The Badlands rifle is offered in 11 chamberings, including three Weatherby Magnum cartridges (257 Wby. Our test rifle was chambered in 25-06 Rem., which is a great choice for hunting pronghorn and mule deer in open country. The bolt is locked down with the safety in the rearmost engaged position, but in the middle position, you can safely cycle rounds through the action with the safety still engaged. The trigger is mated with a three-position, rocker-style safety. It is, compared to many triggers on factory guns, quite good. If the rifle were mine, I’d likely adjust the pull weight down just a bit, but I left it as it arrived from the factory for testing. The trigger on my test gun broke consistently at a pull weight of 3 lbs., 3 oz., but it felt lighter than that – probably because the first stage takes up about 8 to 10 ounces of pull weight before the trigger stacks solidly and breaks cleanly. The newer trigger is adjustable within a range of 2.5-3.8 lbs. The S2 (Series Two) two-stage trigger on today’s guns is infinitely better than the originals of yesteryear, which had some creep and grittiness to them. One of the most dramatic improvements with the Vanguard over the years is its trigger. The barrel and all metal work on the rifle, including the hinged magazine floorplate, are protected from the elements with a burnt bronze Cerakote finish. Magazine capacity is three rounds for magnum cartridges, and either four or five rounds for rifles in standard chamberings, depending on the cartridge. It takes a fair amount of pressure to operate the lever, and in all my years of hunting with Vanguard rifles, I’ve never had the floorplate trip open accidentally. At the bottom of the stock you’ll find the magazine’s hinged floorplate, which is released via a bladed lever inside the leading edge of the trigger guard. Sling swivel studs are in the usual positions fore and aft.

A one-inch soft rubber recoil pad does yeoman’s work in moderating recoil. The barrel length is 26 inches for magnum chamberings.Īs you might expect, the rifle’s synthetic stock still retains the signature Weatherby styling, with a raised Monte Carlo comb and slight right side palm swell. 2 contour to help keep the rifle’s unloaded weight to about 7 ½ pounds. In standard chamberings, the cold hammer forged barrel measures 24 inches and has a somewhat slender No. The time-proven machined action of Vanguard rifles has a machined one-piece bolt with dual opposing locking lugs and three gas escape ports. The bolt release button is protected inside a recessed portion of the stock adjacent to the upper left rear side of the action. The bolt, which has a 90-degree lift, cycles smoothly with no objectionable resistance, and a bolt sleeve fully encloses the rear of the bolt. There’s a standard plunger ejector inside the recessed bolt face and a claw-type extractor. It has a fluted, one-piece machined bolt that encloses the cartridge head in Weatherby’s vaunted “three rings of steel.” The bolt has dual opposed locking lugs and three gas escape ports which are visible on the right side of the bolt body when the action is closed.

The heart of the rifle is the sturdy, flat-bottomed, machined Vanguard action. Beneath the surface, it’s still the same no-nonsense rifle that has been slaying game in the badlands – and most everywhere else – for 50 years. Combined with classic Weatherby lines and a well-executed burnt bronze Cerakote protective finish on the barrel and all metal work, the rifle is a real head-turner.īut the Badlands isn’t just another pretty face. The result is a distinctive finish that works well in a surprisingly broad range of terrain and conditions, including snow.

This unique camo has multi-layered patterns and “adaptive coloration,” in which different colors and layers come into play as lighting conditions change. Weatherby says it is the first production rifle to wear a stock with the Badlands Approach camo finish. What I wasn’t expecting with the Badlands rifle, until I held it in my hands, was to discover how visually stunning it is. The stock of the Badlands rifle retains the signature Weatherby look with Monte Carlo styling, and is finished with a Badlands Approach camo pattern. that has probably accounted for more game than any other rifle in my collection. Originally introduced as a more affordable alternative to the company’s more expensive Mark V rifle and chambered only for standard cartridges, the rifle has evolved over time and is today offered in no fewer than 24 variations chambered for both standard and select Weatherby magnum cartridges. The rifles are also well-known to me I own three, including one chambered in 257 Wby. They have been serving hunters handily for half a century. Vanguard rifles are certainly well known.

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