Congratulations . . . you have bought an excellent rifle . . . damn the critics. A prominent writer . . . I forgot his name . . . called the Howa "a sleeper" . . . a good rifle at a good price.

Yes, I have one, in .30-06. Accurate as heck. I have fired 3-shot groups of 3/4" using a rest with Speer 165 grain BTSP bullets.

Are there any problems? Not really . . . but some irritations. The stock, made by Butler Creek, isn't the purtiest thing in the world. However, Legacy Sports will sell you a nice Black Walnut stock for $115 . . . as I remember. I bit my tongue and kept the synthetic. It is a little heavy . . . 7 3/4 lbs. Not bad, but add some ammo and mounts and a scope . . . you are looking at around 9 lbs. A lot to lug around up in these mountains. But so is the Vanguard.

It is NOT a Vanguard . . . there are some differences. The Vanguard has a 24" barrel. I would like that. The bolt of the Weatherby is shrouded - ala Weatherby - a good safety feature. I guess the Japanese don't care if you get a "blast" in your eye. Oh well! The bolt is fluted on the Vanguard and the gas relief ports are on the side - as all Weatherbys - the Howas ports are on the bottom of the bolt. But these are not big differences. Howa makes the Vanguard - as they have since 1970. A nice thing about the Vanguard is you can get some neat chamberings . . . i.e. the .257 Weatherby Magnum . . . that makes me drool! Vanguard gives you the usual Weatherby accuracy guarantee . . . not a big deal since most rifles shoot that well anyway.

I really like mine, but I would sell it. I want a Vanguard .257. It is an ideal antelope rifle for this part of the world. See "Classifieds." It has a Bushnell Trophy 3-9X scope and etc.