Weatherby Vanguard – 7mm – Initial Shots

Got a chance to fire my first shots from a 7mm Rem. Mag I purchased earlier in the year, and was very impressed on the overall accuracy out of the box with cheapo factory ammo. I put a Nikon Buckmaster 3X9 with the BDC reticle on top of it, and was very satisfied with the clarity of the optics as well.

12 shots, all in three shot groups with a few screw-ups, but my best two groups were the size of my fist, then a golf ball at 100 yards. I was on a bench but without sandbags, so I wasn’t as rock-solid as I wanted to be.

Either way, like I said, very impressed with the rifle so far, would gladly buy a vanguard again.

Joel

I shoot a 7mm magnum also Joel. I love that gun. I do not shoot it nearly as much as I should, but it has never let me down. Fast and very flat shooting.

Mine is a Winchester Model 70! If I head back to Western SD for Mule Deer Hunting. I will definitely have
to get some range time on that gun this Summer.

Them Muley hunts are pipe dreams…… I still need to go so I can identify them better…..

big G

Here is for reference G.

My first Muley and it was taken with my Winchester 7mm magnum @ 450 yards, looking for a bigger one this Fall.

Joel you are going to like that gun, especally with the good scope you got.

450? Marksman! What’s the holdover at 450?

The majority of my experience in bench shooting and hunting in general is with shotguns. I shoot a stoeger with a rifled barrel for deer season, which kicks probably twice as hard as that 7 mag. I was pleasantly surprised how well that Weatherby handles itself with a belted magnum. I was in the market for one of the new model 70’s btw, but they simply weren’t getting them in!

The backstory is that I actually won the NWTF gun of the year last year, which was a Weatherby Vanguard Deluxe – in a 300 Wby magnum. Loved everything about the gun except the caliber. Unless you reload, you simply can’t find reasonably priced ammo for that caliber, and all the premium stuff is from Weatherby. The 7mag is flatter shooting, does about all I’ll ever need it to do, and the ammo is offered in better varieties/brands/gr. weights. I sold the 300 and bought this 7mag, also in a Vanguard Deluxe.

Joel

Hold over was what ever my Burris B&C (Similar to BDC) reticle told me.

I love the 7mm mag caliber. I can pretty much do it all with this gun, Elk, Deer, Bear, Moose, etc.. I hunt a lot of open areas in the Dakotas and Montana this gun is made for this. Not the best brush busting MN gun though. I will probably be looking at a 30.30 Lever action for this sooner or later. My 7 mag also has a 26″ barrel to help with that longer range shooting.

If zeroed in at 100 yards and depending on what bullet you are shooting I would guess that the drop at 450 is somewhere between 30 and 35 inches. The 7mm is a great, great rifle…I own a Browning A Bolt Stainless Stalker and it is my go-to gun every year. I like it so much that even though I bought a .300 win mag barrel for my TC Pro-hunter this year I didn’t even take it in the stand with me this season. Enjoy! They can be tack drivers…sub 1″ MOA 3 shot groups are a fairly common occurance.

Cheers!

Jnelson, here is a pic of my Vanguard in .22-.250 out of the box with factory ammo at 100 yds. The the only thing I had done was a trigger job. Sorry it isn’t to clear I’m not sure what happened but that is a dime next to the four shot group. I think you’ll like the gun.

Sunny D, I have her sighted in at 200 yards. She is like 1.2 inches high @ 100. I do remember if I would hold right on from 50-300 yards I should have a dead animal. I do not shoot my rifle nearly enough, but with the help of a ballistic plex scope, calm wind and a steady rest, I feel confident out to that 300 yard mark and beyond.