Weatherby Vanguard in .260 Remington

[cacoltguy]

I posted a thread a while back about re-barreling a Weatherby Vanguard in .260 Remington.  Well I finally got everything together and did it.  Barrel is a 26 inch heavy contour 1 in 8 inch twist Shillen Select Match.  Also has a 1.5 lb. Timney trigger and a Nightforce NXS 8-32x scope with the NP-R1 reticle,  I'm working up some test loads using Sierra 142 gr. Matchkings and H4350 powder as we speak and hope to giver her a go in the next two weeks or so.

Here it is:

[terminator]

Very nice.That is  quite a setup.Let us know how she shoots.

[trappers son]

very nice.... good cartridge, nice barrel, cool scope..... how far down the barrel did you glass your stock?

[eford]

It looks like you're set for fun--really nice.

[godscountry]

260 Remington, NOW YOU'RE TALKIN'. My next rifle will be in .260. I wanted to get one in an AR10 but finding one of those now is nearly impossible, thanks Obama and the rest of you Constitution hating politicians.

[ballistic]

That's a way cool set up, good taste. Will be waiting for the range report.

[PARA45]

Very nice set up!  Congrats!!!!!

[bustinbirds]

That is a sweet set up, I'm sure you will be really happy with it. Let us know when you get some loads put together and take a trip to the range. Can't wait to hear how it shoots.

[cacoltguy]

Thanks a lot guys!  I'll definitely post some results once I get out to the range.  I'm still waiting on a warne one piece mount that I plan on using but just stuck the scope one a two piece mount I have to see how everything looked.

 "how far down the barrel did you glass your stock?"

I'm not sure what you mean exactly but the barrel is free-floated and the stock is the original Bell and Carlson that came with the rifle.  It has the aluminum bedding blocks.  The fore-end  of the stock had to be reamed out ever so slightly to allow the heavier Shillen to fit and remain free floated.

[257 Shooter]

Excellent job! Those who haven't used the .260 don't know what they're missing.

[ballistic]

cacoltguy, are those Nightforce rings ? Will they work with the Warne one piece base or are you using different rings ?

[cacoltguy]

Ballistic, yes those are nightforce steel high rings (med rings wouldnt allow the scope bell to clear the barrel). Right now the base is a two piece leupold but yes as far as I know the nightforce rings will fit any standard one piece picatinny base.  In adition to having the warne 20moa base on order ill aslo be looking to get or fashion some sort of raised cheek piece to account for the high rings.

[trappers son]

i figured with a big barrel like that the smith would bed your stock a bit to support the weight of the barrel.... sometimes they bed them just past the chamber on the barrel and float the rest.....

[cacoltguy]

i figured with a big barrel like that the smith would bed your stock a bit to support the weight of the barrel.... sometimes they bed them just past the chamber on the barrel and float the rest.....

Ok isee what your talking about.  No this wasn't done and shouldn't be necessary or desireable if the action is a strong design.  One of the strengths of the Howa 1500/Vanguard action is that the threads run longer into the action giving more strength to the barrel/action connection.  (plenty strong enough to support a 26 inch heavy barrel). This was one of the reaons I decided to use my Vanguard for this build over a Rem 700 (along with several other engineering and design advantages it has over a 700). As it came from weatherby the stock has a combination of the aluminum bedding blocks and glass bedding.  No bedding was done between the barrel and stock.  The work was done by Mark Chesebro in Santa Barbara, CA.  He's been at it for quite a while building rifles for Palma shooting and F-class competition so I trust his judgement on what needed to be done.

http://bulletin.accurateshooter.com/2012/09/chesebro-rifles-takes-over-as-successor-to-mt-guns/

[O C hunter]

Nice rifle, like the heavy barrel, and the 26 inch,  just a good set up you have...