opionions on weatherby vanguard 300 wsm w/ leupold vary x II scope

[blobman]

found one locally for 450 with 3 boxes of ammo ......sounds too good to be true, no?whats up with the 300 wsm anyhoos.

[mriddick]

I have a vanguard in 308 Winchester I bought cheap many years ago, it's basically a Howa1500 rebranded with the weatherby looking bolt treatment. It's been a great rifle even though the Weatherby purist don't like them and the average Remchestavage shooter seem to ignore them resulting in low prices. What's sort of odd is at shows I go to a std Howa 1500 is often times priced higher then the Weatherby rebrand.... The 300wsm should be a good round, everything the 300 win mag is in shorter case supposedly.

[Gunreference1]

The Weatherby Vanguard is actually a Howa M1500 rebranded for Weatherby. I think they are and excellent value and very good quality. New, the Vanguard can be found for $500-$550 + tax. A new Leupold Vari-X II will cost $300-$350 (2x7-33mm) + tax and go up with larger magnification. Sounds like a good deal. Just my $0,02.

Steve

[blobman]

jeez ,what took you so long to get back to me.....i figured if either of you gave me a thumbs up id get it,how can i make sure the scope is a real leupold? he said he ha sthe box the scope came in(obviously ill see if he has a receipt for the scope),steve whats the scoop on the wsm round,a buddy asked if its a WSSM,are these 2 different cartridges?

[mriddick]

Check the net, I think the serial numbers used on the fakes has been documented...

[Gunreference1]

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/05/300cal.jpg/200px-300cal.jpg
From left to right: .300 Winchester Magnum, .300 WSM, .308 Winchester, .223 Remington

The Winchester .300 WSM was created back in 2001 as a short action cartridge (.308 Win. length) duplicating .300 Win. Mag. ballistics. Basically this is a .404 Jeffery case shortened to an OAL of 2.100" necked down for a .308" dia. bullet with a 35 degree shoulder and the rim turned down to the standard rimless diameter of .555". It should be an excellent North American game cartridge.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5f/WSMandWSSM.jpg/300px-WSMandWSSM.jpg
WSM and WSSM family of cartridges. From left to right: .223 WSSM, .243 WSSM, .25 WSSM, .270 WSM, 7 mm WSM, .300 WSM, .325 WSM.

The picture above shows all the Winchester 'short magnum' cartridges. There has never been a .300 WSSM cartridge.

Hope this helps!

Steve

[vit]

Sounds like a great deal. haven't heard of any fake VX2's.

[blobman]

i ended up getting it for $375,turns out it was a var x I,its a real leapold as he got it from cabelas
gun- $450
scope $200
ammo 4 boxes at 45ish a box $180
sling,scope covers and 1 pc .leapoldmount $50

he lowered his price online,i didnt haggle him down,cant believe no one else was interested in it

the whole package is aboiut 95%+ condition,ammo is winchester ballistic sivlertips 150,180 grns.hell yeah

[mriddick]

Times are getting tough.