Weatherby 307 Alpine ST: Sharp as a Tack-Driver

Weatherby is celebrating its 80th birthday in 2025. With a Weatherby family member at the helm, the firm has continued to evolve over the years in order to remain relevant. Like his father and grandfather before him, Adam Weatherby is a hunter. Hunting has changed since 1945 and so has the public’s preference in hunting rifles. The Weatherby 307 Alpine ST is a modern take on the classic mountain rifle, built for today’s marketplace.

In 2018, Weatherby moved its headquarters from its longtime home in California to firearm-friendly Sheridan, Wyoming. The state’s area code is “307,” hence the name 
of the company’s newest series of rifles. The 307 action, released in 2023, is a 700 clone of sorts, but with several notable improvements.

The 307 Alpine ST is a premium rifle built on the new action, combining several components that customers would expect to find on a custom rifle. It is available in 14 different short and long-action chamberings ranging from the .22 Creedmoor to .300 Weatherby. Our test rifle came chambered in .22 Creedmoor, a cartridge that I’ve used a great deal in recent years and have come to appreciate.

The 307’s footprint is no mistake; the company recognized the widespread availability of accessories designed to accommodate this receiver style and embraced it. Cylindrical actions are straightforward to manufacture which means they can be built straight and true. The 307 uses a standard 1-16TPI 700-style barrel tenon with a bolt counterbore, maintaining the original, much-celebrated “three rings of steel.”

About the Bolt

The 307’s two-lug bolt has a fluted body and can be stripped without the use of tools. This doesn’t seem like a big deal until you’re a day’s hike into the mountains and the firing pin assembly gets gummed up. The 307 uses an M16-style extractor and a plunger ejector along with a receiver-mounted bolt stop. The bolt body is spiral fluted and the bolt handle and extended bolt knob are skeletonized. The cocking piece is visible from the rear of the rifle, which establishes a visual and tactile cocking indicator.

One area where the 307 action departs from the 700 is the scope-mounting surface. On the 307, the receiver has the same height and radius on both the front and rear bridge so scope mounts designed for the 700 will not work. I didn’t notice this nuance until it was time to mount a scope and sent a panicked text to Gary Turner at Talley Manufacturing. Talley overnighted me a set of their lightweight rings/mounts of the appropriate size complete with 8-40 fasteners.

Though some of the 307 models use detachable box magazines, the 307 Alpine ST uses extended Wyatt’s internal magazines. Mag boxes are 2.97 inches for short actions and 3.95 inches on the long-action models. These boxes allow plenty of room for seating bullets beyond SAAMI cartridge overall length (COAL), if desired. As an example, the maximum COAL spec for our .22 Creedmoor is 2.700 inches—handloaders will find their bullets hitting the lands in the bore long before they run out of space in the magazine.

Sometimes it’s the little things that set a rifle apart. Unlike many factory rifles that use stamped metal or polymer magazine followers, the 307 Alpine ST uses a Wyatt’s PRC machined aluminum part. In my personal experience, the surface finish and geometry of these followers creates a more reliable system than less-expensive options. In the .22 Creedmoor, the magazine has a 4+1 capacity. We used four different loads in our testing, a mix of factory and handloaded ammunition—everything fed without extra effort or hiccup.

Barrel and Stock

The barrel on our test rifle was 22 inches in length with a magnum sporter contour and a 1:8 twist. The barrel is spiral fluted for much of its length and threaded ½-28 at the muzzle with a removeable muzzle brake included. With a .224 bore, this thread pattern allows at least 0.125 of wall thickness between the thread root and the rifling grooves which is a good thing. I’m personally not a big fan of brakes so, instead, I mounted a Thunder Beast Arms Ultra-5 suppressor using a thread adapter that I had on-hand. The entire barreled action was Cerakoted satin black.

Regular readers of this column know how I feel about the inexpensive injection-molded stocks that are currently found on many factory rifles. On the 307 Alpine ST, Weatherby did not go cheap on us. This rifle is equipped with the 24-oz. Peak 44 Bastion stock built primarily from carbon fiber to reduce weight while maintaining the rigidity that is so important for consistent accuracy in real-world conditions. The Bastion combines aluminum pillars and a carbon fiber bedding block to create a solid bedding platform and maintain shot-to-shot consistency.

From a design standpoint, the Bastion uses a vertical grip with a noticeable palm swell and a negative comb. I’m not a stock guru but the idea is that, in recoil, the stock moves away from the shooter’s face. Being able to spot one’s hits and misses is a key component of precision shooting and this shape aims to aid in that task.

A Weatherby wouldn’t be worthy of the name if it didn’t maintain the reverse forend tip and the Bastion carries that tradition forward. The Bastion stock uses a 3D-Hex honeycomb-pattern recoil pad that extends into a halfmoon cut at the stock’s butt to allow the system more room to work. It was tough to judge the recoil reducing properties on a rifle chambered in .22 Creedmoor, but I’ll buy the theory. The stock was fit with three sling swivel studs to allow for bipod mounting and was sponge painted with a camo pattern over raw carbon fiber.

Trigger Time

The final piece in the puzzle is arguably one of the most important; the trigger. Sure, you can make hits with a bad trigger but you’re not doing yourself any favors. The 307 Alpine ST uses a single-stage TriggerTech. These excellent triggers are user-adjustable for pull weight from 1.5-4 pounds, using a single hex screw. Ours broke at 3.75 pounds from the factory. The internal parts of these triggers are made from hardened stainless steel eliminating the potential for corrosion, which is a benefit when a rifle might spend much of its life cold and wet.

Given its chambering, I envision this rifle as a deer/antelope rifle that could do double-duty as a lightweight varmint/predator rig. With that in mind, I mounted a versatile Leupold VX-6HD 3-18x44mm optic.

Weatherby has a three-shot, 1 MOA guarantee from a cold barrel with Weatherby or premium factory ammunition. With air temperatures in the mid-90s during my range trips, I had to use a wet rag to keep the barrel and suppressor from creating excessive mirage while I was shooting groups from the bench. Despite the barrel being nowhere near cold after the first few rounds, this rifle met the factory’s accuracy standard with all but one of the loads that we tested.

Our 307 Alpine ST weighed 6.2 pounds naked and, with the scope, mounts and suppressor totaled a very reasonable 8.3 pounds. With a moderate barrel length, comfortable stock and a great trigger, it is well-equipped as a mountain rifle but would perform equally well on the plains or in the timber. In many of the chamberings offered, this rifle would be capable of taking any game animal in North America.

Value Built In

With an MSRP of two grand, the 307 Alpine ST is at the higher end of the factory hunting rifle spectrum. That said, it is important to put that price into perspective. The Weatherby 307 builder’s action is available for $750 while the Peak 44 stock sells for $800. The trigger and magazine assembly will run you $365 which means that you’d have to source a fluted and threaded barrel as well as a Cerakote job for $89 to match the retail price of this rifle. Good luck with that. While it might not be within everyone’s personal budget, when you break down the cost of the components, this rifle is a steal.

Weatherby 307 Alpine ST Specs

• Type: Bolt-action centerfire repeater
• Caliber: .22 Creedmoor (tested)
• Barrel: 22 in., 1:8 twist, threaded 1/2-28
• Weight: 6 lbs., 3 oz
• Capacity: 4+1
• Stock: Peak 44 Bastion
• Finish: Black Cerakote
• Sights: None. Drilled and tapped 8-40 for scope mounts
• Safety: Two-position
• Trigger: Single-stage, 3.75 pounds
• MSRP: $1,999
• Manufacturer: Weatherby, weatherby.com

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