Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Tuning one of those cheap Walmart Vanguards

I grabbed one of the synthetic 243's myself. Do you guys float
the barrels on these? Looking forward to playing with this project.
GreggH

Shoot it first, but most could probably benefit from removing the pressure point and bedding. My old 1500 shoots under a inch with a plastic stock I bedded, fully floated barrel, a trigger job, and the right load. Mine has literally put tons of meat in the freezer over the years. After 30 years of use I put a new $35 cdnn plastic stock, a home duracoat job, and a new vxII. One of the best cheap actions on the market.

I like the synthetic 308 I got but after adding a scope and some Durasight rings, its a heavy beast. Chopping the barrel to 21" seems like it might lose a little weight and help the balance. Anyone chopped one of these down before? I have plenty of other deer rifles but I couldnt pass these up at $249.

You can realize a pretty decent weight savings by swapping the stocks. Black plastic stock vs. a Bansner:

All of this info about the WalMart closeout VG S2's in 308's has me thinking I should swap the wood stocked Sporter 243 I bought for a wood stocked 308, to go with the black Select 308 I also bought at the same time....any body wanna swap. I could also like doing a deal on a wood stocked Sporter 270.

Not gonna sell outright as the 243 was bought for my Really Old Age hunting years around the corner.
Ron

Just finished mounting one of Doug's $80 Hawke 2-7s on my .243. Total cost of package including tax and Talleys is just under $400. Bore-sighting and a little handloading will have me ready for the range next week, when it's supposed to climb back up in the 90s. Already reseated a bunch of loads meant for my recently-departed Number 1V and demilled some with bullets too long for a 1-10" twist.

I stopped in at Sportsman's today and picked up another set of Tally LW labeled Rem 700, 721, 40X. So now I can pull that first VG 243 apart and rescue my model 7 rings.

The second wood 243 got put together with a VX 2 3-9 in Talleys. I think I will shoot it first, then decide on floating the barrel. If it makes less than MOA with my Hornady 100 gr btsp, I will leave it in factory form.

My synthetic 06 just got a file sand job on the barrel channel, I will bed after I shoot it. Front of the stock was rough. Trigger is nice. $10 base and a vxII I had laying around installed. Just checked my chamber and it’s long like my 30 year old 1500.

I haven’t taken my stock off yet, how much material did you have to remove to float the barrel? I’m debating between messing with the cheap stock and just keeping it simple.

Box stock Vanguard Select synthetic in .308. I threw together a few loads with Varget and this is the best of the lot. I only shot one group of this loading but it shows some promise. Not bad for a $250 gun. The scope was a Bushnell Trophy XLT I got for $30 after rebate and I picked up some Durasight rings off eBay for $12. For just a tad over $300 I'm happy. Slick bolt, feeds like butter and little recoil. It is a bit heavy but I have other lighter rifles for carry. It needs to cool off, really hard to shoot from the bench at 90* and I'm not the best at waiting for a dead cold barrel.

I was working with a wood stock. It has a bump on each side of the barrel channel about 2.5-3 inches back from the tip of the forearm. I simply removed the bumps, and then coated the disturbed surface with Tru-oil.

Not to antagonize you....I just wouldn't do a damn thing to them without shooting them first. Have only had one not be sub moa out of probably 15. And I don't do a thing to them but clean them once in a while

I only took of a hair and cleaned it up, about 10 minutes with a file and some sand paper.

Shot it to today, but the vxII I put off an and old 338-06 wouldn’t track. I got it close enough to shoot an inch group, but the scope has to go back for repairs. 4 clicks might be 5” or nothing. First vx I’ve had fail.

Exactly. No idea why anyone would start bedding work on a rifle they've never shot?

I'm not sure I get it either. It seems to be operating on the premise that the people at Howa and Weatherby who built the rifle with sophisticated manufacturing equipment and guarantee it to shoot MOA need their customers to attack it with a file to make it reach its potential.

Do they put the "pressure points" or "speed bumps" in the stock just so we can entertain ourselves removing them or do they actually need to be there?

My shoots great. But I’m still going to chop the barrel back to 21 inches and put it in a Basner. That gives a handy .308 that is less than 8 pounds all up for around $600. I guess I could count the scope and the rings and it would be closer to $1000, but I had them already sitting around doing nothing, so it isn’t like I’m out new money. I’ll do the barrel work and the stock bedding myself, so I don’t count that either.

Maybe after your third or fourth, you would understand . The plastic stocks leave something to desired, the actions and barrels are great. Bed the front lug and clean up the inconsistencies in pressure points on the stock usually helps. If you get a unicorn that will be consistent and shoot under a inch every time, I’d probably leave it alone too. But put that same gun on different rests, and you will probably see a shift in poi as the pressure moves on the forestock. Just my experience with plastic stocks including 3-4 howas/vanguards. It’s more than one good group at one range session.

I have used a Wal-Mart Vanguard for decades. I have a Model 70, BLR, various Rugers, etc... My 300 Weatherby is a great game rifle. I hope you have a smuch luck with yours as I have had with mine.

https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/galleries/13090588/siskiyous

Can't call it "tuning" but I took my .243 to the range yesterday with some loads I made up for phase 1 of the break-in, 100gr Sierra PH blems over 45gr of RL26, plus some repurposed ammo loaded for another rifle. Two shots at 50 to verify my bore-sighting, one more at 100 to confirm, moved the scope a trifle to raise POI, then cracked out a 4-shot group and a 3-shot, both at or under 3/4". Not bad considering I was dragging a snake charged with Break-Free down the bore between shots. Then I went to phase 2: 3-shot groups with the snake applied between each. This was with the other ammo, as I had only loaded 10 of the blems. Quit after three due to the heat; neither the barrel or shooter was cooling off properly. Will go back to finish the break-in when it gets back into the 80s.

During the session I checked the action screws which had been torqued to 35lbs as per the book. The front one moved a bit, so I'll check it it again next time out. The other loads, featuring 70gr Varmageddons and 90gr E-tips had mixed results. Three 70s went into an inch, but the 90s spread out a lot, so next time I'll take a Lee loader and play with the seating a bit in hopes of salvaging them for deer. That said, the PH load looks like a winner at an estimated 2900+ fps, which is about as fast as I trust them at for shots on game at the ranges I encounter. Got another 250 or so of the blems as well as most of a box of firsts.

My 243 is one of the most accurate guns I've ever shot with Winchester 80 grains.