300WM Kreiger barreled Rem 700 hates factory ammo...

[Scottyman]

I had my Rem 700 rebarreled with a Kreiger, action trued (by Krieger) and everything Cerakoted, Timney trigger and fitted with a McMillan Lazzeroni stock.
Unfortunately, it hates factory ammo. At 100yrds, 5-ish" groups with Hornady 150gr, 165gr and 180gr Interbonds, SST's and Superformance. Federal 130gr Barnes Tipped Triple Shock 3" groups and Federal Fusion 165gr 2" groups.
I've tried 3 different scopes and checked the (Farrell)base for looseness.
Is this very unusual for a custom barrel? This is incredibly frustrating because I could have simply gone out and bought a Tikka or Savage and get better groups across a range of brands.
I have yet to try the cheap Remington or Winchester brands. Should I try the HSM 190gr HPBT Match or HSM 168gr HPBT Match? Are they known for their accuracy over Rem and Win ammo?
At this point I don't have the extra funds for reloading.
I really feel like I wasted my money on trying to get better than average accuracy from a factory rifle.
The only other thing I haven't tried was another stock.

 

[RTK]

If you are an experienced shot and can hold moa groups with other weapons I would say there is something definitely wrong with that gun. Time to send it back and have them fix it. I have never had a custom barreled rifle ever shoot that bad no matter what ammo I ran through it.

 

[schmitty]

I could understand an occasional 2" group wid cheap shit, but 5"? Fuck that noise. I would like to think even the cheap stuff aint that bad.

 

[Terry Cross]

Was anything done to the crown/bore, chamber during CeraKote application?

Plugging the bore with wrong material could damage the crown as well as aggressive abrasive blasting at the crown. Abrasive media left in the barrel, lug seats, etc. can also wreck havoc.
Did the barrel come off of the action during refinish? Was it torqued back on correctly?

What chamber and twist rate did you choose?

 

[jtrax]

OP, you just received advice from one of the most knowledgeable men in this industry. Follow Terry's post and check your rifle or have someone knowledgable check it according to Terry's advice. Do you have access to a bore scope? Who put the rifle together? Who performed the Cerakoting?

I once had two Rem 700 5R's rebarreled with Krieger 5R barrels along with blue printing actions and bedding jobs. Like yourself, I tried all kinds of factory ammo afterwards. Neither rifle would group well with any factory fodder except the Winchester Supreme 180 gr Ballistic Silvertip (tried Black Hills Match, Hornady Match, HSM Match, FGGM). It turned out to be a good thing for me because these two rifles made me want to learn to re-load (both rifles shot .25 MOA with each rifle's preferred hand load). Reloading can be expensive but it is also the only way to really get the results that I seek out of my rifles.

In your case the group sizes of 2-5" which is very poor. I doubt that you would be able to find an accuracy node even with proper handloading. Something has to be wrong with this rifle. Follow Terry's advice.

 

[Scottyman]

Was anything done to the crown/bore, chamber during CeraKote application?

Plugging the bore with wrong material could damage the crown as well as aggressive abrasive blasting at the crown. Abrasive media left in the barrel, lug seats, etc. can also wreck havoc.
Did the barrel come off of the action during refinish? Was it torqued back on correctly?

What chamber and twist rate did you choose?

I think the bore was plugged. I made it clear I didn't want the bore coated with anything. If the crown is damaged will it be very noticeable?
I'm not sure if they (Fit4Duty--Doug Burche) took the barrel off during refinish. Unfortunately, Fit4Duty is no longer around. I had the rebarrel done a few years ago and just got around to getting to the bottom of the accuracy issue. Been very busy for some time.
Chamber--no idea. Krieger did the work. 1/11".
Torqued back on correctly? No idea.
Would you like pics of the crown?

I don't have a bore scope.

 

[redneckbmxer24]

Something isn't right. There's no reason it should be shooting that bad with all ammo tested. Did anybody else shoot it to confirm? Are all three scopes tested known to perform on other rifles? If yes and yes, I would be sending it back to Krieger.

 

[Eric B.]

If there is no damage to the bore or crowning and Krieger won't fix it there is one other remedy.

Install a muzzle brake that has 360 deg, porting that does NOT require it be "timed" to the threads. Then have a narrrow threaded lock nut that can adjust against the rear of the muzzel brake. This nut locks the muzzle brake in place at the "sweet spot" of barrel harmonics for a particular kind of ammo. Placing evenly spaced marked indexing lines on the locking nut and one major index line on the top center of the barrel permits known quantitative adjustments to be made AND recorded for future reference.

Browning makes a "micrometer-style" adjusting muzzle brake called the BOSS which I have on my .300 Win mag A-Bolt. I can say it works as advertised, shrinking factory ammo groups to at least 1.5 MOA with the worst ammo and sub-MOA with the best.

 

[redneckbmxer24]

If this thing won't shoot as is a muzzle brake of any sort isn't going to do a diddly damn. If it's a bad barrel or work, nothing is good to help it except replacement. He needs to verify it's not the shooter or optics and send it back otherwise.

He should be able to put that barreled action into a Tupperware non floating stock with plastic ridges for bedding and not shoot worse than 2" with any ammo. In a properly bedded McMillan it should shoot MOA or better with even cheap remington, Winchester, and federal ammo.

 

[Scottyman]

Definitely not the optics. I had the same scope on my 450 Bushmaster AR and shot 1" 5 shot groups no problem and sub MOA with my 6.8 AR.
The only thing I haven't tried was a different stock. Maybe I'll try a cheap Choate Tactical stock.

 

[Asperly Aimless]

How did it shoot before the rebarrel?

How good do you normally shoot?

Are you flinching or doing other bad habits behind the gun?

I would have somebody else shoot it and see how it works for them.

 

[bodywerks]

You have to try match ammo to really get an idea of the barrel's performance. While not custom barreled, my savage 308 routinely shot 3-8" groups with non match ammo. As soon as I fed it match ammo it went sub moa. Hand loads approached half moa, sometimes better.


PCR/XLR/TAC338 http://i813.photobucket.com/albums/zz53/bodywerks/IMG_20130816_111453_255_zps1b498f0d.jpg http://i813.photobucket.com/albums/zz53/bodywerks/IMG_20130816_111325_951_zps290ebdd0.jpg

 

[redneckbmxer24]

Definitely not the optics. I had the same scope on my 450 Bushmaster AR and shot 1" 5 shot groups no problem and sub MOA with my 6.8 AR.
The only thing I haven't tried was a different stock. Maybe I'll try a cheap Choate Tactical stock.

I highly doubt the stock is causing this. Even if it's not bedded and not torqued correctly it shouldn't shoot that badly. If it is bedded and the screws are torqued properly it should shoot MOA with everything you tried. Harmonics can do funny things but a match grade barrel shooting 5" groups isn't one of them. Did anybody else shoot the rifle?

 

[Scottyman]

Nobody else has shot it.