Weatherby Vanguards

I'm guessing they aren't trued at the factory... the receiver face and bolt lugs lapped.

They are really accurate to begin with but was wondering if hand loading procedures might do it better.

I was on another site where a guy mentioned Forster decapping rods with the expander mid way up the rod to reduce case neck runout. I can adjust my RCBS rod to where the the expander is mid way up the rod.

If these rifles aren't trued then enhancing the loads are a waste of time.
 
I think that there needs to be an order of operations that is applied when one is trying to improve the accuracy of a factory rifle. At or near the top of the list should be proper bedding. Probably the next thing should be attention to the trigger. It is hard to shoot small consistently with a heavy trigger. Another thing that is often neglected is the way that it is supported while being shot. I see a lot of rigs that I guarantee will open groups and mask any potential accuracy improvement. Similarly, there needs to be some way to see what the wind is doing so that errant shots that come from the wind are not mistaken for load or rifle handling issues. As far as concentricity improvement goes, if you are stuck with a one piece FL die, using a two step process that involves sizing without the expander ball, and then using an expander die and mandrel to expand (lubed) necks will yield noticeably straighter brass. It is common to observe shooters that think that they can simply ignore some of the important factors for improving accuracy, and only work with the details that they are attracted to. As far as the need to true an action before accuracy improvement is attempted, that is simply not the case. In years back, I was able to achieve significant improvements in the accuracy of factory rifles by doing the things that I described above. While they would not have been competitive in a benchrest match, they would suffice for any varminting task with room to spare. Of course I checked lug contact, and did a little remedial lapping if I thought it necessary, but I do not consider that to be truing of an action. To me, that requires the skillful use of a lathe. I would caution anyone that he should do some serious reading before lapping action lugs. There are some issues involved that may not be entirely obvious to some.
 
I think that there needs to be an order of operations that is applied when one is trying to improve the accuracy of a factory rifle. At or near the top of the list should be proper bedding. Probably the next thing should be attention to the trigger. It is hard to shoot small consistently with a heavy trigger. Another thing that is often neglected is the way that it is supported while being shot. I see a lot of rigs that I guarantee will open groups and mask any potential accuracy improvement. Similarly, there needs to be some way to see what the wind is doing so that errant shots that come from the wind are not mistaken for load or rifle handling issues. As far as concentricity improvement goes, if you are stuck with a one piece FL die, using a two step process that involves sizing without the expander ball, and then using an expander die and mandrel to expand (lubed) necks will yield noticeably straighter brass. It is common to observe shooters that think that they can simply ignore some of the important factors for improving accuracy, and only work with the details that they are attracted to. As far as the need to true an action before accuracy improvement is attempted, that is simply not the case. In years back, I was able to achieve significant improvements in the accuracy of factory rifles by doing the things that I described above. While they would not have been competitive in a benchrest match, they would suffice for any varminting task with room to spare. Of course I checked lug contact, and did a little remedial lapping if I thought it necessary, but I do not consider that to be truing of an action. To me, that requires the skillful use of a lathe. I would caution anyone that he should do some serious reading before lapping action lugs. There are some issues involved that may not be entirely obvious to some.

It's not bedded.

The trigger is smooth and relatively light.

I use a long leafed sand bag.

I shoot on calm days or watch a flag down range before shooting.

I use two piece dies... RCBS

I've tried weighing cases, neck turning, volume, primer pocket uniforming, deburing flash holes, rotating case when seating bullets, bullet comparator, weighing bullets, etc.....

Watched a Tubb vid from the 80's and the first thing he mentioned was truing the action and lapping lugs.

I'm aware of lapping lugs and increasing headspace.
 
I would bed it before I did anything else, and make sure that I checked the job properly. Bedding can look good and not be.
 
Just for grins, what caliber is the rifle and what is the typical group size?

I actually had one of these Vanguards about two hundred years ago, in 7mm Mag. It was a darn good rifle at the time. I think I traded it for a remedial BR rifle...which was a wasted effort....but I didn't know everything like I do now :rolleyes:.
 
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Never worked with a Vanguard, but have built several rifles on Howa 1500 actions, which are the same action with minor cosmetic differences. First off, every single one of the Howas I've worked with were purchased by myself as bbl'd actions; up until a little over a year ago, removing a factory bbl was only able to be accomplished by making a deep cut in the bbl shank right up against the action face with a parting tool to relieve the pressure on the threaded joint. However, more recent bbl'd actions with their HACT trigger are easier than a M700 to break loose from the bbl. Because of this, for the 1st time, I've shot one of these - with a 24" 6.5 Creedmoor heavy bbl - after skim bedding it into a Bell & Carlson stock with aluminum action block. These factory barrels are hammer forged, so it's logical to assume that the Vanguards are also. The one I shot did quite well with Hornady factory match loads with both 120 & 140gr Amax bullets. The complete rifle was sold to a novice shooter, who was able to maintain groups of just under 1 MOA out to 800yds with it, using a 6-24x50 Vortex scope. So much for the validity of a one-bbl sample - but I've heard many more positive reviews of the Howa factory bbl accuracy than negative. So I'd think that that rifle of yours would be well worth the time & effort to properly bed it, and then go from there.
 
Trueing up

I have one I bought new 11/15 in 22/250. Its shot the 50gr Sierra spitzers into 1 MOA, but 52gr A-max was bad and so was 45gr W-W factory. That's after I bedded it in a B&C Medalist stock. So ordered a Brux 26" 8" twist SS bbl and sent it off to gunsmith. Spoke to him today, he's nearly done. Said it had from factory 30% lug contact and now has 95% contact. Any how I'll be shooting it for first time with new bbl Tuesday. Starting with 60 gr V-Max bullets . I'll report back
 
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