RE: OPINIONS:WBY Vangard
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.