They are solid built rifles, but I would go with a 300 Wby. Mag. instead of the 300 Win. Mag. The 300 Wby. Mag. will out preform the 300 Win. Mag. using a 180 gr. factory load by about 280 f/s. Good luck.
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PROUD HUNTERS KILL THEIR GAME THEY DON'T HARVRST THEM!!
The Vanguard is simply a Howa 1500 series rifle. They have been produced for Smith & Wesson, Mossberg, & Weatherby. I own a S&W in 25-06 and it's one of my favorites. The only thing I have done is a trigger job to lighten the trigger to 2.5 lbs. The rifle out of the box was a very accurate rifle. With handload featuring 115 gr. NBT over IMR4831 I get 1/2-3/4 three shot groups. I don't use this rifle much because my Dad borrows it because he said at his age his 300 Win. Mag. kicks too hard. My suggestion would be to buy this rifle. If you buy the 300 you will like the extra weight the rifle carries when shooting off the bench. My rifle bare without scope, mounts, or sling weighs in at 7-7/8lbs. Yours might be a little lighter if you will be buying the synthetic stock model. I also have a friend that owns a Vanguard in 300 Weatherby and he wouldn't trade it for the world. He put a Leupold 3.5-10 on it and hunts everything from whitetail to elk.
Carpmaster, I would not buy a Weatherby Rifle under any circumstances. Here is a quote from an article entitled "Rifle Lessons Learned from the Zimbabwe Professional Hunter's Exam." Even though you are probably not planning a trip to Africa, this is not the kind of crap you should have to put up with when you pay the kind of money that Weatherby asks for their rifles. Here is the quote:
" I"™ll start with my least favourite rifle:- the Weatherby. We don"™t often see them out here, thank goodness. The one we had this year exhibited the usual Weatherby failing of going off when the safety catch was disengaged. Like all I"™ve seen with this problem, they work fine on the range. It is only after they have been bounced, bumped or jolted whilst loaded and on safe that they do this. I"™m sure the problem is correctable and not all do it, however, this one would also not extract at all after the eighth round. It showed decidedly sticky extraction after the first three shots and finally died on number eight. It gives me great pleasure than to dig out my 2lb hammer and beat the bolt of a new rifle open whilst giving the owner a lecture on the benefits of reloading. Weatherby factory ammo always gives extraction problems and needs to be down loaded for use in hot conditions. The .460 is notorious and this .416 proved no different."
I own several Weatherby rifles... 6 Lazermarks, 1 Mark V Deluxe and a VGX. Never have I had a Weatherby jam.
You are alot better off searching the internet for gun reviews written by unbiased individuals who are highly qualified to give information concerning the preformance of a gun.
99.9% of the time when you hear someone say something negative concerning a Weatherby, you can rest assured that the person saying it cannot afford to buy a Weatherby.
The affordable Vanguard is a very good rifle. The two major differences in the Vanguard and Mark V rifles are; The Vanguard has two locking lugs as where the Mark V has 9. The Vanguard has a 90 degree bolt lift where the Mark V has a 54 degree. New for 2004, the Vanguard is offered in 270WSM and 257 Weatherby magnum.
The vangaurd is a fine rifle, and you will enjoy it emensly. I had one in .338 Win mag, and using the federal cheapy 225 grain load, it put three shots into 3/4 on an inch off a sandbag! I also would recommend the .300 win mag, as opposed to the WBY mag. In real world performance, the Win mag will kick you less, and shoot just as good. you don't need an extra few FPS. I assure you, Bambi does not care which one he gets hit with! How dead do you wan't it?
Ok guys - thanks for the info! The main reson i am going with the win mag is because i have all the reloading stuff for it. As far a i have seen weatherby makes a good rifle and i need and inexpensive bad weather bad terrain beater, thats why i was looking at the vangard. Theres always pros and cons on any weapon.
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99.9% of the time when you hear someone say something negative concerning a Weatherby, you can rest assured that the person saying it cannot afford to buy a Weatherby.
I can assure you that in my case that is not an issue.I had owned a few 700 remingtons before I bought my two weatherby mark v's.I did get a good deal because both rifles,a 257wby and a 300wby had been on the shelf for a considerable time and I bought the two as a package deal.I bought them in the first place because like many other people I thought that because the weatherby rifles were fancier and more expensive they would be better rifles than my 700's.After a great deal of load development failed to produce better accuracy than my 700's(actually not as good as most 700's)I realized that this was not the case.I then sold both weatherby's and had my first custom rifle built.It did cost slightly more than the mark V's but it also shot groups half the size.Since then I have had five more customs built and have not been disappointed in any of them.They all cost slightly more than a mark V here in canada but all shot much better and were more comfortable to shoot as well.Over the years I have also bought several cheaper rifles for practising at the range of for varminting and one was a smith&wesson 1500 which is actually the same rifle made by howa as the weatherby vanguard.I was very pleased with the accuracy of this rifle as well as the very low price.I have since fired a few vanguards and mossberg 1500's(same rifle made by howa)and all shot at least as good as my mark V's with the majority shooting better.For that reason I may someday own a vanguard because I believe that they are a great gun for the money, but I will never own another mark V although I could easily afford one.
OPINIONS:WBY Vangard
