I'm a new Weatherby Vanguard Owner

Status
Not open for further replies.
rev579

rev579

Member
Joined
Dec 12, 2011
Messages
29
Location
East Texas
Just picked up a used Vanguard in .243. It's older, V19xxx serial number. Nice stock and bluing. The action is super-smooth and crisp. My guess is it is mid-70's, but I'd like to know more about it. 1-10 twist is standard too. What more is there to know about? I'm taking her out once I put a scope on her. I'm thinking a 4-12/16x40 or so.
I'd also love to know of any other resources out there.
 
I like my vanguard too. Sorry I don't know of any other resources. You can search the forum using vanguard for a keyword. Mine is a factory stock 257 stainless and really shoots. A go to gun for sure.
 
Just finished cleaning up after detailing her. The stock looks like it has been done to minimize contact with the barrel, though it has not been bedded. Further, it has a Leo one-piece base.
While I've never used one, I am wondering about the possibility of sharing a scope with 2 rifles that share the same style of base. How feasible is this?
 
Weatherby Nation

There are a great bunch of guys on that site and even Mr. Weatherby and his son Dan the "Danimal" Weatherby frequently post to the forum too! Needless to say, they are a wealth of knowledge too.

Just tell them Mikey! from Oregon sent ya!

Mike!

BTW, I have a Vanguard in .243 that has a factory target that resulted in a .280" 3 shot group at 100yds. I have been able to do .310" at 100 yds with reloads and me behind the wheel too. Very accurate rifles.

I have never been able to swap scopes between rifles and have them keep the same POI as before moving it. Can it be done? I wouldn't, I would get a dedicated scope for each rifle. Just my opinion, you could try it, but I wouldn't spend a lot of money on the idea.
 
I prefer the one piece base but swapping scopes from one gun to another? You are gonna spend a lotta time and ammo tuning them up by swapping out. Just put another scope on the other gun.
 
Not sure what you mean by Leo base. Most of the picatinny or other QD bases return to zero quite well. Windage is not a problem. Elevation is more of an issue due to caliber & height of base changes. Scope size, ring height, barrel profile and base height all add up to a cluster to some degree. So often the scope will either hit something or be too high. I have a Marlin 60 that swaps great with a Rem 700. Doesnt work on the AR. I have another rifle that would take a pic rail but then the iron sights won't fit. It does swap between iron sight & .22 tip-off mounts perfectly. I would check zero before hunting. On paper I just swap & shoot.

Rem 700 bases should fit the WBY.
 
Speer 100Gr Hot Core over 38.5gr H4350 is my pet load for that result. Once I got the groups down to .31", which chronied at 2950-2975 fps, if memory serves me, I stopped looking for a better load. This is not a max load, but I would follow good loading procedures and work up to whatever load your rifle "likes"!

Mike!
 
Mickey, can you say more about your Vanguard?
I have 100gr rounds(factory core lock & Federal) from an older gun I used to own. This is where I am planning to start. From some recent reading I've done, there is a school of thought suggesting 112gr is the optimal bullet for long distance and having a favorable BC. That being the case, rightly or wrongly, it's still a heavyweight round and not really what I need. 300yds is my max, retaining 3in accuracy at this point in my long gun/deer caliber shooting. Further, I don't reload-yet, but with .25-06, .30-06, and .243's needing to be feed, a garden might be smarter than a grocery store.
Thanks for the replies so far.
 
The vanguards absolutely love a free float barrel and glass bedding. Trust me I've done this to pretty much all of ours. Also, I know the trigger is probably alright where it is, but it is adjustable and a gunsmith and can open up a whole new level of accuracy by adjusting the trigger, floating the barrel, and glass bedding the action and chamber areas. These guns are tack drivers in stock form, but with the mods mentioned, you will not be disappointed...ever. Also, ours love the 95 grain sst from hornady and the 80 grain federal soft point.
 
You would like to know more about mt Vanny in .243 huh? Well, here is a pictorial that will show you the steps from stock rifle to custom, including bedding and free floating the barrel. It is now more like a bench rest rifle than a hunting rifle, but when I want to hunt with it, I just put it back in its original stock and go sight her in. It does not have the same POI after changing stocks, because the harmonics are very different. It still groups them in very small groups, but the group moves around.

Here is the link to my project. My .243 Weatherby Vanguard Project

Enjoy and let me know what you think.

Mike!
 
If you would like to see my first stock build, which was another Vanguard, but a 300 Win Mag version, here is the link to that project. I think it has 199 pictures, so a lot of details in this one as far as pillar bedding and then glass bedding too. I took my first elk with this rifle. The only live game I have ever took actually.

Here is My 300 Win Mag Vanguard Project

Mike!
 
I have a Vanguard in .30-06 and it is a shooter for sure. Factory target was one hole, and when the stars line up, I can do it from a rest.
It's a tad on the heavy side, but I hunt mostly from stands, so it's not that big an issue. Great gun for the money.
 
Yes, Just wrap a dowel or similar round bar with 100 grit sand paper and start removing material. Only take a little at a time and re-fit the barreled action into the stock and see if it is floating yet. A good test is to wrap a dollar bill around the barrel and see how far it will slide up the barrel. If it doesn't slide freely, then take a little more material off where it stops and try it again. There is a pressure block toward the middle of the fore end of the stock, that needs to have some removed too.

If you find the stock to feel a bit weak feeling, then get some acraglass and fill in the cavities below the barrel channel to "stiffen it up a bit. You could even insert a 1/4" bar stock in there to stiffen it up a bit more. I left mine without the bar.

Seeing as though plastic doesn't warp as much as wood, less material needs to be removed than in a wood stock for your floating. When wood swells or gets cold it may have a tendency to bend to one side or the other or even upward, thus putting some pressure on the barrel that isn't there when the rifle was sighted in. This will change the harmonics of the barrel and will change the POI from where you sighted in. Since most people sight in during the warmer months and hunt in the colder months, this does make a difference, but it will be less of a difference in a plastic stock.

I hope this helps. Anything else?

Mike!
 
Sockets are pretty useful for sanding out barrel channels.
A stiff fore end is good when sling or bipod is used.

That said I just handled some Boyds laminate stocks for Rem 700 that were a very nice combination of stiffness, weight & looks. Price was $99.00 and I was very impressed.
 
Had one in .308 for a minute. 3/4 groups out of factory ammo. I kick my self for selling it.
 
That said I just handled some Boyds laminate stocks for Rem 700 that were a very nice combination of stiffness, weight & looks. Price was $99.00 and I was very impressed.
Click to expand...

I don't have any experience with Boyds stocks, but I wanted something a little rougher than they come, because I wanted to make the stock my own shape with just a real good action inlet into it. This is why I used Richard's Microfit for mine. It was more work, but I found it very satisfying and enjoyable work.

Had one in .308 for a minute. 3/4 groups out of factory ammo. I kick my self for selling it.
Click to expand...

Every Weatherby Vanguard owner I know of has had very accurate rifles. The "regular" versions of the Vanguard is guaranteed to shoot within 1.5" (3 shots @ 100yds) with premium ammo. If they don't, Weatherby will send you a box and they will fix or replace it for you. The new Vanguard S2 has a .99" guarantee with the same promise.

My 300 Win Mag shot just under 1.5" on the factory target, but with reloads, it shoots less than an inch @ 100yds. That was with the stock rifle before I modified it. My .243 was .28" from the factory target and .312" from reloads before modifying it.

You can't be dissatisfied with that. I only paid $349.00 for the .243 and $359 for the .300 Win Mag. Best money I've spent in a long time.

Mike!
 
When I get a chance I will post pics of the stock. It looks to either be a deluxe or custom. After I place a scope on it and check the accuracy, I'll consider modifications, but I'm doing this little by little. It worked with my 03A3 and Mauser. Can't wait, but looks like I will be.
 
Mickeydim,
Yeah I know how that goes. I spend more effort on DIY than makes sense, but it is what it is. I just have always been the type to try things. It always pays off in some way.
My Wby VG is bone stock. I will eventually do some tuning on it. Thing is it good enough as is for hunting. It is a pretty good rifle that I won in a raffle. Not what I would have gone out & bought but I can't bring myself to sell it. It is a Sporter in .270 Win. Not bad for $20.00 I shoot it from time to time.
 
You don't have to do anything to these rifles, I just needed some projects to keep me out of trouble with the wife. I also needed to learn more about rifles, and the best way I know, from a little age, is to take it apart and see what makes it tick.

I even retrofitted my300 Win Mag Vanguard's synthetic stock to fit my US model of 1917 cal 30 rifle, just to see if I could do it. That was my first bedding job. I used epoxy putty from the local hardware store. It wasn't pretty, but it worked. I can still use it to this day if I wanted to. I even pillar bedded the action into it too.

Here is the link to that rifle's pictures: US Model of 1917 30 cal. rifle

Mike!
 
MD468
Mine doesn't "need" anything. That is just fine with me because I have other rifles that have some projecting left to do. One I am putting off as I don't want to take it off-line. I shot a 1.188" group at 200 with the VG & thought just leave it like it is. It was with a starting load & I decided load development was done for now. By brother won one a few years later (.243 syn) and was pretty impressed with it.

I have used some Devcon Steel Putty which is good stuff. Mix ratio is 2.5:1 so it is a little weird to mix. JB weld isn't bad at all & easy to find.

One thing I have found that sticks to synthetics is Permapoxy Plastic Weld. The bad thing is the smell is horrible and the last tube of it I got didn't harden. Think about how PVC glue would be if it smelled 5-10 times worse. Stuck well to rem700 & aluminum. It is sold at K-Mart.

Here are some of mine:
http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=654600
http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=474078

This one has some more of the 700 with cheek piece mod added.
http://www.rimfirecentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=426240&page=2

The biggest difference in the cheek piece challenges was the wood 60 needed material removed. The 700 syn need material added as it was hollow.

Now I have 2 more rifles I don't want to sell.
 
I own now 6 Weatherby Vanguards which are a mix between the original and the series 2.

First, I actually like the pressure point at the front of the stock. I prefer it not to be free floated. It lends great strength and stability to the rifle. It makes the stock very rigid and POI never changes from using the sling to steady my shot.

I enjoy that the weight of the rifle seems to mitigate recoil quite a bit and seems to help with a steady sight picture. I also think the design of the rifle tends to fit a tall person very well which is the most important thing for accuracy.

Over the years, some of the Vanguards have had some pretty aweful triggers. They've fixed all that now. The S2s are excellent and any of the more recent production 'S1' models will have excellent triggers as well.

I have not had a factory Vanguard that couldn't shoot Sub-MOA with any factory ammo.

I enjoy the fact that there isn't a single piece of plastic used anywhere in the rifle except for the stock, if you have synthetic.

The design is simple and robust. I enjoy hunting with them and don't worry about driving rain. They're so simple to break down to their smallest pieces for cleaning and lubrication.

Water could get into the bolt, like any other rifle, through the gas escape holes. Need to clean in the bolt? Grab the rear portion of it and twist clockwise. Done.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

G
  • Locked
Weatherby Vanguard or Vanguard2?
Replies
12
Views
4K
Lloyd Smale
L
A
  • Locked
Weatherby Sub MOA?
Replies
6
Views
464
Action_Can_Do
A
ojibweindian
  • Locked
Just bought a Weatherby Vanguard Synthetic (7mm Mag)
Replies
12
Views
733
ojibweindian
ojibweindian
W
  • Locked
T/C Venture or Weatherby Vanguard S2
Replies
8
Views
1K
merrill
M
M
  • Locked
Savage 111 vs. Weatherby Vanguard
Replies
3
Views
1K
shooterIII
S
Back
Top