The Vamguard is definitely not in the same league as the MK V. The Vanguard has a 5 locking lugs as opposed to the 9 lugs for the MK V. Granted, you're generally paying about 375 bucks for a vanguard from Wally World and you get what you pay for. It's not particularly a good looking gun and the composite stock on a vanguard is a little rough and very inexpensive looking. If you compare the overall price and quality of the gun for the price of the rifle, you really can't go wrong. Bottom line: For an inexpensive rifle, you can't really go wrong with the vanguard. It's gonna be cheaper than the Ruger by a few bucks, which isn't a bad choice either.
If you have a Wal-mart close by, Weatherby made some sort of deal with them and put together a Vanguard model with a walnut stock in 300 wthby mag for about 369 bucks, at least that is what I saw it for a couple of days ago. I think they're offering it in a couple of standard calibers and one or two other wthby mag calibers as well. Hope this helps some. Good luck......
Cooter