Last week I wrote a blog about my .300 Weatherby Magnum Vanguard Safari, and I recently spent a bit of time with it on the range. In a word: Wow! This is a most impressive firearm, as is the .300 Weatherby Magnum cartridge.
Before the rifle arrived, I called both Leupold and Weatherby to ask which rings and mounts I should use to mount a 4X Leupold scope. Both told me they didn’t know because there are so many possible combinations of rifles and scopes (which kind of surprised me; you’d think they would know). The Leupold tech rep suggested I try their dual dovetail mounts and low rings and he gave me the part numbers. (so it was off to Amazon for both). The Leupold guy said he didn’t know if what he suggested would work and if it would clear the scope’s bells, but that’s what I ordered and it worked like a champ. The Leupold scope has a lot of eye relief and it just looks right with the low mounts. The matte finish on the rifle, the mounts, the rings, and the scope looks good.
Good buddy John asked about how I sight in a scope, and I thought I would explain that here. I don’t use a boresighting device. The idea of sticking something in the muzzle doesn’t appeal to me, as it is the most sensitive part of the rifle and any nicks or dings in this area will hurt accuracy significantly. My approach is to:
Set the rifle up on the rest, pointing it at a bullseye downrange.
Remove the bolt.
Look through the barrel and center the bullseye at 50 yards in the bore. I use the rear opening of the barrel and the front opening of the barrel (which visually form two concentric rings) like a peep sight, getting the circles formed by both centered on the bullseye.
Bring the scope’s crosshairs onto the bullseye without moving the rifle on the rest.
Fire the first shot.
Make scope adjustments accordingly for subsequent shots.
I can usually get the first shot within 10 inches of the bullseye using the above approach. A couple of times I’ve got it within 2 inches of the bullseye on the first shot, and this was one of them. I took some photos to make my explanation easier to understand.
First, set the rifle in the rest and have a target at either 25 yards or 50 yards:
Next, center the bullseye in the barrel:
Then (without moving the rifle), bring the scope’s crosshairs onto the target:
At this point, my approach is to fire one shot to see where it hits and then make adjustments. My first shot was the one at the lower right in the target below. I cranked in 15 clicks of elevation and 15 of windage, and my next shot was near the middle of the orange bullseye.
That was close enough to get me started. I then moved a target out to 100 yards and fired a few groups. This was the third group, and it measured 0.865 inch.
Not everything ran as smoothly as that target above suggests, though. About a third of my .300 Weatherby Magnum ammunition (all ammunition I reloaded) had difficulty chambering or would not chamber at all, and the rest of the groups were all much larger than that .865 group shown above. I was pretty sure the chambering difficulties were affecting accuracy, but that one good group showed the rifle had potential.
I recognized that the chambering difficulty was the same problem I had encountered with my .257 Weatherby Magnum Ruger No. 1 rifle. A traditional resizing approach didn’t work on the .257 Weatherby Magnum cartridge, and when I called Sierra about it, they told me turn the resizing die into the press an additional quarter turn after the die contacts the shell holder. I think there’s another issue as well due to case distortion due to the neck expander dragging during the resizing operation. If the cases are not well lubed inside the case neck, the dual-radius Weatherby shoulder is more easily distorted upward when withdrawing the case from the resizing die (more easily distorted, that is, than would be a conventional non-dual-radius case shoulder). The trick is to lube the inside of the case neck and to do the extra quarter turn of the die into the press. This addresses the neck expansion longitudinal distortion, takes out all the clearances in the reloading press’s pivot points, and accounts for any springback in case exterior dimensions.
I went home, pulled the bullets on the .300 Weatherby Magnum cartridges that wouldn’t chamber, resized as described above, cleaned the cases thoroughly, and then reloaded them.
On the next range visit a few days later, every round chambered easily, and wow, the results were good. My first group was the one at the top of the target shown below (it measured 1.452 inches). I dialed in five clicks left the Leupold and fired the next two groups in the two lower targets. The group on the left is 1.191 inches, and the one on the right is 0.871 inch.
Note that these 300 Weatherby Magnum groups were fired with a 4X scope at 100 yards. It’s not easy to get great groups with a rifle that smacks you authoritatively each time you squeeze the trigger (the .300 Weatherby Magnum is one potent SOB). My load was the 180-grain Remington jacketed soft point bullet and IMR 7828 SSC powder a grain or two below max, and I’m not done yet. If my shoulder and my wallet hold out (and I can find components) I’ll bet I can get a ½-inch out of this rifle.
Roy Weatherby in his office in the old South Gate facility. I met Roy in that office and had a nice conversation with him. Click on the photo to get the story.
I’m a shooter and a collector. I’m old enough and I have enough toys that each time I buy a gun I’m pretty sure it will be my last. Occasionally a friend will ask if there’s anything I still want and usually the answer is no. But then something comes along and I decide I have to have it. The Weatherby Vanguard Safari is a rifle that fits that description, except it came and went before I even realized Weatherby had offered it.
Okay, let’s back up a bit and do Weatherby 101. Weatherby offers two basic rifles. The high ticket, fancy-schmancy rifle is their renowned Mark V. This is the original Weatherby and it’s a beautiful rifle. I’ve written about them here on the blog before, and I’ll give you the links that will get you to those stories at the end of this one. Then there’s the other Weatherby, and that’s the Vanguard. The Vanguard was originally conceived as a way to offer Weatherby rifles to someone who’s not a movie star, a head of state, or a blog writer. The funny thing is, though, that the Vanguards are usually more accurate than the Mark V. There’s a bunch of technical reasons for that I don’t need to get into here, and like always, I’m sure there’s an army of Internet assholes out there who will take issue with this conclusion. That’s fine. I own both and I will tell you that a Vanguard will usually shoot tighter groups than a Mark V. If you disagree you can leave a comment, or better yet, start your own blog and write an article about it.
A Weatherby Mark V chambered in .300 Weatherby Magnum.
Look, I like Weatherby rifles, and I make no excuse about that. I met Roy Weatherby 40 years ago and I’m still talking about it. I am a Weatherby fan boy.
Okay, so on to that collecting thing…in 2018, Weatherby offered a Vanguard model they called the Safari, and it was really something special. They were only available for about a year and only in three chamberings (.30 06, .300 Weatherby, and .375 H&H), and then Weatherby discontinued the model. That made me want one even more, but there were none to be had. Then the pandemic was on us, and they were really gone. As in POOF!, no more. I called Weatherby (they are in Wyoming) and offered to pay up if they would make one for me, but they wouldn’t. Absence. It made my heart grow fonder.
I kept my eye on Gunbroker and the other gun sites, but I had not seen a Vanguard Safari for sale in the last two years. I kept looking, and I kept getting frustrated. Finally, on a whim, I did a Google search a couple of weeks ago (“Weatherby Vanguard Safari for sale”) and what do you know, a small gun store in Oklahoma City had one. I called, and yes, it was new, and yes, they still had it. It was chambered for the mighty .300 Weatherby Magnum and that was what I wanted (I would have been okay with the .30 06 or the .375 H&H, too, but I wanted the .300 Weatherby). The price was $699, which might have been a mistake on the dealer’s part ($699 was the price for the non-Safari walnut Vanguard, another excellent rifle, but as Lloyd Bentsen might say to the regular Vanguard, “You’re no Safari, Senator.”
I asked the dealer they could do anything on the price and they knocked off $30 (which brought it down to $669), so I did what people do with guns and I pulled the trigger. I really scored.
Last Friday, my cooling off period ended and in the eyes of the Peoples Republik of Kalifornia, I had achieved the mandated state of acceptable chill. That’s nanny-state speak for my 10-day waiting period ended and the rifle came home with me. I’d never seen one in person before this.
The Weatherby Vanguard Safari. Ooooh, it’s nice.
With apologies for the disheveled state of my reloading bench and the iPhone photos, this blog includes some first look pics. The rifle looks even better in person than it does in the photos. The trigger is excellent. Weatherby calls it a two-stage competition trigger. It’s light and unlike that other political party, it is creep-free. There’s about 1/8-inch of slack takeup, then it breaks super clean at what I’m guessing is about 2 pounds. It’s exceptional for a factory gun. It would be exceptional for a custom gun, too.
A classic Weatherby stock profile. People said it was too Hollywood when Weatherby first introduced it, but it works.
The checkering is laser cut, but Weatherby did an above average job on it. There’s no fuzz like you would normally see on laser-cut checkering and it’s fairly sharp. I like the fancy pattern (fleur de lis, they call it) and the contrasting rosewood grip and fore end accents. The Weatherby website claims these rifles have an oil finish and that’s a plus for me, too. (In case you were wondering, fleur de lis is French and it means flower of the lily.)
NIcely laser cut fleur de lis checkering. It is well done.Pistol grip checkering on the Vanguard Safari.A closer shot of the laser-cut checkering. Weatherby’s supplier has this process dialed.
The 26-inch barrel is free floated and I believe the action comes from the factory glass bedded, but I can’t see enough to confirm that from the outside. Weatherby appropriately relieved the area behind the stock tang, which is good (it will prevent the stock from cracking).
The free floated barrel. There’s plenty of clearance here. Free floating prevents the barrel from moving as it heats, which prevents successive shots from walking or stringing (or so the theory goes).Relief around the rear tang. You want this so that the tang doesn’t act as a wedge and split the stock under recoil.
Everything is subdued, including the satin oil finish and matte bluing. The walnut figure is not fancy, but I like it anyway. There’s just enough contrast to make it look good.
I called Weatherby to learn more about the Vanguard Safari line, and wow, I was impressed. The nice lady I spoke with told me the .300 Weatherby Magnum Vanguard Safari was only offered for about a year. Weatherby shipped 146 in August 2018, and then another 4 in 2019, so this is a relatively rare puppy. I guess that makes it worth more, but it’s a moot point. This one is not for sale. Still, it makes me feel better knowing I have something other kids on the block don’t.
I have a new Leupold FXII 4X scope that I essentially got for free from Leupold and I am going to mount it on this rifle. I bought a set of Leupold rings and mounts after I bought the rifle, and I will probably mount the scope in the next day or so. Then it’s out to the range. I have a bunch of .300 Weatherby ammo already loaded. I’ll let you know how it shoots.
Roy Weatherby in his office in the old South Gate facility. I met Roy in that office and had a nice conversation with him. Click on the photo to get the story.
The word “wow” might have been invented in anticipation of the .300 Weatherby Magnum. It’s that impressive. I’ve owned and fired a lot of different cartridges over the years, and the one that I find the most interesting, the most intimidating, and the most coolest ever is the .300 Weatherby. For a lot of years it was the most powerful .308-caliber cartridge on the planet. Roy Weatherby, my personal hero, created the cartridge in 1944 and it’s only been in the last few years that two or three more powerful .30-bore cartridges emerged, but these new .30-caliber cartridges are overkill. In fact, I could make a good argument that the .300 Weatherby is overkill. But I won’t. I love the round and I love the fact that it scares me a little every time I shoot it.
A sense of scale. From left to right, it’s the .22 Long Rifle, the .45 ACP, the .223 Remington (essentially, our M-16 round), the .30-30 Winchester (America’s premier deer cartridge), the mighty .30-06, and the last two are .300 Weatherby Magnum cartridges. Every cartridge shown here (with the exception of the .22 Long Rifle) is a reloaded round.
The first rifle I ever bought chambered for the .300 Weatherby, oddly enough, was not a Weatherby. It was a Winchester Model 70 that I bought maybe 35 years ago. It was a limited production item and that might have been a good reason to buy it, but the thing that grabbed my attention on this particular rifle was the walnut. You just don’t see factory Model 70s with fancy walnut, but this one had it in spades.
A 1980s Model 70 Winchester in .300 Weatherby Magnum, wearing a Weaver T-10 telescopic sight.The right side of the .300 Weatherby Model 70.Ah, that beautiful walnut. It’s not often lumber like this appears on a Winchester.Both sides, too! When I saw this rifle I was still in my 30s. I really couldn’t afford it, but I couldn’t afford to let it get away, either.
I think I paid just over $400 for that rifle back in the 1980s, which is what they were going for then. I had a Weaver T10 target scope I had used when shooting metallic silhouette and it went on the Model 70. It’s most definitely not the scope for a .300 Weatherby, but it’s what I had at the time. The scope is a collectible item all by itself…it’s steel and it was manufactured when Weaver made their scopes in El Paso.
So that’s the first rifle in this trio of .300s. The next is one I bought exactly 10 years ago, in 2009, at the height of the Great Recession. I was lucky in 2009…I was working, and lots of folks were selling things to raise cash, including more than a few gun stores. An outfit called Lock, Stock, and Barrel advertised a new-in-the-box Mark V Euromark on Gunbroker, and I was on that in a New York minute. The store was in the upper Midwest somewhere and they stated in their ad they would not sell to California (our state commissars make life difficult in a lot of ways, and more than a few sellers simply won’t ship to California). But I wanted that Euromark something fierce (the Euromark is a Mark V Weatherby with a satin oil finish, rather than the Mark V’s usual high gloss urethane finish). I called the guy, did my “woe is me” routine, and he agreed to ship the rifle to my FFL-holder here in the Peoples’ Republik.
Saw it on Gunbroker, saw the wood, and I couldn’t say no.It was nice on both sides, too. Rosewood accents, beautiful walnut, and the mighty .300 Weatherby Magnum in a Mark V. What’s not to like?
I bought a new Weaver 4×16 scope, put it on the rifle, and then I put the Mark V in the safe. It stayed there for 10 years. I fired it for the first time this weekend, for this blog.
You know, the funny thing is my good buddy Marty saw the Weatherby before I put it in the safe and he decided he needed one, too. He tried calling Lock, Stock, and Barrel a week after I received mine, but they had already gone out of business. The Great Recession was rough. My grabbing that rifle was a lucky break.
These photos impart a bit of an orange hue to the Mark V’s stock. It’s really a bit more subdued.Like the Model 70, this Mark V is pretty on both sides. The stock profile is the classic Weatherby Monte Carlo look, which actually works very well in reducing felt recoil.Unlike the other Deluxe Mark V rifles, the Euromark has a classic, low-sheen satin finish. It works well with the rosewood accents.It was sunny when I was on the range this weekend. I get better photos when it’s overcast, but you get the idea. The 4×16 Weaver on this rifle is a magnificent optic.
The last .300 Weatherby I’m going to talk about today is my Vanguard. It’s one of the original series Weatherby Vanguards, and it has what we tongue-in-cheek refer to as the Tupperware stock. I’ve written about this rifle on the ExNotes blog before. I wasn’t looking for a Vanguard when I bought this one, but I saw it at the Gunrunner gun shop in Duarte, the price was right, and, well, you know how these things go. It came home with me.
My Series 1 Weatherby Vanguard with the plastic stock. It’s accurate. And it’s hard-hitting (on both ends).A view from the port side. You can see the profile similarity between the Vanguard’s composite stock and the Mark V’s walnut stock above.The Vanguard came from the factory with a Bushnell 3×9 scope. It needs more eye relief. Before I go into the field with this rifle, I’m going to replace the scope.
The deal on the Vanguard rifles is that Weatherby wanted to bring a lower cost rifle to market without cheapening their flagship Mark V, and they contracted with Howa of Japan to build the Vanguards. The principal difference is that the Vanguard has a 90-degree bolt lift compared to the Mark V’s 54-degree bolt lift, and the Mark V sells for about $1400 more than a Vanguard. I’m here to tell you that the Vanguard is an outstanding rifle, every bit as good as the Mark V, and in many cases, more accurate.
So how do these three puppies shoot?
Like I said at the beginning of this blog, the .300 Weatherby is intimidating. I like to think I’m not recoil sensitive, but the .300 Weatherby is right on the edge of what I think I can handle shooting from the bench. It’s not an easy rifle to shoot for accuracy. To get the best groups from any rifle, I like to minimize contact with the rifle. I let the rifle lay in the benchrest, lightly hold the fore end with my fingers, barely touch my cheek against the stock, move my head to an appropriate position to get a full image through the scope, and just touch the recoil pad with my shoulder. The idea is that I don’t want to exert any force on the rifle, as that can move the rounds around on the target, and I’m shooting for the tightest group. That works with rifles that have light to moderate recoil, say, up to the .30 06 level. Try that with a .300 Weatherby, though, and you’re going to get popped in the face by the scope when you drop the hammer. Really. Trust me on this; I know. Nope, when you shoot the .300 Weatherby from the bench, you need a solid grip on the rifle, and you need to pull it firmly into your shoulder. It’s a little harder to get tight groups doing that. But it’s easier than getting smacked by the scope.
Before I get into the accuracy results, I’ll share my impressions of the three rifles based on trigger pull, felt recoil, fit, and optics.
The Mark V has the best trigger. I broke cleanly at about 3 lbs, and it made shooting the rifle easier. I guess that’s to be expected with a rifle that has a price tag like the Mark V (these things ain’t cheap). The Model 70 had a crisp (no creep) trigger, but it was heavy. That made it a little harder to shoot well, especially when shooting it right after I shot the Mark V (I got spoiled; it’s pretty hard to follow the Mark V act). The Vanguard trigger had a bit of creep in it, and it was about as heavy as the Winchester’s trigger, which is to say both the Vanguard and the Winchester triggers were heavier than the Mark V’s trigger.
The Mark V is a clear winner from a felt recoil perspective. There are several reasons for this. One is that it is the heaviest of the three rifles, with its dense walnut stock and 26-inch barrel. Another is the Weatherby stock profile. Folks make fun of it, but it works. When the gun recoils, it draws away from your cheek, and the perception is that it has less recoil. Another factor is Mark V’s recoil pad. And the last one is the Weaver 4×16 scope’s eye relief. Head position isn’t critical, and you’re far enough back from the scope that it doesn’t hit you in recoil. Don’t get me wrong: The Mark V still packs a wallop. It’s just easier to shoot than the other two. The Winchester Model 70 was a close second, most likely because it also has a real stock (read: walnut), but it’s thinner recoil pad made it slightly more punishing than the Mark V. Third place from the felt recoil perspective was the Vanguard. It has a big recoil pad like the Mark V, but the plastic stock and 24-inch barrel make the gun lighter, and like we say in the engineering biz, f still equals ma. Also, the Vanguard’s low end Bushnell Banner scope does not have generous eye relief, and I got smacked a couple of times. Not enough to draw blood, but enough to get my attention.
I’ve already started talking about scopes, so let me continue that discussion. The Weaver 4×16 I purchased for the Mark V is a killer scope. It’s incredibly bright, crisp, and clear. In fact, it’s so good I didn’t realize I had it turned down to 4X for the first couple of groups I fired. Eye relief on this scope is generous enough for a bucking bronc like the .300 Weatherby. It’s the clear winner.
The Weaver T-10 on the Model 70 was out of its element. It’s a target scope. Eye relief was good enough, but alignment and distance were hypercritical; move just a little too far forward or backward, or left or right, and you’ve lost the image. I like the scope (I’ve owned it for over 40 years), but it’s in the wrong place on a hunting rifle.
The Vanguard’s Bushnell Banner…what can I say? Maybe this: Halitosis is better than no breath at all. I played around with the focus adjustment, but the Bushnell just isn’t as clear or crisp as either of the Weavers. That said, it’s considerably less expensive than the other two scopes. When I bought the Vanguard, it was essentially in as new condition, and the Bushnell was part of a factory package (it came with the rifle). If I was do it over, I’d get the Weaver 4×16, or maybe a Leupold, for this rifle. I may do that anyway. I know this is heresy, but I actually think the Weaver has a crisper image than a Leupold scope.
Of the three rifles, the Mark V fits me best, with the Vanguard a close second. I like the Weatherby profile. It just works for me. If I had to choose one of these three rifles for a hunting trip in the mountains (and I do, as I’m chasing deer with good buddy J later this year in Idaho), it would definitely be the Vanguard. It’s lighter, and that counts on a hunt like the one I’m headed into. Yeah, I know…a .300 Weatherby is a bit much for deer. You take what you want when you hunt. I’m taking my .300.
Okay, so the big question emerges: How about accuracy?
I almost didn’t include this. I did a bit of accuracy testing, but my advice is to take my results with a grain of salt. A big grain. Maybe a barrel of salt. I hadn’t been on the rifle range in a month or two, and firing 50 or 60 rounds of .300 Weatherby Magnum ammo in one sitting is not the best way to do this kind of shooting. Stated differently, I was not really giving these rifles a fair shake in this test. The first few groups you see below are me getting settled in, and the last few groups you see below are more likely than not me deteriorating after getting smacked around all morning. These rifles are better than what the results below indicate.
That said, here we go. All groups you see in the chart below were 3-shot groups at 100 yards from the bench. There was no wind, it was a bit warm, and conditions were about ideal.
The loads. Don’t take my word for this stuff; get thee to a load manual, study it, and do your own testing. Start low and work up.
I knew from past dealings that IMR 7828 propellant is good stuff in the big magnums, and I think that my 76.5 grain load with the 180-grain Remington jacketed softpoint bullet is a great load. I was a bit off on the first group I fired with this load (two shots were touching; the third was a flyer most likely induced by me) and then the other two groups with this load were at minute of angle. I could do better if I shot this rifle more (yeah, that’s another factor; this was the first time I had this rifle out and the barrel is not broken in yet). This is not a max load (I could go hotter) and the group size was smaller with the warmer of the two loads I tried with 7828 and the Remington 180-grain bullets. That suggests an even warmer charge of 7828 under this bullet is where greater accuracy lives, but I just don’t feel a need to go there. No animal on the planet would be able to tell the difference from an energy-on-target perspective and minute-of-angle accuracy is close enough for government work (especially for the game I plan to hunt). Dead is dead. There’s no sense getting beat up by more recoil to make an animal more dead.
The 80 grains of 7828 with the 165-grain Hornady bullet I show in the table above is near a max load, and I think it’s obvious I was losing my edge toward the end of this range session. I shot a 0.507-inch group at 100 yards with that same load in the Vanguard a couple of years ago; I just couldn’t duplicate it near the end of my range session this past weekend.
Yeah, this dog will hunt.
The difference between a cup of coffee and my advice is you might have asked for a cup of coffee, but I’ll give you my advice anyway. If I was going to get one rifle in .300 Weatherby, I’d get the basic model Vanguard with a walnut stock, and I’d put either a Weaver 4×16 or a Leupold scope on it. You’d be getting the Vanguard’s accuracy, with the walnut stock you’d get a little added weight to soak up the recoil, and you’d save a cool $1400 over the Mark V. I think the Weatherby Vanguard is the best rifle value on the market today. Shop around on Gunbroker.com for a bit and you can find new walnut Vanguards for about $600. That’s a phenomenal deal and owning a Weatherby will make you thinner, taller, and better looking. It will make you a better man. Trust me on this.
One last comment: The results you see above regarding different loads are my loads in my rifles. Your mileage may vary. Consult a load manual, and always work up your own loads starting at the low end of the manual’s recommended propellant charges.
More Tales of the Gun? No problem. Click here, and enjoy!
You know, there’s more to the American Pickers television show than just watching a couple of cool dudes and their delightful inked-up assistant traveling all over the world buying cool stuff. It’s really an education on how business works. Buy low, buy quality, rarity counts, treat everybody well, and sell at a profit. I love it, and I never miss an episode. And I’ve watched a lot of the reruns.
The other topic American Pickers handles well is negotiation. These guys view negotiation not as an adversarial endeavor, but rather, a situation in which the buyer and seller are working together to find common ground. Backing off when things aren’t moving forward, bundling things to reach agreement, gentle suggestions…it’s all there. The show could be titled Negotiation 101 (it wouldn’t be as catchy a title, but it sure would be accurate).
I love negotiating. It’s a grand game and I love playing it. Just the other day I took advantage of a negotiating opportunity. You know I’m a firearms enthusiast. I enjoy shooting and I enjoy reloading. I’m always on the lookout, too, for a few guns I still have on my wish list. One such firearm on the “someday” list has been a 300 Weatherby Magnum. I’ve been watching the Internet auction boards for 5 or 6 years now looking for one that was priced right, realizing I’d still have to pay the transfer fees, etc., to bring it in from wherever to California.
Why a Weatherby? Well, as you already know, I once met Roy Weatherby. He was a hell of man and a personal hero. He designed his own rifles and cartridges. The 300 Weatherby Magnum is his signature cartridge. It’s why I wanted one.
So one day a few years ago Susie and I had lunch in Pasadena with a fellow from India. That meeting may someday lead to another secret mission (this time to the subcontinent, which might be interesting as I’ve never been there).
But all that’s beside the point. On the way home, the traffic was terrible (it was the Friday before the Labor Day holiday). We diverted to surface streets on the way back and, what do you know, I spotted a little gun store (The Gunrunner in Duarte). We stopped in and they had a consignment rifle…and it was the one I’d been seeking for several years. A 300 Weatherby Magnum with a scope, a sling, and a case. It looked new to me, but it was used. Used, but in “as new” condition.
“How much?” I asked.
“$500,” the sales guy replied.
Hmmmmm. That was actually a great price. It was an especially great price considering I wouldn’t have to bring it in from out of state, there would be no freight or transfer fees, its condition was stellar, and it was what I had wanted for a long time. I didn’t answer, but I kept looking at the rifle. Susie just stared daggers at me. That’s another negotiating trick. Bring your significant other with you and have her pretend to be opposed to whatever it is you want to purchase. In this case, though, I’m not so sure she was pretending…
I was just about to say okay when the sales guy spoke up again.
“How about $500 and I’ll pick up the DROS fees,” he said (the DROS fees are the fees associated with the background checks, etc., so the State of California can be certain I won’t run out and hold up a gas station with the my rifle).
“Make it $475 and we’ve got a deal,” I said.
And that’s how you get ‘r done, folks, as another one of my heroes would say.
The test target provided with every new Weatherby…this one grouped 3 shots into an inch at 100 yards
So you can see that test target above. All new Weatherby rifles used to come with a test target like that (maybe they still do; it’s been awhile since I bought a new one). You might wonder if these targets are really representative of what the rifle can do, and I’m here to tell you they are indeed. Take a look…this is what I shot with one of the loads I developed for my .300 Weatherby Vanguard the week after I bought it…
An awesome rifle in every regard…awesome power, awesome accuracy, and awesome recoil. The load is the 165 gr Hornady jacketed boat tail softpoint, a CCI 250 primer, and 80 grains of IMR 7828 propellant. That’s a 3-shot, half-inch group at a 100 yards!
If you enjoyed this blog, make sure you check out our other Tales of the Gun stories!
A couple of folks wrote to me asking about the loads I used for the recent blog about the Model 375 H&H Model 700. Say what you will, but most folks are fascinated by these big bore rifles (including me), and I figure if a couple of guys took the time to write, there are probably a bunch more out there with the same question.
When I shot the 375 H&H Model 700 last weekend, I wanted to work up some loads for it but I ran out of time. I grabbed what I had in the ammo locker, but I couldn’t find a record of having developed specific loads for this rifle earlier. Maybe I did and the loads were ones I had tested already (you’ll see from the dates on the load labels that I preppred this ammo a few years ago), or maybe I loaded them and just never got around to trying them. In any event, these were the loads that went to the range with me last weekend.
I did all my shooting off the bench at 50 yards, and here are the results…
I used a 6:00 hold on all the targets. All of the loads were accurate. The recoil on the Trail Boss loads was light, about like shooting a .223. The full power loads (the ones with 66.0 grains of IMR 4320 propellant) was accurate, but recoil was significant. It’s probably okay as a hunting load (no one notices recoil when hunting), but shooting off the bench with this load didn’t quite move the needle into the fun range. The 33.0 grains of SR4759 was potent, but recoil was manageable, and it was very accurate. It’s the one I’m going to use.
These .375 H&H rifles are normally big ticket items, but Weatherby recently introduced their synthetic-stocked Vanguards (with iron sights) in a .375 H&H chambering. You can pick these up for around $600, and that’s a phenomenal deal.
