A Mark V ’06

By Joe Berk

I had my .30 06 Weatherby out last weekend.  It was the first time I fired this rifle in maybe 35 years.  I bought it at the Weatherby plant in South Gate, California, back when they used to let you in the warehouse to select the wood you wanted.

When I first shot this rifle in the mid-1980s, it didn’t group very well with my favorite .30 06 load (a 130-grain Hornady jacketed softpoint bullet and a max load of IMR 4320).  That was the load I used in my Ruger No. 1 chasing jackrabbits in west Texas.  Other things intervened to capture my attention, and I never got around to finding a load for this rifle.

Fast forward several decades, and for this outing I grabbed what was available in the ammo locker:  A box of 168-grain Speer jacketed hollow point boat tail bullets (my Garand load), another box with Remington 180-grain jacketed soft point bullets (which are unfortunately no longer available), and a third box with 150-grain Hornady jacketed soft point bullets and 48.0 grains of IMR 4320 (which is also no longer available).  What I learned on this most recent outing is that my Weatherby really likes the 180-grain Remington bullets and 48.0 grains of IMR 4064.  It did acceptably well (for hunting purposes) with the other two loads, but that 180-grain Remington bullet and IMR 4064 is what answers the mail for me.  It’s one of the places where accuracy lives in this rifle.

Before I left the house, I ran an oiled patch down the bore because as I said above the rifle hadn’t been shot in literally decades.  When I first set up on the range, the rifle was throwing shots all over the place for the first few rounds.  Then, either I or the rifle (or both of us) settled down and the Weatherby started grouping.  Most of the other groups were in the 1.2-inch to 2.1-inch range (which is good enough for hunting deer and pigs), but the rifle really liked that 180-grain load.  I’m talking sub-minute-of-angle.  I couldn’t do this with every group, but it tells me the rifle will do its job (if I do mine).

I was pleased with how the rifle performed, and I’ll probably start bringing it to the range more often.

I originally set up the 12X Leupold scope and this rifle for shooting in the standing position, so the scope sits high on the rifle.  When I bought the rifle, I thought I would shoot metallic silhouette with it, but I never did. With the scope as high as it is, it was awkward shooting from the bench.  That probably had something to do with the other groups opening up a bit, but I’m not complaining.

I wish Remington still sold bullets separately, but hey, life goes on.  I have two boxes of the Remington bullets left, and when they’re gone, they’re gone.  I also have a couple of boxes of Speer 180-grain jacketed bullets, and when I’ve run through my stash of Remington 180 bullets, I’ll try the Speers next.  Speer still makes those.  There are a few other loads I’m going to try, too.  I’ll keep you posted.

---

Never miss an ExNotes blog:

---

---

Don’t forget: Visit our advertisers!

---