Weatherby Vanguard

[AKBman]

So I made an impulse buy off of Gunbroker, picked up a Weatherby Vanguard in 30'06 for $275. I was a little disappointed when I picked it up from my FFL, bore looked horrible. Brought it home and proceeded to scrub the bore, it had the worst copper fouling I have ever seen. So I scubbed it and soaked it for a day, still had copper fouling, so I picked up some Wipe-Out and Bore Tech, cleaned until the patches came out white. Mounted a 3-9x40 Nikon from another rifle and took it to the range, had some Sierra 180gr BT bullets, 180gr Rem Core Lokts, and some 180gr Hornady IB bullets, after 25 rounds the copper fouling was horrible. Best group fired was 3 of the Hornady bullets and RL 17, by the time I got to the Core Lokts, the groups had become patterns. Not sure if this rifle is going to stay an '06 which is what I wanted, or if I will have it rechambered to something else. The rifle didn't really appear to have many rounds through it, bolt looks brand new. I can see some tooling marks in the bore, but I don't really see any reason the bore is fouling like it is, I have never experienced this before. I am thinking some bore paste to smooth it out, but not sure.

 

[Barrelnut]

Maybe try some Tubbs Final Finish fire lapping bullets. It's a system that uses a series of bullets with progressively finer grit coating on the bullets. It can work pretty well. I used ones on a 7RM with good results.

 

[AKBman]

Thank you, I will check it out!

 

[Deleted member 46119]

Hammer forged, hit or miss.

I Tubb's my Vanguard 300WSM, it definitely helped the fouling.

Eventually changed the barrel to Pac-Nor.

 

[AKBman]

I have had very good luck thus far with hammer forged, hopefully I will get this one shooting as well as the others.

 

[ohiohunter]

For what you paid for it I wouldn't hesitate to find a barrel blank somewhere and take that thing to Powell in hondo and have it rebarreled.

 

[AKBman]

Now that is one hell of an idea OhioHunter!

 

[ohiohunter]

Now that is one hell of an idea OhioHunter!

You'll be shooting bugholes in no time..

Have you met Denny yet?

 

[AKBman]

I haven't, unfortunately it has been a very busy year.

 

[ohiohunter]

Oh I know the feeling well. Since you might rebarrel why not consider a 30-06ai? Pretty sure the ai's can and do shoot the reg 3006 ammo well during fireforming.

 

[AKBman]

I have been looking at the AI, not sure, I kind of want just the classic '06, find one practice load, and one hunting load. I am leaning towards bullets of the 165-168 grain persuasion, as I don't anticipate shots stretching beyond 400 yards, and if I can get an Accubond or TTSX to shoot good, should be enough for anything I will be hunting with it, if I need more I will bring the 300 Win Mag or the 375 Ruger.

 

[AKBman]

Took this rifle to the range yesterday, it will shoot a 3 shot 1 MOA or better group everytime, but, not sure if it's me, but 5 shots opens up to 1.5 MOA or in some case 2 MOA. Seems to shift impact when it heats up.

 

[Deleted member 46119]

Took this rifle to the range yesterday, it will shoot a 3 shot 1 MOA or better group everytime, but, not sure if it's me, but 5 shots opens up to 1.5 MOA or in some case 2 MOA. Seems to shift impact when it heats up.

Almost all rifles will. Especially a hunting weight barrel.

Have you tried taking one shot every 20 minutes to see if it will close the group?

 

[AKBman]

Next outing that is the plan, I was going to go 10 min between shots and bring something else to keep me entertained in between.