By Kevin Reese
SHOT Show, January 2016
Six part series: Part 3 of 6 : Weatherby’s Vanguard Modular Chassis Rifle
United States -(AmmoLand.com)- As an 8-year Marine Corps veteran, I’m fed up – fed up with the hordes of Washington thugs who have deemed time and time again that we’re too stupid to know what’s best for us when it comes to the Second Amendment.
By all appearances, their sole strategy to disarm law abiding American citizens is to simply lob ill-educated, naïve and often ignorant opinions, mandates and proposed legislation into the air hoping enough anti-gun rhetoric will stick and finally reveal the mosaic of a socialist society populated by subjects. Well, I have troubling news for those who deem it appropriate to tell us by what means we can defend ourselves.
The segment of our industry they hate the most continues to grow by leaps and bounds, especially with respect to production of those scary black rifles.
Anyone walking the SHOT Show floor with an ounce of brain activity can see that our tactical segment is alive and well… and I couldn’t be happier! With that in mind, I’m in the mood to really piss some people off by talking about a handful of the “scariest” black rifles at the 2016 SHOT Show had to offer. And by scariest, I mean exceedingly bad ass!
(This will be a series of Six(6) linked articles, the following is number 2 of 6. Click the Next button below for more.)
While not presented in any specific order, take a look at a handful that deserve some serious respect and lots of trigger time!
Weatherby’s Vanguard Modular Chassis Rifle Bucks The Look, Not The Reputation
Humor me. When you think of Weatherby, you think of burled, master-crafted, laser checkered or carved walnut stocks, elegantly grooved, sweeping combs and exaggerated grip bases right? You think of premium quality and hardcore, undeniable performance right?
Well, Weatherby unveiled the Vanguard Modular Chassis Rifle (MCR), a tactical dream, at the 2016 show. Surprisingly, tactically speaking, this modern sporting rifle definitely lives up to Roy Weatherby’s uncompromising reputation for heirloom quality rifles just as well as the traditionally style rifles you’re used to – you see what I did there… tactically? Seriously, this rifle means business or it would not have made this feature’s short list of SHOT’s “scariest” black rifles.
While the Vanguard Modular Chassis Rifle (MCR) bucks Weatherby’s traditional look, it certainly does not stray from Weatherby’s time-honored reputation. Considering that reputation, the brand new Vanguard MCR is as good a production bolt-action modern sporting rifle as any you’re likely to come across anywhere, at any time, and, as scary black rifles go, most assuredly stands to deliver the kind of precision results that make even paper targets sweat bullets.
The Weatherby Vanguard Modular Chassis Rifle boasts a CNC-machined, 6061 aluminum, MDT LSS-XL chassis, Hogue overmolded AR-style pistol grip with finger grooves, heavy 22” #3 contour barrel with a 1:9 twist for .223 and 1:10 twist for .308, and fully adjustable LUTH-AR MBA-1 stock, complete with an adjustable comb and heel that creates a comfortable length-of-pull range between 13-14 in. and overall length of 41.25 to 42.25 in.
At 8.75 lbs., for a full-size precision bolt-action modern sporting rifle, the Vanguard Modular Chassis Rifle feels and shoots like a legitimate match-rifle but is light enough for most adults to carry comfortably on any hunting trip. The MCR includes a 10-round magazine and promises nothing less than the sub-MOA accuracy we’ve come to expect from Weatherby Vanguard rifles. Weatherby even boldly claims the Vanguard series “Shoots flatter, hits harder” and “is more accurate” than any comparable rifle out there. The Vanguard Modular Chassis Rifle just might add an exclamation point.
Click the next button to read part four:
A Not-So-Scary Wrap-Up
As an obvious disclaimer, AmmoLand is poking fun at scary. While antis bounce around using loose terms like “scary”, “assault” or “clip”, generally because they are ill-educated and have no business discussing topics they know nothing about, or care to learn about for that matter, we had fun using the terms “scary” and “black rifles” as descriptors, by our definition, synonymous with super cool modern sporting rifles! They hate, we love! In fact, we want to see more! I can’t wait to see what the amazing folks hard at work in our firearms industry have in store for us down freedom’s road.
As rifles go, were there others worth talking about? Plenty! But, you’ll have to read about them in another AmmoLand feature in the 2016 SHOT Show series, 5 Rifles that Rocked the 2016 SHOT Show – a combination of more scary-cool rifles, including the mind-blowing FN M249S Semi-Automatic Saw, and other phenomenal classic-style bolt actions. If anything was clear at the 2016 SHOT Show it was that tactical is still alive, well and booming;
…however, I also noticed greater separation between the scores of we’re-just-assembling-parts-and-branding guys and those who are laser focused on improving, innovating and pushing tactical performance limits with rifle systems truly worthy of serious recognition
Stick around. There is more to come in my 2016 SHOT Show wrap-up…
About Kevin Reese:
Kevin is an award-winning outdoor writer, photographer, videographer, speaker, host of Global Outfitters TV Show’s GO Tips and a Marine Corps veteran. He owns and administers www.mainbeammedia.com and Main Beam Blog at blog.mainbeammedia.com. The Main Beam Blog offers great articles, press releases, outdoor industry news and reviews.