catalogs

[BB340]

Well that sucks big time.  All this damn computer crap is for the birds just like the elplastic stock.  What about the guys who like the classic stuff, to actually look at a catalog and a gun with wood stocks and nice bluing.  Pathetic.  I saw the announcement about no printed catalogs last year on their webpage, it wasn't on here at least not that I remember.

Yes I am bitterly disappointed with their line up of rifles. There is only TWO wood stocked Mark V available. And one of those is a Camilla. So that leaves us with just ONE wood stocked rifle to choose from. Just ONE!! From a company that made its roots by selling high quality wood stocked rifles with rich dark blueing. Looks like I wont be buying any more new Mark V's...
 

[Chris338378]

Brett I agree with you completely.  Growing up I looked at the Weatherby catalogs so much my eyes wore the ink off the pages.  Those rifles with the beautiful wood stock and deep dark mirror like bluing was the epitome of what a beautiful rifle was and what all others wish they were.  You could spot a Weatherby a mile away in a rack of a thousand rifles, they jumped out and almost screamed I'm a Weatherby.  Countless people dreamed of owning a Weatherby and scrimped and saved to be able to buy them.  Now the ones with the elplastic stocks just fade into the crowd of other rifles and don't have the wow and factor and grab your attention that the wood stocked ones do.  It's heart breaking and a shame that there's only two options for owning a new wood stocked Weatherby.  I could only imagine what Roy would think about that.  Sadly the only other option is to buy a used one when you can find what you want but unfortunately doing that doesn't have the full wow factor that a brand new rifle does.  Yeah it's a pretty sad day.

[danno50]

I've been in and out today, but I did call Weatherby earlier and was told the same thing, no paper catalog this year and uncertain about the future of Weatherby paper catalogs.

[Chris338378]

Sadly I'm not surprised, it seems like the plan is to get rid of all the stuff that made the company what it is and the long time customers like and push the stuff that might appeal the the new customers.   

[BB340]

Like I have written before, it is the way things have become. We are in the plastic age now. The majority of new shooters now prefer the no care, easy to look after Tupperware stocks. So Weatherby has to keep up with the times and offer more of these rifles. Its a shame they still won't offer wood alternatives through the custom shop.

[danno50]

As Bret has stated, in this new plastic age of firearms, other than the high cost of Quality, there will be nothing to distinguish Weatherby from any other mfg.
   There are thousands of shooters/hunters/ collectors that still imagine owning a beautiful wood stocked rifle that stands as a testament to the vintage rifles of an era past, full of history, imagination, and the pride that lifts a persons spirit every time the rifle is looked at. It's a Tragedy.
   

[Chris338378]

As Bret has stated, in this new plastic age of firearms, other than the high cost of Quality, there will be nothing to distinguish Weatherby from any other mfg.
   There are thousands of shooters/hunters/ collectors that still imagine owning a beautiful wood stocked rifle that stands as a testament to the vintage rifles of an era past, full of history, imagination, and the pride that lifts a persons spirit every time the rifle is looked at. It's a Tragedy.
 

I couldn't have said it any better.  When it comes to wood stocks you can have a million and there isn't two the same, each has it's own beauty and character.  You can't say that with the plastic stocks, if you have a million of them you have a million that are the same.

[nciowan]

+1 Danno & Chris. I really miss Fajen!!
Duane

[BB340]

I have seen posts on Faceless Book of young guy saying he is a huge Weatherby fans and then put a picture up of 8 rifles and they were all Accumarks. They all had the same or very similar scopes. Every rifle looked the same as the next one. I couldn't think of anything worst! I asked him why he doesn't have any wood stocked rifles and he said he is the New Age Weatherby collector. 

[BB340]

Now don't get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with buying just all synthetic rifles. If that's what a person wants to do then by all means they can go for it. But I was just giving an example of why Weatherby is now focusing on synthetic rifle more than the traditional wood. In fact it isn't really their fault that they are doing it. They are a business first and foremost, so they have to run with what the customers want. And unfortunately for us wood guys that means more and more Tupperware coming out.
Just look at the Weatherby catalogue, in the Mark V range there are 13 offerings for synthetic rifles. ALL of them have a different colour pattern on them. So that is Weatherbys way of now making rifles stand out and look different to the next one. Maybe if they could make a synthetic stock that looked like AAA Claro Walnut I may buy one haha

[Chris338378]

So what's wrong with making both and having both sets of customers happy?  I might not be the owner of a Fortune 500 company but I'm smart enough to know the more customers you have the more you're going to sell and ultimately the more money you'll make the longer your company is going to flourish and remain in business.  It's not anyone's fault that the new age gun owners want plastic stocks but there is fault to be had in pushing customers away by not making stuff they want.  Yes they can paint a plastic stock to look like AAA Carlo walnut or any other wood for that matter, they've been doing it for years with fiberglass doors but at the end of the day it's still a plastic stock with a paint job not real wood.  It'd be nice and logical to have the option to get different model wood stocks as an option even if it was through the Custom Shop.  I'm sure us old timers wouldn't have any problem having their gun store call Weatherby and say hey I have a guy here who wants a EuroMark in .270 Weatherby Magnum or a LazerMark in .416 Weatherby Magnum as long as the price doesn't jump up significantly.  Yeah an extra $200 or $300 would be reasonable but considering the price of these plastic stock models I can't see the option for the wood stocks being much higher than the $200 or $300 I mentioned.  The reason I say and think that is because they make the Deluxe and several models with matte finishes and even stainless steel rifles so it'd pretty much be a case of putting the different wood stock on the barreled action they have in stock.

[PARA45]

My son came up to me and told me of the cool stock being put on Weatherby rifles.  I scratched my head and I said, a new wood stock?   He said no, this blah, blah brand new synthetic stock.  I gave him that meh look and said I wasn't interested in plastic stocks.  My son went on about how cool this stock was, blah, blah, blah.  When I had enough I said to him.  You can put 1000 rifles with synthetic stocks side by side, and they are all the same.  You have 1000 rifles with wood stock, and they are all different.  I tried to explain to him how Weatherby rifles stood out from other rifles by the shape and beauty of their stocks and blueing.  His reply was that the new generation of hunters like the synthetic stocks, and all I heard again was blah, blah, blah.  When I had enough, I said to him, I thought I had taught you better than that, and I changed the subject.  It is sad, but the new generation like all that plastic crap, and unfortunately that is what Weatherby is going after.  We are dinosaurs with great taste on guns. 

I have synthetic stocked rifles, and they have their place, but nothing will be better than a beautiful grain wood stock.

[BB340]

Yep totally agree with you Chris and Roger. Well except the old dinosaurs part haha. I too have a heap of synthetic rifles, and the rifle I use the most is just a SS Tikka. But I don't get anywhere near the excitement when I take an animal with that rifle as I do when I use a timber stock. If I am on a dedicated trophy hunt I will more than likely take a good looking wood stocked rifle as I think they look much better in a photo with said trophy compared to a bit of Tupperware.

[Chris338378]

I'm willing to bet the guy who came up with the saying, "Life's too short to hunt with an ugly rifle" came up with it because of the elpastic stocked rifles. 

[JWDynamics]

You guys all pretty much echoed my feelings. No paper catalog. Disappearing wooden stocks. It all seems to be just another kick in the pants. I guess I'll be perusing for gently used Weatherby rifles in the future.