UPDATE: New Rifle Won't Group: Suggestions?

[CDSaints]

A while back I posted a thread about a rifle I was having trouble with. Thread located here: http://www.snipershide.com/shooting/snipers-hide-bolt-action-rifles/197128-new-rifle-wont-group-suggestions.html

First off, thanks to everyone for their input and suggestions. Now the update:

I sent the gun to Remington, and they performed some work. They lapped and chamfered the barrel, and reamed the chamber.

Got the rifle back and it loads + ejects brass much smoother now. After getting it back on paper (by which time the barrel was already fairly warm), I shot the following group:

Ta-Da! Much better!

I then shot this one:

...barrel starting to heat up pretty good now, but still around 1 MOAish (almost). Bottom line: the rifle is grouping much tighter than it was, and it's doing so consistently.

NOTE: the two circles are the same size in the picture above. I've drawn as small of a circle as I can which will fit the center of all 3 shots inside, then made a copy and centered it over the 1" dot for reference.

I try again and shoot the following...

...I didn't realize shots 1&2 were almost in the same hole until walking up to the target. Barrel is blazing hot at this point, but I want Dad to shoot, to see how he does. Dad shoots four of the following, then I shoot the fifth:

By this time the barrel is way too hot to try to fine tune the sighting, plus we were rapidly running out of daylight, so we called it quits.

At this point, I'm satisfied that the equipment is performing as it should, and the remaining tuning needs to be done on my marksmanship . I am anxious to see how tight I can get the groups out of a cold barrel.

 

[Aimsmall55]

Looks like you need a bedding job

 

[rancilio]

And how do you come up with this assessment?

Looks like you need a bedding job

 

[Aimsmall55]

Look at the vertical stringing. Looks like the barrel is whipping too much. Just a thought

 

[Aimsmall55]

Well maybe not... I thought the first pic was old. Maybe he doesn't. First group looks good. My bad.

 

[Cncjerry]

I'm curious, if when you pull the scope and mount off and look at the back of the holes in the mount, if you see deep thread marks? Also, make sure the front bolt is not bottoming on the barrel by pulling the back three bolts and with the front bolt tight, the mount shouldn't move, assuming a one piece mount.

I don't remember if this was a .308 or .300 win mag?

 

[JGorski]

300wm.......................

 

[CDSaints]

I'm curious, if when you pull the scope and mount off and look at the back of the holes in the mount, if you see deep thread marks? Also, make sure the front bolt is not bottoming on the barrel by pulling the back three bolts and with the front bolt tight, the mount shouldn't move, assuming a one piece mount.

the mount is a one piece, mounted solidly and doesn't move.

The rifle shoots fine now, no longer trying to troubleshoot (other than my marksmanship).

 

[bodywerks]

Is this a non-braked 300wm hunting rifle with a sporter barrel? If so, those are about the best groups you'll see, especially with a hot barrel, so not bad. You only need that one good cold bore shot for a hunting rifle, so next time, make one, cold bore shot, wait 10 minutes, shoot another, wait 15 minutes, shoot one more. A sub MOA 3 shot group is good for a hunting rifle.

 

[CDSaints]

It's a Remington 700 5R Tactical. 26" barrel, no brake (although I am considering getting a clamp on). Just under MOA will be fine for me as the max range intended for it is 1000 yds (at a 20" plate). If I can hit that, I will consider it to be a success. First things first though...now that it's grouping (finally) I will be sighting it in.

 

[rancilio]

A brake just might make the recoil a bit more friendly. But get the barrel threaded rather than a clamp-on is my opinion. Once its threaded, a suppressor is the next natural step!

 

[bodywerks]

It's a Remington 700 5R Tactical. 26" barrel, no brake (although I am considering getting a clamp on). Just under MOA will be fine for me as the max range intended for it is 1000 yds (at a 20" plate). If I can hit that, I will consider it to be a success. First things first though...now that it's grouping (finally) I will be sighting it in.

Cool. I had a 110ba in 338lm that wouldn't group at 100yds to save it's ass, but i could shoot MOA or better with it at 1k.

 

[bodywerks]

It's a Remington 700 5R Tactical. 26" barrel, no brake (although I am considering getting a clamp on). Just under MOA will be fine for me as the max range intended for it is 1000 yds (at a 20" plate). If I can hit that, I will consider it to be a success. First things first though...now that it's grouping (finally) I will be sighting it in.

stupid tapatalk...

 

[bluto77]

I think it's great that you have a thread getting people to help you figure out the rifle. I started one too for one of mine, and I've learned a metric crap-ton of information, and I've gotten lots of good advice.

I guess I'm missing something, but I don't see any indication that the rifle is shooting MOA, at least not for a 5 shot group. One of the things I learned in my thread was 3 shot groups don't tell you much, and even 5 shot groups may not tell you everything. A 10 shot group is supposedly a good indicator of what the rifle can do. There's debate over that, but the point being here is there are no 5 shot groups to base an assessment on, except for the last one with the extremely hot barrel. I agree, a brake could make things easier. Hope you get it to shoot. I had a 5R that would shoot in the .8'ish range. They're good rifles.

 

[MedinaM40]

A brake just might make the recoil a bit more friendly. But get the barrel threaded rather than a clamp-on is my opinion. Once its threaded, a suppressor is the next natural step!

suppressor's are a must!... i hate shooting non suppressed guns...

 

[JB02]

It's a Remington 700 5R Tactical. 26" barrel, no brake (although I am considering getting a clamp on). Just under MOA will be fine for me as the max range intended for it is 1000 yds (at a 20" plate). If I can hit that, I will consider it to be a success. First things first though...now that it's grouping (finally) I will be sighting it in.

Even if you don't want to shoot suppressed, I believe you will find that your shooting will improve quite a bit with a muzzle brake. IMO, you should go with a threaded muzzle. Karl Feldkamp at Kampfeld Custom, RW Snyder Gunsmithing, and Russel at Scout Supply Co. all offer reasonable prices to get a muzzle brake installed. If you want a side ported brake, the Badger Thruster is nice. For hunting and shooting off a bench, an omni directional brake would work just fine.

 

[redneckbmxer24]

Get a brake on that thing and for gods sake let the barrel cool I bit. If you run a 300WM like that you're going to burn the throat out in no time.

IMO if the furthest distance that rifle is going to see is 1000 yards I would seriously suggest selling it and getting a 308. The ammo and loading costs are less, it has much less recoil, and you won't need to spend the money to put a brake on it. A 308 is more than capable of 1000 yards.

 

[shooter.dm]

Ok like I tried to tell everyone in the first place when he first had this problem it was a chamber problem and I was correct.

 

[Boltfluter]

As was said before, I would bed the rifle as there are almost always gains to be had versus no bedding. You may be surprised at the results.

Good luck,
Paul

 

[Twisted]

As was said before, I would bed the rifle as there are almost always gains to be had versus no bedding. You may be surprised at the results.

Good luck,
Paul

This.

Every rifle I've ever had that shot real nice not bedded shot even better when bedded. And I've had rifles that shot random groups and bedding fixed them right up.

Plus, stretch out to 200 yards if you can and do 5 shot groups. It will tell you more.

 

[shooter.dm]

I would thank if he wanted a bedding job he would say I won't a bedding job and get it done. Shooting 1 moa is probley enough for him and apparently he is happy with it and don't won't a bedding job.

 

[anon]

[MENTION=87263]CDSaints[/MENTION] I'm glad to see that Remington fixed it for you.

I bought a 300WM Sendero the year they came out back in the 90's after having bought a 22-250 VSSF that shoots very well to this day. The Sendero went back to Remington twice over a bad reamer, it had left a deep concentric ring about 1/3 of the way up from the base of the case. Extraction of the case was ugly. First time back they polished the chamber. Pulling the bolt back still required extra effort. Second time back a guy called me from the Custom Shop and was suggesting options to fix it, I was just listening. After he talked about it for a while he stopped and said, "No, we'll just build you a new rifle." What I got back is still the best bolt gun I own.

In 2004 or 2005 I bought a 308 VLS, it was disappointing. It shoots exactly 1 bullet, 190 SMKs. I never bothered Remington about it. I did manage 6-Xs the only time I shot it in a 1000 yard match, don't remember the score.

Three years ago I bought 223 700P, wouldn't shoot any factory ammo I could find under 2 moa, most was around 4 moa. I called Remington twice and was told they have no accuracy guarantee and basically to pack sand.

My first Remington 700 was the last Remington purchase that was trouble free. I could be luckier.

My 223 Savage F/TR I bought a few months ago was good for a 600-51x on an MR-52 last week(60 round match). That was in an informal unregistered prone match doing load development with a different seating depth shot on each string. I found my load by the way. It's time to add the mid range and long range cards to my collection.

Like all mechanical things, it's nice when they are built with care. Or I get lucky.