Weatherby also marketed a scope created specifically for the Mark XXII. Only the fact that the scope is sighted-in indicates that it was ever fired. Buyers typically regarded them as something special, and so they are often found in splendid condition. Manufacturing costs continually climbed, and the profitability margins of the rifle suffered.Īccording to the Blue Book of Gun Values, only about 100,000 made it to market. Makers just weren’t accustomed to holding rimfire rifles to such standards. Stocks were of quality walnut glowing beneath a gloss finish.

Highly polished barrels featured the same rich, deep bluing as Weatherby’s premium big-game rifles. One of the hang-ups in producing the Mark XXII was that Weatherby refused to accept anything less than premium quality. The rifle reviewed here is of the latter type.

One fed via a tubular magazine the other used a box-type, detachable magazine that held 10 rounds. Two versions of the original Mark XXII autoloader were available. Eventually, the Mark XXII was discontinued in 1989, but it was then resurrected in 2007 as a bolt action. According to its serial number, the rifle shown here was made by Howa in 1988. Over the coming decades, manufacturing of the Mark XXII was variously contracted to KGT and Nikko in Japan (1967–80), then in the United States to Mossberg (1979–82), then back to Japan to Howa (1984–88). Eventually, the contract with Beretta was filled but not renewed. Unfortunately, manufacturing never caught up, and the rifles that did make it to the United States had issues with function and finish. Introduced at tradeshows during the winter of 1961–62, the Mark XXII garnered several thousand orders. Based loosely on a Beretta design with several Weatherby-guided enhancements, the Mark XXII-as it was cleverly called-was initially built by Beretta in Italy. by Grits and Tom Gresham, Roy Weatherby started the Weatherby rimfire ball rolling in 1960.

Weatherby serial number vs prefix