I have a lead on a Vanguard in 257 Weatherby. I have never shot a Vanguard and I need to know some opinions of the quality and accuracy of this rifle. Also, any comments on the fit/finish and things to watch out for would be helpful. Any users out there that can shed any light on this rifle???

If I remember correctly the Vanguard was made by Howe of Japan.
It is sort of a copy of the Remington 700, with a different extractor.

I had a Custom made rifle with a Howe action in 300 WBY.

The action seemed well made.

I have one in 22-250. It shoots great. The trigger sucks. I put a timly trigger on it.

The Vanguard is made by Howa. They are normally accurate. Only issue I have with the Vanguard 257Wby is the 24" barrel. The gain over a 25-06 will be very marginal.

I have a Vanguard in 25/06 and am very pleased with it. In the beginning the trigger was heavy and a little bit rough. With a little emery time and a new spring it now breaks cleanly and smoothly at 2lbs. It is the synthetic model. I am more than satisfied with its fit and finish. As far as accuracy goes, it shoots sub-MOA out to 200yds. I would buy another if the right one came along.
GOOD LUCK and GOOD SHOOTING!!!

I have a Remington 700 in .257 weatherby.
It is ugly, but man it shoots !
It has a 26 inch barrel.
The 24 inch vanguard is not near the disadvantage you might think it is.
Velocity is not likly to suffer much.
...tj3006

I have a hunting buddy who won the exact same rifle same as the subject gun at a Ducks Unlimited Party. His has a Synthetic stock. The barrel looked very short for a Weatherby chambering and I thought I measured it to be 22 inches but maybe it was 24. He uses the Weatherby factory ammo loaded with 120 grain Nosler BT. He kills every deer he shoots at dead in their tracks.

He loves the rifle; however, his only complaint was ammo is hard to find around here and very expensive. I bought him a box for Christmas 2 years ago in Little Rock, AR for $59.95 plus tax! So I would say one thing to look out for is the ammo is COSTLY.

Merg

Thanks to all for your replies. This sounds like it may be a good purchase. As for the price of ammo, I roll my own so I can save some money on this. However, all our components are getting pricy.

Thanks again for the response.

I have a Vanguard Stainless Sporter in 257 Wby. Love this rifle. It's a touch heavy but nothing that is a problem. The action works very well and is smooth. I went to adjust the trigger and the barreled action is so tight to the stock that it took a bit to get it out of there. It's very accurate with factory ammo and my hand loads are even better. You can't go wrong with one of these in my opinion. By the way, yes they are made by Howa.

Ken....

quote:

The 24 inch vanguard is not near the disadvantage you might think it is.
Velocity is not likly to suffer much.

I do hope you are correct. I only have one data point. I loaded for a buddies 257 years ago. When it was a 26" barrel his max load was just under 200fps above my max 25-06 24" with the same bullet. 20% powder increase for a 5-6% velocity increase. He messed up the crown and the smith messed up the end of the barrel. All said and done ended up with a barrel of 24.5" His velocity dropped right at 100fps so the 20% powder increase was gettng him closer to 3% velocity increase. Yes still a higher velocity than my 25-06 but a lot more powder and blast. Maybe changing powders might have reduced the drop. He moved and I never got around to trying other powders.