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Joined: Jun 2015
Posts: 33
Campfire Greenhorn
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OP
Campfire Greenhorn
Joined: Jun 2015
Posts: 33 |
I you were going to pick between the 2 which one would you buy?
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Joined: Aug 2010
Posts: 48,161 Likes: 14
Campfire 'Bwana
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Campfire 'Bwana
Joined: Aug 2010
Posts: 48,161 Likes: 14 |
I try to stick with the basics, they do so well. Nothing fancy mind you, just plain jane will get it done with style. You want to see an animal drop right now? Shoot him in the ear hole. BSA MAGA
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Joined: Jun 2015
Posts: 33
Campfire Greenhorn
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OP
Campfire Greenhorn
Joined: Jun 2015
Posts: 33 |
Thanks BSA.......anyone else??
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Joined: Jan 2014
Posts: 1,488
Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
Joined: Jan 2014
Posts: 1,488 |
Vanguard hands down for me in a deer rifle. I like the availability of the fast Weatherby calibers too. My RAR 06 is OK on function and shoots well enough but is too light to balance or point well for me. Sighted in my cousin's 300 Wby with Talley one piece mounts this year and was hitting the 500 yard target by shot # 12. My sample size is small but there is a big difference in how they feel and shoot to me. I was thinking of selling the RAR and picking ups 257 Wby for a perfect antelope gun.
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Joined: Jun 2015
Posts: 33
Campfire Greenhorn
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OP
Campfire Greenhorn
Joined: Jun 2015
Posts: 33 |
Vanguard seems a bit on the heavy for a walking rifle.
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Joined: Nov 2013
Posts: 1,296
Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
Joined: Nov 2013
Posts: 1,296 |
1gun, I know it's not what you asked but I'd split the difference and get a Hawkeye. All-Weather if you can find one.
John
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Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 7,951 Likes: 5
Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 7,951 Likes: 5 |
Vanguards are well made traditional looking guns. But as heavy as a boat anchor. I've had a couple and they are gone. I have other "nice" rifles, but the RAR's are an awful lot of accuracy for the money.
I like mine a lot as a truck gun or something for local meat hunting. They are too new to have proven themselves long term as a rifle I'd recommend for a long distance hunt I paid money for. But so far no complaints.
Most people don't really want the truth.
They just want constant reassurance that what they believe is the truth.
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Joined: Jun 2015
Posts: 33
Campfire Greenhorn
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OP
Campfire Greenhorn
Joined: Jun 2015
Posts: 33 |
Ok guys so what would you recommend in the 7.5-8 pound range all up at the $5-600 price range? Scopes going to be a leupold fxII 6X36
Last edited by 1gunhuntr; 12/07/15.
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Joined: Mar 2003
Posts: 1,588
Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
Joined: Mar 2003
Posts: 1,588 |
The Vanguard hands down and even more so if we are talking about the S2 version. Mine in 7mm RM is proving to be a very accurate rifle.
"Never stand and take a charge...charge them too."
--- General Nathan Bedford Forrest, CSA
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Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 4,911
Campfire Tracker
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Campfire Tracker
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 4,911 |
Vanguard seems a bit on the heavy for a walking rifle. ditto for me on the Vanguard.......RAR all day long But for a little more , I would go with a Tikka
Ask for forgiveness......instead of permission
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Joined: Jun 2015
Posts: 33
Campfire Greenhorn
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OP
Campfire Greenhorn
Joined: Jun 2015
Posts: 33 |
Tikka might be a consideration, a slight one but a consideration none the less.
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Joined: Jan 2014
Posts: 1,488
Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
Joined: Jan 2014
Posts: 1,488 |
What do you intend to hunt with this rifle - what calibers are you thinking of shooting? If you want a 223 to put behind the seat of your truck or atv get the RAR. I use my Vanguard for elk hunting with shots over 300 yards more common than not.
My all around do everything recommendation is the Tikka in 300 WSM with a Zeiss 3-9 Conquest at under $1,000 it is light but solid and works for just about everything. If you are shooting white tails at a feeder at 75 yards you don't really need that.
If an old fat guy like me can carry a Vanguard hunting elk in a walk in area wth lots of climbs starting over 8,000 feet it can't be that heavy.....but it is certainly heavier on the way out with a pack full of elk meat - the good kind of heavy.
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Joined: Apr 2004
Posts: 4,278
Campfire Tracker
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Campfire Tracker
Joined: Apr 2004
Posts: 4,278 |
1gun,
Was & bough the Ruger American. Couldn't be happier.
Lefty C
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Joined: Jun 2015
Posts: 33
Campfire Greenhorn
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OP
Campfire Greenhorn
Joined: Jun 2015
Posts: 33 |
Spec, going to be used for a whitetail still hunting gun.I mainly use my marlin336 for the task.
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Joined: Dec 2010
Posts: 3,082
Campfire Tracker
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Campfire Tracker
Joined: Dec 2010
Posts: 3,082 |
Another option if Whittakers still has any of them is the Marlin XS7 Stainless 7mm-08 at about $275. Mine with Talley rings and a Monarch UCC 3-9x40 goes 7.5 lbs and the last 3 shot group I shot out of it was 1/2 inch. I've got about $500 in the whole setup.
To me it's way more gun than the RAR. I thought about an RAR myself but after handling them some, they just feel cheap. And I'm a huge Ruger fan. I think it's the stock. If I had one, I'd have to get an aftermarket stock for it. The Marlin feels more like a real rifle, much as a Vanguard does. The Vanguard just does it in a much heavier package.
Those who must raise their voice to get their point across are generally not intelligent enough to do so in any other way.
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Joined: Apr 2004
Posts: 42,848 Likes: 7
Campfire 'Bwana
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Campfire 'Bwana
Joined: Apr 2004
Posts: 42,848 Likes: 7 |
The Vanguard is the same as the Howa 1500, and Whittaker's ( Short Action Smokers) Shop, carries them for $329. I had one delivered to my FFL guy for $345.
It is replacing a Ruger Am. Predator for me...I just have issues with the Ruger, and in a year plus, just haven't been able to warm up to it, no matter how much I've tried... its real accurate.... but so is the Howa...
plus the Howa feels like a real gun in my hands, where the RAR feels like a Wannabe...
If it is a 7/08 you might be wanting, then Tatelaw's suggestion of the Marlin XS7 is a preferable alternative IMHO over the RAR.....
I made the decision, by holding the Ruger and shouldering it with my eyes closed concentrating how it felt... and then did so with the Howa....made my decision off of that..
"Minus the killings, Washington has one of the lowest crime rates in the Country" Marion Barry, Mayor of Wash DC
“Owning guns is not a right. If it were a right, it would be in the Constitution.” ~Alexandria Ocasio Cortez
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Joined: Jun 2007
Posts: 2,063
Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
Joined: Jun 2007
Posts: 2,063 |
As stated, the Vanguard is a heavier gun, BUT you may prefer a heavier gun. Depends, if you're in a blind all day or going after mountain sheep.
Remember, not everyone has a happy ending, so be happy when you can
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Joined: Jan 2014
Posts: 1,488
Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
Joined: Jan 2014
Posts: 1,488 |
Now I understand your desire for a lightweight quick pointing rifle, but it will be hard to beat your Marlin with any scoped bolt action rifle. My hunting areas are mostly wide open both here and Colorado but the biggest buck I ever saw locally would have been on my wall with my old lever action and was gone before I could bring my scoped tang safety Ruger 7 mag to bear.
In your situation I might look at a BLR or BAR in a 308 based cartridge, but if you are set on a bolt the compact RAR would be my choice. I'd add a low power variable with a lighted reticle - Trijicon, Leupold, or similar to speed up target acquisition.
My grandfather liked to still hunt, we had thicker woods in his day and he used a scoped semi-auto Remington in 30-06 so he was fast in the thick stuff but could reach cross canyon when necessary.
I sometimes hunt thick timber for elk and have thought a short semi-auto in 35 Whelan or similar would be just the rifle for the task. But I'm stuck on the flat shooting reach out and touch them calibers and would probably go with a 325WSM or other oddball when it came down to it. My fathers old 06 shoots terribly and it might get re-bored to a short barreled woods rifle in 35 caliber, but that is just because it is kind of useless now.
Good luck on your search - the optic will probably makevthe biggest difference.
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Joined: Aug 2007
Posts: 115,424 Likes: 13
Campfire Sage
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Campfire Sage
Joined: Aug 2007
Posts: 115,424 Likes: 13 |
Vanguard.
Not even comparable IMO.
Travis
Trump being classless,tasteless and clueless as usual. Sorry, trump is a no tax payin pile of shiit. My young wife decided to play the field and had moved several dudes into my house
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