weatherby 30-06 v2 new gun review

[kimba]

I RECENTLY BOUGHT A WEAHTERBY V2 in 30-06. I had been shooting a 260 ( several) for lr and hunting. I shot an elk this year with it and cannot complain too much as it went around 100 yds and I finished it with a second shot.

I decided to go 30 cal so looked at options. I will not buy remcrap and savages that I have been shooting are a little crude - though good shooters. I was set on a kimber till I handled one and saw the action was not smooth and the stocks were not as good as I expected.
Upon further research, I decided to look at the weatherby v2. I found one in a sporting goods store for 579 with a hard case and a basic redfield 3-9 scope.

The stock is better than the kimbers and that surprised me. I took actioned barrel out of stock and looked again at the stock. No flex at all! I was skeptical as not free floated but who knows.
Went to range with some round nose hor in 180 that I had on shelf for break in and a bunch of 178 amax in 55.5 of h4350, 56, 56.5, 57, 57.5 and 58 grn seated 5 thou off lans, lapua new brass and cci lr primers 5 shot group no rest between shots for each group. I went to range today and was surprised that all loads shot silly well despite pencil barrel and not waiting a silly amount of time to cool barrel. I cleaned before each new load and first of 5 shots for each load was on clean barrel. Below are stats:


55.5 with hor rn bullets - .820
55.5 178 amax .881
56 178 amax .587
56.5 .708
57 .443
57.5 178 amax .487
58 .754

The 58 showed some extractor marks - 2 cases out of 5, will stick at 57.5

This is with a 24" barrel with no modifications. I shot 20 180 grn rn rounds through to break in - 1 clean 1 clean 1 clean 5 clean 5 clean 5 clean. No copper fouling noticed and all shot well under moa. A awesome rifle off the shelf!!!!!!

I did allow a few mins cool between loads to check chrony and label targets, but the rifle seemed to shoot the same cold bore as not and same clean as fouled. all these 5 shot groups are with first clean barrel and other four following that with no wait to cool.

I cannot say how impressed I am with this rifle as that is with new lapua brass and all. Many custom remcraps cannot do this after dumping 1k of money into them.

 

[Jim in Cali]

You've seen the light!

 

[kimba]

That review given as I am excited, but for a production rifle to shoot like that with virgin brass and during work up - just a good rifle!. I still have to play with seating depth and tighten the groups up, but am positive it is a 1/2 moa rifle out of the box. This is with the standard, non floated barrel that weatherby does! I was skeptical of the not floating thing, but there was no poi change when barrel got warm. I shot the first of 5 cleaned barrel , then the next four in normal cycle fashion with no waiting. The most interesting thing was no change in impact cold and clean bore vs 4th shot fouled and warm. This was off a sled, but not one anchored to table - all shots through chrony and on target at 27 degrees temps - cold as a teet
The neat thing about this rifle is the stock is stiff so no real change due to shooting posit. I normally shoot of a primos trigger stick in the field and am confident it will duplicate this performance off that. I will test it, but this stock really has no flex and seems to not effect poi

 

[kimba]

You've seen the light!

no sense messing with it as it is a dedicated elk rifle - just need to get a scope for it as the old one on it has gone teets up regarding turrets. Thinking of going with the new burr eliminator 3 or a plain duplex zeiss depending on how much money I can hide from my better half. the redfield that came with it was transferred to my ar and the bad one was an older bushnell elete 6-18.

 

[kimba]

You've seen the light!

nice new bohemian reference!!!

 

[kimba]

I forgot to post velocities for the loads:

55.5 @ 2724
56 @ 2762
56.5 @ 2800
57 @ 2832
57.5 @ 2818 - weird but the first one was low vel, so think it is more along the lines of 2850ish. I did not throw out extremes
58 @ 2913 with 2/ 5 showing extractor marks

Might not show ext marks at 58 with once fired but who knows. I will post on the primer pockets as the 58 is a tad hot Dang near some 300 wm loads in 180 bullets lol.
My goal was over 2800 using 180 class bullets - so I am a pig in mud right now.


average spread and sd not great at best being 45/16, but room to work on that later. This is a 500 yd and under elk rifle so it is " decent I must say".

 

[roninflag]

That is a great report! Have you shot the elk with a the amax before?

 

[kimba]

nay used a 140 berger vld this season in 260. The amax is not as durable on shoulder shots but usually can get a chest shot. using the 178 amax, I am not too worried inside of 400 and it really shines at 400-700 yds. other options will be 180 sst and 180 part. I plan on doing a test this summer to see pen in rl

 

[Nomosendero]

I hear you on the M700 stuff, I have invested in them heavily in the past & really have experienced
few problems with them but most are older too, maybe I am just lucky.
But I do like the recoil lug setup better on the VG, the bolt handle doesn't come off & the extractor is better as well. It seems for some reason the VG barrels are fairly fast, as some folks I know get good velocity with the 24" .257 Wea. VG's & your vel. makes me sit up and take notice, anytime you SAFELY get over 2825 or so with a 180.
Like you I wonder about the bedding, kinda flyes in the face of conventional thought. But yet the accuracy guarantee went from 1.5 to 1 MOA at the same time they changed the stock and bedding.
I think the 24" tube and contour is good for a 30-06 carry rifle.
Eager to hear more.

 

[Jim in Cali]

nice new bohemian reference!!!

Not many would catch that.

 

[kimba]

that's how I roll - love the music and movie quotes.:

Yes, outside of the scope turrets going to hell, the first shoot went well. The first 20 were just hornady rn 180's and they printed well. I think that the factories in Japan have tightened up production qq a bit. I am not a huge hammer forged barrel guy in bolt actions, but whatever they are doing seems to work well.
I did a full clean and got no brass out of it to speak of. No rough spots could be felt as jag went through barrel. I do not have a scope, but cleaning was as easy as my shilens and creighteron. I may have gotten lucky or this might speak to overall quality - who knows as this is just what I have experienced. It is interesting. Will be fun to see how it does when I stretch it out a bit

 

[Demon061]

I've got a Howa 1500 (same gun, different stock). Love it.

 

[kimba]

went for a second range session - cold as a teet here in Montana. When I got home from the 1/2 hour drive home, there was frost on both barrels lol. I swapped some scopes around and put my zeiss onto the weatherby from my savage. I was shooting off a bag with burning fingers and toes from the cold. Managed to stretch the weatherby out to 435 and was hitting the gong at that range each time. I loaded the 57 grn h4350 with the 178 amax and also the 57.5 loads. no change in impact clean or dirty barrel and no changes from shooting - might be too cold out to get very hot a barrel. too many shot marks on the gongs to say groupage and too cold to spray more on. Seems like a shooter and really does not seem to kick much more than my 260 - may be due to raised comb/stock design. I again just went 5 thou off lans on the two loads. I can say the v2 is a great value - perhaps the best low cost rifle currently made. I am a huge savage fan - having built a number with good barrels and they shoot well and are good for switch barrels to be sure. The accutrigger is fair, but the v2 trigger is better. I think the savages are still the best bet to buy to do a long range build off of as their action is a good pairing to a heavy, long barrel, it is a home barrel swap and the easy replacement of bolt heads.

For sporter, I think the v2 is easily better. Better trigger, nicer finish, more streamlined action that is stiffer, better extractor - the only fault on savages is that crappy extractor and ejector setup. I really like the satin finish on the v2 - heck fit and finish on the whole thing! The v2 stock is hands down the best low end, factory stock that I have seen in terms of accuracy of inletting and stiffness and general solid feel.
Only downside that I see to the v2 is the metric threaded barrel - m5 does not have that if you want to go next step up.
I know there are a few others in clas like ruger, sako remcrap ( sorry their quality just is not good anymore) and brownings. I have held most, though not shot all. This seems like the best bet on market right now and stocks are easier to get aftermarket than the savages - not as easy as rems. Keep in mind, this is a one rifle sample but they do quarentee 1 moa with factory crap ammo, so hard to go too far wrong.
I hope this helps someone out.
Oh I got home and looked down barrel and it looks like it has just been cleaned still. I only ran one patch through and have not cleaned yet. I did not see copper fouling in first session, so expect none this time - will update.

 

[kimba]

I took the vanguard2 out to try a load and verify zero.

178 amax , 58 grn h4350, lapua brass, cc1 lr primers with an as of 2838, sd of 25 es 67 good group at 200
178 amax 58.5 grn h4350 same rest: as 2882fps, es 25 sd 10 and tight groups

all 5 shots, no cleaning between groups, no waiting between shots. I could tighten the es and sd a bit( esp the 58 load), but not terrible for factory barrel and fl size sans the expander ball. I cannot say how impressed I still am with this rifle. I have not messed with it at all in terms of stocking and it is not free floated by weatherby design. The barrel is a sporter and cold hammer forged. The recoil seems no different than my savage 260 which weighs more - not much muzzle rise at all when shooting off front bag and free recoil- non trigger hand near shoulder supporting the back of the rifle butt. Not going to shoot 1k with it, but for my 500 and under elk rifle it is fine. I use primos trigger sticks in field hunting so can shoot the same way if time to set up.