For 30 some years, my favorite .30 caliber rifle was my .30 Gibbs. It started out as my first centerfire rifle back in 1967 when mail ordered a Model U-9 barreled action in .30-06 and a semi-finished stock from Herter's. I got my deer and elk with it just about every year in the '70s until a friend gave me a .30 Gibbs case. I thought that case looked so cool that I had to have my 06 re-chambered to the Gibbs, and in 1977 a gunsmith in Kalispell, MT made the conversion for me.
For the next twenty years that .30 Gibbs and 180 gr Partitions kept my freezers full of elk, moose, caribou, and mountain goat meat and put 5 of those critters on my wall. In 1998 a fireforming mistake pretty much ended the career of my .30 Gibbs and I was without a .30 caliber hunting rifle for a couple of years.
Ever since I started big game hunting in the mid '60s I've admired and wanted a Weatherby rifle. Finally in 2009 I bought a .300 Weatherby Vanguard. I've put custom stocks that I've finished and checkered on many of my rifles, so I also made one for my new .300 Wby Vanguard. This stock is AA Fancy Claro walnut that I pillar and glass bedded the action and barrel channel, then free floated the barrel. I put a mechanical recoil reducer in the stock, fitted it with a Limbsaver recoil pad, and checkered it with my favorite multi-panel wrap around pattern. I topped it with a 4-12x Leupold and had a KDF muzzle brake installed.
It weighs just under 10 lbs and it's felt recoil is less than my .257 Ackley. It shoots several makes and weights of bullets at or under moa out to 400 meters. Since 2010 I've used my .300 Weatherby on a hunt in Texas for exotics, two Montana elk hunts, and a hunt in South Africa. I started hunting with 168 gr TSX bullets in this rifle, then switched to 168 gr TTSX bullets which were slightly more accurate. With my 168 gr TTSX bullets sighted in 2.5" high at 100 yds, this rifle has a +/- 3" point blank range out to 330 yards. So far the 10 animals that I have shot with this rifle were all one shot DRT kills out to 314 yds.
Now my .300 Weatherby is my favorite .30 caliber rifle.
nicely said buffy , can tell you mean every word of it ,mate
my favorite 30 cal is my 300 ultra mag .purely for the accurracy lm seeing with it with the reciepe im using ,reloading
its a model 700 sps in stainless synthetis
floated and glass bedded , and the trigger is a tad over 2 lbs, way to light to stalk with , the only hunting l choose to do with it is sitting and glassing
the longest shot ive snaggred with it is over 1300 metres ,which was p.d.l
but ive watched the bullet slam into the shoulder of a half grown samba hind at 515 metres that was ranged with a burris laser scope ,2 seconds before her soul left the body
its braked as most of my hunting firearms are .
ive just purchased some berger projectiles , for target shooting to see if l can get serious with the long range stuff .
but the first riffle l grab when going for a walk locally for deer is my 30.06 ,with out ever a second look .
its like an extension of my left hand me and it are mates .
its a stainless synthetic m77 ruger ,braked and floated barrel on a pedestal instead of glass beeded
and the trigger is set at 3 lbs.
