My first Weatherby

S

stagpanther

New member
Well, I've been tuning them and doing handloads for customers for several years now, and they have teasing me about getting one myself--so I finally broke down and ordered my very first Weatherby, a vanguard first light in 300 Weatherby magnum. I chose this over the Mk 5's because it comes with a longer 28" barrel and intregal brake and is also quite light in weight.
 
Drive it like you stole it. I'm sure you'll enjoy it.


I know of at least half a dozen that have gone through my family. I wouldn't be surprised if there were another half dozen that I never heard about, or have forgotten about.

I inherited a Vanguard .338 WM a couple years ago. A few other people in the family say it shoots very well, and my father liked it enough to take it on one of his trips to Africa. But, I haven't even put a box worth of ammo through it yet. The scope's zero is wacky and the time that I have had available for chasing demons has been better spent on other rifles/projects. (Since I'm a Nikon hater, I'll just mention that it's a Nikon scope. ;) Came with the rifle.)


As you probably also think, since you bought one, I believe they're decent rifles.


.300 Wby Mag, though... The only Vanguard that was universally hated by my family and "disposed of" was a .300 Wby Mag. The rifle was fine. But no one liked the cartridge. Too overbore. Too inefficient. Too much recoil and muzzle blast for the performance gained over .300 WM.

My father, an unabashed 'magnum'-lover, tried to like it. He just couldn't. So, he traded it to his brother, a 'recoil junkie' himself, who quickly turned around and arranged another trade that returned it to my father. (Said brother/uncle did eventually end up with another .300 Wby, which he never shoots.)

My father then took the rifle to Africa -- ostensibly, as a 'backup'; but I think his intentions were transparent.
Within hours of landing, he started chipping away at the PH, eventually spending more than a week trying to convince the PH that he should accept it as payment for a tag for one of the various "targets of opportunity" that my father wanted to bag. He eventually succeeded in leaving the rifle with the PH. It took quite some effort, though. The PH really didn't want a .300 Wby. He only accepted it as a tip, rather than any form of payment.
 
In this particular case, I've shot several Weatherby magnums and have spent lots of time with the 300 Weatherby magnum.

The argument about the 300 Weatherby magnum is pretty simple, really. It comes down to "is it worth the extra thump in recoil for the not so great gain in velocity over say the 300 win mag?" Depends on your point of view, I guess. I've spent enough time shooting it to see in stark terms what that extra velocity gives you--and that's simply an extra-large flat-shooting point blank hunting range. Better than most other cartridges I've shot regardless of their chambering. You put a decent fixed mag optic on and you're good to go for most any shot out to 400 yds without significant fiddling with elevation guesstimates. There's value in that.

BTW--on your whacky scope I've found on the multiple Mk 5's I've worked on that over-driven rear mount base screws often are a culprit in intruding into the receiver and impinging on the bolt. The dovetail mounts also can easily drift inducing a cant on the scope body and need to be checked often for true in my experience.
 
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So you bought a Howa, with a different stamp on it? ;)

For the price of that, you coulda bought a used Mark V.
Now THAT is a Weatherby!
 
So you bought a Howa, with a different stamp on it?

For the price of that, you coulda bought a used Mark V.
Now THAT is a Weatherby!
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I knew someone was going to ladle it on, shoulda figured it would be you. ;) It was an agonizing decision, but in the end I wanted that 28" barrel with brake. The hardest part was foregoing their excellent in-line 9 lug bolt--but I can live without it, for now anyway. I may end up canibalizing it anyway, we'll see.
 
Personally I’m not certain that there is much difference between a 26” .300 Weatherby and a 28” one. Weatherby stated that velocity difference between 24” and 26” is about 90 fps. Data posted on line shows differences between 70 fps and 100 fps between the the two lengths. Regardless, I hope the OP is happy with his rifle. I know that I am with my Mk V.


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I owned few Wby and Wby only uses Accubrake and if barrel is 28" that include Accubrake so barrel is 26".
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That's correct, didn't mean to imply it was 28" + brake.

I ordered direct from Weatherby--they got it shipped in a day, should be arriving early next week.
 
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The 300 wby mag is a thing of beauty to my eyes (the only thing purdier is the 338 LM).:D Ages ago I bought a 500 count box of 168 custom comp bullets for a song, figure they'd make good break-in fodder (as opposed to $2 to $3 a pop factory ammo).

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std7mag said:
So you bought a Howa, with a different stamp on it? ;)

For the price of that, you coulda bought a used Mark V.
Now THAT is a Weatherby!
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I have at least 11 mark V at the moment. Have owned over thirty of them. Had a pile of V1 and a few v2 as well. In anything smaller than 340 Wby, I prefer the V2 to the mark V. I prefer the Japanese Mark V to the US made ones.
 
I prefer the V2 to the mark V. I prefer the Japanese Mark V to the US made ones.
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I've read of others having the same preference. I've shot 4 Mk V's (in 300 and 270 WM) and one winchester 70 in 270 WM, so this will actually be my first go with a vanguard, and my first ever purchase of any make in a Weatherby chambering. I've started lifting weights to get ready for trying a 416 Weatherby magnum.:D
 
I finally was able to pick it up today--my first impression is "wow! what a magnificent rifle!" My second impression after looking at the barrel was--"they must have sent me the wrong caliber, that's one of the thinnest sporter barrels I've ever seen on a rifle"--but sure enough, it's 30 caliber.:eek: I'm guessing the stock to barrel contact for support is largely because of how thin it is.

So the Bell and Carlson I ordered is a full-length bed and pillar supported stock with a much wider barrel channel, and by sheer coincidence the stock color seems to match the action/barrel color. I got it intending to do a comparison of free-float vs. supported barrel.

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Congrats on finally getting your new boom stick.

Very nice looking rifle. My 2 favorite chambering in Weatherby rifles were the .257 & .270.


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Congrats on finally getting your new boom stick.

Very nice looking rifle. My 2 favorite chambering in Weatherby rifles were the .257 & .270.
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Thanks, we'll see how it works out:) I've shot other 300 wby mags and really had my heart set on this one (I've shot the 270 wby mag as well)--with a 300 yd zero it should be an awesome hunting rifle.
 
Th only Weatherby I ever saw that I liked was a wood stocked Vanguard when they first came out. Geeze that was a beautiful rifle. Never have seen or heard of a Weatherby cartridge I figured was worth having. Of course I went through magnum mania years ago. 7mm Rem mag and couple 338 Win mags. I'll never own another magnum either. Somewhere along the way I got old and decided shooting should be fun, not punishing! Have really grown to hate recoil over the years!
 
Somewhere along the way I got old and decided shooting should be fun, not punishing! Have really grown to hate recoil over the years!
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I know what you mean--with me it's sorta like do it while you still can--like chasing young women. ;):D
 
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