Weatherby/Howa

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I bought me a new Weatherby Vanguard Sporter rifle. I already knew Howa was making the lower grade Weatherbys. The rifle is marked Weatherby, also Howa Made in Japan. I always wanted a Weatherby.....now kinda feel cheated. What do yall think. My next rifle will be a Winchester Model 70 Featherweight...cause Im old, retired and I earned em.... :)
 
I have a heavy barrel Vanguard, very smooth action and seems to be very good quality for what I paid for it ($399). IIRC, it's just the action that is from Howa. I believe Weatherby uses their own barrels.
 
Well considering that for a very long time the MkVs were manufactured in Japan, id say your about par for the course lol.

Theres nothing cheap about the vanguard/1500s, if anything they are better built than nearly ANY rifle in their price ranges. I dislike the profile of the stocks, but thats about it.
 
Well considering that for a very long time the MkVs were manufactured in Japan, id say your about par for the course lol.

Theres nothing cheap about the vanguard/1500s, if anything they are better built than nearly ANY rifle in their price ranges. I dislike the profile of the stocks, but thats about it.
Agreed on the stocks, which is why neither of my Howas wear factory stocks.
 
Well considering that for a very long time the MkVs were manufactured in Japan, id say your about par for the course lol.

Theres nothing cheap about the vanguard/1500s, if anything they are better built than nearly ANY rifle in their price ranges. I dislike the profile of the stocks, but thats about it.
At one point they were using McMillan stocks for the Vanguards. Mine is one of those and I love it!

The factory trigger took some work to get a nice break, but mine is an older one- Ive heard the new ones are much better. Worst case there is always the Timney upgrade.

I would certainly not feel cheated. Howa makes great rifles and the Vanguard is a supurb rifle at any price.
 
The factory trigger took some work to get a nice break, but mine is an older one- Ive heard the new ones are much better. Worst case there is always the Timney upgrade.

I'm no trigger connoisseur, but I'm very happy with the trigger on mine. Its 2nd gen or whatever you want to call it, the generation with the improved trigger. I'd put it right up there with my Savage Accutriggers, which are probably my favorite.
 
Exactly which trigger you get along with many other features depends on when the rifle was made and who it was made for. Howa has made rifles for many years and sold them under several names. But the rifles have evolved over the years. And the ones made for Weatherby have had different specs in some cases compared to the ones sold as Howa. Most of the time the ones sold under the Howa name have appealed to me more than their Weatherby cousins.

The action is the same. But there have been different triggers, safeties, stocks, bolts, and barrels. At one time Howa offered 3 position safety while the Vanguard version had a 2 position safety. I think they are all 3 position now. Weatherby had a fluted bolt at one time while Howa was plain and Weatherby used to sell all of them with 24" barrels while Howa sold the same rifle, in the same cartridge with a 22" barrel.

The Vanguard/Howa is a very good rifle. It borrows heavily from the Remington 700 design, but corrects all of the shortcomings of the 700. It has a better trigger, better extractor, and the bolt handles are attached so they won't fall off like the 700's will. In most cases they use the same scope mounts as Remington. The only difference is if you want to use a 1 piece base on a short action then they are different.

Where they differ from the 700 is that all things being equal the actions are 1/2 to 3/4 lb heavier. That combined with the heavier stocks they tend to put on them makes for a pretty heavy rifle. A Winchester FWT will be at least a full pound lighter than a Vanguard.

And by modern standards a Winchester FWT isn't that light. You can buy rifles approaching 3 lbs trimmer than the Vanguard.
 
The Howa action shares the bolt profile, and upper receiver profiles, but is other wise quite different IMO. Flat bottomed with an integral lug, different trigger design and safety all distinguish it.
That are pretty hefty actions. I think my 6.5 CM ended up at 9lbs in a S&W 1500 deluxe stock and a 3-9x40 prostaff.
 
I had one in .243. Bought it for antelope. Never shot it enough to get a real good feel, but accuracy wise it seemed to do OK. Had someone that offered more than I had in it, so I sold it to get a 7 Mag for deer.
 
I recently traded a model 70 compact for a new Vanguard. Couldn’t get the 70 to group with a variety of loads, whereas the Vanguard has been much easier to get dialed in. Trigger was better on the 70, but I’m fairly confident the Vanguard will smooth out over time. Don’t miss the 70 at all.
 
Exactly which trigger you get along with many other features depends on when the rifle was made and who it was made for. Howa has made rifles for many years and sold them under several names. But the rifles have evolved over the years. And the ones made for Weatherby have had different specs in some cases compared to the ones sold as Howa. Most of the time the ones sold under the Howa name have appealed to me more than their Weatherby cousins.

The action is the same. But there have been different triggers, safeties, stocks, bolts, and barrels. At one time Howa offered 3 position safety while the Vanguard version had a 2 position safety. I think they are all 3 position now. Weatherby had a fluted bolt at one time while Howa was plain and Weatherby used to sell all of them with 24" barrels while Howa sold the same rifle, in the same cartridge with a 22" barrel.

The Vanguard/Howa is a very good rifle. It borrows heavily from the Remington 700 design, but corrects all of the shortcomings of the 700. It has a better trigger, better extractor, and the bolt handles are attached so they won't fall off like the 700's will. In most cases they use the same scope mounts as Remington. The only difference is if you want to use a 1 piece base on a short action then they are different.

Where they differ from the 700 is that all things being equal the actions are 1/2 to 3/4 lb heavier. That combined with the heavier stocks they tend to put on them makes for a pretty heavy rifle. A Winchester FWT will be at least a full pound lighter than a Vanguard.

And by modern standards a Winchester FWT isn't that light. You can buy rifles approaching 3 lbs trimmer than the Vanguard.

While all of this is ceratainly true, my Howa Alpine is the lightest rifle I own. Lighter even than my Tikka, although the Tikka has a slightly heavier barrel profile and longer barrel.

My Howa mini 7.62x39 sits in a heavily-trimmed Boyd's laminate stock, and it's under 7 lbs scoped.

Howa's don't have to be heavy.
 
I have 2 Howa 1500s in 30-06 and a couple of 700s, I like the 1500s a little better, I bought them used and they both came with Leopold scopes and accurate, I also bought a 308 with a Leopold scope and removed the scope and sold it for a loss of $25. Mine doesn't like heavy bullets
 
My son in law has a Vanguard in .270 Win. I adjusted the trigger to 3.5 lbs. and worked up a load for it. Took it to the range for him to sight it in and ten shots from a cold barrel went into .7". The rifle has a beautiful wood stock and is factory bedded. Shoots lights out!!
 
The Howa is an improved copy of the two lug Sako, not the Remington 700. The older triggers were not great, later ones are much improved.
 
I bought a new "Weatherby" Vanguard (Howa) rifle, chambered in .257 Weatherby Magnum, in 2011, mostly because it seemed like a good deal at the time ($299.99). Only after I bought the rifle did I "research" it and was surprised to learn how many shooters were critical of the trigger pull. I have no complaints regarding the trigger on my Vanguard-and I consider myself to be a trigger "connoisseur" (snob?).
 
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