Forend Pressure Anyone?

JoKeR338

JoKeR338

New member
My 270WBY MKV Ultralite has the two pads in the forend for pressure. I've already played around quite a bit with the rifle to try to wring out the accuracy and am still left with a 1.5MOA hunting rifle (no better than what weatherby promises).

I'm thinking of reworking my load using the OCW method, but can't decide on removing the pads before I begin. Normally I wouldn't hesitate to do this, but this is the thinnest bbl I've ever worked on so I'm curous if anyone else has tried this?
 
Any idea how much pressure you actually have on the bbl? Usually need 7 pounds or so to see any benefit. Wouldn't hurt to try adding a temporary shim to increase the pressure to 10 pounds and see if groups get better or worse, before removing the pads.

Expect the POI to shift with pressure change.......
 
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IME, most Mark Vs are 1.5" rifles. Perfectly good for big game hunting. Vanguards will normally outshoot them. This is purely due to bolt design, IMO.

I would take Jim's advice and try a pressure pad first. Thin barrels tend to benefit most from forend tip pressure, IME.

Another option is to full length bed. You can hang a weight of desired size on the end of the barrel to achieve the desired amount of pressure.

If not, free float.....
 
If it were me.....I'd remove the pads, make sure it floats, and establish base-line accuracy. It's very simple to add the pressure point back in, which would be better bedded-in than those molded pads anyway.

I would work toward an end goal of fully bedding the barrel. I've done alot of those pencil barrels and I usually end up with the best accuracy fully bedding the rifle.

I have seen one or two that shot well floated, but it's usually gone in 3 rounds. I also agree with 2MG...I've never found the Mark V's to be a whole lot better than 1-2 MOA guns.
 
Quote:All Weatherby® Mark V® rifles are guaranteed to shoot a 1 1/2" OR BETTER 3-shot group at 100 yards from a cold barrel when used with premium (non-Weatherby calibers) or Weatherby factory ammunition.
I had a Mark V and tried everything short of bedding. 1 1/2 was nearly impossible to achieve. I put it in the corner of the safe in pure frustration. One day I got an unsolicited letter from the gun shop wondering if I still had that rifle. They had someone who wanted it.
Needless to say it didn't take long to respond. We struck a fast deal and I turned a tidy profit on a new/used gun.
One funny part, the old guy really wanted to build a collection of Weatherby because he didn't want to own any German or Japanese made firearms.
 
I think I'll go with hickerx2 suggestion to establish a baseline accuracy. After all if I bed in my pressure pads I'll feel better about them having solid contact. A Wby gunsmith told me to torque the action and that seems to fix most. I have done that, and like I say it meets the 1.5MOA gaurentee, and probably would be just fine for a mountain rifle. I'm just one of those that can't leave well enough alone, even though I know the mark v isn't known as a tack driver.

Thanks for the ideas.
 
For anybody else fighting with a MkV Ultralight I thought I would post an update. I decided to free float my barrel and use that as my base line, adding pressure/full bedding in small increments until I am satisfied or give up. However I did some measurements to document the current settings that don't seem to be working.

The ultralight has two pads in the very front of the forend, I figured these were my sources of pressure. After attaching 15lbs I was out of measured weights and wasn't close to removing the pressure. I would guess it was over 20lbs. So I cleared out the pads and rechecked. 15lbs still wouldn't budge it. So I cleared out a good 1/16" in the front 2" of stock. Now it will almost clear with 15lbs. but as I relieved the front pressure I'm now bottomed out about 2" in, where I quit relieving the stock.

This is all post a skim bedding and action set at 55" lbs. I'll update with a range report when finished.
 
That's cool that you have the drive to stick with it. Some guys enjoy working on their guns. For me I prefer to buy a Sako and get trigger time instead of working on it.
 
140PARTITION703R25.jpg


I'm sure anyone fighting with their own MKV had probably given up on any update to this thread, but after a lot of trial and error, and bad weather I have arrived at the results I was looking for. This was literally the last attempt before throwing in the towel and mailing off for a new barrel. Thinking it will be sometime before I play around with barrel bedding/pressure combos again. I watched groups run from 3" (free floated) and bounce anywhere from 2.5-1.5 inches with drastic changes in POI whenever I changed much in my amount of pressure, area of pressure combination.

Anyway for those interested the ending result for my MKV Ultralight here are the stats.

7.3# pounds from front swivel stud, barrel bedded to back of barrel fluting, with skim bedding of action

140gr Nosler Partition, 70.3gr R25, FED 215, COL to mag length

5 shot group @ 100yds, 10x scope
 
Probably a stupid question but why didn't you just buy a new stock? Guess Weatherby is on my list along with Remington. A barrel should be free floated.
 
Originally Posted By: joedProbably a stupid question but why didn't you just buy a new stock? Guess Weatherby is on my list along with Remington. A barrel should be free floated.

Well I think you answered that one yourself. Replacing the stock would have done all of jack for me, aside from setting me back a nice $500+. The Wby MKV Ultralight has a full aluminum bedding block in it's stock, so even though a mcmillin or lonewolf etc may be a bit stiffer it won't be by much and it's not the underlying problem.

The main problem is combining an action that fails the KISS principle and matching it with an extremely lightweight barrel. Maybe in theory a barrel should be free floated, taxes should be logical, and women should keep their figure, but as I noted this barrel free floated produced 3"+ groups. Most drastic I have seen but it's also the longest lightest barrel I have ever worked on.

I posted this thread for any other Weatherby shooters that may be struggling like I was. I should restate this rifle out of the box did exactly what Weatherby say it will, 1.5 MOA 3 shot group at 100yds. And I matched those results several times with reloads along my route of tweaking it. It's more of a question of being honest with myself and knowing if I could truly be happy with a 1.5 MOA rifle. Sounded good, thought I could live with it, saw a group and realized that wasn't good enough for what I expected.
 
I have free floated and glassed the action two weatherby ultra lights. My 300 now shoots .4” groups at 100yds. I was told that free floating them would mess them up (by many people), I figured if it did I could add a pad again (glass one in). It made both the rifles shoot better. I also have an ultra light ruger in 308 that is free floated, it shoots .75” at 100yds now. With the weatherby I got over 1” improvement over glassed with the pads in, and with the ruger I got .5” improvement. Glassed and floated worked for me. Good luck.
 
Originally Posted By: Jack RobertsIf forend pressure increases accuracy it usually means there is some problem with the basic bedding or lack thereof.

Jack

Jack gave you some darn good advise. If you think that because there is a bedding block in there that you do not need to bed the rifle, BIG MISTAKE!

Every rifle that I have had with a bedding block shot better after it was bedded.

You should expect your groups to change as the action shifts on the bedding block.
 
I was told by a big name gunsmith that you will most likely get your very best group with a free floated barrel, if you can find the load and bullet combo.

With a full bedded barrel you can get more loads to shoot good. Maybe not the best, but better in general.

Bedded barrels and pressure points may cause shifts in point of impact if you use a tight sling when shooting.
 
[/quote] Jack gave you some darn good advise. If you think that because there is a bedding block in there that you do not need to bed the rifle, BIG MISTAKE! [/quote]

Sometimes when I read posts on here I wonder if people even read the threads they are posting on.

I mentioned the stock stiffness in regards to the bedding block, not as a substitute for bedding, and yes for all those making statements about lack of bedding job etc. I bedded this action prior to messing with it, and again after I free floated the barrel.

The action is bedded, I say again the action is bedded and the only bedding on the barrel is beneath the chamber. I have bedded many rifles and everyone til now shot better free floated. However the best shooting rifles I have from custom builds of reputable names also have bedding under the chamber. So it may not be as big of sin as every internet forum would make it out to be.
 
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