of knots, i couldn't believe it!! And one had a big knot in the wrist of the stock, and cracked!! I will say, that when it came back to me, it had a really nice piece of wood on it, and was layed out well in the blank.
When i was bench rest shooting a lot, every Wby. owner that shot at our range soon had a 700 Rem. to compete with!! No Wby. rifle ever won a match even one time at the club i was a member of, while i was there.
As a average hunting rifle, they are fine, but they ARE over priced and a better rifle can be bought or built for the money a Wby. cost!!
I still have a 240 wby., but it's built on a 700 Rem. action!!
Drilling Man
