Remington 700 vs Weatherby Vanguard
 

I am in the market for a new hunting rifle this season, mostly for hunting whitetail in Centural Texas. It will be my first new rifle (have been using a hand-me-down) so I am looking to spend around $500-$700. I am stuck between the Remington 700 SPS Stainless 30-06 and the Weatherby Vanguard Stainless 30-06. I like the Remington because of the 700's reputation for reliability and out of the box accuracy, but like the Vanguard because of it's beautiful craftsmanship and have heard that it is also a very straight shooter. Any comments or personal expirences with either of these rifles would be appreciated, thanks.

RE: Remington 700 vs Weatherby Vanguard
 

I have the SPS Stainless. Good accuracy out of the box. Comfortable to shoot. Mine is the 300 win mag but kicks less than my model 70 Winshester 30-06. Nice gun. Either way I believe you will be pleased.

RE: Remington 700 vs Weatherby Vanguard
 

They are both good rifles but the vanguard is more rifle for the money than a Remington 700.

Rem bolt has a soldered on handle that can break off where as the vanguard is a one piece forged bolt.

Rem bolt has that little and weak extractor where as the vanguard has a huge m-16 style extractor.

Rem bolt body is not vented where as the vanguard bolt has three vent holes to direct excaping gasses away from the shooter.

The Rem's receiver is round with a seaperate recoil lug where as the vanguard is a flat bottom receiver with a very large integral recoil lug.

They both have adjustable triggers.

They both utilize the "three rings of steel" construction.

RE: Remington 700 vs Weatherby Vanguard
 

For me, if it ain't broke, leave it alone. Remington has done very well by me.

RE: Remington 700 vs Weatherby Vanguard
 

Weatherby Vanguard made by Howa which I would take any day over the Remington.

RE: Remington 700 vs Weatherby Vanguard
 

Make mine green. No way i would change with theaccuracy i get.

RE: Remington 700 vs Weatherby Vanguard
 

Hey Doe Dumper! You mean those things will shoot? I am heading out in about 6 hours for the deer season in SD. I will be trying out the new 270 with 130 grain Fusion loads from Fereral. I din't get time to try to work up a load for it. I am taking the NEF 44 Mag along for back-up. Oh and the 308 Browning.:D

The next thing you will be saying those darn Corlokts shoot good too.;)

RE: Remington 700 vs Weatherby Vanguard
 

I have and shoot both. I've been shooting Remingtons for almost 50 years and IMHO, Remingtons will outshoot 'most' rifles out of the box. To be honest, I've never had a bolt handle break off, (never even seen one break off), never had one fail to extract the round, and never had gas blow-by issues with the Remingtons. I like my Weatherby's fine, but personally, I'll always take a Remington first choice.

RE: Remington 700 vs Weatherby Vanguard
 

I have many Remingtons and like them. I also have a Smith & Wesson 1500. The S&W is the same as a Vanguard. I don't think you can go wrong with either rifle. However, one thing no one has mentioned is that the Vanguard comes with and accuracy guarantee. 1-1/2" at 100 yards for a 3 shot groups using premium ammo. Remington doesn't offer this guarantee. So if you buy a vanguard and it doesn't shoot well you can send it back for repair or replacement. If you buy a Remington and it will shoot only 2" groups you are stuck with it. I've never owned a Remington that didn't shoot well with handloads but I've had to free float the barrel and bed the action on all I've ever owned to make them great shooters. The Vanguard comes with a floated barrel.

RE: Remington 700 vs Weatherby Vanguard
 

i have the weatherby vanguard in 270 and it is extremely accurate and well made. i would without a doubt recommend it

RE: Remington 700 vs Weatherby Vanguard
 

Good luck James! Knock one down for me! For some reason, as hard as try to make em do bad them darned core lokts inists on shooting under an inch out of my junky 700's :D

RE: Remington 700 vs Weatherby Vanguard
 

What are you talking about. I have never seen or even heard of these problems on a Remington, And I have a number of them. But either rifle whill make a good choice

RE: Remington 700 vs Weatherby Vanguard
 

I am not saying things like a bolt handle breaking off is an every day occurance but it does occasionally happen and while I have not had it happen to me personally a customer brought a Remington in the shop just two days ago with a bolt handle that came off the bolt body. It is sitting in the shop right now.

Venting in the bolt body is just added insurance should something bad happen like an obstructed bore, reloading with the wrong powder, pierced primers, etc... It vents escaping gasses away from the shooter. Again not something that happens every day but if it did happen to to you then you would certainly appreciate those three vent holes.

I see broken extractors in Remingtons often enough to know that they are incredibly weak compared to other extractors. Why do you think so many people install Sako extractors on Remington bolts? Because they break.


Both are good rifles but the Howas & vanguards are better rifles IMHO.

RE: Remington 700 vs Weatherby Vanguard
 

Can you take a picture of this bigbulls? I would really like to see a broken bolt handle from the Remington. Don't get me wrong I'm not doubting you I just would like to see a picture of it.

I know for a fact that more military and law enforcement sniper weapons are based on the Remington 700 platform. No one's tougher on weapons then the military so if it's good enough for them, it's good enough for me. ;)

RE: Remington 700 vs Weatherby Vanguard
 

Sure I can take a pic. I don't have a digital camera so I will have to develope the film first and put it on a CD.

You are right in that more rifles are based on a Remington action. The differance is that they modify them to improve upon their weak spots.

Take an Ed brown rifle. It is basically a Remington style action that he makes in house but he uses an m-16 extractor, welded on bolt handle rather than silver soldered, a Winchester style safety, and a much thicker recoil lug.

Again, don't take this as Remingtons being bad rifles cause they are not. Just originally giving the differances between the two rifles mentioned.

RE: Remington 700 vs Weatherby Vanguard
 

Go with the remington 700 i personally have 7 of them in varying calibers and had the chace to shoot a vangard and personally wouldnt want one if you gave it to me. vangard my have a gaurantee but its only as good as whats behind it where as a 700 has been proving it self for well over 40 years. and as far as the bolt breaking well personally i dont know what you would have to do to get one to break off. i have like i said 7 and every member of my family has at least a 700 and through all the gun shows and expos that either i or my family attends never seen or really even heard of it and my grandfathers goes to the international shot show every year and talked with the remington rep and and asked and said that in the 40+ years hes worked there he has only had to send out 1 new bolt on account of it breaking and the extractors will hold up to most shooting done with a bolt action to where you dont really need a m16 extractor.

RE: Remington 700 vs Weatherby Vanguard
 

I just went throught this same comparison before purchase, I opted for the Weatherby Vanguard in 300 WSM with a Nikon Buckmaster 3x9, I cant wait to shoot it. The total package cost me 750.00.

Hard to beat the Weatherby Quality or reputation, though I think the Remington 700 is a good rifle and I have owed a 700 BDL in 308.

RE: Remington 700 vs Weatherby Vanguard
 

I have owned and shot both. Just recently as a matter of fact I was struggling to decide which one to keep and which to sell. I don't like to sell guns once I have them, but this was unavoidable. The Vangaurd was a .308 and the Remington was a 7mm-08. The Vangaurd came with a factory shot target with a 3 shot group only showing 2 holes, so I was excited about the "out of box" accuracy. Long story short...I could never duplicate the factory target with many different loads....I still own the Remington. It shoots very consistant groups. Actually it is the most accurate deer rifle I own.

RE: Remington 700 vs Weatherby Vanguard
 

The benchrest guys & gals seem to do the finest, shooting, I have seen, and there reloading skills to me are just awsome, Last time I looked I did not see any Weatherby cartridges oractions, but seems they like the Rem's

RE: Remington 700 vs Weatherby Vanguard
 

im very pleased with my rem model 700 in .270

RE: Remington 700 vs Weatherby Vanguard
 

ONe thing that's very nice with the Howa made rifles, the bolt handle is very long, compared to the Remington, that gives you more leverage to open the bolt. That's usually not much of a factor, but it might explain why Remington bolt handles have been snapped off, in the past. I live near a Remington Warranty Station, and it seems like every time I'm in there, someone is bringing in a 700bolt to have the handle fixed. I might see more of it than the average guy, but it does happen. The extra leverage might make banging on the bolt handle with a 2x4 unnecessary...... Having owned both, I think it's a tossup, but I like the Howasa lot.

RE: Remington 700 vs Weatherby Vanguard
 

Banging on the bolt handle with a 2x4 is never necessary.

RE: Remington 700 vs Weatherby Vanguard
 

LOL Id love to see the recipes they are shooting to need a 2x4 to get the bolt open :D

RE: Remington 700 vs Weatherby Vanguard
 

"Banging on the bolt handle with a 2x4 is never necessary". I would agree, but sometimes the bolts will stick. I've never had to do it, but apparently some others, HAVE. I see lots of things at a public range........... most of which make me cringe. I HAVE had some factory ammo split cases and make it pretty tough to open a bolt, but I've always managed to get it open without tools. I won't buy Remington ammunition for that reason. I tend to load conservatively, myself, to extend life, limb and barrel life, haven't shot factory ammo in anything but .204 or rimfire, for many years (and the .204 was toget brass, when it wasn't easy to find). Again,I see lots of stuff happen at public ranges......