Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Weatherby Vanguard Accuracy Repeatability

I just noticed this thread I created and wanted to give some follow-up.

After my hunt, I took both Vanguards to the gunsmith and had him check very closely to see if the Timney Triggers were touching the stocks anywhere. He said they weren't. I had him remove a tad more stock just to make absolutely sure. I also had him give them both a good cleaning even though I had given the RC model a super cleaning just before my hunt.

Neither of these changes made any difference in group size.

I went back to the Weatherby website and did some reading and noticed this recommendation for placing the barreled action:

1) Insert the rear action screw and tighten only sligtly
2) Center the barrel in the barrel channel and hold it there. Insert the front action screw and tighten to 35 inch pounds. Finish tightening the rear action screw to 35 inch pounds.

Note: The stock on the standard Weatherby is pretty tight all around the barrel at the fore-end tip, so it is pretty much already centered. The Bell and Carlson stock on the Weatherby has a good size space on each side of the barrel. I haven't measured it but a .045" business card will slip by until it hits the pressure point.

On the RC, I noticed that barrel was not centered, so I centered it. This immediately brought down group sizes. They're about 3/4" now with my hand-loads.

The regular stocked Vanguard didn't change much but it also is about 3/4" (sometimes 1") but with 2 shots often touching, with both action screws at the recommended 35 inch pounds. The standard Weatherby definitely has a firm pressure point, except on the upper sides.

One interesting thing is that before I centered the RC barrel, I could slide a .010" piece of computer paper past the pressure point. Now, I can't. So, centering somehow brought the barrel back closer to the pressure point but I can still slip a piece of telephone book paper past the pressure point so it isn't actually in contact. Now, I have to admit, I never actually tried to slip phone book paper past the pressure point, so I can't say for sure that the pressure point was ever in play, but I suspect it was.

One theory I have is the with the gap uneven, the barrel lug wasn't sitting flat against the back of the lug slot and that hurt group size, somehow.