Thread: Weatherby Back Country

For anyone interested I ran in to a guy at the range yesterday who had recently got one, with the titanium action. Apparently 8 have made it to our shores. Don’t know what calibres but his was a .308 that he had ordered a long time ago. Stupid light even with a z5+ 5-25 and can on the end but very nice!! Eye watering price though…. 8k!


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I have heard about said rifle. I reckon they would sell well in NZ

Did it shoot well?

Yup NZ Asia are importing em, on paper they look & sound the bizzo ( as a Weatherby fan I know some bits on them can be a little "agricultural" )

The biggest disappointment for me is that they have only landed boring arse cals, I'd love one in a Weatherby caliber, apparently they will special order but haven't pursued it any further..


I hope the guys at NZA give it a proper go as Weatherby hasn't been represented here for years, HnF did an ok job but that was long time ago now.

Yep. Good to see Wby back in NZ market. Pity the Wby “Back Country” is not offered in the Federal Backcountry 7mm. That would be a game changer

saw two of the new MK5 recently not sure of model- one .223 one .308 camo stock- fluted barrel and bolt- light as- now as a dedicated wood blued man takes a bit to impress with modern synthetic stocks but I was impressed with those rifles - could see myself going on a fallow meat hunt with that .223

Unless you wanted a medium length cartridge what are you buying a full custom couldn't buy. Its just a slightly different take on a 30-06 length action (or a full magnum). The 280AI seems to be the best for eeking out the most of it if your into overkill.

Originally Posted by chainsaw

Yep. Good to see Wby back in NZ market. Pity the Wby “Back Country” is not offered in the Federal Backcountry 7mm. That would be a game changer

Got to ask what's actually game changing about it in practice. There are already full custom options to match the rifle including you can buy the component stock already and there's lighter full titanium actions around.

The 7mm backcountry seems to add very little in real applications. High quality brass can do the same in pretty much any other chambering of similar size. Since you can't reload anyway why not just load brass at 75kpsi and throw it away after 2 or 3 firings.

Whilst the rifle looks nice to me at first glance I'm an aesthetics guy and as I cast my eye over any Mk5 I think good, good, yes nice, good... and then I come to that big ugly fat bolt shroud and spew in my mouth a little bit

Game changing cos the Fed BackCountry is designed & engineered to function SAFELY at 75-80,000 psi. Can’t imagine any one crazy enough to load normal brass at 75k ?? Combine that with light weight platform like Wby Mk5 Ultralite then you got a pretty sweet package

6.5rpm would be epic

Originally Posted by chainsaw

Game changing cos the Fed BackCountry is designed & engineered to function SAFELY at 75-80,000 psi. Can’t imagine any one crazy enough to load normal brass at 75k ?? Combine that with light weight platform like Wby Mk5 Ultralite then you got a pretty sweet package

Um pretty much anyone getting pressure signs in the form of swipes etc in modern cases and good hard brass (lapua, adg, peterson, alpha) is in that range for sure. Also there's atleast half a dozen videos of alpha OCD brass being run up into the 100Kpsi range on YouTube. Most people's loads are hotter than they think. Most modern cases aren't showing pressure signs as soon as they hit 65kpsi. If your loads higher than what factory manuals say your likely over saami pressure.

It's not the brass that's the serious safety issue high pressure usually leads to case life issues and in very extreme cases case head separation and blown primers. If it can't be reloaded if it's only in the short case life realm then who cares .

anyway it's the actions and if the action can't take the increased bolt thrust (it's this usually not pressure that causes issues. Interestingly a 300WSM has more bolt thrust that a 7mm Backcountry as bolt thrust is pressure time area of the internal case cross-section). So the MK V in the ultralight form may not even be strong enough to take the backcountry. If alpha brass can take even 2 firings at 75kpsi which is likely about the max factory federal will be loaded at what does the steel case add? Apart from your limited to 7mm and the bullets they choose to load.

The perks of the 7mm backcountry does have come from increased pressure improving the efficiency of powder burn (it's burns better under pressure) meaning short barrels work better and using less powder for this velocity decreasing the gas volumes effects on recoil slightly reducing it vs a lower pressure case requiring more velocity.

It's interesting but it's not game changing at all.

Even if you do accept its faster what will it acheive that already existing options won't do already. Its definitely not going to change the game for anyone. It's won't make someone who's a shit hunter a good one so I think gamechanger is a massive hyperbole.

https://ultimatereloader.com/2024/03...pha-munitions/

Interestingly first pressure signs around 75kpsi with a known soft primer.

Originally Posted by outdoorlad

Did it shoot well?

He didn’t need to shoot it but showed me a pic of a group(3 shot) at 500yds that most would be happy with at 100yds.


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Heres a podcast with the folk from Weatherby https://open.spotify.com/episode/5oq...T6SnIaM7duHj1w