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The Weatherby Mark V is a centerfire, bolt-action rifle manufactured by Weatherby of Paso Robles California. The rifle was introduced in 1957 by Weatherby and was designed to safely contain the high pressures associated with the Weatherby line of high performance cartridges. It is the flagship rifle of the Weatherby line of firearms. The Weatherby Mark V rifles are considered prestigious or luxury firearms by many. This is due in part to Roy Weatherby who presented the rifles to royalty, politicians, gun writers and actors including Prince Abdorreza Pahlavi of Iran, Generals James Doolittle (USAF) and Chuck Yeager (USAF), Jack O'Connor, Warren Page, Elgin Gates and Lorne Greene and was able to use this fact as a marketing tool. ==Early development== Ever since Roy Weatherby began manufacturing rifles he had to rely on a third party to provide the actions for his rifles. Beginning in 1949 Weatherby began building his rifles around the FN Belgian Mauser action. In 1955 Schultz & Larson actions were added to the mix while adding the Mathieu left handed action to his rifle action line up. With the addition of the large capacity .378 Weatherby Magnum a new action type was warranted so the Brevex Magnum Mauser action was added. A little later the FN Sako Mauser actions were added to action types used by Weatherby to build his rifles. Roy Weatherby had been disappointed by the length of time that was taken discussing and negotiating before coming to an agreement with his European manufacturing partners. With five European companies supplying actions, the frequent trips made to Europe left him little time to run the day-to-day business operations in South Gate, California. Roy Weatherby had found the Mauser-type wanting due to the case head not being completely enclosed and supported within the breech. While these action types could easily withstand a high pressure of about 70,000 C.U.P, he felt that one which would have the capability of handling 200,000 C.U.P. would fare better with the Weatherby line of cartridges. He had been aware that many handloaders were overloading their cartridges seeking higher performance, which was resulting in blown primers and ruptured caseheads. This in turn would lead to hot gases making their way through the bolt and into the shooter's face and eyes and causing injuries to his customers.〔 Weatherby's requirements included a bolt face which was countersunk into the bolt which would enclose the cartridge's casehead while the bolt head was enclosed in a counterbored barrel breach, which in turn would prevent the casehead from rupturing. If a rupture should occur, the bolt would have holes through which hot gases could be vented safely towards the side and away from the shooter's face. Further as an extra safety measure he required an enclosed or shrouded bolt sleeve that would prevent the hot gases from making their way through the bolt mechanism to the shooter's face. To Weatherby, the safety and strength of the design were paramount.〔 Weatherby designed the action type with nine locking lugs arranged in three rows. It was determined early on that these lugs would not protrude outside the bolt but would be of the same diameter as the bolt body itself. Such a design would be conducive to a smooth fluid movement of the bolt through its feeding and extraction cycles.〔 In spring 1955 Weatherby demonstrated his new action at the annual NRA meetings in Washington, D.C. The action type was shown to Burt Munhall of H.P. White Ballistics Laboratory and to General Julian Hatcher to elicit their opinion of the design. Both were impressed with the design and encouraged Weatherby to commercialize the action as soon as possible. At this time Weatherby had been looking for someone to provide the technical design, drawings and specifications for the design of his new action. General Hatcher suggested that John Garand (of the M-1 Garand rifle fame) would be suitable for the job. However, when contacted Garand expressed disinterest in the project as he was enjoying his retirement.〔 Walter Howe, the editor of the ''American Rifleman'' magazine suggested the Mathewson Tool Company of New Haven which had worked with Winchester, Remington, and the U.S. government designing and building prototypes. While Dave Mathewson managed to build and deliver the design details, the prototype did not include all the features which Weatherby had required, while taking longer than anticipated to provide the prototype design.〔 It was not until 1957 that the first prototype rifle was built. This was the fifth design model of the rifle as four previous designs had been abandoned. The rifle was shown to Elgin Gates who suggested that the rifle be named the Mark V. This fifth prototype was designed and built with the assistance of Fred Jennie, an engineer hired by Roy Weatherby. It was more streamlined and had a more simplified trigger and safety which would lead to lower manufacturing and tooling costs.〔 In 1956 Weatherby visited Europe in an attempt to find a supplier for the Mark V action. Steyr-Daimler-Puch, which had been manufacturing the Mannlicher rifle, was eager to work with Weatherby, but the high cost of the initial tooling charges of $200,000 was found to have been too excessive. Schultz & Larsen, which had been building the .378 Weatherby Magnum, was also contacted, but due to an anticipated rise in labor costs Weatherby had to keep looking elsewhere. When Sako of Finland, which was working on the FN Mauser action for Weatherby rifles was approached, it indicated that it had a backlog of production yet to complete and that such a project would have to wait for a year and a half. Also, labor costs in Finland had been rising, which would increase the price per unit cutting into profits. The Birmingham Small Arms Company Limited (BSA) of Birmingham was extremely receptive to the idea of building the action and even attempted to absorb the initial tooling costs. However, it was unable to manufacture the action with the nine locking lugs.〔 While several companies bid on the contract, Weatherby settled on Precision Foundry Inc. (PFI) of Leandro, California in 1957. It was decided that all major parts would use the investment casting process. Another firm, Gardner Machine Co. of Hollywood, California, would finish all these parts to their final dimensions and Picco Industries of Sierra Madre, California would manufacture the magazine floorplate catch, the trigger sear, and the thumb safety. All the parts thus manufactured would be delivered to Weatherby's South Gate facility where the final polishing, bluing, and assembly would take place. The barrel and stocks were made in-house by Weatherby at the company's South Gate facility.〔 Due to the investment casting process and issues with porosity of metal, PFI manufactured actions did not easily accept the high-luster bluing process which was a trademark of Weatherby rifles, which resulted in high rejection rates of over 50%. Furthermore, the delivery of component parts by PFI had been irregular, which led to a backlog of orders.〔 In 1957 Weatherby went back to Europe to visit J.P. Sauer & Sohn, which was at the time primarily a shotgun manufacturer. Udo van Meeteren wanted not only to manufacture the action but also the complete rifle as well. Within two months of the visit a contract with J.P. Sauer & Sohn was signed. In 1958 Fred Jennie visited the Sauer plant in Eckernfoerde Germany to help with the setup process. At this time it was decided that receiver and bolt would be made from forgings instead of the investment casting process as Sauer was more familiar with the process. Rifle barrels would be hammer-forged by Sauer, which promoted greater uniformity from breech to muzzle and which in turn led to greater accuracy and longer barrel life. By employing this method of hammer-forging barrels, Weatherby became the first U.S. company to offer hammer-forged barrels in the United States.〔 In 1970 Weatherby moved production to the Howa factory in Japan. The move was a result of increased costs of production in Europe; Howa could make the rifles more cheaply. The strength of the actions was never compromised—to many, fit and finish are superior to German models and compete well with U.S. models. Howa manufactured Mark Vs until production was brought to the United States in 1994. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Weatherby Mark V」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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