Any need to tweak Weatherby Vanguards?

[Igloo]

Open the barrel channel to free float it, spot bedding, etc?

Did yours shoot any better after any easy tweaks?

 

[hereinaz]

They are the same design as Howa 1500, so that’s something to look at too.

Free float the barrel.
I trim the trigger spring on some to reduce pull a bit.
Bed the recoil lug and/or action.

One of the best is to properly tighten the action screws.

Because the bolt is in the recoil lug, you need to carefully snug the action down without tipping the action forward before tightening the rear bolt. Just go slow and bring up to torque equally.

 

[Igloo]

They are the same design as Howa 1500, so that’s something to look at too.

Free float the barrel.
I trim the trigger spring on some to reduce pull a bit.
Bed the recoil lug and/or action.

One of the best is to properly tighten the action screws.

Because the bolt is in the recoil lug, you need to carefully snug the action down without tipping the action forward before tightening the rear bolt. Just go slow and bring up to torque equally.

Thank you!

So just kinda keep pressure on the back of the action while snugging up the screws?

 

[Bugger]

You can modify all ya want on the OEM stock, but the easy button is to get a barreled 1500 action on brownells and pick the stock you like for not much extra $$. You could probably break even on a B&C or stockys.
That said, I’ve got a 22-250 with the original stock that shoots lights out with no bedding and tons of foreend contact the whole way down.

 

[Igloo]

You can modify all ya want on the OEM stock, but the easy button is to get a barreled 1500 action on brownells and pick the stock you like for not much extra $$. You could probably break even on a B&C or stockys.
That said, I’ve got a 22-250 with the original stock that shoots lights out with no bedding and tons of foreend contact the whole way down.

But I do like the S2 stock and that's why I wasn't asking "what stock should I drop a Howa 1500 into".

Also already have the Vanguard, so buying another rifle and another stock isn't any kind of an easy button. Haven't shot it yet, but then in the opinion of some (with pretty compelling evidence) rifles like a Tikka should be floated before shooting anyway.

 

[Bugger]

But I do like the S2 stock and that's why I wasn't asking "what stock should I drop a Howa 1500 into".

Also already have the Vanguard, so buying another rifle and another stock isn't any kind of an easy button. Haven't shot it yet, but then in the opinion of some (with pretty compelling evidence) rifles like a Tikka should be floated before shooting anyway.

Well if your first post is super vague you’re gonna get a variety of responses. Good luck

 

[hereinaz]

Thank you!

So just kinda keep pressure on the back of the action while snugging up the screws?

I push the action back to load the recoil lug, and just snug the rear then snug the front. I then snug a bit more. Then, I bounce the buttstock to make sure it is seated and tighten front and back until I hit torque.

I tightened the front action screw first like I do with other action, and the rifle shot like crap. I then tore it down and saw the torque on it and started doing it like the above. Returned to tight groups.

 

[TaperPin]

Open the barrel channel to free float it, spot bedding, etc?

Did yours shoot any better after any easy tweaks?

After making sure the barrel is free floated there’s an easy way to check the bedding to see if there’s an issue. Keep in mind that that in every rifle, there is a very small amount of compression in the recoil lug area during recoil and the receiver moves back and forth at every shot. The bedding simply has to provide a consistent track. To check the bedding, use cardboard shims from a cereal or cracker box, about an inch wide and long enough to help pinch the receiver into the stock with a little extra pressure on the sides up at the front as well as near the rear action screw. If accuracy before and after trying this is the same, the factory bedding is just fine, but if the shims produce better accuracy, there’s probably too much slop between the stock and sides of receiver.

Running the shims under the action as well as the sides will also allow you to check for too much pressure sandwiching the magazine box between receiver and bottom metal. The magazine box shouldn’t be tight, but if it won’t move a tiny amount without shims and does with shims, that should be addressed.

With plastic stocks I’ve often cut shims out of credit cards and just left them in there permanently - bedding compounds don’t like to stick to plastic.

 

[Igloo]

Well if your first post is super vague you’re gonna get a variety of responses. Good luck

I didn't see how "have you ever tweaked a vanguard" could be vague at all, let alone super vague

 

[Igloo]

After making sure the barrel is free floated there’s an easy way to check the bedding to see if there’s an issue. Keep in mind that that in every rifle, there is a very small amount of compression in the recoil lug area during recoil and the receiver moves back and forth at every shot. The bedding simply has to provide a consistent track. To check the bedding, use cardboard shims from a cereal or cracker box, about an inch wide and long enough to help pinch the receiver into the stock with a little extra pressure on the sides up at the front as well as near the rear action screw. If accuracy before and after trying this is the same, the factory bedding is just fine, but if the shims produce better accuracy, there’s probably too much slop between the stock and sides of receiver.

Running the shims under the action as well as the sides will also allow you to check for too much pressure sandwiching the magazine box between receiver and bottom metal. The magazine box shouldn’t be tight, but if it won’t move a tiny amount without shims and does with shims, that should be addressed.

With plastic stocks I’ve often cut shims out of credit cards and just left them in there permanently - bedding compounds don’t like to stick to plastic.

Thats interesting, thank you!

I've heard of ding this under the chamber area to free float a barrel but not to see if the action would do better bedded

 

[mtg]

In my opinion, you should snug the action screws up and go shoot it first. I’ve seen some of these shoot quite accurately without touching a darn thing on the stock.

 

[Igloo]

In my opinion, you should snug the action screws up and go shoot it first. I’ve seen some of these shoot quite accurately without touching a darn thing on the stock.

Guess I was starting to get into the ideology of "every rifle should be bedded" but it would be interesting to see all the same. Can pick up a box or two of factory ammo and shoot a few groups for baseline.

 

[TaperPin]

Thats interesting, thank you!

I've heard of ding this under the chamber area to free float a barrel but not to see if the action would do better bedded

At one time a group of us with more time than money used to buy every cheap rifle of our favorite brand that we came across hoping to get one that was extra accurate, and sell off the average ones. We tried a number of things to simplify getting the best accuracy with least amount of work while evaluating them, and the shims have been very helpful. It sounds funny, but I stillkeep shim material in the range bag - seems a couple times a year someone with a new rifle wants to try it before they have a proper bedding job done. Over the years, something like one in five rifles shoots better.

If credit cards or cereal boxes are too thick, playing cards work well.

We’ve also put little dots of bedding compound on the sides after waxing the receiver, with no other prep and that works - the bedding compound doesn’t stick to either the stock or receiver and just floats between them. In the end, the shims were faster and worked just as well.

 

[mtg]

One more suggestion. When you go shoot it as is, take a few of the plastic bread bag clips with you, or strips of expired credit cards. you can shoot it as is first, and then use those pieces of plastic (the bag clips) to lift the action up and free float it. And then shoot again! This is a suggestion that gun writer, John Barsness, and probably many others has shared many times.

 

[zpearo]

Mine shot great out of the box. I did the plastic shim trick to free float it, and still shot great.

Ended up ordering a Stocky's VG2 stock so that I could have a free floated barrel. Didn't want the risk of my shot being affected by resting my stock on something with the fore end contact that it comes with from the factory.

 

[Igloo]

Mine shot great out of the box. I did the plastic shim trick to free float it, and still shot great.

Ended up ordering a Stocky's VG2 stock so that I could have a free floated barrel. Didn't want the risk of my shot being affected by resting my stock on something with the fore end contact that it comes with from the factory.

Thats cool!

Was thinkin about just using a wood dowel and sandpaper to hog it out here. Nothin fancy.

 

[zpearo]

Thats cool!

Was thinkin about just using a wood dowel and sandpaper to hog it out here. Nothin fancy.

The factory stock is super flimsy FYI. When I had mine shimmed the fore end flexed badly. I wouldn't bother free-floating the factory stock because of that. It you want a free float, I'd get a sturdier stock.

 

[Skydog]

The factory stock is super flimsy FYI. When I had mine shimmed the fore end flexed badly. I wouldn't bother free-floating the factory stock because of that. It you want a free float, I'd get a sturdier stock.

Which factory stock did yours have?

 

[zpearo]

Which factory stock did yours have?

The synthetic (plastic) stock. My understanding is that all the synthetic vanguard stocks are this way.

 

[Igloo]

Dang. I never pushed one to find out, but thought the Series 2 stocks with the Griptonite inserts were pretty well regarded