Ed Weatherby examines one of the new Fausti Stephano side-by-sides from Italy.

The company has other guns still under wraps. "We're better equipped to design and test firearms now," says Aaron Smith. "We'll soon have our own range in Paso Robles." The new facility is not far from the Atascadero headquarters Weatherby occupied until 2006.

While accuracy trials in a shooting tunnel are useful in marketing Weatherby rifles, the tests that matter most come on the mountain. Last fall I carried a rifle overdue for a trip afield: a Weatherby Mark V Ultra Lightweight in .270 Weatherby Magnum. It's a straightforward rifle, the nine-lug magnum action mated to a slender, fluted stainless barrel with black finish. The barrel is appropriately 26 inches long, to wring all the potential from Weatherby's big hulls and fast-stepping bullets. But the rifle weighs only 63⁄4 pounds, courtesy of Bell & Carlson's featherlight synthetic stock. I installed a new Leupold VX-7 3.5-10X, leaving the dial at 6X. The scope was predictably bright and sharp. Its capless adjustment dials took me by surprise. They pull out to adjust, then snap back to lock settings and turn to seal the turret against weather. Titanium nitride and stainless steel innards deliver precise clicks; it was easy to walk my bullets into center.

Jack Hooker at WTR Outfitters has been taking hunters into Montana's Bob Marshall Wilderness for more than 40 years. At his ranch near Ovando, I bellied into pasture grass to check my Weatherby while wranglers gathered the stock. My last two Barnes TSX bullets struck an inch apart in the target's middle at 200 paces. A couple of days later, on a windy ridge above a burn and after more than an hour of sneaking, I eased within 300 yards of a six-point bull elk. The steep, open terrain, and a bevy of cows already on the alert, would allow no closer approach. While I enjoy hunting with saddle guns, I was most pleased to have that long-legged Weatherby on hand. Through a narrow alley in the charred boles, I steadied the crosswire and crushed the trigger. The strike was high but fatal. "Been hunting with a .32 Special this year," I told my companions lamely. "This .270 Magnum shoots a lot flatter."

The author calls for a clay target, his Weatherby Orion over/under at the ready.

Indeed it does. One of Roy's first magnums, it came along during World War II, hurling 130-grain bullets at nearly 3,400 fps in a chalk-line trajectory. The .270 Weatherby delivers more than a ton of energy at 300 yards but is easy on your shoulder. It is the 29th cartridge I've used on elk--and surely one of the all-time best picks for open-country hunting. Even today's glut of high-octane big-game rounds can't offer any flatter-shooting, more versatile number. The Ultra Lightweight is this .270's perfect launch-pad, graceful in profile, nimble in the hand and steady when you snug that sling, with barrel enough to mitigate blast while pouring coal to the bullet.

Fifty years after Roy came up with his Mark V, the company famous for high velocity continues to pioneer rifles and shotguns designed to meet high expectations.