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.