How did I do? .243 Vanguard for $359

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Gun bug bit me after Christmas I bought an older (new) Vanguard S1 .243 for $359 ($404 out the door with tax) Salesman at Outdoor warehouse said it was the last old discontinued model that he had. Had to wait in line for an hour because so many people were buying ARs and auto pistols.
 
Congrats on the new gun! I have a vangaurd S2 in .257 weatherby and a howa 1500 in 7mm-08, both are very good shooters! I had to replace the trigger in the howa as I couldn't get it adjusted to my satisfaction and keep it safe so I put a timney in it. Good luck with your new gun!
 
Thank you! Magnum Wheel Man posted a few weeks ago that he had a gap in his gun collection. I checked mine out and discovered I had a gap between 22-250 and 7mm mag. I chose the .243 to fill in the gap. Now my only gap is between 30.06 and .350 rem. magnum.
 
My family gave me a new Vanguard S1 carbine in 308 that my son had pointed out to me at a LGS about a month ago. I was taken with it as I like short rifles and the trigger was great, must be the best one they made as everyone seems to complain about the triggers. I passed on it as all of our safe capacity is stuffed and Momma refuses to allow one more safe in the house. My son went back and bought the rifle and put on a new Leupold scope that he had without my knowledge and I was tickled when presented with it Christmas morning. A qucik trip to the range yesterday and hunting accuracy of 1.14@100yds with factory ammo was established quickly and I took it hunting later in the afternoon. I will take it back after deer season to see if it is capable of a little better accuracy with handloads, but it is sufficient as is.

As i said, I have always liked short rifles and have numerous examples, but this (hair over 38" total length) is my favorite of all of them. It is just about perfect, in my opinion.

Anyway, I hope you like your rifle as well as I like mine.

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probably a .338 win mag. If my new Vanguard shoots good, I might choose that gun. All my other guns have walnut stocks, so it'll take a while to get used to the plastic. I can always buy a boyds walnut stock if I get the need to.
I'll probably put a buckmaster of Kaspa scope on it to see if it shoots. If it's a shooter I'll crown it with a Leupold VXII
 
The 2 I mentioned are a little on the exotic side :D. Both the 8mm-06 and .338-06 A square are easily formed from common 30-06 brass which is quite plentiful, neither one will kick you as hard as the .338 win mag. At the end of the day If you are not a reloader the .338 win mag is hands down the way to go
 
Oh it'll be a shooter all right, and if you handload, you'll probably find it just might be the most accurate rifle you'll own.
I have one in 7mm rem mag as a lot of you already know, I paid 350.00 out the door at Walmarts, it was a clearance item in 2009.
It's accuracy is superb, however I did put a Timney in it, and I like it a lot.
Good luck and happy shootin dude!!!:)
 
It might be a while before I put glass on it. Most of my other rifles have older Leupolds on them. I'm thinking of trying a Redfield revolution, Nikon Buckmaster, or some other sub $200 scope. got any ideas?
 
The Vanguards are good shooters but suffer from a hitchy, rough trigger. I have 3 of them so know the problem well. Unfortunately, the cost of upgrading to a Timney is higher than the additional cost of buying an S2 model .
 
The Vanguards are good shooters but suffer from a hitchy, rough trigger. I have 3 of them so know the problem well. Unfortunately, the cost of upgrading to a Timney is higher than the additional cost of buying an S2 model .
Click to expand...

Not ALL of them...mine is great!
 
For $200.00 I'd seriously look at the Vortex Diamondback 4-12x40, it's better than most of the other 200.00 class scopes hands down dude.;)
 
The trigger pull seems ok to me. A little travel, but breaks clean. I can't see it being a great factor. The gun is relatively heavy with a 24" barrel so I can't make a mt. rifle out of it. a 4x12x40 scope would be fine. I'm an older fart so I was taught to put Leupolds on everything. If your broke, put a old redfield or a Burris on it. I want to experiment with the new generations of scopes. I've narrowed it down to a prostaff, buckmaster, redfield revolution, or the oft mentioned vortex. Looking for some info on how sharp the 12x is when shooting off a bench. Some cheap "fog tubes" are enough to send you right to the optometrist. Thank you for your kind info and hope you had a merry CHRISTmas and a happy new year.

note: after you mentioned vortex I found this interesting link.
http://www.opticsthoughts.com/index...mparison&catid=4:rifle-scope-reviews&Itemid=4

basically Vortex diamondback easily outperformed other competing scopes!
 
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Quote:
The Vanguards are good shooters but suffer from a hitchy, rough trigger. I have 3 of them so know the problem well. Unfortunately, the cost of upgrading to a Timney is higher than the additional cost of buying an S2 model .

Not ALL of them...mine is great!
Click to expand...

Mine is too-and it's an older model that I bought nib for $299.99 about a year and a half ago. The trigger on mine is all that I want or need on a center-fire rifle intended for big game hunting.
 
hooligan1;
I took your advice and ordered a vortex diamondback 4x12x40. I trust you didn't lead me astray. should be here tomorrow. Vanguard with talley one piece mts. and a vortex scope. Now I get to see if it groups < 1.5 moa
 
very nice. I have a first gen vanguard in 300WBY mag. cold bore shots are all inside an inch, cold to hot bore really loosens accuracy up bad though.
 
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