buying a premium big game rifle?
#21

Weatherby Mark V Deluxe 8 1/2 lbs. unloaded without bases, rings, scope, sling, etc.
Heavy gun to carry around in the mountains - IMO anyway
When big game hunting - every ounce counts !!!
Heavy gun to carry around in the mountains - IMO anyway
When big game hunting - every ounce counts !!!
Last edited by Sheridan; 07-28-2009 at 09:48 AM.
#23
Fork Horn
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location:
Posts: 215

Big waste of cash !!!! If you got an ole' 700 action laying around just build the rifle around it...a great barrel, $300....chamber it, $200,....true the action, $150...a jewel trigger, $150...a new fiberglass stock and bed it, $400-500...you can have it anyway you want it for far far less than those $4000.00 ---6000.00 and the long waite.. go to benchrest.com and pick out a real gunsmith and have them do the work...you can have the chamber done anyway you'd like it with any tolerance or clearance you little heart wishes...they might introduce you to come cartridges that you never even heard of that will put a thump in any caliber...no need to waste all that extra cash for no reason......
#24
Giant Nontypical
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: fort mcmurray alberta canada
Posts: 5,667

The Weatherby Vangaurd MOA's are hand selected because they shoot to that level and then get the MOA floor plate and name. Otherwise they are the same as the other Vangaurd's.
#25
Fork Horn
Join Date: Feb 2009
Posts: 107

Long ago, I promised myself that one day I'd own a double rifle of some sort. When I retired, I started looking around. I wanted a rifle that I would use - not a dangerous game rifle - something in a common caliber. I ended up with a Rizzini 90L Express, a O/U in .30-06. The cost, with their proprietary quick detach scope base and rings and a new Leupold scope came to a bit more than the Weatherby but it was worth it for me. It's the prettiest gun I own and perfect for my kind of hunting - whitetails in PA.
Here's a stock picture - no scope, iron sights on a quarter rib.
Here's a stock picture - no scope, iron sights on a quarter rib.
Last edited by Pete D.; 07-29-2009 at 05:52 AM.
#26

My friend Jamie at the local shop had a weatherby in 7mm wmag and hated it also. I think it was accumark maybe? He culled it quick. Thats wayyyy too much money for a production rifle IMO. Too many great customs out there. The same guy that I mentioned above has a cooper and swaers by it and while Ive never shot it, it is a true work of art in all aspects of a rifle! He also shoots 1\4in groups with it. Way too much scope IMO also. If you want the best balance of close to extre range on big game a 4.5x14 is all you need, without the h uge 56mm bell also. 40MM should be all you need, 50mm if you have to go big. Remember, this is all my opinion and you should get what you likke but I think you need ALOT more research before you blow that cash! You might be better off with a regular mag caliber than you would a supermag also. 300 WIN MAG will do all jobs big and small at close and distant range. WBY mag is overkill in close IMO.
#28
Fork Horn
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Hamiltucky, OH
Posts: 485

i am about to buy a premium big game rifle. I have looked around, and I think that I have found the set up that I can't go wrong with. although it will set me back around $3,700.00 I think this maybe the best rifle in its class. It is a Weatherby Mark V Deluxe chambered in 300 wby mag. The scope is the Leupold VX-7 4.5-18x56mm. I know it is pricey but I think it will be the only big game rifle I will ever need(not want), and a great heirloom.
I was just curious whats your idea of A perfect big game rifle? i would like to hear it, and what do think about mine? I will post pics when I bring her home
I was just curious whats your idea of A perfect big game rifle? i would like to hear it, and what do think about mine? I will post pics when I bring her home
All the posts so far just go to show that "perfect" is an elusive target, and that there are always tradeoffs. They also show that we're all individuals, and I think that's what makes this country so great!
When I think "perfect", I skew quite heavily toward a personal connection with a gun. If someone from an earlier generation of my family has hunted with a rifle, it soars to the top of the heap. I'm amazed every time I hunt with the Remington .22 that my Dad took his 1st rabbit with, or the .410 he used to put quail on the family table in Texas in the 1940's. If a gun was used on a particularly memorable hunt, or took an especially amazing animal, it gets that much closer to "perfection" for me.
There's a Griffin & Howe custom mauser in the family that was purchased by my Great Grandfather from Abercrombie & Fitch in NYC (back before they started selling gay sex in the shopping malls...). It's a 7x57, wearing a 2.5x Lyman scope. It's been on mountainsides & in scabbards in Alaska, BC, AB, WY, and MT. It has taken many dozens of fine trophies (including a bull elephant, in Indiana!). It has nicks & scratches to tell the tale of it's nearly 80 years of hunting use. There are certainly fancier rifles out there, chambered for bigger or faster cartridges, wearing vastly superior optics, that shoot far more accurately. But to me, that rifle will always be "perfect".
FC
#29
Fork Horn
Join Date: Dec 2007
Posts: 204

I would have to agree with the majority of the posters here when they suggest having a custom rifle built. You could have a very nice rifle built exactly the way you want it. You could have the stock custom fit to you(lenght of pull, height, etc) Heck you could even have two stocks made for it. One fancy and one for hunting. You would be much happier in the long run as it is a custom rifle that you had built exactly the way you wanted it and not just picked a gun behind a counter and said this will work.
The caliber will work fine for anything in North America and is Weahterbys most popular.
The caliber will work fine for anything in North America and is Weahterbys most popular.