Weatherby Vanguard left me hanging, need new rifle suggestions

[renagde]

I took my gun apart last night. Everything functioned as it should. I couldn't find anything out of the ordinary, and I didn't find any screw that were loose. I contacted Weatherby and I'll be sending it in for warranty repairs. We'll see if they can come up with anything.

 

[Fatcamp]

Yeah on top of this, I just had a birthday. My amazing wife told me to buy a new rifle for my birthday since she knew I was itching for a new one. This all happened the day before my Vanguard left me down. Unfortunate timing

Wife's fault. New rifle time.

 

[Dirt Wagon]

Have you ever dissembled and cleaned the bolt? Good chance there is some gunk in there as well that kept the spring from firing. It's usually the one place that never get's cleaned & 12 years of shooting accumulates things.

Firing when the bolt was closed makes me think the spring was held up from firing but jolted loosed when you closed it in the stand and it fired on it's own. A good soak in solvent & wire brush should clean it out.

 

[JG358]

I’d bet your trigger needs cleaned with lighter fluid. There is some debris in there from the years of use that finally has added up to a problem.

That would be my guess as well. See it all the time.

 

[renagde]

Have you ever dissembled and cleaned the bolt? Good chance there is some gunk in there as well that kept the spring from firing. It's usually the one place that never get's cleaned & 12 years of shooting accumulates things.

Firing when the bolt was closed makes me think the spring was held up from firing but jolted loosed when you closed it in the stand and it fired on it's own. A good soak in solvent & wire brush should clean it out.

I did not disassemble the bolt. It didn't look filthy or gummed up, same as the trigger. I will field strip the bolt tonight to see what I can see.

 

[renagde]

That would be my guess as well. See it all the time.

Trigger is fine. I cleaned it up but it was gummed up or dirty.

 

[JG358]

Trigger is fine. I cleaned it up but it was gummed up or dirty.

It doesn't take much to bind a trigger up. A bit of dirty lube is all it takes to prevent the sear from resetting sometimes (slam fire). In my experience, its the most common cause of hang fires and slam fires in rifles I've worked on. Takes a lot to make a firing pin hang up in a bolt. Stock pinch is unlikely on a rifle that has been in use for so long.

 

[Wmmichael20]

Sounds like a sear issue to me....

 

[16Bore]

Sounds like operator error to me.

 

[renagde]

Sounds like operator error to me.

lol care to elaborate?

 

[unclericco]

I’ve got a Howa 1500 that i rebarreled a while back that has had a firing pin problem since day 1. Either not hitting the primer hard enough, or blowing through primers sometimes. Finding a firing pin to replace it has been a chore

 

[16Bore]

lol care to elaborate?

Know how stuff works.

 

[renagde]

Know how stuff works.

Oh you're real helpful thanks.

 

[16Bore]

You don’t think a “new” rifle might not do the same?

 

[renagde]

You don’t think a “new” rifle might not do the same?

I'm sure there's a possibility of a new rifle doing that. But when I hit the field, I carry equipment that has been tested and as a result, I have a lot of confidence in my setup. When something like this happens out of the blue for no apparent reason, it takes that confidence away rather quickly.

 

[16Bore]

But if you don’t “know” what’s going on, then how can you “test” it?

Does that make sense?

Pull it apart and see what’s what. Dollar to a donut Weatherby says “it’s dirty but we replaced it” or “it’s within spec, but we put a new ______ in it anyway.

It’s called skullphuqqing your gear. And you can’t Google it.

 

[tdhanses]

I’ve got a Howa 1500 that i rebarreled a while back that has had a firing pin problem since day 1. Either not hitting the primer hard enough, or blowing through primers sometimes. Finding a firing pin to replace it has been a chore

You can get a new bolt from PTG, you’ll have to have a gunsmith fit it but you could try to swap out the firing pin from the PTG to yours, looks like it is a factory bolt, it does run around $150 though.

 

[renagde]

But if you don’t “know” what’s going on, then how can you “test” it?

Does that make sense?

Pull it apart and see what’s what. Dollar to a donut Weatherby says “it’s dirty but we replaced it” or “it’s within spec, but we put a new ______ in it anyway.

It’s called skullphuqqing your gear. And you can’t Google it.

That is what I'm saying, I pulled it apart and couldn't find anything. I'm not a gunsmith, I'm not going to dissect my trigger assembly down to the pins and springs. I'll let Weatherby do it and if I'm out $50 to ship a rifle to them only to have them tell me it's good to go, that's peace of mind.

 

[16Bore]

I get that totally. Just saying it never hurts to know what does what and why or why not. We got a fella here that got on a plane with his Mauser 9.3X62 and flew cross country to spend a few days with one of the best gunsmiths on the planet, just to make it feed correctly and learn how it does what it do.

Excessive? Maybe. But when you know, you know...ya know?

I got into to handloading to see how ammo works....I stopped when I figured it out.

Hopefully they give you a no bullshit answer.

 

[JG358]

That is what I'm saying, I pulled it apart and couldn't find anything. I'm not a gunsmith, I'm not going to dissect my trigger assembly down to the pins and springs. I'll let Weatherby do it and if I'm out $50 to ship a rifle to them only to have them tell me it's good to go, that's peace of mind.

You cant say your trigger is "clean" if you didnt completely disassemble it. What the outside of the housing looks like doesnt mean a thing. 12 years of use... Trigger never disassembled... I'll stick to my original diagnosis of the issue.

Probably be better off just taking it to a local Smith if you have one. Warranty work through manufacturers is a pita for the most part.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk