Weatherby Vanguard series (what say you?)

Ok another of my rambling on stories. I had the chance to buy a Taurus Tracker 44 mag for a lowly $350. I put up a post as a few of you prob read and most said dot do it but a few of you said heck it has a warranty get it anyway. Well after a heated debated on whether they were good or not the buddy of mine said ok how about $300 and if you shoot the 200rds of ammo I have for it and it breaks I wil buy it back. Well fellers that's a rock solid warranty by far. So I bought the gun took it to the range and put 200rds of his reloads (which I fully trust as I know the man really well and learned a lot about reloading from him) I fired all of them with him. What a chore that little thing has some bark. Anyway I felt a little buyers remorse after shooting it. It just can't replace my stainless blackhawk 45colt (God I love that gun). Anyhow we headed towards town and I didn't mention the remorse as I'm not gonna complain at the good price so I wandered into a local gunshop well actually I got out to go in and see what they would give me on trade and in the parking lot a guy said hey is that a Taurus Tracker and I said yes it is. Well he asked how much it had been shot and what I was gonna do with it. I explained it had run fine with 100rds before that we ran thru it and another 200 as of today. Well he seemed to want it and asked for a price. I told him I was thinking of getting another rifle on trade for it so we walked inside and I was told $425 on trade in or $300 cash price for it. I know the gunshop owner and he knows I always spend all my money in there that's why I assume he was willing to deal so generously. Anyhow the guy I talked to outside browsed with me and said ok I will give you $385 for the gun and I explained that store credit could buy me another rifle so he said fine $425 and I happened to see a new weatherby vanguard series 1 ( I assume because of the craptastic plastic stock. Well it was marked $350 so I took it up front and the man who wanted the 44 basically paid for the rifle for me and I gave him the Taurus. I know I could have got more money or a better trade but I have read a lot and heard that these Japanese vanguards are nice. Let me say I know it's foreign but so is almost every piece of glass on a scope to include Leupold that's why they say assembled is USA now not made. Anyway Japs have always made nice rifles and scopes unlike the China ****. Ok I'm done with my novel who has one of these vanguards and how do you like it?

Both of mine (308 & 300 Weatherby) will shoot the A** out of a rat at 200 yards.

Get a stock for it from boyds and a timney trigger and your in business.

The two Howa 1500s I've had (22-250 and 338 Win Mag) were both accurate and trouble-free right out of the box.

I had an early 2 digit serial number VGS in 06 caliber that was the most accurate gun I've owned. I could prairie dog it with 110 HP's, elk hunt with 165 BT's, or moose hunt with 220 gr silvertips. Never had a gun that would shoot such a variety of weight bullets.

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Originally Posted by wiljen

Get a stock for it from boyds and a timney trigger and your in business.

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This is exactly the same things I did to my .300 Weatherby Vanguard when I got it some years back.Robert

Thanks for the info fellers. I know the howa 1500 S&W 1500 are the same rifle as the vanguard. Thanks again for the tips and as always keep it coming

Quote:

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Originally Posted by wiljen

Get a stock for it from boyds and a timney trigger and your in business.

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I put a Bell & Carlson on my 338 win mag and a Timney trigger......I killed my elk last year at 459 yards with it.... they seem to shoot alright :)

Dk17hmr,
Yeah I would say if it helped you shoot an elk at 459yds that would just put it into the alright class. All kidding aside I usually hunt Alaska but am getting ready to PCS to who knows where so I downsized to some smaller calibers as I was using a 375h&h and a 338wm for all Alaska offers. Anyway I usually don't shoot past 300yds unless I have to as my range only goes to 300yds and I test all my loads that far. I think it will do all I need it to just depends on where I move to. I am hoping for Utah or Texas as my other choices are less than stellar for hunting. Anyway thanks again to all of you for the advice and opinions. Oh also I did get rid of my 338wm but the 375 will be sticking around just incase I decide to poke something big. Not to mention it will shoot a 235gr bullet just as far as my 338 would so its pretty versatile when using light or heavy lead.

I bought a Vanguard S2 in Jan. it has been one of my favorite rifles. It is a prarie dog killer would like to buy another one of these days

Yota--

Best of luck on getting a good PCS with hunting opps and other amenities. I would make the same choice you did--retaining the 375 over the 338 if only one caliber had to be selected. If my 9.3 x 62 hadn't been such an accurate delight for 10 years running, it might have gone down the road for a 375. Both the 375 and the 9.3mm shoot castings so darn well......I went for the CZ-550 in 9.3mm since it holds 5 rounds rather than the three most conventional actions are limited to. It was and remains a "bad critter" or "bad critter area" rifle.

As for the Howa 1500s, I was hard-put to decide between re-barrelling my much-used Rem 788 in 22-250 or just sending it down the road and getting another Howa so chambered. At the end of the day, I think the tariff for either option will be within 50-100 dollars of each other.

9.3x62AL,
Thanks for the kind words. I hope I can end up in Utah and go after some muleys and elk but only time will tell. Hate to say it but no place will ever compare to Alaska in my opinion. I picked up a USA made Burris FFII in 3-9x40 with the ballistic plex and I think I will order a set of talley rings to go on it. Seems the rem 700 rings also work on the howa/vanguard rifles.

Bought one in 30-06 twelve years ago, put a VXII on it and shot a bear with it at 25 yards. Didn't shoot it again for almost 10 years because I couldn't really afford to shoot much at $.75a pop plus range fees. Got to where I could afford to shoot but still didn't feel much like punching paper with a full power 30-06. Which led me to reloading and this forum. I've been playing with commercial cast in it and it did 2-3 moa with them, you just couldn't push the bevel bases very fast at all (felt like a .22), but just got my Lee 309170 GC in the mail last night and I am looking forward to seeing what it can do with some proper GC boolits. The rifle came with a 100 yard test target showing 1.5 MOA with jacketed and I have no doubt that it is readily reproducable with decent ammo. As others have mentioned the trigger is a little heavy and mine has some creep in it, but for what I do it is just fine.

I'm sure AK would be a hard act to follow as a hunting area, but even as close to Lost Angeles as I live I can still find areas to hunt muleys that I have to myself on Opening Day. And see critters! Now, getting close enough for a shot might take a little doing.....but that's hunting.

I can't recall to a certainty that the Howas used the Rem 700 bases, but I had no trouble getting Redfield/Leupold bases to fit. I had an old Leup VX-II 3x-9x on the 338, and medium rings gave plenty of clearance for the 40mm objective lens. Nothing about the install was critical or squirrelly. I've had three 338 Win Mags--a Ruger 77RS, Win 70 push-feed, and the Howa 1500......the Howa was the most accurate of the three.

Good to know I have a brownells gunsmith discount so I ordered 2 sets of talley low ring sets as they are close to the same height as leupold mediums which I ran on 2 700s and my 375 now. I like that the talleys are one piece for ring and base. I have heard a lot of good about them but this will be my first experience so I will keep yall updated when they arrive next week. The ones ordered were for rem 700 but on talleys site there the same model number and height for the Howa 1500 too so I got 2 rem 700 sets. I will also let yall know if they work good on the vanguard.

No experience with the Talley products, they are supposed to be The Thing for use on CZ rifles.

I have had no issues with my near 20 year old .300 Wby Vanguard. It is a sub MOA rifle and leaves pieces of deer about the vicinity when used with the Sierra 165 Gr. HPBT. I bedded mine and slapped a timney trigger on it.

Great news from you all I am gonna save up for a Timney I dry fired a few times and the trigger feels like I'm dragging it over a dirt road. Lumpy and bumpy to say the least. I will pull it off and blow it out with air they put in some moly dry film for now to get it usable. I think it has dirt or something in it from what I can tell it may be metal particles. I don't think they clean these parts too good before assembly. Anyhow I can swap out the trigger. I may shot it with the synthetic club and see how it does then I may buy a laminate Boyd's stock and glass bed it down the road. I just hate to put on good looking wood then beat it up but wood looks and feels way better to me.

Don't forget to post a pic when you get that nice new stock on it. FB

I will post some pictures once I get it purdy