Weatherby Vanguard Series 2 - 6.5 Creedmoor on sale at Cabelas

So guys,

Have any of you owned one of these? How did it shoot? Planning on having one, 6.5 Creedmoor, custom built but boy howdy with the below price it sure makes me rethink this...

6.5 Creedmoor

Matte Blued

Synthetic

twist: 1:9.5

Regular Price: $549.99

Sale Price: $499.99

Sounds like a good un.

Better get it while you can. That batch is the only run of them Weatherby will ever make. 500 guns total.

No-brainer. Worse comes to worse you'll easily get $450 out of it on a quick sale if you want to upgrade.

That price, I may need a 300 Win mag!

Gungeartogo had those weatherbys at $420 a few weeks back

What cabelas did you see these at?

They don't stock them. You have to have them order it for you.

BUY IT!
We have 2 org. vanguards and they are the perfect rifle lol!

I have a vanguard series two in a 257 weatherby and in my opinion the series two is the best gun you can buy for that money or anything close

The Series 2 was one of the poorest performers in a recent test of newer rifles made by one of the outdoor mags. It comes with an accuracy guarantee but states its only good if you use "premium" ammo.

I'm totally neutral on Vanguards but just wanted to add this to the discussion for what it's worth.

You are only going to get accuracy guaranteed with "premium" ammo on any rifle.

I have a "series 1" Vanguard in .243, re-stocked and bedded. It's been a tack driver ever since.

At the price they are offering for the new ones, you could bed, float and re-stock and still be ahead. I just do not like the plastic stocks they come with.

cool
I got a V2 "Hog Reaper" in 7mm08 to test, running Barnes vortex ammo it was grouping .3" at 100 yards in the first 10 rounds.

It's a good rifle.

It seems almost impossible to find less expensive rifles with wood stocks these days. Plastic seems to rule the day unless you're willing to pay hundreds more.

Call me an old timer, but it's just not a rifle if it doesn't have a wood stock. And the prettier the wood the better.

Which is why such independent tests can be so telling to potential buyers. The Series 2 was one of the worst performers with the same ammo used in all the rifles tested.

Here are the comments I made some time ago in regard to the Series 2 performance, not to create a heated debate, but only to give a different opinion and its source..

"I've been thinking about getting a Vanguard Series II after reading about it's guaranteed shooting accuracy. But recently, I noticed an article in the current (December) issue of Field and Stream that gave it some of the lowest marks for accuracy of any of the guns tested (1.714" average group).

For what it's worth, the F&S tests gave the highest cost/performance marks to the Marlin X7, which carries a much lower retail price (About $330) than the VG Series II (About $490).

The X7 also created the smallest, one-time group of any of the guns tested at just .200 inches. It's average group size was a very respectable .713 inches."

Just to clarify, the F&S article appeared in it's December 2012 edition soon after the Series 2 was released.

Now I have to wonder if the Marlin X7 is really as good a value as the article suggests.

Dan, I've gotta agree with you here! These rifles they're even putting out with the cheap and I do mean CHEAP plastics stocks are awful! I just bought a Tikka .243 and its a really nice rifle except for the stock. I'm going to use the action for a custom rifle but since the stock is so crummy I'm going to end up spending a lot more for it.

If you buy a Vanguard 2 and shoot factory made ammo out of it they guarantee it. If it shoots over 1" you can return it to Weatherby and they will check the gun out and shoot it and replace, repair or return it with a target showing the sub Mao group.
They use federal premium ammo for all of their testing, which is not expensive ammo in today's market.
Regardless of how the writer shot in his article they will guarantee the gun. If you buy a Marlin or for that matter almost any brand and it shoots over an inch they will not do anything but tell you that is within their perimeters.

I agree completely, though I do have a T3 Hunter in a B&C stock. The Vanguard now wears a Boyd's walnut stock that not only looks light years better than the original plastic one but makes it feel like a completely different rifle too. I have a Winchester Model 70 SuperGrade that has one of the prettiest American walnut stocks I've ever seen on it that I'd consider it treasonous heresy to even think about replacing with a synthetic stock.

Some things are just meant to be.

A lot of yall are down playing this gun because you one guy who tested a few guns didn't like it. I my series two in a 257 weatherby is the best shooting gun I have ever owned. I actually shot a pig in the eye at about 150 yards last night and a good buck with it this morning at about 200 yards I shoot factory weatherby ammo and I have a nikon prostaff on it

We have three S2's in the family, two 30-06's and a youth .243. They shoot sub-moa with Core-Lokts. I was just lucky huh. Weatherby also has the best customer service in the industry in my view.

Don't understand why some people take it so personal when someone shares information they don't agree with. The OP asks for information on how the Vanguard Series II shoots. While I don't own one, I simply shared information on how the gun performed in an independent test.

When I intend to spend good money on something, I want to hear both the good and bad from those who have used it.

I shot a 10" armadillo at 20 yards with
one last year.

Good show, I hate dillos much worse than hogs. You can't bait a dillo, they dig under buildings, other animals use their burrows, and 80% of them are drunks. What type ammo were you using and what caliber, also interested in type of scope at 20 yds. My personal favorite is a 4 prong pitchfork, but often I don't feel like walking/stalking that much.

I have two Vanguards, 308 & 30-06, imagine my surprise when I bought a used Marlin XS7 in 243 Win, put a used Weaver 6x on it and got .75 groups off the tailgate of my truck. And I never read any articles, was just looking for a cheap truck/tractor gun.

I agree about wooden stocks, you could see a long way into the future when manufacturers started trying to sell us on the advantages of synthetic material made from soda straws.

Comment/observation of my own, most guns outshoot most shooters.

Yes, it seems Marlin is brand of rifle that doesn't catch a lot of deer hunter attention. I mean, how often do you see a truck or T-shirt with the Marlin logo on it.

I wonder if their stronger reputation for .22's has something to do with that?

So you have never shot one and would take the word of a writer as the expert? You have no idea what conditions he was shooting in or how good of a shot he is. Did he mount the scopes or someone else, was the Weatherby the first gun he shot or the last during his testing. Had the wind kicked up?
The OP asked for an opinion and you chose to give him someone else's opinion.
I have hunted with several of the top writers in the industry and I can assure you they don' t shoot any better than most of the guys on this forum.
There are also more "tests" showing that V2 shots exactly as advertised than not. Look up the Guns and Ammo Tests, Bugle Magazine, Petersons Hunting,and American Hunter. They all show excellent performance results.

I've no dog in this fight, but I'd trust the people on this forum to tell the truth before I'd trust **any** magazine.

Magazines are for reading the latest ads and learning about new product launches, not for fact finding. There are way, way too many conflicts of interest.

Absolutely, although not necessarily as an expert. Unlike an owner who would be more likely to defend his/her purchase, a well-informed writer who recognizes the need for being totally objective has no reason for bias.

Or perhaps you just don't believe that anyone who writes for a magazine can be a good judge of such things.

When I see a negative report on anything that I have purchased, the last thing I want to do is attack it as being false like some school kid. In this case, I would most likely want to learn what ammo was used in the test so I could avoid it. Most experienced shooters know all too well that most rifles shoot better with certain ammo.

Your kidding right? No reason for bias? The bigger companies not only spend millions advertising with these publications but they also take these writers, and only the very select ones that get the most exposure via their publications, on incredible hunts. They pay for everything and that always includes a new rifle. There is more bias in gun articles than in any other product tested or written about in the shooting industry.

You're right. The potential loss of advertising dollars is what dictates what many writers choose to put in their articles. Everyone knows that subscribers really don't matter because what they pay does little to support production costs.

That quote is the only absolute truth about magazines. Why do you think that there are not any magazines available that don't have advertising on every single page. The subscribers funds would not even pay for 1edition a year for any of them.
If a major magazine doesn't support it's advertisers they go find one that will.

Read Gun Test Magazine for accurate
Reports.

http://www.fieldandstream.com/blogs/gun-nuts/2012/02/rifle-review-weatherby-vanguard-series-2

Here is the Field and Streams article. I think it praises the gun by the way.

Given that Weatherby is an active advertiser, the author better have something good to say about it.

Still, this is not the article that I referenced earlier because it only rates the Vanguard Series II. The article that I referenced included the results of shooting tests performed on several rifles, with the Marlin X7 being the surprise performer.

Perhaps this is a later article meant to cover the results included in earlier field test.

Good info. Thanks for sharing.

I quit reading Gun Tests many years ago when they selected the A-Bolt over a 700 and other rifles because they liked the glossy polyurethane stock.

I have owned a series one in 257 wb and a series two in 300 wsm. Both shot 1/2 in easy with reloads. I would buy another one in a heartbeat

Boomalakachaka.

I used to subscribe and found them idiosyncratic. At the end of the day, I trust the people here more.