There seems to be a general lack of (reliable) info concerning good accurate weatherby long range systems. I am currently shooting a stock 300 Wby mag with a bedding and free float job. This gun will shoot .15 moa all the way out to 1400 yards and probably further if I had the distance to push it.
My problem is this gun only shoots accurately at about 45-50% of the max velocity this round is capable of, and that is with a match bullet not suitable for hunting purposes.
Outside of this particular loading, this gun is VERY finicky as is all my weatherbys for that matter. A couple tenths change in powder charge or a few thousandths in seating really screws with this gun and there just doesn't seem to be a higher velocity node for this bullet or any others that I have tried. Barnes, Berger, Sierra, Hornady (new eldX), Yada yada yada.
In short, I have a long range paper plinker, not the big game hunter I set out to create.
Having reloaded with great accuracy and precision about 75 different guns for family and friends, I have found that a good shooting gun will shoot any bullet powder combination decent and really settling it into a .25 moa is almost easy.
Not the case with many of the weatherbys I have loaded for, including all of my particular rifles. At best they will shoot a particular load good and some even phenomenal, but vary from that and they become slingshots at best.
That said, I am tired of beating my head against the wall and am considering a barrel upgrade. I have been researching barrel replacement and the one reoccurring subject that keeps coming up is the Wby factory #2 contour barrels are terribly inaccurate. I believe in the weatherby actions and their bolts are the stoutest commercially available in my opinion, however, the barrels are a crapshoot as to whether you end up with a shooter or not. Take a look at weatherby nation and that will prove my point!
So, for those of you who have experience re-barreling Weatherbys, was the freebore in a new barrel a concern for you?
Did you opt to shorten the throat?
Did you find the freebore in a higher quality barrel to have accuracy problems?
Any experience seating the VLD's in the freebore? I haven't had any luck at all in this dept. and steer clear of berger's for that reason.
Did you have other accurizing done? squaring receiver, bolt face, lapping lugs etc.?
They say in general their actions are decent for squareness unlike the remingtons etc. so should this even be a concern?
It seems there are few gunsmiths out there who I would consider to be first and foremost a good long range smith and secondly a weatherby guy. i.e. everyone I have talked to said they can do the accurizing work but don't have the tools to work on weatherby actions (including Bartlein barrels themselves).
That leaves me with a LR guy who doesn't have the proper tooling to work on my guns or a Wby guy who doesn't know jack about LR precision.
Any recommendations for a good smith in this department I would appreciate. I have already come to the conclusion I will need to ship so location is not a factor.
Thanks for the comments!
My problem is this gun only shoots accurately at about 45-50% of the max velocity this round is capable of, and that is with a match bullet not suitable for hunting purposes.
Outside of this particular loading, this gun is VERY finicky as is all my weatherbys for that matter. A couple tenths change in powder charge or a few thousandths in seating really screws with this gun and there just doesn't seem to be a higher velocity node for this bullet or any others that I have tried. Barnes, Berger, Sierra, Hornady (new eldX), Yada yada yada.
In short, I have a long range paper plinker, not the big game hunter I set out to create.
Having reloaded with great accuracy and precision about 75 different guns for family and friends, I have found that a good shooting gun will shoot any bullet powder combination decent and really settling it into a .25 moa is almost easy.
Not the case with many of the weatherbys I have loaded for, including all of my particular rifles. At best they will shoot a particular load good and some even phenomenal, but vary from that and they become slingshots at best.
That said, I am tired of beating my head against the wall and am considering a barrel upgrade. I have been researching barrel replacement and the one reoccurring subject that keeps coming up is the Wby factory #2 contour barrels are terribly inaccurate. I believe in the weatherby actions and their bolts are the stoutest commercially available in my opinion, however, the barrels are a crapshoot as to whether you end up with a shooter or not. Take a look at weatherby nation and that will prove my point!
So, for those of you who have experience re-barreling Weatherbys, was the freebore in a new barrel a concern for you?
Did you opt to shorten the throat?
Did you find the freebore in a higher quality barrel to have accuracy problems?
Any experience seating the VLD's in the freebore? I haven't had any luck at all in this dept. and steer clear of berger's for that reason.
Did you have other accurizing done? squaring receiver, bolt face, lapping lugs etc.?
They say in general their actions are decent for squareness unlike the remingtons etc. so should this even be a concern?
It seems there are few gunsmiths out there who I would consider to be first and foremost a good long range smith and secondly a weatherby guy. i.e. everyone I have talked to said they can do the accurizing work but don't have the tools to work on weatherby actions (including Bartlein barrels themselves).
That leaves me with a LR guy who doesn't have the proper tooling to work on my guns or a Wby guy who doesn't know jack about LR precision.
Any recommendations for a good smith in this department I would appreciate. I have already come to the conclusion I will need to ship so location is not a factor.
Thanks for the comments!