Silvertip1
Active member
- Joined
- Sep 9, 2025
- Messages
- 42
If you have been shooting for a significant period of time there is a probability that you have had a firearm that gave you trouble, you really didn’t like, or was it, by your definition, just a POS. If you have had that happen to you would you please share that story so I won't think I'm the only one who has had that experience?
My worst firearm story is about a 7mm Rem Mag Weatherby Vanguard. For quite a while I had been wanting a 7 mm Remington Mag, and in the early 1980s I received a bonus at work. At that time the Winchester Model 70’s reputation had reached rock bottom because of the changes made in 1965, and I wasn’t too keen on a Remington 700. Weatherby did not make a Rem. 7mm Mag in their Mark V rifle, series, but they did offer a 7 mm Rem Mag in their cheaper Vanguard series which was made under the Weatherby license by Howa of Japan. When I was a boy my father had an American made Weatherby Mark V, and while growing up I had shot it several times; really liked the way it handled, functioned, and shot…sooooo, I bought a brand new Vanguard plus the attendant scope, reloading dies, etc.
From the very start that rifle would not print a consistent group on the target area, or group under 2-3/4” at 100 yards. Over the years that I owned it; I changed scopes and scope bases, factory ammo, handloaded different bullet weights and brands, cases, primers, powders, glass bedded the action, free floated the barrel and had it polished professionally, (trigger was quite nice); nothing worked! And for you Wags out there, it was NOT the shooter!
After years of frustration it became a candidate for a fence post. Fortunately, I found a shotgun I really had to have and used that rifle for a trade-in. I hope it wound up belonging to someone who uses concentrated sulfuric acid as a bore cleaner and lubricant.
My worst firearm story is about a 7mm Rem Mag Weatherby Vanguard. For quite a while I had been wanting a 7 mm Remington Mag, and in the early 1980s I received a bonus at work. At that time the Winchester Model 70’s reputation had reached rock bottom because of the changes made in 1965, and I wasn’t too keen on a Remington 700. Weatherby did not make a Rem. 7mm Mag in their Mark V rifle, series, but they did offer a 7 mm Rem Mag in their cheaper Vanguard series which was made under the Weatherby license by Howa of Japan. When I was a boy my father had an American made Weatherby Mark V, and while growing up I had shot it several times; really liked the way it handled, functioned, and shot…sooooo, I bought a brand new Vanguard plus the attendant scope, reloading dies, etc.
From the very start that rifle would not print a consistent group on the target area, or group under 2-3/4” at 100 yards. Over the years that I owned it; I changed scopes and scope bases, factory ammo, handloaded different bullet weights and brands, cases, primers, powders, glass bedded the action, free floated the barrel and had it polished professionally, (trigger was quite nice); nothing worked! And for you Wags out there, it was NOT the shooter!
After years of frustration it became a candidate for a fence post. Fortunately, I found a shotgun I really had to have and used that rifle for a trade-in. I hope it wound up belonging to someone who uses concentrated sulfuric acid as a bore cleaner and lubricant.
