Weatherby Vanguard

[Magnumdude]

I saw a Weatherby Vanguard at Wally World for $366.00. I've had to reform my previous ways (I'm broke - except for a little room on my plastic), and wondered it that was a decent rifle for that price. Black synthetic stock, blued/black barrel in 7mm remington mag.

 

[Guest]

The Vanguard is actually a Howa, which is not necessarily a bad thing. I've seen some great groups come from these rifles.

 

[Magnumdude]

Night hunter,

Thanks for the reply - any other opinions?

 

[sakofan]

[ QUOTE ]
Night hunter,

Thanks for the reply - any other opinions?

[/ QUOTE ]

I shot a buddies once, and I thought it was a piece of crap.
Roy Weatherby would turn in his grave. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

I just hate when a big name company takes an inferior product, and puts thier name on it. YMMV..sakofan...

 

[3sixbits]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Night hunter,

Thanks for the reply - any other opinions?

[/ QUOTE ]

I shot a buddies once, and I thought it was a piece of crap.
Roy Weatherby would turn in his grave. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

I just hate when a big name company takes an inferior product, and puts thier name on it. YMMV..sakofan...

[/ QUOTE ] Well good old ROY was still alive when the company took on the Howa built Vanguard. Of course this was a few years after he had the Mark V rifles built in Japan by Howa. Some years after production in europe by Shultze& Larson quit making them. Now I know all the lovers of the mark V are not going to like what I going to say now! "THE VANGUARD IS STRONGER THAN THE MARK V". The first year of production for the Vanguard was 75 or 76. A fellow from Fairbanks saved his money and bought one in .300 WINCHESTER MAG. Next payday he came back to buy a box of shells. The clerk asked him what he needed, the fellow told the clerk he had bought a .300 Whby two weeks before and wanted to buy a box of ammo for it. Well to kinda of shorten up this story a might, when the scraps were brought to me in the shop, I was told the fellow had retained a lawyer who planned on making a lot of money on the lawsuit. I got the bolt open using a cheater bar that was close to 5 ft. long, I found the melted ctg. and on the bolt face burned in to the face .300 Whby Norma. This rifle once the stock and bottom metal were replaced went back into service. Of course I told the lawyer He could tell the client that he would no longer need a chunk of 2x4 to close the bolt or to open it as he did when he fired the 4 rds of the .300 Whby ammo, as long as he stuck with .300 WINCHESTER Mag, as was stamped on the barrel. I was later informed that all mention of law suites went away and the customer payed me for the parts and my time to get his rifle back in serivce. Oh yea did I menton, I proofed the rifle and was surprised to find it in vary good shape? The shooter was not harmed other than some splinters in the forearm when the stock gave way. He was NOT wearing glasses. Note I do not recommend not wearing glasses or using the wrong Ctg in any rifle. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif

 

[sakofan]

I was asked for my opinion of the rifle, and I gave it.

For the record, I wouldnt own any rifle that said Howa or Weatherby. But, thats me.
Weatherbys are the most overated rifles in existance IMO..sakofan..The rifle that I shot was a piece of crap...Again, YMMV....

 

[3sixbits]

I don't own any either, couldn't agree more about that. That said, they do have a market and I can think of less desirable rifles on the market than the Vanguard. I know this comes as a shock to some, but not everybody is ready or able to forkout thousands of dollars for a hunten rig! That sure doesn't allow me to belittle another shooters gear. (Unless of course their is a bet involved, and you need an edge.)Hey we all had to start somewhere! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[sakofan]

Well yeah, you have to start somewhere.
But get a Remington or Savage and don't throw your money away on a Howa with Weatherbys name on it.

I mean, if you can't afford a real Weatherby, save your money until you can, if that's what you want. That's a "wannabe" move to buy the copy.
Sheesh. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif..sakofan..OUT!

 

[Guest]

I've heard both good and bad experiences with the Vanguard. Chuck Hawks wrote a positive article on this rifle. I have only had experiences with (1) Vanguard in 300WM, and I couldn't get the groups as tight as I wanted them, so I sold it. I'm a bit picky that way...If it were me, I'd rather purchase a Remington or Winchester.

 

[sakofan]

[ QUOTE ]
I know this comes as a shock to some, but not everybody is ready or able to forkout thousands of dollars for a hunten rig! That sure doesn't allow me to belittle another shooters gear.

[/ QUOTE ]

Let's start over.

To all the folks that own and like their Vanguards...God bless you.
My previous posts were in NO way meant to "belittle" someone's choice in shooting gear, whether it was based on budget or because you just like the darn thing. You don't owe me or any one else an explaination.

As for me, I'll stick with other brand names of firearms, thank you.

The whole "I own a big time, big name hunting rifle" thing, only to pull a Vanguard/Howa/Weatherby out of the rifle case is absurd IMO. AGAIN....YMMV....sakofan..

 

[sniper2]

I have a friend who has several Howa actions with Pac/Nor barrels on them and they shoot really well,he also has several Mark5's and some SAko's, he had trouble keeping the stock on the Sako TRG (or some letter configuration like that). There are or can be problems with any brand I had rather impress someone with a small group than a brand name.Sako fan I have a 270 WBY on a Sako action that will
shoot sub-min a really slick action and strong as well,it has a douglas air-ga barrel.You don't have to spend megabucks to have a good shooter if you did I couldn't play!Magnum Dude you may want to get a Howa action and get Kirby or one of the other Smiths to barrel it for you.

 

[sakofan]

[ QUOTE ]
Sako fan I have a 270 WBY on a Sako action that will
shoot sub-min a really slick action and strong as well,it has a douglas air-ga barrel.You don't have to spend megabucks to have a good shooter if you did I couldn't play!

[/ QUOTE ]

NEVER said you had to pay big bucks to get a rifle to shoot!! I said the Vanguard sucks!!! That's all I said!!

I also recommended a Remington or Savage. Not what I would call a BIG dollar rifle...sakofan.

 

[3sixbits]

I do get a charge out of the idea that the Vanguard can't be as good as the Mark V when they both have been made by the Howa Machinery Co., Ltd of Nagoya, Japan for the past 35 years or so! I want all to know that I do not own anything made by Howa, but that does not mean that I don't think they make anything that is of poor quality or of poor design and they don't use good material or lack state of the art manufactoring process. Cause that just ain't so. Fact of the matter is No American or European makers can rival the Japs in CnC equipment. I just wish I could afford Okuma mills and lathes. Does any of this make me happy, that we come no where close to being as good? Heck no! But this is a fact and does not change the reality. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[abinok]

Magnumdude,
I have only shot one of the wthby/howa rifles, but i have shot a few of the howa rifles that they are putting out in their own name. If you like the howa, you might take a look at their own line. They aren't much more expensive, and they have a variety of laminate stocks from boyds avalable, if you are into wood (like me). I don't know if the ones I have shot would run with my savage, but one of the BBl .223s I shot would keep it on a penny at 100.