Weatherby 307 feeding issues

[JPhunt]

Just got a Weatherby 307 in 7mm PRC rifle. The first round feeds fine after that the bolt pushes the tip of the bullet down and into the front of the magazine.
It uses a Magpaul PMag I purchased a second mag it does the same thing.
If the magazine is loaded making sure all of the rounds are packed to the back of the magazine it helps but still isn't better than 50/50 on round 2, 3rd never feeds.
Hornady Precision 175g ammo.

Any suggestions for a cure?

 

[hereinaz]

Spring and follower issue? I stretched a spring to fix a similar problem when I modified a mag. Is there anything catching the follower? I had sand that messed up a mag and did something similar.

 

[JPhunt]

Spring and follower issue? I stretched a spring to fix a similar problem when I modified a mag. Is there anything catching the follower? I had sand that messed up a mag and did something similar.

Do you think the springs would be week in both mags?
Both mags were new one came strait from the bag to the gun so I don't think the followers are catching on an obstruction. Unless there is something from the manufacturing process.

 

[TaperPin]

One way or another the spring needs to keep the nose of the bullet pushed up.
These fat cartridges can sometimes benefit from a spacer at the rear of the mag, so as the top cartridge is pushed forward, the one below it is forward enough to push up with its shoulder. I don’t know the dimensions of these mags, or who makes a solution, but what is happening to you is a common issue and there are some kits with a shorter follower, new spring and a block that fits the rear of the mag. If nobody makes a kit specifically for that mag, just looking at kits for other mags will give you a good idea of a fix.

 

[amassi]

Post a pic of the first round in relation to the feed ramp, cycle the round a post a pic of the second round.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[drake2]

Just got a Weatherby 307 in 7mm PRC rifle. The first round feeds fine after that the bolt pushes the tip of the bullet down and into the front of the magazine.
It uses a Magpaul PMag I purchased a second mag it does the same thing.
If the magazine is loaded making sure all of the rounds are packed to the back of the magazine it helps but still isn't better than 50/50 on round 2, 3rd never feeds.
Hornady Precision 175g ammo.

Any suggestions for a cure?

I have the same problem with new Weatherby 307 in 7mm PRC with both the provided Magpul PMAG 5 AC L - Magnum magazine and a new additionally purchased magazine.

If done by hand not in the rifle, you can see that as the first round feeds it drags the round below it forward and pushes front down and rear gets stuck on feed lips and follower gets stuck with the rounds left all at an angle.

The problem is worse at the third round, but the first round will always feed.

This problem makes the magazines unusable for anything other than single round feed for Hornady ELD-X and ELD-M 7mm PRC.

I don’t see an easy fix other than to call Weatherby later and find out how they managed to get it to work during their testing.

 

[JPhunt]

Finally had some time to get some pictures

 

[JPhunt]

Stretching the the spring to 2x original length helps but 3rd round still nose dives into the front of the mag.
I’m going to try turning the spring around in the ag to lift more on the front of the floor plate

 

[JPhunt]

I have the same problem with new Weatherby 307 in 7mm PRC with both the provided Magpul PMAG 5 AC L - Magnum magazine and a new additionally purchased magazine.

If done by hand not in the rifle, you can see that as the first round feeds it drags the round below it forward and pushes front down and rear gets stuck on feed lips and follower gets stuck with the rounds left all at an angle.

The problem is worse at the third round, but the first round will always feed.

This problem makes the magazines unusable for anything other than single round feed for Hornady ELD-X and ELD-M 7mm PRC.

I don’t see an easy fix other than to call Weatherby later and find out how they managed to get it to work during their testing.

Please call Weatherby I have talked to them and they can’t replicate the problem.
It’s not like there are a lot of available factory ammo Hornady is the major supplier kind of needs to work.

 

[JPhunt]

Flipping the spring might have worked. The spring is lifting the front instead of the back. I have shot 5 rounds 3 in the mag once 2 in the mag once, all fed correctly.
Now out of ammo $110 donated to Weatherby R&D department.

 

[Moose Drool]

Besides the magazine issues, how are these rifles shooting?

 

[JPhunt]

Shoots great! Good fit shoots sub MOA had it shooting out to 600 yds using burris eliminator in under a box.
One of the reasons for the purchase was the adjustable cheek rest for young shooter.

 

[drake2]

Besides the magazine issues, how are these rifles shooting?

My rifle shoots real nice also, but I was only shooting at 200 yards on 350 yard range at 16F so only spent an hour or two outside. I was using Vortex Razor HD LHT 4.5-22x50. I am guessing JPhunt is far better shooter than myself, but taking my poor skills into account rifle itself seemed to be easily sub-moa.

One of the reasons I would rather the polymer mags work, rather than getting metal magazines Is that it is easier to handle polymer without gloves when it gets 20 below and colder. Reversing the spring without stretching did not seem to help much with the problem.

I am not sure why Weatherby said they could not duplicate, all you have to do is put 3 Hornady ELD-X or ELD-M 7 PRC rounds in any of the provided model of the Magpul magazines to duplicate and the issue is easily repeatable.

 

[Moose Drool]

Good to hear they are accurate, hope you get the mag issues figured out.

 

[Sage_Rocket]

I've had the same issues with pmags before.
I switched to accumags and haven't had any feeding issues since. They're a little noisy but seem to work really well.

 

[JPhunt]

Stretching the springs to about twice their original length and turning the spring around seemed to work. I have shot 4 full mags without any issues.
I did order some steel magazines, but looks like the pmags will work also.

 

[drake2]

Stretching the springs to about twice their original length and turning the spring around seemed to work. I have shot 4 full mags without any issues.
I did order some steel magazines, but looks like the pmags will work also.

Stretching the springs as above with the pmags and repeatedly working the magazine by hand eventually worked for me, but would still prefer magazines would work from the start without messing with it for a week.

I ordered two steel accumags which feed even worse than the pmags due to the 7 prc case catching on the front bent in steel tabs and the edge of the case getting caught on the front edge.

Hopefully someone makes a decent magazine specific for 7 prc in the future.

 

[drake2]

I contacted Weatherby again on Friday, December 8th, 2023 and they sent me one of the MDT 300 win mag magazines to try for 7mm PRC in place of the Magpul magazine that came with the rifle. Weatherby‘s customer service and employees have been excellent every time I have contacted them.

Though at first, it appeared the metal tabs on the MDT magazine are close to the same place as on the accumags, the MDT magazine feeds very reliably for all 5 rounds when in the rifle.

The MDT magazine is a very nice quality metal magazine.

It would still be nice to have options for more reliable non-metal magazines when shooting in the cold below freezing temperatures.

 

[ironworker378]

Custom actions are so costly this WBY307 is only $749. I'm thinking of building a rifle in 22Creedmoor. I'd like to know if I'd have feeding issues with the WBY.

 

[Unckebob]

Custom actions are so costly this WBY307 is only $749. I'm thinking of building a rifle in 22Creedmoor. I'd like to know if I'd have feeding issues with the WBY.

I went to the big Dallas Safari Club event earlier today. I handled a couple of them out of curiosity. They fit and finish looked good. The action was not as smooth as my Tikka, but close to my Origin actions.

I asked the two women at their booth if the builder action could take a prefit barrel. One has no idea what a prefit barrel was. The other one knew what a prefit barrel was, but did not know the answer.