It seems most prefer the Rem. 700, Tikka or Savage action (not including customs) for a build. Is there a reason why not Weatherby? I'm considering changing up a Vanguard but would like input on the action. Thanks.

Probably parts is why the remmy and savage are most often used

one reason is the metric threading on the barrel

This but they are nice but progressive metric can be a headache to change out your lathe gears for one action. The mark V I personally don't love the 9 lug design and the flat bottom action

Availabilty and price are the biggest reasons. There are a ton of good used 700 actions available and new ones are cheap.
There have been about 6 million 700s sold in the last 40 years vs 400,000 Vanguards.
Weatherby will only sell a barreled action and custom guys don't want or need the barrel.

The vangaurd or howa 1500 is a great action but there is not near the aftermarket support. The factory barrels also typically have to be ruined when getting off.

ya but if your putting on a custom doesnt really matter if you ruin the factory barrel. theres a guy on gun broker thats always sellin take offs in stainless, the guy builds muzzle loaders out of the howas, anyway these barrel dont have a mark on them so he must have the tools and know what hes doing.
shilen sells pre threaded howa slash weatherby barrels, screw it on and finish the chamber.
if you were to build one theres not much you need to do, bolt, extractor and all need no help, true it up and screw a barrel and good trigger, done.

as far as aftermarket support what do you mean, barrel, stocks and triggers are readily available in the howa

I was about to say, maybe Bubba would ruin the barrel, but a competent smith with the right tools can be expected to do it right.

The story I get is that the Weatherby Vanguard action is a knockoff of an older Sako action, quite well designed.

They don't have near the stock, bottom metal or trigger options as the Remington or Savage rifles do which is a problem to some. The factory barrels can be a huge pain to get off. It's not a guarantee but can be and some require heat or cutting of the barrel to get off.

I'm pretty sure that Mr Gordon at SAC (short action customs) and Chad at longrifles inc are more than just bubba gunsmiths.

not getting what your trying to say, are you saying these guys can do it or they have to cut them off.
me and bubba gunsmith got mine off, did scratch it though. i know they are tight but there not welded. mine sounded like a firecracker when it broke free, freakin tight i tell you.

What I'm saying is they rarely come loose like yours. When I spoke to those two they were some of the few that would rebarrel them in the country and neither would guarantee that the original barrel would come off unscathed. Some do some don't and the ones that didn't were apparently pretty common.

my bubba gunsmith will take every single one off without cutting nothing, yes they will be scratched, but hes only a bubba gunsmith. the guy on gun broker takes every single one off unscathed.
im no gunsmith but the right tool will spin her right off.
every gunsmith can do howas if they arent to lazy to retool for the threading, even my bubba smith will do it.
gunsmiths now days are more what can i bolt on vs what can i machine. lot of these shops wont do trigger jobs as in polishing sears and stuff, they want to turn a few screws on a trigger and call it a trigger job.
thats what i like about my smith, hes a machinist. and will do whatever you can dream.

Looking back at emails they refer to making relief cuts in the barrel. I assume they might be doing this just for ease since it is so tight. I wouldn't say some smiths are too lazy as some lathes don't allow for the option or require extra stuff which might not be cost effective for one rifle. The two I mentioned are some of the best in the country bar none and have built more than their share of world record rifles.

Man I hate to tell you this but there is no reason to ruin a vanguard barrel getting it off. I have seen a lot of the removed and never have seen a ruined one. I have seen barrels scratched up in the process. Never a need to cut one.

Like I said above it seemed they were doing for ease in the process of removal since most don't care to keep a barrel around after removing. A quick Google shows it being a very common practice even one taught on these very actions by the guys at Trinidad.

yes its a relief cut at the shoulder, barrel will come off with a pipe wrench after that.
but at first you made it sound like a bad thing cause the barrel is ruined.
either way yes they are on very tight.
i still think its down fall is the metric thread, nobody wants to mess with it.
to bad cause its superior to a remington or savage action

It would only be ruined if the wrong action wrench is used. The factory bolt is superior in factory form and the integral lug is nice but that's about it. There are quirks to each. It's a bit hard to dispute the round reciever design when practically every accuracy record is set with one.

even the weatherby reciever is stronger. 3 strikes against the remington. ive seen tests on how little it takes to flex the rem.
its superior. and the winchester is even better
link below

http://erniethegunsmith.com/catalog/i130.html

The actions turned from bar stock are prevalent in target shooting because they are easy to modify. This does not point to quality, just to ease of modification by shooters at home with minimum tools, etc.. One reason that there is so much aftermarket stuff for them is that so much tweaking is required to get top performance out of them.

Actions with a flat bottom are generally stronger, bed to the stock and handle torque much better than the bar stock stuff. - But they require a good deal of expertise and advanced tooling to work on, so many target shooters go for what they know how to tweak.

My objection to Remington actions is the same as my objection to the AR platform... Both were specifically designed to be cheap to manufacture, that was the primary criteria in both designs - but we are all expected to pony up the same bucks as we would for actions primarily designed for function. It's a sucker bet, and I don't go for sucker bets.

I would much rather have a Savage than a Remington because the Savages require less tweak, are easier to re-barrel, and they do not pretend to be premium designs. Also, the Savage does not have a brazed-on bolt handle, a Remington practice that I find to be particularly offensive.

- But that's just me.

The Howa is a better design than any Remington, right out of the box. I prefer nice finishes and stocks though, so I eschew the Howas and would go for a Weatherby Vanguard instead. You get a lot in return for the extra money that the Weatherby costs over the Howa.

I have owned a few Remingtons and AR's in my time, but will never do so again. To a large extent, the more aftermarket stuff there is available for any particular design, the more it needs it. - Like with Volkswagon Beetles and Chevies for example.

There won't be an enormous aftermarket for the quality items.

All he is showing is putting a receiver in a bind and trying to sell pillars.

I agree we have taken 5or 6 off with no issues, cannot even remember if they were hard so that means they were not, we built a 308 on a howa 1500, and a 257 WBY on a smith and Wesson 1500 that was a 7mm mag that I remember, good solid steel action.

Ed

I wanted to upgrade my Howa 1500 in 270 Win, and quickly abandoned the idea after not being able to get the parts I wanted for the long action. If it's a short action, there are some decent aftermarket options available, but not for the long actions. Plus, the action threading is metric, and gunsmith's who work on actions with American threading (Rem 700, Tikka's, etc), they have to change the gears over to metric, which is a big PITA. And yes, the progressive barrel threading is a huge PITA. Howa's and Weatherby's are not the best rifles for upgrades.