Weatherby ~ Mark XXII Deluxe ~ .22 LR

This Weatherby was manufactured in JAPAN. It features a full Monte Carlo stock with skip line checkering, and Rosewood tip/grip caps. The sights are a gold bead and big game rifle type folding leaf rear sights. These rifles were, and are, highly regarded for their accuracy. The left side of the receiver is marked "MARK XXII / U.S. PATENT NO.3.155.004" / "Weatherby / SOUTH GATE CALIF. MADE IN JAPAN". The left side of the barrel is marked "CALIBER / ".22 L.R.". The ivory diamond inlay on the pistol grip cap indicates a "Deluxe" model. Based loosely on a Beretta design with several Weatherby-guided enhancements, the Mark XXIIas it was cleverly calledwas initially built by Beretta in Italy. Introduced at tradeshows during the winter of 196162, the Mark XXII garnered several thousand orders. Eventually, the contract with Beretta was filled but not renewed. Over the coming decades, manufacturing of the Mark XXII was variously contracted to KGT and Nikko in Japan (196780), then in the United States to Mossberg (197982), then back to Japan to Howa (198488). Eventually, the Mark XXII was discontinued in 1989, but it was then resurrected in 2007 as a bolt action. Two versions of the original Mark XXII autoloader were available. One fed via a tubular magazine; the other used a box-type, detachable magazine that held 10 rounds. This example has the magazine and is still in great shape.