Weatherby

Weatherby, Inc. is an American gun manufacturer founded in 1945 by Roy Weatherby. The company is best known for its high-powered magnum cartridges, such as the .257 Weatherby Magnum, .270 Weatherby Magnum, .300 Weatherby Magnum, .340 Weatherby Magnum and the .460 Weatherby Magnum. The company's headquarters is in Sheridan, Wyoming.

History

The original production rifles by Roy Weatherby were built on commercial Mauser actions manufactured by FN, Brevex (magnum), and Mathieu (left hand). Weatherby would build a custom rifle from a customer's specifications for bespoke rifles, using any action the customer requested - provided the action was strong enough to tolerate the pressures for their desired cartridge. Weatherby manufactured his rifles for many years at his small facility in South Gate, California, until 1956, when he contracted with Sako to continue building his firearms based on the Weatherby-FN Mauser actions. Weatherby still produced some custom rifles in South Gate following this contract.[1]

Weatherby's first break from designs based on Mauser actions came in 1956 when he commissioned the Danish firm of Schultz & Larsen to build the 378 Weatherby Magnums utilizing the Schultz & Larsen Model 54 bolt-action. This action was very stout and had several features that Weatherby would integrate into future proprietary rifle designs, including a low bolt-lift and triple gas-escape ports in the bolt.

Products

Rifles

Weatherby currently offers three lines of centerfire rifles: the Mark V, the Vanguard, and the Model 307. ATEK manufactures the Mark V barreled action in Brainerd, Minnesota; Howa still manufactures the barrel and action for the Vanguard. Weatherby performs the final assembly of the Mark V and Vanguard at its company headquarters in Sheridan, Wyoming. The Mark V has two action-size variants. Weatherby uses a larger nine-lug bolt-action for all larger Weatherby magnum calibers. Weatherby uses a smaller six-lug action (in two lengths) for the 240 Weatherby and all other non-Weatherby cartridges (as the 224 Weatherby Magnum is no longer a standard option). Both the Mark V and Vanguard are available as sub-MOA rifles which were replaced with "Range Certified" rifles in various models. These variants range from blued to stainless steel metal with kevlar or wooden stocks and are available in calibers, including the .223 Remington (Vanguard only) through to the .300 Weatherby Magnum. Rifles chambered in either the .340 Weatherby Magnum or the .460 Weatherby Magnum are only available on the Mark V as these cartridges require a stronger bolt.[4]

In 2023, Weatherby began to produce a new model of rifle, the Model 307.[5] The Model 307, positioned in price between the Vanguard and the Mark V, was designed to be compatible with the strong aftermarket for Remington 700 accessories. The name reflects the telephonic area code 307, which includes the current headquarters and factory in Sheridan, Wyoming. As with the Vanguard and Mark V models, the Model 307 is chambered for several currently-popular cartridges.[5]

The Weatherby rifles come with a three-shot sub-MOA guarantee of accuracy from a cold bore on all models using Weatherby or premium ammunition. Generally regarded as of higher quality than Remington or Winchester rifles in the same class, Weatherby Mark V rifles are considerably more expensive in terms of unit cost and ammunition. However, Weatherby competitively prices the Vanguard models with other makes and models,[6][7] while the Model 307 is somewhere in between the aforementioned two models.[8]

Scopes

Weatherby no longer manufactures rifle scopes or other optical products. The company produced a Mark XXI Scope between 1964 and 1989. The company offered the Sightmaster Spotting Scope with magnification ranges of 20x-45x from 1972 to 1982 and 20x-60x from 1983 to 1989. Earlier optics also included the Imperial Scope and were produced for Weatherby by Hertel & Reuss and manufactured in West Germany between 1964 and 1973. Weatherby manufactured its Premier Scopes from 1973 to 1982 and its Supreme Scopes from 1983 to 1994.[9]

Shotguns

Weatherby offers a line of shotguns for bird hunting and skeet shooting. Weatherby produces four types of shotguns, each type available in two different models: over-under double barrel, side-by-side double barrel, pump-action, and semi-automatic. Weatherby's shotguns (the "D'Italia" line) are made in Italy through a collaborative effort with Italian gunmaker Fausti Arms.[10]

Cartridges

Firearms designer and cartridge pioneer Charles Newton, often colloquially referred to as the "Father of High Velocity", was the first to build a hunting cartridge and rifle capable of firing a bullet at over 3000 ft/s. Weatherby developed its rifles following this new trend in designing high-velocity hunting calibers. In the late 1980s, Remington's Ultra Mag series of unbelted magnum cartridges - returning to the Newton-style cartridge design - provided Weatherby with new competition. However, Weatherby still makes the most powerful commercially available hunting cartridge in the world with its .460 Weatherby.[11][12]

Weatherby has designed almost all of its cartridges with belts; curved, double-radius shoulders; and considerable freebore. The .224 Weatherby Magnum, introduced in 1963, was the first and, for more than 50 years, the only Weatherby cartridge to have an angled shoulder but included the company's other distinctive features.[13] The first major departure from the classic Weatherby design was the 6.5 Weatherby Rebated Precision Magnum (often abbreviated as RPM), a non-belted cartridge with an angled shoulder and no freebore introduced in 2019.[14] In 2022, a second cartridge in the RPM family, the .338 Weatherby RPM, was introduced, again with no belt and an angled shoulder.

type	Incorporated company
foundation	1945
founder	Roy Weatherby
location city	Sheridan, Wyoming
location country	United States
key people	* Ed Weatherby * Adam Weatherby
products	* Firearms * Ammunition * Shooting accessories
homepage	https://weatherby.com/

History

Products

Rifles

Scopes

Shotguns

Cartridges

References in Popular Culture

See also

Further reading

External links

References