Well, it took a lot of deliberation to decide to replace my old Browning A-Bolt in 7mm Remington Magnum as my primary tree stand deer rifle. I was a little hesitant as I wasn't willing to spend
too much money but figured the Vanguard is about as good as it gets for low-cost quality rifles and the .257 Weatherby Magnum is likewise as good as it gets as a super long range deer rifle. There is a lot of crap in the low-end price range right now, but the Vanguard is a nice-well-built piece and feels the part. I already have one in .300 as my primary moose gun and it's a pretty slick rifle, excellent value for the money.
So the story is kinda long, the condensed version is I went in to Wholesale Sports this past Saturday to ask about one and the only one they had was in the sold bin. Went back yesterday with my Dad just to shop around and asked to see the display unit they had on the rack to show it off. The woman behind the gun counter asked what caliber I wanted, I mentioned .257. She decided to check stock and I mentioned it had already been sold last time I was in. The computer confirmed it but her boss said to let me have it as it had been waiting for pickup/payment for 3 weeks. I was
this close to going stainless, but the price premium (extra $140) didn't seem to be worth it.
Looks to be a decent shooter as per the factory target, 1.25" seems to be the order of the day with the 100gr SP ammo. I'm quite certain (if my other Vanguard is any indication) that after proper break-in with reasonable cool-downs between shots that I can easily best those results, and do better yet with handloads. Am thinking of using the Weatherby (Talley) Vanguard mounts and throwing on a "nothing fancy" Nikon Buckmasters 3-9x to start as it's a nice piece of glass for the money (preferring it to Elite 3200/Aetec/VX-1 models) for it's first season.
Just wanted to share the love and ask if anyone used the Weatherby mounts for the Vanguard and what they thought of them?
