Stopped at the local wal-mart yesterday to pick up a few things and happened to see a few rifles in the display case as I went by. Of course I had to sneak a peek and spotted this synthetic stocked rifle with a fluted barrel and what looked like a break. The tag reads, "Weatherby Vanguard SYN/SS" the rest of the printed info is crossed out where it read .308 win and something I can't make out except for the bar code. Hand written under this is, "338-378" and the printed price reads $289.99

Now, I'm not up on Weatherby rifles but doing a quick look last night, the only fluted barrel rifle I see on thier web site is the Mark V Accumark in .338-378 which comes with their accubrake and sporting an MSRP of $19??

Is this too good to be true?

I have never seen an Acumark at any Walmart store, only the Vanguard. Still a heck of a deal at $290. I'm not a big fan of the synthetic stocks they use but at that price you might be able to swing an aftermarket laminated and not get pinched too badly in the pocket book.

[QUOTE

Is this too good to be true?[/QUOTE]

And you haven't bought it yet!?!?!?!

It is too good to be true, but you should buy it as soon as possible if it is indeed an Accumark. I would turn around and resell it for 3-4 times what I paid for it, but that's me. Probably someone who put a deposit on a rifle and couldn't complete the deal, probably won't be there too long.

http://www.weatherby.com/_images/products/rifles/_thumbs/m5_accumark_sm.gif
Weatherby Mark V Accumark

http://www.weatherby.com/_images/products/rifles/_thumbs/vgd_stainless_sm.gif
Weatherby Vanguard Stainless

Don't look at the tag, look at the barrel, receiver and bolt. If it says .308 Win., Made in Japan and has two locking lugs its a Vanguard at a good price. If it says .338-.378 Weatherby, Made in USA and has nine locking lugs its possibly an Accumark at an unbelievable price.

I really don't know what I would do with a .338-.378, maybe that's why its selling so low, few others would either.

Asst mgr happened to be the one nearest the counter and I asked her to see it. She handed it to me and I immediately noticed a scuff on the stock and before I could say anything, she said, "I'll take off 10% for that." I continued looking and noted a red mark down the side of the barrel and once again before I could say anything she offered another 10% off. I shouldered it pointing it towards the roof, holds nice BTW, dropped it to the carry position and asked, "where's the sights?" She said, "huh?" I said, "the sights are missing, see it should have sights like that one" pointing to the Vanguard in 270 that was next to where this one sat in the rack. She said, "I dunno. Perhaps they got lost or or it came w/o them. How much will they cost to buy separate?" I said, "geeze, I haven't bought any in a while but I suppose about seventy-five for both front and rear." Silence for a minute while I never took my eyes off the rifle and I said, "well...I guess I could take it like it is and get a set of sights somewhere else, how about throwing in a couple boxes of ammo?" (I knew full well there was no way wally world was going to stock ammo in this caliber not to mention it goes for around 80 bucks a box) She said, "what's it take" I told her and she hurriedly proceeded to look through every single box of ammo they had before saying, "I'm truely sorry sir, but we don't seem to have any of that either. Would you take it for 50% off?" What else could I say but, "well...I suppose that could work."

Paperwork done and she scanned the ticket only to have it ring up for $249.99 and without skipping a beat, she punched the numbers for the discount and said, "that'll be $132.49 sir." At this point I said, "do you have the box for it?" She said, "yes, I'll go get it." She went off to the back and while she was gone I happened to find a nice quick adjust sling with the cardboard deal they hang it from missing and an aluminum hard case with a big crease down the middle of the top also with no tags on it. She returned with the box and I said, what do you need to get for these?" showing her the sling and box. She looked at both trying to find a tag and finally said, just put that thing (sling) in the box with the rifle and that box has been here forever so I can take $5 for it to clear it out. She adjusted the total and I walked out of there with everything for $137.52

I opened the box when I got home to get the sling out and found not only the sights but a set of see-thru Leupold rings too. Of course the rings went with the Leupold VX-III 4.5-14x50mm that was hastily wrapped in a plastic bag and stuffed under a flap in the box. Obviously, a wally world associate was trying to get their bonus one way or the other...

Do I feel bad about giving wally world a royal screwing on this? No way, considering they ripped me off for nearly a grand with their credit card scam through Monogram Bank of Georgia and GE Financial Services (they sent a bill that was paid in full to collections almost two years after it was paid). Time for me to get a refund on that transaction.

I have no clue what I'm going to do with this beast besided look at it until I try to find some reasonably priced brass and order a set of dies.

so which model was it?

Mark V Accumark

OK, I'm skeptical. First, The Weatherby Mark V Accumark does not come with sights, in the box or installed. Second, Leupold does not make see-through scope mounts that fit the Weatherby Mark V. Can we believe any of it?

the walmarts around here won't take a gun back once it leaves the store either

My father worked at Walmart as an Assistant Manager for a while after he got out of the Army. I wouldn't doubt that you got a good deal. It would not surprise me one bit if a customer special ordered that Accumark and then didn't want it. You can special order just about anything from them. About a VX3 in the same box, I don't know. The store my dad worked at carried Beretta Over Unders at one time. You can guess how many people come in to Walmart looking for a $1000+ shotgun. They have to sell it, so they mark it down until it finally goes. Unfortunately, my local Walmart only carries the normal stuff, so I haven't gotten a chance to find the deal of the century yet. Maybe now that we're getting a supercenter it will be different.

amndouglas

If you found a deal like that you better buy a Lotto ticket too. Cause you don't get that lucky very often.

jackfish, Good call man. Sights and rings definitely not even close to fitting this rifle, look to me like maybe a Remington but definitely not this one. Got the red mark off the barrel, looked to be some sort dye or ink.

I've not handled a Weatherby in quite some time and I have to admit this is one good feeling rifle. Holds very steady and is very well balanced. All the parts are fit extremely well and there is no slop in the bolt, it slides as smooth as butter.

I"ve gotten so accustomed to fooling with all the old used and abused military rifles I forgot what it's like to handle a rifle like this. Been thinking about this today and more than likely I'm going to trade or sell it. I ain't never gonna hunt nothing big enough to require a rifle like this and at that I probably won't hunt with anything burning smokeless (except home intruders and terrorists). But I am seriously considering putting the scope on my '06.

I now know why nobody bought the case, the latches won't stay latched when there is pressure on the foam inside, like when you put a gun in it. New latches & hindges are in order for this along with some backer plates on both., definitely not much for quality here.

This was really sounding like an urban legend for awhile, until you admitted that the sights weren't for it and how nice it handles. That, my friend, is a Weatherby! The stock, which so many make fun of, is a thing of beautiful function and handling. Nothing like it. And the bolt and throw are sweet. Sometimes a little polishing of the bolt body makes it feed more smoothly.

What a score. Unbelievable. I would have probably bought it and sold it. Well, maybe not....

Just think, with all the $ you saved, you can try out that cannon on a bear hunt in Alaska! you lucky devil

I'll give you double what you paid for it and I'll evem pay shipping

There won't be any alaskan trip for me. I'd like to trade this rifle off for something I really want and will use but I haven't nailed it down yet as to what. A decent double in 9.3x74R would be interesting though.... On the other hand, it would make one **** of a sniper rifle loaded with the 300gr matchKing's if the poop hits the fan. Definitely has the power and reach to make a bad guy wish he'd kept his head down.

Keep an eye on your WalMart. Never know when that 9.3x74R double gun may show up for oh, $100 or so with ammo and dies...

I doubt it. I did some searching last night and found that many big box stores like wal-mart, Home Depot, Lowe's, ect. are really cracking down on what they call "internal order losses". From what I gather, there has been a rash of internal (employee) thefts associated with special order and alleged mis-order items in these stores. Things being ordered with false customer information and then the store getting stuck with merchandise they don't have a buyer for. When they liquidate it, it becomes legally purchased goods rather than stolen. Seems to be not much different of a scam than a money laundering operation.

As for the 9.3x74R double...I don't think there's going to be one of these in my future anytime soon unless I get one of those Remington's in 30-06 and have it re-bored. 10 G's for me would be better invested on the house or workshop. Gotta admit though, there are some real pretty double rifles out there in all sorts of chamberings.

Just out of curiousity, how useful is a 9.3x74R in a double rifle useful in PA? At least now there are some bears big enough to use that 338 on here

It'd be as totally useless as every other hunting rifle I own to be honest about it. My old single shot H&R 12ga is perfectly sufficient to hunt everything I want from small game to bear. I rarely every got shots on deer over 70 yds anyway so there is no useful need for me to have rifle of any kind. Adding in that I've never seen a bear in bear season, I don't have to worry much about ever shooting one.