Did Rookhawk steer a fellow right?

[rookhawk]

I got a phone call earlier this week from a gentleman that was a friend of a friend of a friend. He's an avid hunter and what I'd call a Cabelas-type gun accumulator. He's never been on a safari.

He was trying to sell a Weatherby Mark V in 460Wby with 80 rounds of handloaded ammo.

I stated that I thought he had a difficult gun to sell because people spending those sums for a large bore generally want CRF, more manageable recoil, and they do not want somebody else's handloads.

He said he wanted $3200. I have no idea what the going rate is, but my gut said he had a $2000-$4000 setup provided he'd pull the bullets and deprime, including bullets and brass with his sale. I recommended he list it at a low starting bid on GB and let the free market decide.

Do you think I gave him a reasonable answer that is going to get his gun sold for a reasonable amount of money?

I'm not a 460 guy, I'm not a weatherby guy, I don't know any weatherby guys, I don't see much interest in them on AH classifieds, hence I recommended he cast the biggest net possible using GB.

Critique?

 

[baxterb]

I think you are more right than wrong.

The only person I have ever known to own a 460 Weatherby bought it in advance of New Year’s Day and bought it for the specific purpose of watching his friends bruise their shoulders while ringing (blasting?!) in the New Year.

 

[Wishfulthinker580]

Sounds about right IMO

 

[deewayne2003]

I think you gave sound advise, especially on pulling the loaded ammo and selling with the rifle.

 

[wesheltonj]

I damn sure would not buy someones hand loads. As far as the gun price, no clue. I would have used the Blue Book of Guns to get a general value.

 

[Mauser3000]

I think you made the right call. Handloads are worth less than component brass and bullets in my experiance. Most 460s tend to sell between 2,000 and 2,400 in my experience. Probably one of the hardest big bore rifles to sell in my limited opinion, though I’ve owned several weatherbys but currently none and for good reason.

 

[pilar]

Sounds about right, I personally don’t like the 460 Roy, it’s too brutal
But to each their own.

 

[grand veneur]

I got a phone call earlier this week from a gentleman that was a friend of a friend of a friend. He's an avid hunter and what I'd call a Cabelas-type gun accumulator. He's never been on a safari.

He was trying to sell a Weatherby Mark V in 460Wby with 80 rounds of handloaded ammo.

I stated that I thought he had a difficult gun to sell because people spending those sums for a large bore generally want CRF, more manageable recoil, and they do not want somebody else's handloads.

He said he wanted $3200. I have no idea what the going rate is, but my gut said he had a $2000-$4000 setup provided he'd pull the bullets and deprime, including bullets and brass with his sale. I recommended he list it at a low starting bid on GB and let the free market decide.

Do you think I gave him a reasonable answer that is going to get his gun sold for a reasonable amount of money?

I'm not a 460 guy, I'm not a weatherby guy, I don't know any weatherby guys, I don't see much interest in them on AH classifieds, hence I recommended he cast the biggest net possible using GB.

Critique?

In Europe, the Weatherby MarkV rifles caliber 460 Weatherby Magnum are sell for an average of 1000 Euros to 1500 Euros,...if a buyer can be found. There is no good market for these kind of rifles, not even for custom models of this caliber. Years ago, I tried to sale my custom rifle caliber 460 Weatherby Magnum built with a Brevex Magnum action for approximately the amount quoted above. I never found a buyer.

 

[AZDAVE]

You gave him good advice. There are always folks on gunbroker that are looking for something. If there is someone to buy the 460 it will be there.

 

[PARA45]

Not knowing which Weatherby MK-V this rifle is (Deluxe, Five Pannel, Weathermark, etc), I'd say the seller was probably a bit high. And I believe you gave him the best advise without having seen the rifle. Gunbroker is showing an average of $2400-2700.

 

[sgt_zim]

I think you told him the (hard) truth. I wouldn't take a 460 Wby as a gift, which is probably about where most people stand.

 

[BeeMaa]

I've only ever seen a 460WBY for sale with an odd number of cartridges. So instead of 80, it would be 79 because they figured out after one that it was TOO much for them. LOL.

Without knowing the specific model and condition of the rifle, I think @rookhawk did as good as he could. The sellers expectations seem more than a little lofty, but the market will determine the final price.

 

[grand veneur]

I think you told him the (hard) truth. I wouldn't take a 460 Wby as a gift, which is probably about where most people stand.

The problem is that everyone thinks this way when it comes to the cartridge 460 Weatherby Magnum. It is strange that the same reaction does not occur when it comes to cartridges like the 505 Gibbs or 500 Jeffery and especially not by other absurd unsuitable cartridges of much larger caliber and much stronger recoil. However, in this case hand-loaded ammo could mean that the owner made reduced loads, which many owners of such rifles do. The original loads from Weatherby are not usable in the hot climate of Africa. I tried it.

 

[Rifleman97]

\

I think you told him the (hard) truth. I wouldn't take a 460 Wby as a gift, which is probably about where most people stand.

I would never take a weatherby made 460wby to africa, they’re too light, I don’t care for their actions (for africa, I actually really like them for deer hunting) but I would absolutely take a 460 weatherby as a gift, or pay a small amount of money for one. Shoot it a few times, have my friends shoot it, hang it on a wall (they’re often really pretty)

I have probably half a dozen double barreled shotguns I’ll never shoot, but I still like having them. They’re all unique cool pieces of history. A 460 weatherby would be cool to own I think, even if I’d prefer to use a different chambering and CRF rifle if I were to go DG hunting in africa

 

[mark-hunter]

Critique?

In my opinion you told him well.
Also, in a general lack of CRF rifles (so lovingly used by us, the dinosaurs), I think that push feed rifles will in time gain more and more popularity for safari.

What is the next popular rifle on this forum after CRF? Well, Blaser R8. Push feed and straight pull in the same time.
But still R8 is cheaper then proper double rifle.

The point is that rifles in calibers over 9.3 are becoming scarse, and with time which ever push feed rifle in caliber over 9.3 gets on the market and with reasonable quality, will soon become popular. Blaser was first - but check only how many calibers are available with Blaser. Who else has that much options?

So, at this moment we have by level of popularity and pricing on this forum: CRF, Blaser R8, followed by doubles in high price range. But this is because major factories do not produce medium and big bores in factory rifles. Yet.

 

[BJH65]

I think your assessment was accurate not knowing the specific Mark V 460 Weatherby. A Custom Deluxe Weatherby will be on the high end and a Custom Shop model could be much more on your estimate. In regard to asking AH members, you could probably count on less than one hand the number of people on AH that favor a Weatherby Mark V chambered in 378, 416 or 460 Weatherby.

I have no such aversion having owned several but only in 300 Wby and 375 H&H. I thought them fine rifles. I sold my stainless Mark V 375 H&H to a fellow who had great success with it in Africa, with it he took buffalo and a variety of plains game. It performed as well as any other rifle.

 

[grand veneur]

\

I would never take a weatherby made 460wby to africa, they’re too light, I don’t care for their actions (for africa, I actually really like them for deer hunting) but I would absolutely take a 460 weatherby as a gift, or pay a small amount of money for one. Shoot it a few times, have my friends shoot it, hang it on a wall (they’re often really pretty)

I have probably half a dozen double barreled shotguns I’ll never shoot, but I still like having them. They’re all unique cool pieces of history. A 460 weatherby would be cool to own I think, even if I’d prefer to use a different chambering and CRF rifle if I were to go DG hunting in africa

I would never have bought Weatherby's gun either, but I got to know the cartridge 460 Weatherby Magnum by shooting with such a rifle. The cartridge 460 Weatherby Magnum interested me and I was fortunate enough to buy a used custom rifle of this caliber in the early nineties. I have never regretted it and have hunted with this rifle many times in Africa.

 

[fsrmg1]

I've also known only one person who owned and fired a 460 Weatherby. This was back in the mid 80s in Alaska when big bores were generally limited to 458 Win Mags. He used to brag how it put out over 100 lbs of free recoil. Funny thing was, is that he couldn't hit a d_mb thing with it. He flinched so bad every time he pulled the trigger that the bullet always seemed to hit 3 feet below what he was shooting at!

 

[sgt_zim]

The problem is that everyone thinks this way when it comes to the cartridge 460 Weatherby Magnum. It is strange that the same reaction does not occur when it comes to cartridges like the 505 Gibbs or 500 Jeffery and especially not by other absurd unsuitable cartridges of much larger caliber and much stronger recoil. However, in this case hand-loaded ammo could mean that the owner made reduced loads, which many owners of such rifles do. The original loads from Weatherby are not usable in the hot climate of Africa. I tried it.

Fair point, but it isn't in the same class as a .505 or .510 or .584. 460 Wby doesn't do anything a 458 WM won't do at ordinary DG distances.

I think most would consider a 458 of any stripe a stopping round. Can a 460 Wby do that better than WM or Lott or 450 NE? Can it do it as well as the 50 cals and their 500+ gr bullets? I'd say the answer to both of those is a "no."

 

[coreydb]

I'm with you on that. The Weatherby itself is a great platform, but the caliber is not mainstream. Either let the market decide or he takes it to a certified gun appraiser. Even then, due to the caliber the market will still decide.