The
Weatherby Mark V bolt-action rifle has been the choice of many
hunters the world over for several decades. Since its
introduction by Roy Weatherby in 1958, the Mark V has earned the
trust of those who travel far to harvest the world’s
most-dangerous game, as well as those who believe that high
velocity bullets are preferred for hunting game of all sizes.
The
Mark V has built a well-earned reputation for strength,
accuracy, and reliability. Built to handle the high pressures of
Weatherby’s proprietary magnum cartridges, the Mark V is one
of the strongest actions on Earth.
The
Accumark rifle reviewed here wears a fluted stainless
twenty-six-inch barrel, and has the trademark Weatherby fluted
nine-lug bolt. The bolt handle lifts only 54 degrees, leaving
plenty of clearance between the shooter’s hand and the scope.
The Accumark wears Weatherby’s new LXX trigger, which yields
an excellent, crisp trigger pull. The rifle arrived with the
trigger pull set at 2.5 pounds resistance, so I left it alone.
The stock is a good-looking and highly functional hand-laminated
composite unit, which incorporates Weatherby’s trademark
raised Monte Carlo cheekpiece. The stock wears a spider-web dark
gray finish, which is textured for a secure grip, and the butt
is finished with an excellent recoil pad. The bedding block is a
full-length aluminum unit. Weatherby lists the magazine capacity
at three, but four worked just fine in this rifle, giving a
total loaded capacity of five.
It
has taken many years for Weatherby to enter the increasingly
popular 6.5mm cartridge field, but in typical Weatherby fashion,
they have jumped in with both feet, producing the fastest,
flattest-shooting commercial 6.5mm cartridge to date. (Note: The
proprietary 6.71 Blackbird is no longer catalogued by Lazzeroni.)
The 6.5-300 Weatherby is considerably faster than the legendary
264 Winchester.
I
have for many years been a fan of the 257 Weatherby cartridge,
as it is one of the flattest-shooting cartridges available, but
the new 6.5-300 shoots as flat, but hits harder, with a larger,
heavier bullet. The 127 grain Barnes LRX load shoots almost as
flat as the 80 grain Barnes 257 load, but carries sixty percent
more bullet weight to the target.
When
I first learned about the new cartridge in January of this year,
I immediately requested to borrow one to take on my annual trek
to the Shootists’ Holiday
at the NRA Whittington Center
near Raton, New Mexico in June. At the NRAWC, they have steel
targets out to 1125 yards, and plenty of rocks out farther than
that, making it an excellent place to unlimber a long-range
rifle. The new Weatherby arrived in time for the trip, along
with a couple of boxes of the 127 grain Barnes LRX loads, and in
New Mexico, the rifle did not disappoint.
Before
leaving for New Mexico, I mounted a Trijicon Accupoint 5 to 20
power scope in Trijicon rings atop the Accumark rifle. The
Trijicon has very clear optics and a Mil-Dot reticle for precise
long-range shooting.
While
I fired at some steel and rocks at farther distances, I could
only judge the groups out to the 800-yard mark. Firing on steel,
the Weatherby would easily keep three shots under one
minute-of-angle (MOA) on both the 600 and 800 yard targets.
After firing three shots, I would allow the barrel to cool, and
then do it again. Even with a steady wind blowing, the Weatherby
lived up to its accuracy guarantee, every time.
Back
home on my range in Tennessee, putting the Weatherby on paper at
100 yards, my results matched those of the test target which
shipped with the rifle, consistently under one MOA, with some
groups cutting that in half. The smallest group fired with the
one factory load available to me, the 127 grain Barnes LRX
bullet load, measured only three-eighths of an inch,
center-to-center for three shots at one hundred yards. The
largest group fired measured only five-eighths of an inch.
Outstanding accuracy! As mentioned above, I only had the Barnes
LRX bullet load here, but chronograph data showed it to exceed
the Weatherby specs of 3531 feet-per-second (fps) muzzle
velocity, clocking at 3572, twelve feet from the muzzle, which,
according to my ballistics program, is a bit over 3580 fps at
the muzzle. Smokin’! I have included here Weatherby’s
ballistic chart for the 6.5-300, as I did not have the other
loads here to send over my chronograph, but I trust
Weatherby’s data on this.
6.5-300
Weatherby Magnum Ballistics
As shown in the chart, this new Weatherby
cartridge carries a lot of power downrange. While I certainly do
not advocate shooting at game at 1000 yards, the 6.5-300 retains
enough velocity and energy to get the job done, even at that
distance. For a 300 to 400-yard cartridge for taking game up to
and including American elk and moose, the 6.5-300 is ideal, and
can be used even farther, if the shooter is up to the challenge.
Most are not. The trajectory is about as flat as it gets,
shooting flatter than any other Weatherby cartridge, with the
exception of the eighty grain 257 load. With a 300 yard zero,
the 6.5-300 drops only about nineteen inches below the line of
sight at 500 yards.
Shooting the latest Mark V was a real
pleasure. The rifle is loud, but no more so than many other
cartridges. Recoil is soft. While the rifle does move when
fired, it causes no pain at all. Many rifles will slap the
shooter’s check, but the Weatherby stock design eliminates
that problem, with the rifle recoiling away from the shooter’s
face. Very nice.
The Weatherby Accumark chambered for the new
6.5-300 Weatherby Magnum is a superb rifle for long-range
shooting, whether at game or inanimate targets. It shoots flat,
hits hard, and is wonderfully accurate. The Mark V is built in
Paso Robles, California, and is built right. You never regret
buying the best.
Check out the Mark V and other Weatherby
products online at www.weatherby.com.
For more information on the Trijicon
Accupoint scope, go to www.trijicon.com.
For the location of a Weatherby dealer near
you, click on the DEALER FINDER at www.lipseys.com.
To order the Accumark online, click on the
GUN GENIE at www.galleryofguns.com.
To order
6.5-300 Weatherby ammunition, go to www.weatherby.com.
To
order the Barnes LRX bullet for handloading, go to www.barnesbullets.com.
Jeff
Quinn
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