Odd Ball Mark V

[HighDesertHunter]

Came across a 2002-2004 Mark V TRR in .308. New in box and the store just wanted it gone. I know the owner and he said he didn't know he had it until the Feds came in and did an inventory. So what do you do when you come across an odd ball Weatherby? Well you buy it of course.

[CptnAwesome]

Pics???

[Chris338378]

Why is it an odd ball?  Pictures please.

[HighDesertHunter]

TRR stands for Threat Response Rifle. They only made it from 2002-2004. A variation was later re-introduced around 2009 I think, I'm still researching it. It seems to have evolved to the current day TackMark rifles. There is some info out there saying that they wanted to get into the sniper rifle business for military and law enforcement and the TRR was the intro rifle. There are some writings that indicate that the reason it didn't go over was because of the Monte Carlo stock which kept it from being ambidextrous. If a shooter was hit and need to switch to left hand shooting it was difficult to do that.


I have no idea if any of that is factual or just internet banter. I've only had it for a few hours and I haven't had time to drill down and determine fact from fiction.


 

[224KING]

Seen a bunch for sale in 223 ten years ago or more

[HighDesertHunter]

Seen a bunch for sale in 223 ten years ago or more

It's pretty confusing right now. My serial number begins with WB which puts it in the 1998-2004 production range according to Weatherby history (on their website). However, there's an article from October 2014 that describes the same exact rifle that I have pictures and all. My experience with Weatherby's always leaves me scratching my head. I have all the original paper that came with the rifle and there's not a date anywhere on anything. I think its newer than what I originally thought. I'm going to have to break out the books and see when they were making rifles in Atascadero, Ca.

[Chris338378]

I don't remember the years that they made the TRR (Threat Response Rifle) off the top of my head but they were well made and could certainly hold their own on the range against other factory rifles.  I was going to buy one to play around with but I ended up getting something else that I wanted more and as the story goes I wish I bought one when I had the chance.  Here's two articles I found on it, I'm sure there's others but from these two the people who tested them out gave them a passing grade.


http://www.snipercentral.com/weatherby-trr-threat-response-rifle/

https://www.thefreelibrary.com/Astonishing+precision%3A+Weatherby%27s+Threat+Response+Rifle.-a097170893

[HighDesertHunter]

Thank you for the links. I had read the one on Sniper Central but not the other one. Due to the second articles 2003 date and it's mentioning that it was only available in .223 and .308 matches with the Weatherby websites history regarding the WB serial number prefix. Mine is most likely from the 2003-2004 production.

[Chris338378]

You're welcome.  There were three different versions of it a Mark V TRR, Mark V Magnum TRR, and a Vanguard TRR.  I Mark V came in .223 Remington and .308 Winchester while the Mark V Magnum TRRs came in .300 Weatherby Magnum, .30-378 Weatherby Magnum, and .338-378 Weatherby Magnum.  The Vanguard TRR came in .223 Remington and .308 Winchester.  I'm not sure what order they came out in and as best as I can remember now these are the calibers that were available but there may have been one or two other calibers available. 

[HighDesertHunter]

You're welcome.  There were three different versions of it a Mark V TRR, Mark V Magnum TRR, and a Vanguard TRR.  I Mark V came in .223 Remington and .308 Winchester while the Mark V Magnum TRRs came in .300 Weatherby Magnum, .30-378 Weatherby Magnum, and .338-378 Weatherby Magnum.  The Vanguard TRR came in .223 Remington and .308 Winchester.  I'm not sure what order they came out in and as best as I can remember now these are the calibers that were available but there may have been one or two other calibers available.

That's correct. From the info I've been able to find/decipher, the first time they came out, (2002-2004), they were only available in the .223 and .308 and it sounds like Law Enforcement might have been their target audience. These have the Criterion barrels from when they were a subsidiary of FN. A few years later they were re-introduced in both Mark V and Vanguards and included several calibers. I think those had the Krieger barrels but I haven't confirmed that yet.


I broke it down today and checked it for a true and square axis to the bore. It's dead on the money so I lapped the lugs and cleaned the paint off the bolt face +.0005. My Picatinny rail won't be here until around the 8th so it won't be out shooting it until then. That will give me time to jewel the bolt and give it a little pizazz.

[HighDesertHunter]

Finally got the 1913 Rail for the Mark V TRR from Talley and got the scope on it. I'm hoping to get out to the range behind the house on Saturday depending on the weather. FYI the rifle behind it is the Vanguard .308. I'm using Seekins rings on both of them. Best bench rest rings made in my opinion.


As a side note,  With these Vortex scopes, you have to lap the rings because they build their tubes exactly to common dimensions. A 30mm tube is a 30mm tube exactly. I have yet to find a set of rings that fit them perfectly without having to lap. The upside to that is you can achieve a perfect fit 360 degrees around the tube without taking off so much that the rings won't tighten.

[HighDesertHunter]

Took the TRR and the Vanguard .308 out to the range today. My tricked out Vanguard shot easy 1/4 MOA groups with several hole in hole shots. The TRR with it's 1-12 twist did not do well with 200 gr bullets. It did o.k. and shot MOA but it was throwing flyers so given that the Vanguard with it's 1-10 did so well with the same bullets I have to assume that it was the 1-12 twist that was causing the problem. Now that I have fire formed brass I'll load up some 150g rounds and I think it too will drive tacks.


The most fun of the day was the Marlin 1895 45-70 SBL Trapper. What a sweet little rifle, recoil with 405g bullets was no where near what people told me it would be and whatever it hit, it destroyed. My Model 94 30-30 has a harder recoil than the 45-70.