Weatherby VG-1 .243 Winchester

[Mortis]

Well..... the story goes....No Good Deed Goes Unpunished.

Last Fall, I bought my wife a very expensive Singer Sewing Machine. Professional level. So a couple months ago, she drops a bombshell on me.... Go get the box out of the back of her Malibu.

The box said Weatherby.... and inside was her gift to me. She knew I had been thinking on getting one, so she beat me too it.

NOW!!!....

I really do not like plastic stocks....usually due to the fact they are flimsey as the dickens. I will say that Weatherby's stocks are not flimsey.....but they are as slick as snot on a glass door knob.

Enter Boyd's Prarie Pepper Lam Stock.

Great fit right out of the carton.....

Now here in lies my question and concerns.

I bolted the rifle into the new stock..... rechecked my laser bore zero on my scope and headed to the range. Rifle has yet to bve bedded or pillared. Which will happen soon. Just been busy on other projects.

After burning thru a few rounds of factory 100 grain SP Remington ammo....above is my final test target at 100 yards.

I have been told by the Range Master that Weatherby's prefer their barrels to be bedded, not floated. That the rifle shoots better that way. Now the barrel was not tight to the stock, altho it was lightly touching in one spot.

This interests me since the original stock was tightly fitted to the barrel and action.

So it is getting time for me to do the stock work and finish this phase of the project before load testing begins.

Opinions please......... bed the barrel or float?

This is my first Weatherby.....none of my shooting pards own one....so here I be.... fedora in hand.... asking for advice.

 

[DrMike]

First, congratulations on a fine rifle and more than that, on a good woman. She sounds like a dandy. I would opt to free float the barrel and bed the action. With the new stock, the rig is very handsome. Consequently, isn't it Creek County that is getting all the fires currently? Trust everything is well for you.

 

[Mortis]

First of all..... I am considering floating..l..if need be...I can come back and refill the barrel channel if needed.....was just wanting opinions of folks who have experience with Weatherby.

Yeah.... we are having a rough time of it.... some jerk has been running around tossing rolled up newspapers out his truck window. Got word around 0030 Sunday morning that the Sheriff's office may have caught him.

The worse hit in the county is Mannford....about 30 miles North of me as the crow flies. But Saturday, this jerk was seen setting fires just North of the Turner Turnpike on a county road used to go out to South side of Heyburn Lake.

He set 2 fires...... the second came within 100 yards of my daughter's farm house. Her, friends, and help from several volunteer fire departments, plus the good graces of the man upstairs causing a wind shift, saved her place.

This is hilly terrain, covered in thick scrub. Makes it very difficult to fight fires in... you have to really catch them in pastures to have a real chance. And in some areas....pastures are miles apart. And this also makes if extremely dangerous.

Thanks for asking.....

 

[DrMike]

I am considering floating..l..if need be...I can come back and refill the barrel channel if needed

Precisely my thinking. I've shot a fair number of Weatherbys, and it is not at all clear to me that they don't benefit from free floating.

I have followed the situation in Creek Country pretty closely. It is good to hear that you are well and none of your family are caught up in the fire. I do trust that the fellow who is responsible is halted and held accountable for his actions. I do pray for rain for the heartland of the US, and for our own situation here in the Peace Region.

 

[gerry]

That's a very nice gun your wife bought you, congratulations. Can't really add much on your questions but DrMike's suggestion sounds good. Hope they put this guy in jail for a very long time, that's evil.

 

[SJB358]

Congrats on your rifle. I agree with Mike and Gerry, float it and bed it. If you find it needs a little pressure later on, that is easy enough to add. Great looking rifle buddy! That stock looks NICE!

 

[Guest]

It's a whole lot easier to float it and then bed it, than vice versa. I say you follow your gut on this one. I've not had the need to float any of the 'bees I've worked with, though some of them were Accumarks and thus floated from the factory. The two I own are not floated, but they are still in the factory tupperware stocks, waiting for my finances to catch up enough to get Medalists. One of them shoots so well I'm in no hurry to re-stock it, other than for aesthetics. The other one is still a work in progress, but I've a new batch of handloads to try on my next range trip.

A fellow I trust, who worked on 'bees pretty well exclusively over the past decade or so, says float everything. I have also known folks who floated stuff only to come back and add pressure points. Since the Boyd's doesn't have pressure points built in, float it first, then if you need pressure points, you can try them easily enough. If it already had tip pressure, I'd say leave it and if it won't shoot, float it. I'm all about doing less work if it's not necessary.

 

[Horsethief]

If you're getting groups measureing under 1" center-to-center and you're content with that, then there is no need to modify the bedding, in my opinion. Should your groups be wider then you want AND you've tightened the things that need it, then I would float the barrel. The easy test to see where the barrel needs to be floated is if you can slide a dollar bill under the barrel the lenth of the fore end (to the reciever). Don't be surprised if there are some pressure points near the end of the stock that apply pressure.

No matter what the accuracy of this beauty goes to, if you're good with it, then stick with it. You're off to a great start.

 

[Guy Miner]

Great looking rifle in a fine cartridge!

I'll concur with the guys. I'd likely leave it alone myself, for a while, but if you want to tinker a bit, then bed it and free-float the barrel. Done right, it won't hurt a thing, and you might see improvement.

 

[FOTIS]

Great advice here. Bed first and pressure point later if needed.

Congrats on your first Bee!

 

[Mortis]

Well..... this is not my first barn dance...but it is my first Weatherby....

Thanks for all the advice..... just put an Acraglas kit on my shopping list.

And the wife element also freed up my toy funds to the point...... I'm gettng a Tikka T3 in 22-250 at the end of the month if all goes well.......

Thanks for opinions and advice........now....

We're off to see the Wizard.......

 

[JD338]

Mortis,

Nice looking rig. Not a bad group either with R-P factory ammo.
I would pillar bed the action and float the barrel.

JD338

 

[Oldtrader3]

I do not have a great deal of Japanese Weatherby experience except for one Mark V, .340. Now the original Japanese Tupperware stock was freefloated and I bedded it. IT still did not shoot as well as the newer EuroMark stock which I now have on the rifle which has stock tip lands for barrel bearing support. It shoots 1.5 inch groups at 200 yards, which for me, with a .340 is certainly better than "Minute of Elk".

Tapped over target with last group of day with .340 Bee ands 225 Partitions at 3080 FPS @ 200 yards.

 

[SJB358]

That rifle is a beast Charlie. Truly an awesome hammer..