Weatherby Vanguard 25/06

A

Aussie clive

Inactive
Hi guys im having a dillema with a vanguard i bought recently.Its accuracy with factory ammo is awful and iv been trying to work up a load for reloading but everytime i think i have it sorted the next time i shoot it at the range its all over the place again.Iv tried diferent scopes,rings and bases,iv had a rifle basix trigger put on it and still it wont group well at all.Im at the point now were im thinking of selling it and getting a Tikka hunter or CZ 550.Should i persist with trying more loading combinations or should i cut my losses and get something else?The only reason i still have the Vanguard is the price in Australia for the tikka and CZ(around the $1300 mark).Thanks for any advice guys.
 
AC, 11/21/11

I believe the Vanguard action and barrel are made by Howa from Japan. I have a Howa brand 30-06 which was giving me fits regarding accuracy. No matter what handload I was using or the distance off the lands it wouldn't shoot better than 2.5 MOA, which is pretty poor for a new rifle. The bore and crown looked good but I recrowned it by hand with a recrowning tool I had used on a damaged Remington 700 ADL (tool bought from Brownells). The resulting groups were cut in half with the same loads, to 1 and 1/4 MOA, a big improvement. Not a bench-rest rifle by any means but plenty good enough for wild hogs at reasonable ranges. If possible, and nothing else works out, try recrowning it. Good luck.

best wishes- oldandslow
 
Thanks guys,are crowning issues common on newish guns?I mean i hear about stock,scope mounting and action screw issues etc but i hadnt heard much about crowning problems.
 
I've got a good ole' remington 700 in 25-06 and it shoots 1 moa or less, if I do my part on a consistent basis. I love this rifle and I only have about $400.00 in it including the scope. IMO Remington has built reliable rifles (minus the 770):D
 
My Vanguard in 257 Wby is somewhat problematic as to accuracy. I found one of the rubber damper thingies that fit on the barrel to be advantageous, cutting groups well below 1".
 
my 257 does the same. Just when you think your getting somewhere with loads it opens up. I finaly figured the problem with mine. Its got a rough bore and after about 10 shots groups open up. Clean it after 10 shots and its got way to much copper in it. I sent it back to weatherby and they said they shot it with a cold clean bore and it shot 1 1/2 with factory ammo and that met there standards. When i called them to raise hell they about told me to clean my gun after every 3 shots!! They also said if i wanted them to test it with any more then 3 shots there would be a 100 dollar non refundable range fee!! Needless to say this will be my last weatherby rifle.
 
Had real good luck with Wby Vanguard

I can't offer any new advice for the original posting, but I can say that I have had real good luck with Vanguards.

I have a Vanguard .243 with a walnut stock and a Nikon 3-9X40, and if I do my part it will shoot 0.9 inch groups at 100 yards with 100 gr ammo. I have never tried any of the 70 - 90 gr varmint stuff.

My buddy has a vanguard .308 with a synthetic stock, BSA 4-12X. He also gets sub 1" groups at 100 yards, and knocks over steel plates out to 500 yards.
 
Bolt Action Rifle Tune UP

One or More of the following , Clean the barrel, glass bed the action, free float the barrel, adjust the trigger pull, lapp the bolt locking lugs and recrowning the muzzle will improve the accuracy of most rifes that shoot poor groups. Some thing I have also found was the bolt handle contacted the wood and the bolt could not fully close. An other was that the stock was inleted to deep which caused the magazine to act like a bridge between the front and rear action bolts. To get the best accuracy from a rifle reload ammo for it.
 
they guarantee that it will shoot 1 1/2 out of a cold clean barrel with there ammo which not to many of us can afford. that test group is shot with the barrled action in a machine rest. Send it back if you want to waste your money but from my experince and the experience of a few others who posted when i had the problem, weatherby isnt going to do squat and your going to be out the shipping. As to that you cant even send a gun directly to weatherby for service. You have to go through a regional repair facility and in my case it was gander mountain and youll first have to deal with what jokingly call a gunsmith. It will be his decision if it even will be shipped to weatherby and in my case he decided to ship it but it cost my 75 bucks to send it and weatherby didnt do a dammed thing when they got it. the gunsmith at gander even wrote a letter to them saying he tried the gun and got the same results as i did. I really doubt it they even shot the gun. the sent back a photo copy of a group that could have been shot by any gun. My gun definately has a rough bore something you can see with a bore scope and they did nothing. Like i said im done with them and there phony accuracy gurantee. In all my dealings with about every gun manufacture out there ive never had one try to charge me a range fee.
 
They sent a target with my new Weatherby Vanguard,(which was right at MOA) and it actually shoots better than that. I broke it in with Hornady Custom ammo, and went exactly by the factory recommendation. It shoot's less than 1/2 MOA at one hundred yds, and with handloads it could be tighter.

Bottom line is that there could be some underlying problem with it that doesn't stand right out. Stock screws need kind of a special torque sequence,, maybe there you'll find the problem.
And be sure your shooting form is legit, also because bad form creates oodles of other problems not easy to spot.;)
 
no hulligan its not me. every time i shoot it i bring along two other rifles to rotate to keep them cool and those guns dont have any problem shooting well. I tried everything with the stock from differnt torque settings to bedding it with forearm pressure and then tried floating it. It did the same no matter what i did. the gun fouls so much that the barrrel is full of copper after 10 shots so much so that you can feel it on a wet patch when you run it through the barrel.
 
If Weatherby ain't gonna do anything for you, then lap those rough spots out with some JB bore paste. As a last ditch effort, you can have the barrel set back and rechambered. Expensive, but less than a new rifle.
 
I have a Vanguard in .270 win. Mine came with a 1 moa test target and I have lowered that to .5 moa with my handloads.

My only complaint with my Vanguard was the trigger which I couldn't get the "creep" out of. A new Timney trigger took care of that AND gave me a 3 position safety that I like a whole lot better than the factory 2 position safety.

I would suggest you check Weatherby's site for the authorized service centers. They have one in St. Charles Missouri. See about sending your rifle there if you aren't having success with one closer to you. Yea, I know that shipping is a PIA but hey if it gets fixed to your satisfaction, to me it is worth it.
 
I was going to send mine back but i was only getting out to the range very rarely and by the time i had tried a few different types of ammo and some handloads the warrantee had run out.My Weatherby has from time to time shot a few good groups of 3 shots into an inch so i guess technically it is capable of good accuracy but then the next group will be 3 times as big.I know its not my incompetance because with my Sako,Tikka and CZ i get very consistant groups.Im not going to bag Weatherby as such but for me it poses the question of are they worth taking the risk buying one when you can get something like a ruger or Tikka for an extra couple of hundred bucks?For all the inconvenience and the lack of confidence i get from using it i really cant see myself ever getting another one.
 
25-06

Aussie i have had the same problem but with my Ruger Hawkeye in 25-06. Had another in .270 Win did the same,both barrels heated up way to fast and the 25-06 has the fatter barrel go figure. I recently bought a cheap Stevens 200 in 25-06 that outshoots the Ruger real good,like just over an inch at 100 with Fed power-shoks., go figure. with rifles it is the luck of the draw. Ive always had good luck with Howas also but recently i bought one in .243 Win that i cant seem to get to group well either. Have tried several different types of ammo in it,best is 2in at 100 yds. Im personally done with Rugers though, i have a Vanguard in .270 Win that shoots at roughly 1 in at 100 yds with Fed power-shoks also. I have had good luck with my Vanguards and Howas generally though with factory ammo. I have a friend that has a Vanguard in 30-06 that just loves 150gr Rem Core-lokts. A bad rifle can drive you crazy though? been through that a few times. I am bothered by the response Weatherby seems to be giving people though,generally Ruger does this to me. they say anything under 2.5 MOA is acceptable to them with factory ammo., it can be enough to really **** you off in this day and age. I generally just trade mine in for another until i find that shooter and it has cost me a lot of extra money over the yrs but i do have several rifles that will do that 1.5 in or less at 100 yds with factory ammo and i dont buy the costly ammo either,i stick generally with federal ammo most these days.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top