There's nothing crappy at all about the Weatherby, Winchester and Savage rifles I've bought at Wal-Mart. They're first rate shooters. The Winchester did come as a "package" with a cheap Simmons scope I wouldn't've picked, and not well mounted, but after correcting that myself it works well enough that I won't complain, and have no plans to upgrade it as long as it does.

When the Vanguard appeared at Wal-Mart in 1997 or so, it was a Wal-Mart exclusive. The Vanguard had been discontinued in 1994, and was brought back just to sell through Wal-Mart. We wouldn't have them, otherwise. That made Wal-Mart the largest seller of Weatherby rifles, and the fact that Vanguards are now available through other sources is due to Wal-Mart's success selling them.

I understand the bitterness against Wal-Mart by those who perceive they've been pushed out of business or lost business to their competition. But blanket putdowns of the products they sell as "crap" simply don't hold water.