weatherby vanguard rifles.

Baydoe

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I'm buying a new rifle setup. I currently don't have anything that I can take on a mountain hunt for elk or larger game as well as a rifle setup that can shoot over 300 yards and feel confident i'll be able to put a good shot on the animal.

My primary goal is a rifle that can shoot 600 yards and to have confidence that the rifle is capable to perform out to that range or further.

I'm looking a a 7mm rem mag weatherby vanguard meateater. I plan on putting a zeiss conquest V4 6x24x50 scope on it.

The weatherby is $900 and seems like a decent amount of gun for that price. It will allow me the budget for the quality optics.

My question for you guys, Will this rifle set up perform for what i want it to do? While researching ive almost confused myself more. Able to find equal amounts of really good, and not so good. Thanks for taking the time and giving me your feedback!
 


martinslanding

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I have a weatherby .270WSM and yes your set should perform as desired, however my .270 is heavy and I would not want to be lugging up and down hills not sure if you have factored overall rifle/scope weight into your decision...
 

Baydoe

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however my .270 is heavy and I would not want to be lugging up and down hills not sure if you have factored overall rifle/scope weight into your decision...

It would be just a hair over 8.5lbs rifle and scope. Do you know how heavy your .270 is?
 

Kentucky Windage

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I’m not a weatherby guy, so no comment. I question your optic pick (6-24x50). 6 power on the low works well in only a few situations in my book. Those would be: Target shooting/load development, gopher/pdog shooting, and stand hunting on the plains. They are horrible for close range running game or when a quick snapshot is all you get. 50mm bell doesn’t shed weight and it’s bulky.
 

Petras

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Nothing wrong with a weatherby. I've had a couple and still have one of them in a .223 H-Bar. It's a great gopher/coyote gun with it's 20" bull barrel. First one I ever had was fine after I did a bit of work to the stock to free float the barrel. That being said, I bought my wife a 6.5creed in a Browning Hells Canyon Long Range Hunter and it does not suck at all to pack around. It is about 2 ounces or so heavier than the gun you are looking at, but it's a great shooting gun and my wife hasn't complained about packing it around... While they don't offer it in a 7mm mag, they do offer the Browning X-Bolt Stalker Long Range Hunter in 7mm mag and Cabelas has them on sale right now for $629 and it is exactly the same weight as the MeatEater your looking at. I have a rem 700 in 7mm mag and it loves 168 Berger VLD Bullets. If you reload I would look into those as Berger VLD's have been very easy to get to shoot out of every gun/caliber I've ever tried them in. On top of that, they perform very well on whatever animals your shooting with them.

One thing I noticed is that the $999 price tag for the MeatEater doesn't include the MuzzleBrake. It's another $60, which in the grand scheme of things isn't much, but just thought I'd point it out so you didn't order it expecting a brake.

Personally, I would go with the browning, and stick the money you save into as good of a scope as I can get if I'm intent on spending my max budget.
 


Baydoe

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Nothing wrong with a weatherby. I've had a couple and still have one of them in a .223 H-Bar. It's a great gopher/coyote gun with it's 20" bull barrel. First one I ever had was fine after I did a bit of work to the stock to free float the barrel. That being said, I bought my wife a 6.5creed in a Browning Hells Canyon Long Range Hunter and it does not suck at all to pack around. It is about 2 ounces or so heavier than the gun you are looking at, but it's a great shooting gun and my wife hasn't complained about packing it around... While they don't offer it in a 7mm mag, they do offer the Browning X-Bolt Stalker Long Range Hunter in 7mm mag and Cabelas has them on sale right now for $629 and it is exactly the same weight as the MeatEater your looking at. I have a rem 700 in 7mm mag and it loves 168 Berger VLD Bullets. If you reload I would look into those as Berger VLD's have been very easy to get to shoot out of every gun/caliber I've ever tried them in. On top of that, they perform very well on whatever animals your shooting with them.

One thing I noticed is that the $999 price tag for the MeatEater doesn't include the MuzzleBrake. It's another $60, which in the grand scheme of things isn't much, but just thought I'd point it out so you didn't order it expecting a brake.

Personally, I would go with the browning, and stick the money you save into as good of a scope as I can get if I'm intent on spending my max budget.

Sportsman wearhouse is selling them for $899, $100 off of what it costs off of weatherby. I looked at the hells canyon but for whatever reason the aesthetics of that gun don't agree with my eye. i'll check out the long bolt stalker.
 

SDMF

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I've owned about a dozen Wby Vanguard/1500 Howa/Interarms/etc from 223 up to 300Win.

Accuracy hasn't ever been an issue, they've all shot well. Mid-80's-mid-90's models had better adjustable triggers than later models have. I haven't owned one new enough for their newer 2-stage adjustable trigger. IMO, the only ever downside was weight. I like their extractor better than a Rem 700 and I like their integral recoil lug vs. a lug sandwiched between the action/bbl.

$900 is IMO a LOT of $$ for what looks like a rifle with an injection-molded stock. Rather than spiral flutes and cera-coat, I'd rather spend the $$ on SS metal and an actual fiberglass synthetic stock (vs. plastic/injection molded).

Personally, I don't prefer that much power in a big-game rifle scope. For Deer/elk/pronghorn (Big game) rifles, I've swapped most of my 4.5-14 Leupold scopes for 2.5-10 NXS or 3-10 SHV scopes from Nightforce. I took a deer in WY last fall @ 560yds with a 270Win/2.5-10x42 NXS/140gn TSX and didn't feel the least bit hampered by 10x @ the top.

More important that what rifle/scope you choose will be actually practicing w/said combo enough to:

A. Have absolute faith that your drop/windage chart is accurate
B. Shooting enough to know how to "cheat" your chart in order to give yourself the widest margin for error.

Explaining A/B:

My deer in WY last fall was a bit uphill. Rather than trying to figure out to dial for 560 minus the slope (which didn't register on the LRF), I dialed for 550yds (which was on my chart) and then "cheated" my hold into the bottom 1/3 of the chest. That gave me a ~1.5MOA "window of forgiveness" in which to make a clean kill.

Similarly, there was a light breeze 3-5MPH from L to R. The deer was standing w/his butt into the wind. Rather than trying to guess the exact wind, I cheated my reticle to the last rib/back of the lungs. If I get no drift, it's going to kill him. If I get any drift at all, it'll be even more lethal. If I've totally blown the wind-call and get a bunch of drift, it's a clean miss, not a gut-shot. Had the deer been facing the other way, I'd have waited for him to turn his rear into the wind, or possibly not taken the shot. I knew that "back of the lungs" hold gave me a ~2 MOA window of forgiveness.

The "cheats" were nearly as important as the initial chart.
 
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Whisky

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Personally, I don't prefer that much power in a big-game rifle scope. For Deer/elk/pronghorn (Big game) rifles, I've swapped most of my 4.5-14 Leupold scopes for 2.5-10 NXS or 3-10 SHV scopes from Nightforce. I took a deer in WY last fall @ 560yds with a 270Win/2.5-10x42 NXS/140gn TSX and didn't feel the least bit hampered by 10x @ the top.

More important that what rifle/scope you choose will be actually practicing w/said combo enough to:

.

Off topic.
SHV vs NXS?
 

SDMF

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Off topic.
SHV vs NXS?

I have both and would use either interchangeably. I like the NXS's high-speed turrets and zero stop. I like the option to cover the turrets on the SHV. I see virtually no difference regarding optical or mechanical performance.

I wish one or both were still available w/IHR reticle.
 

Kurtr

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i like my 6x with the ffp scope as it is just a cross hair and usable when it is on low power. 600 yards is not that far any gun will most likely do it but the practice is where most lack
 


Migrator Man

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I'm buying a new rifle setup. I currently don't have anything that I can take on a mountain hunt for elk or larger game as well as a rifle setup that can shoot over 300 yards and feel confident i'll be able to put a good shot on the animal.

My primary goal is a rifle that can shoot 600 yards and to have confidence that the rifle is capable to perform out to that range or further.

I'm looking a a 7mm rem mag weatherby vanguard meateater. I plan on putting a zeiss conquest V4 6x24x50 scope on it.

The weatherby is $900 and seems like a decent amount of gun for that price. It will allow me the budget for the quality optics.

My question for you guys, Will this rifle set up perform for what i want it to do? While researching ive almost confused myself more. Able to find equal amounts of really good, and not so good. Thanks for taking the time and giving me your feedback!

Step up to the Backcountry Ti!
 

5575

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I bought a vanguard last year in 6.5-300 wby.
Mine is the badlands addition for $675. If I could do it over id get the first-line model with the fluted barrel and muzzle break. I topped mine off with a Leupold VX6 HD 3-18x50, I really like this scope with the CDS system.
I took an antelope buck and my son took a whitetail, both dropped dead in their tracks. Shooting 127 gr Barnes LRX
20191108_180612.jpg

20190815_111206.jpg

IMG_20181210_182614.jpg
 
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Kurtr

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I bought a vanguard last year in 6.5-300 wby.
Mine is the badlands addition for $675. If I could do it over id get the first-line model with the fluted barrel and muzzle break. I topped mine off with a Leupold VX6 HD 3-18x50, I really like this scope with the CDS system.
I took an antelope buck and my son took a whitetail, both dropped dead in their tracks. Shooting 127 gr Barnes LRX
DSC05327.JPG

DSC05317.JPG

DSC05317.JPG


What bbl life on that 800 at best. Might as well go 30 cal or bigger and take advantage of all that powder. Plus the cost of ammo its self. Better comparison would be the prc or the 264 win mag.
 

5575

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Barrels aren't that expensive, and I wont shoot more than probably 20-30 rounds a year through it so it'll last a while. Dead on at 300, so it kind of takes the guess work out of shooting critters out to 500. Ammo isn't any more than most other magnums if you buy it,, think midway was $55 a box..
Ive got quite a few rifles in most calibers, including a 264 in a pre 64 featherweight, variety is the spice of life right! "a PRC is in my future"
But the majority of critters get the ole STW.

By the way I'm totally in favor of the good old 7mm he wants to buy, 100%!:;:thumbsup

Bought this 6.5-300 for deer size stuff, definitely better all around calibers thats for sure.
 
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H82bogey

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just a suggestion, I would look at the 6.5 pic vs the 7mm. If you are shooting a same grain bullet, the 6.5 prc will be ballistically superior after 250 yards. Granted, you can't shoot some of the larger grain bullets in that 6.5, but I think Berger is now making a 156 grain bullet that would be pretty deadly. For the most part you will get better performance without all the shoulder thump. Just a caliber to consider.
 


SDMF

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just a suggestion, I would look at the 6.5 pic vs the 7mm. If you are shooting a same grain bullet, the 6.5 prc will be ballistically superior after 250 yards. Granted, you can't shoot some of the larger grain bullets in that 6.5, but I think Berger is now making a 156 grain bullet that would be pretty deadly. For the most part you will get better performance without all the shoulder thump. Just a caliber to consider.

I'd buy the 7Rem Mag and load 160gn Nosler Partitions, for everything. Deer, elk, moose, they're even soft enough up front to open reliably on Antelope.
 

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