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#18046741 01/23/23
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After reading all the positive comments about the Weatherby vanguard, I ordered one in .243. It will be in the end of Feb. i''ve had a lot of rifles over the years, never a Weatherby, kind of looking forward to working up some loads. I've got a ton of brass and bullets.

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I've had 4, both Series 1 and 2, and they have all shot very well for factory rifles.


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Have two series 1 and smith and wesson 1500 and a howa 1500. Like them a lot dont really care for the series 2 and that 3 way safety and their triggers. One of my vanguards is are really overly one with a 3 digit serial number. It's been shot a lot over the years. It was mi dads groundhog gun for years in 243.

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Helped a friend purchase what was his dream rifle. He isn't a loonie like most of us but wanted a Weatherby with a wood stock and stainless barrel. I found one and talked him into adding a great deal on a Bushnell 4200 series scope- something better than anything he was used to. I like just about everything with that set up. The skinny easy to grab fore stock is nice and the cheek weld lends itself to very comfortable shooting ( recoil) and easy view through scope. Cycles like a dream and has a crisp trigger all without weighing too much.

It is a 270 Win. After years of 243 he wanted something beefier. Good thing because a trophy Elan wandered on to our lease from a nearby game ranch and showed up at dusk. It hangs on his wall now. Glad he had the newer rig in tow.


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I bought a Vanguard Select for $249 at Wal-Mart, mounted a used Burris FF2 3-9x40, and took it to the range with a box of core-lokts and blue-box. The rifle shot several groups in the 1 to 2 inch range….at 300 yards. Gave it to my nephew who has killed several deer and a pig with it.

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Gonna be interesting what my redneck hunting buddies have to say, when I show up at camp with one of them "fancy Weatherbys."

Last edited by Bogtrotter; 01/24/23.
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i have a series 1 in 270. it's accurate enough, trigger could be better. it heavy with a burris ffII 3x9, 9lbs. all in all it's just an ok rifle. there's a lot of other rifles i'd choose if money was no issue.

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I purchased 2 series 1 vanguards years ago after the series 2 came out.....both got B&C medalist replacement stocks....gifted the 30-06 and kept the .308 heavy barrel. Both grouped very well and the factory trigger in each broke crisply around 3#.

Each were tremendous value for the $.

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At 71 years old I've had more than a few rifles, when I worked in the gun shop some of the guy's used to joke that I was member of the "gun a month club". For what ever reason I just never owned a Weatherby, so the price is right,it's something new to play with.

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Ever since I started hunting back in 1965 I've admired and wanted a Weatherby rifle. It wasn't until 2009 that I finally bought one, a Vanguard chambered in .300 Wby. I've always liked beautiful walnut stocks and blued metal, so the Vanguard that I bought was a blued barrel and action in a walnut stock. However, the factory walnut stock on my new Vanguard did not have anywhere near wood grain that I had dreamed about.

The first thing that I did when my new Vanguard arrived was to take off it's factory stock and order a semi-inleted blank from Richards. From their catalog pictures I ordered a AA Fancy Feather Crotch Claro Walnut blank. Several months later my blank arrived, but it's wood grain was many grades below the pictures of that grade in their catalog. So I called them and they agreed that I could send that blank back and they would send what I wanted. Another several months went by and I finally got the wood that I wanted.

Since my first centerfire rifle that I made in 1967 from a Herter's .30-06 barreled action and a semi-inleted stock, I've enjoyed making stocks for my rifles, and have done a half dozen or so.

After over 100 hours of working on it, I finally had a Weatherby rifle that I was proud of. My work on this rifle included having a KDF muzzle brake installed on it, I glassed and pillar bedded the action and barrel channel, then free floated the barrel, put a recoil reducer in the stock, fit a Limbsaver pad on it, hand cut my favorite 5 panel wrap-around checkering pattern on it, installed a Timney trigger, and topped it with a Leupold VX 3i 4.5-14x40 CDS, side focus scope.

I've developed a number of sub moa 3-shot loads for it starting with 168 grain Nosler and Hornady HPBT bullets for practice, 168 grain Barnes TSX then TTSX bullets for hunting, and finally settled on 180 grain TTSX bulllets for hunting.

This quickly became my favorite hunting rifle.

Because of my satisfaction of my .300 Wby Vanguard I have since bought two more Vanguards, one chambered for .308 Win and one in .223. These rifles are both stainless barrels and actions and are in Weatherby's Griptonite stocks, that I really like. I pillar and glass bedded the actions, floated the barrels, lengthened to stocks 1/4", to fit me, and fit Limbsaver or Hogue pads on them, and paintrd them with a base layer topped with a spider web. I also topped both of them with Leupold scopes.
[Linked Image from i.imgur.com]


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Wow that stock looks like a million bucks! Great job.

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That's a nice piece of walnut!

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Great guns.
Mostly.
Dad and I bought one each in 83.
Mine was before they made any but the Fancy Wood guns.
His was a VGX. Same as mine but with a name.

They both are very prone to rust. Gotta wipe them daily in bad weather,
will show rust in the safe when nothing else will.

Never heard that from anyone else. Maybe a short term production issue.


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I have a $399 Walmart 300 Weatherby. It’s a tough and reliable rifle. It’s not too heavy for the caliber.

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Originally Posted by Gooch_McGrundle
I bought a Vanguard Select for $249 at Wal-Mart, mounted a used Burris FF2 3-9x40, and took it to the range with a box of core-lokts and blue-box. The rifle shot several groups in the 1 to 2 inch range….at 300 yards. Gave it to my nephew who has killed several deer and a pig with it.

I bought a 243 for the same price when they were closing them out. Put a HS precision stock, rifle basix trigger and Nikon monarch 5 3-15x50 on it. Out of all my rifles it is typically the one I grab when I go coyote hunting.

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I have an s2 in 30-06. Accurate, reliable, I like the 2 stage trigger too. Overall, an excellent rifle.

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I've owned 4 Series 2 Vanguards in 6.5-300 Weatherby, 240 Weatherby, 257 Weatherby and 243 Win. I changed the stock 2 stage triggers to Timneys and ALL 4 will shoot 1/4"-1/2" 3 shot groups with handloads.

Not the lightest rifles made but they shoot!

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I have 3. I like them. Killed 3 deer with 2 of them this year

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Son has one in 243 win. Compact model. Will put 3 in a quarter at 100 every time. It's a Sheridan model

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Kinda want one of the oiled wood specials Grice is selling!!!


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