Thanks to Weatherby, Leupold and Nosler, this shooting test is comprehensive as it marries the Weatherby Vanguard Weatherguard to a Leupold VX-6 3-18 44mm Gold Ring Scope and Nosler AccuBond bullets for deer hunting. Lets see how the marriage unfolds…
My friends at Nosler were out of stock for testing 129 grain AccuBond Long Range hunting bullets (very popular), but I found some on-line to test the Weatherby Vanguard Weatherguard with. This bullet has a G1 ballistic coefficient of 0.561 and exits the barrel around 2680 fps from a cold barrel. I hand-loaded the cartridge with 39 grains of RL 15 powder, a max load I had already proved-in at 1 MOA at 100 yards. According to the Nosler reloading guide, RL 15 at 39 grains was the most accurate. My chronograph measured the first 3 shot spread was 10 fps with an average velocity of 2680 fps. Later shots from a warmed barrel showed an increase in velocity and spread. Hunters don’t shoot with a warmed barrel. It is a cold shot that counts in the field, accordingly I was not overly concerned with the warmed barrel velocity variation.
Now to test that premise and data, I shot those first 4 rounds at 600 yards in prone position at Nashua NH Fish and Game 600 yard range. The shots had about a 6 inch spread left to right and had a vertical spread of around an inch. Very nice indeed! The wind was not a significant factor as it was a calm day. The bullet dropped 14 minutes from my 100 yard zero. Accordingly, I turned the Leupold VX-6 Turret up 14 minutes and I was on paper.
I had to adjust left and down to hit the bullseye. I am now sighted in for 600 yards, though I will limit my hunting shots to 400 yards or less. With the Leupold sight picture I was comfortable at 12x though my prone position felt very low to the ground. The value driven Weatherby Vanguard, with it high cheek rest and Monte-Carlo design aided greatly with my scope alignment height. I just can’t believe you can get this rifle new for under $600 bucks. The Leupold VX-6 however retails for nearly double what the rifle costs but it delivers the best clarity in low light at long range that I have ever experienced at this price point and with one twist go from 3x to 18x. Crazy good!
In a hunting situation I will be hopefully using shooting sticks, perhaps standing or kneeling. The delivered Kinetic Energy from the 24 inch Weatherby barrel at 400 yards is 1250 ft-lbs thereby providing excellent energy for penetration on a mature whitetail deer. The Nosler AccuBond was designed to mushroom with the lead bonded to the copper jacket, thus the bullet remains largely intact as it penetrates. See the table from www.jbmballistics.com below. I could have shown more data at longer ranges but this works for a hunting situation I might expect.
| Calculated Table | ||||||||||
| Range | Drop | Drop | Windage | Windage | Velocity | Mach | Energy | Time | Lead | Lead |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (yd) | (in) | (MOA) | (in) | (MOA) | (ft/s) | (none) | (ft•lbs) | (s) | (in) | (MOA) |
| 0 | -1.5 | *** | 0.0 | *** | 2680.0 | 2.342 | 2057.0 | 0.000 | 0.0 | *** |
| 25 | -0.6 | -2.5 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 2640.7 | 2.308 | 1997.1 | 0.028 | 5.0 | 19.0 |
| 50 | -0.1 | -0.2 | 0.1 | 0.3 | 2601.7 | 2.274 | 1938.6 | 0.057 | 10.0 | 19.1 |
| 75 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.3 | 0.4 | 2563.1 | 2.240 | 1881.4 | 0.086 | 15.1 | 19.2 |
| 100 | -0.0 | -0.0 | 0.6 | 0.6 | 2524.8 | 2.207 | 1825.6 | 0.115 | 20.3 | 19.4 |
| 125 | -0.5 | -0.3 | 0.9 | 0.7 | 2486.8 | 2.173 | 1771.1 | 0.145 | 25.6 | 19.5 |
| 150 | -1.3 | -0.8 | 1.4 | 0.9 | 2449.1 | 2.141 | 1717.8 | 0.176 | 30.9 | 19.7 |
| 175 | -2.4 | -1.3 | 1.9 | 1.0 | 2411.8 | 2.108 | 1665.8 | 0.207 | 36.3 | 19.8 |
| 200 | -4.0 | -1.9 | 2.5 | 1.2 | 2374.8 | 2.076 | 1615.1 | 0.238 | 41.9 | 20.0 |
| 225 | -5.9 | -2.5 | 3.1 | 1.3 | 2338.0 | 2.043 | 1565.5 | 0.270 | 47.5 | 20.1 |
| 250 | -8.2 | -3.1 | 3.9 | 1.5 | 2301.6 | 2.012 | 1517.2 | 0.302 | 53.2 | 20.3 |
| 275 | -10.9 | -3.8 | 4.8 | 1.7 | 2265.5 | 1.980 | 1470.0 | 0.335 | 58.9 | 20.5 |
| 300 | -14.1 | -4.5 | 5.7 | 1.8 | 2229.8 | 1.949 | 1423.9 | 0.368 | 64.8 | 20.6 |
| 325 | -17.7 | -5.2 | 6.7 | 2.0 | 2194.3 | 1.918 | 1379.0 | 0.402 | 70.8 | 20.8 |
| 350 | -21.7 | -5.9 | 7.9 | 2.2 | 2159.2 | 1.887 | 1335.1 | 0.437 | 76.8 | 21.0 |
| 375 | -26.2 | -6.7 | 9.1 | 2.3 | 2124.3 | 1.857 | 1292.4 | 0.472 | 83.0 | 21.1 |
| 400 | -31.2 | -7.5 | 10.5 | 2.5 | 2089.8 | 1.827 | 1250.8 | 0.507 | 89.3 | 21.3 |
This marriage is bliss! It is one excellent deer hunting rig, a Weatherby Vanguard Weatherguard topped with a Leupold Gold Ring VX-6 in the recoil friendly 6.5 Creedmoor with Nosler AccuBond Bullets. This combination is perhaps much better from an accuracy standpoint than I will achieve in field hunting conditions.
I retested the rounds at 100 yards after the 600 yard shoot and set the Leupold back to zero. The rifle shot a 3/4 inch 3 shot group with a cold barrel. Very pleased with that!!
It is up to you the hunter to set your limits within your capabilities. We owe that to the game we hunt!
Good Hunting!!
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