Dear all

Talking to a gun shop today and he advises to get a Weatherby Vanguard instead of a Sako. Cheaper and better.

Never held one, never seen one in the flesh. Any comments?

Put this as a new post as if it went in the Sako one, you probably wouldn't have read it!

D

My bro-in-law has two Vanguards in 30-06 and in 22-250. Both are tack drivers. Nice looking well balanced good shooting tools for the money.

There is also the Sub-MOA version of the Vanguard guaranteed to shoot in a minute of angle at 100 yards. All of them are test fired and they pick the most accurate and sell them as such. Personally I would choose one of these .after all if they are all test fired it stands to reason that the standard Vanguard is not as likely to be a tack-driver. The Sub-MOA version is available in .308 the last I checked.

Gidday Daveyboy old mate.

I have a Weatherby Vanguard in .243 and its accuracy is way beyond my capabilities (gives me something to strive for). Mine came with a target showing MOA and after shooting the barrel in it has improved. The best I have done with it is near enough 1/2 MOA at 200m. That is as good as I will ever want or need.

Mine is an older version (I have had it for 3 years), not the one with a Mist coloured stock. The only thing that I don't find attractive is the safety catch. I have carried mine through the bush many times and have taken many animals with it. It is comfortable to carry and shoot and easy to maintain even after inclement weather. I feel that it sits up too high and looks like an afterthought. Have considered having it remodeled. Its only a cosmetic thing and doesn't affect its functioning so until then I can live with it.

All in all, a very good rifle. How it measures up to the Sako I can't say. I believe that the Sako is also a magnificent rifle but can't say whether or not it will outshine the Weatherby as far as performance goes.

For the shooting you will do in blighty I feel sure that you would be happy with a Weatherby, but whichever way you choose to go I know that you will be happy with either rifle.

Cheers, Vince

I just picked one up in 300 Weatherby Magnum. I bore sited it & took it to the desert & picked out a dark spot at some ridiculous distance. I had some factory ammo along with some I handloaded. I was impressed with the accuracy although the handloaded ammo seemed more accurate. I'm ready to take it to the range for some MOA work. I'm familiar with Sako but it's the Weatherby Vangaurd that gets the vote here. Did you know that Howa makes the Vangaurd? Mine is the synthetic version. I bought it from where Handloader works, new.
Keep it coming...

Hi George

And the rest of you...

I've just heard that Howa make the vanguard and they are considerably cheaper! There is a bloke who sells them in England so I'll go and have a look.

I'll get back to you all

Many thanks

David

Howa has made the Vanguard now for quite a few years, I got one of the early ones in 88 or 89 in .270 Win. Very beautiful wood, comfortable and quite accurate. Living in Florida at the time it had a bit of a tendency to wander depending on humidity so I pillar bedded it and glassed in the barrel chanel. Freefloated the barrel 2.5" in front of the action fwd. I then sealed the remaining areas with thinned glass resin. After that there was very little change in POI and most 100yd 3 shot groups were under an inch and averaged around .75". This was a very good rifle, I have shot quite a few Howas since then and can't complain, definately a good bang for your Euro, Yen or Dollar.

And in case you lot didn't know...

How can be found here - www.legacysports.com/p...wa_std.htm if you want to see them retail.

They look pretty good. I shall go and find one to get touchy feely with and report back.

D

Opinion: Vanguards are superb dollar values and deliver the goods. The standard Vanguard can be brought to subMOA simply by floating and bedding, otherwise, there is no magic to the subMOA, simply a lot more dollars for that nice floorplate. The Vanguard series uses a Sako style extractor that is viewed as more reliable than the Remington style extractor. For these reasons, the Vanguard has outsold the Remington basic series for several years where I work, however, after about mid-year the supply begins to dry up.

The cost of three Vanguards = the cost of one Sako. There are differences enough to persuade buyers to get the Sako. Workmanship, for one, and quality of materials for another. Too, Sakos are slightly lighter in weight per caliber. For those that appreciate higher grade rifles, the Sako is well worth the extra dollars.

Another superb choice comes to mind that fits between the Vanguard and the Sako, the Tikka. Tikka is a Sako product and has an avid following due to light weight, excellent workmanship and great out of the box accuracy. Here the problem is supply and customers will often wait sixty to ninety days this time of year to get the Tikka of their choice.

Individual priorities of purchase may indicate one of these three as the better choice, however, game will know no difference. Some buyers are looking for top dollar value, some look for balance and handling, some are willing to spend more for added value and features. But, soliciting recommendations and opinions from a group as diverse as ours is far less revealing than handling each of these three. Therein lies the best solution, IMO.

Let's not leave out Savage, definetly worth the money.
Keep it coming...