Looking into buying a rifle in 300 Win Mag and its currently a toss up between a Weatherby Vanguard with a Bushnell elite 3200 for $699 or a Remington 700 SPS no optics for around 600. Anyone have any experience with either of these?
Weatherby Vanguard or Remington 700
- Thread starter Flywire
- Start date
I have a Remington Sendero 7mm mag, Rem 700 .308, and a 257 weatherby mag vanguard. The Vanguard feels more comfortable but the barrel heats up quick quick and the shells have a heavy sticker price
The barrel heating up has nothing to do with the rifle being a Vanguard, it is the overbore cartridge. The price of .300 WM ammo is the same for either the SPS or the Vanguard. The Wby Mag ammo is pricey. Sounds like he is not considering the Weatherby mags.
The Vanguard's stock is very comfy to shoot.
The SPS stock is awful. I have not owned an SPS, but shot and held enough to know I don't care for them.
Both push feed, both good designs.
Great all around calibre choice and I'm sure either rifle is a good value for the money. I would say hold and shoot both if you can.
I saw a Weatherby Vanguard in 300 Win Mag with a stainless fluted barrel at the range yesterday, and was quite impressed with the appearance of it. He had a 3 - 9x Bushnell 3200 on it. Bought at Hub Sports in Abbotsford and he was very impressed with the service.
The biggest advantage to a Remington is that there are tons of aftermarket goodies out there if you want to tinker with it or add another stock later on.
I'd buy the SPS and restock it later, in fact I already did that with an SPS in 270 and that rumoured crummy bbl is quite accurate and consistant.
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I'd buy the SPS and restock it later, in fact I already did that with an SPS in 270 and that rumoured crummy bbl is quite accurate and consistant.
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I can't recall hearing too many BAD things about the Vanguards with the one notable exception being complaints regarding the stock trigger having some creep issues. Some guys like them, some don't.
I have heard more complaints of Remingtons in general, but nothing too substantial.
I own a Howa 1500 which is basically the same as the Vanguards. Same action, but Weatherby puts their own barrel on them. I really like mine.
I have heard more complaints of Remingtons in general, but nothing too substantial.
I own a Howa 1500 which is basically the same as the Vanguards. Same action, but Weatherby puts their own barrel on them. I really like mine.
The Vanguard trigger is not great. A little heavy, creepy and gritty for sure. I guess they can be polished for a better feel. Being integral with the safety, I don't believe they have the tuneability of the Remington triggers.
- Location
- Thunder Bay
I have been looking for a .243 laminate, blued, no stainless, no tupperware, no sights and no clip. Not much out there until I heard about the Vanguard.I happened to be in Fort Frances ON a few weeks ago and Rainy River Sports/gas bar had one in stock.In Thunder Bay they are selling for about 900 bones, but RRS had one for 689$. I offered the fella 700$ taxes in and he took it. For the money it seems to be quality rifle. The trigger needed some tweaking but I got it down to about 3lbs with just a bit of creep. I have a Leupold 4.5-14 that is on my #1 which I am going to yard off and plunk on the .243. Although I primarily hunt with a bow there still is something about hunting with a rifle.Out of all the 'entry level' rifle out there this one seems to be a bit above the rest. I am looking forward to shooting it.
I would consider the howa as the howa and vanguard are essentially the same barreled action made by howa.A forum vendor is offering a good price on the howa.
http://www.frontiertaxidermy.com/html/rifles.html
http://www.frontiertaxidermy.com/html/rifles.html
manbearpig
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Somewhere in the Third World
the SPS stock can be replaced with factory take-offs appearing in the EE all the time.
after selling my factory SPS stock, it only cost me $125 to upgrade to an HS Precision Sendero stock. you could get a similar deal on other take-off HS Precision, Bell & Carlson, Hogue, etc stocks in the EE.
the drawback of the SPS line is the stock -- but you have access to all of the 700 aftermarket and take-off accessories so it is easily remedied. if i bought an SPS again the first thing i would do is list the factory stock on the EE and start looking for a replacement.
as for selling the factory stock - i dont think its a problem, since the SPS factory stocks are actually a good deal for hunters using old walnut-stocked CDLs who just want to slap a cheap waterproof beater stock on their rifles for rough weather.
I have a Vanguard and a SPS,the Sps will outshoot the Vanguard buy a small margin but the Vanguard is a nicer smoother rifle.The trigger on the SPS is better but I changed the spring on my Vangaurd and now its really nice.The SPS stock is ugly but has that nice R 3 pad on it for recoil,mine is a 300 Ultra mag and the pad makes it nice to shoot.I would buy whichever one tickled my fancy.They are both good hunting rifles.
