264 wm model 70 super grade

[Semomike]

Guys,

This is gun I bought a couple years ago and am struggling getting it to shoot consistent groups at all.

200 yards it’s all over the place off a led sled with Remington core-lokts. Was purchased new, and has only had maybe 20-30 shots down the tube. Im hoping to take it west elk hunting but factory ammo outside of core-lokts are near impossible to find. A Leupold vx7 sits on top and it’s a 26” barrel 1 in 9”

Anyone have a factory ammo they have had luck with in this rifle that I need to look for? Any ideas what else I can do or look for?

I guess this could be the ammo, as all 6 boxes I’ve had were from some dark corner of varied gun shops and gun shows, but all the same Remington core-loots

I will shoot again this week and post pictures of the groups

 

[briang7511]

ammoseek has some other options in ammo. maybe try some of the nosler 130g accubond options. 1-9tw may be a bit slow for 140s.

 

[deltawiskey]

I would ditch the led sled and get a sandbag. Get behind the rifle and use some good fundamentals, I'll bet it starts to shoot much better!
DW

 

[Mike Casselton]

^^^
- Ditch the sled.
- Clean the barrel thoroughly.
- Make sure the barrel is centered in the stock.
- Check scope bases and rings for proper torque.
- Loosen and retorque your action screws to the proper torque. Do a bit of research on properly torquing the Model 70.
- Ditch the Core-Loks and find better ammunition.

If you can't find anything else, maybe someone can Mexican Match your loaded ammo with a decent bullet.

Lastly, if all else fails, try shimming the barrel at the tip of the forend. All it takes is a business card/matchbook or even a section of 3x5 card. Some of the lighter barrels just shoot better with forend pressure.

 

[DJL2]

Two things -
1. I’ve never found a lead sled to be helpful, nor useful from a training perspective.
2. My one and only new production M70 Supergrade was a 2 MOA gun on a good day.

 

[Semomike]

No kidding, 2 MOA!! I was worried about that. I will shoot it off sandbags this week and see what I get.

I’m going to check torque on everything tonight and give the barrel a good scrubbing.

Should I give it 20-30 minutes between rounds in order to cool barrel down? Also read (internet can be a dangerous place) that the barrel needs broke in.

 

[Jgault]

I’m not dumping on your rifle but in my experience the Winchester super grade has this issue. I love the rifle it’s really a beautiful gun, but the reports from people who I know that have purchased model 70’s and from the internet is feast or famine. I have 2 friends that have a newer production model and one is a sub moa shooter and the other is 2 moa at best, and both those guys know how to shoot. You might have a barrel problem not a ammo problem. I have a newer Winchester 308 and it’s a 1 moa shooter, probably better in more capable hands, but I considered myself fortunate.

 

[DJL2]

My opinion: barrel breakin is a long winded, weird way to spell “VooDoo.” If your barrel is in rough shape, or you simply think it might be, hand lap the thing and be done with it ;-).

A sporter weight barrel should manage three shot groups without issue. You could shoot three, let it cool, repeat, and average… your average 3 shot group being around half your total dispersion once you’ve fired enough to get a representative sample. Alternatively, with patience and some time between shots, you can just send 5. If the rifle isn’t shooting tight enough to see if/when shots start to ”walk,” that’s a larger issue.

On my M70, I ran down all the usual suspects. No luck. Threw a Bartlein CF barrel on it and the shot groups went from from 2+ MOA to .65-.7 MOA… I’m pretty confident what the culprit was in retrospect. Was there more I could have done to salvage that barrel? Maybe.

 

[Mike Casselton]

No kidding, 2 MOA!! I was worried about that. I will shoot it off sandbags this week and see what I get.

I’m going to check torque on everything tonight and give the barrel a good scrubbing.

Should I give it 20-30 minutes between rounds in order to cool barrel down? Also read (internet can be a dangerous place) that the barrel needs broke in.

When you check torque, loosen the action screws and then torque them.
Don't torque it as if it was a composite stock or chassis. 65 in-lbs is way too much.
35-40 in-lbs max on the 1/4" diameter screws.

If you have a 3rd screw (.10 diameter) in the middle, go just past finger tight. Just enough to keep it from falling out.

You might as well check everything while you're doing it.

 

[Thin Man]

I just bought the same gun, recent manufacture, because it has a beautiful piece of wood. I haven’t put a scope on it yet. I am hoping it shoots ok.

Midway has the 130 gr Nosler Accubond in stock. I just bought some.

 

[redneckbmxer24]

^^^
- Ditch the sled.
- Clean the barrel thoroughly.
- Make sure the barrel is centered in the stock.
- Check scope bases and rings for proper torque.
- Loosen and retorque your action screws to the proper torque. Do a bit of research on properly torquing the Model 70.
- Ditch the Core-Loks and find better ammunition.

If you can't find anything else, maybe someone can Mexican Match your loaded ammo with a decent bullet.

Lastly, if all else fails, try shimming the barrel at the tip of the forend. All it takes is a business card/matchbook or even a section of 3x5 card. Some of the lighter barrels just shoot better with forend pressure.

All of this. Lead sleds and core lokt are not the path to good groups. Unfortunately 264WM isn’t a round that a lot of factory ammo exists for. 7MM rem mag would have been a far better option but we’re beyond that point.

 

[Mike Casselton]

I just bought the same gun, recent manufacture, because it has a beautiful piece of wood. I haven’t put a scope on it yet. I am hoping it shoots ok.

Midway has the 130 gr Nosler Accubond in stock. I just bought some.

It won't shoot worth a shit.
Send it to me for proper disposal.

 

[jbuck88]

What Era Winchester is it?
As above the check all screws and make sure the barrel is free floated to start. If it still won't shoot you can try a little pressure on the end of the stock pushing the barrel up.

It's been a long time since I shot corelock bullets, but I think your probably leaving some accuracy on the table by using them. They are good hunting bullets, but not the best for accuracy. Midway has some 264 ammo with the accubonds, which I think would be better for both accuracy and hunting.

Nosler Trophy Grade Ammo 264 Winchester Mag 130 Grain AccuBond Box of

Nosler Trophy Grade ammunition is high quality, production-run ammunition manufactured to strict tolerances and inspected as it is hand-packaged. Trophy...

www.midwayusa.com

 

[Mike Casselton]

Order a couple boxes of the Nosler Accubond ammo.

Do the suggested checks listed above.

Clean the barrel.


Shoot 3 two shot groups.
If it doesn't put two together, it's not gonna do any better with three.

If the two shot tests don't work, then try the upward pressure shim on the barrel.
Repeat the 3 two shot groups.

Now you'll know if it has the POTENTIAL to improve.

 

[Dead Eye Dick]

my thoughts. years ago, when a lead sled was available, I tried it but never could get the rifle set the same way twice in the rest. No way was my rifle going to group using that rig. If a fellow can’t handle the recoil, MAN UP and get a smaller caliber gun he can shot. (Not implying anything about the OP here, just saying)

Second, a hunting rifle should never be let to cool down between shots in a group.

First shot cold barrel, second and third shot fired as soon as the action can be worked and the target reacquired.

Why? The hunter needs to know two things, where his first shot is going to go from a cold barrel, and where the immediate follow up shots will go in relation to the first shot. If a hunter‘s first shot does not put the animal down, he needs to know he can depend on the follow up shots.

 

[Semomike]

I've been doing some internet research the last few days on this particular rifle/caliber combination. A lot of the same stories as mine, however seen a couple independent anecdotes of people shooting reloads of Berger 140 vld's and it turning into a sufficient enough shooter. Might have to find someone to make some up, but it looks like that particular bullet is pretty tough to find right now!

I'm going to go out this evening and do some shooting and see what kind of results I get after cleaning and retorquing the stock screws and scope mounts.

 

[jbuck88]

Can you define all over the place? As in groups hitting different places on paper? Or as in shooting larger groups?

What size groups were you getting?

 

[Dead Eye Dick]

my thoughts. years ago, when a lead sled was available, I tried it but never could get the rifle set the same way twice in the rest. No way was my rifle going to group using that rig. If a fellow can’t handle the recoil, MAN UP and get a smaller caliber gun he can shot. (Not implying anything about the OP here, just saying)

Second, a hunting rifle should never be let to cool down between shots in a group.

First shot cold barrel, second and third shot fired as soon as the action can be worked and the target reacquired.

Why? The hunter needs to know two things, where his first shot is going to go from a cold barrel, and where the immediate follow up shots will go in relation to the first shot. If a hunter‘s first shot does not put the animal down, he needs to know he can depend on the follow up shots.

 

[DJL2]

I've been doing some internet research the last few days on this particular rifle/caliber combination. A lot of the same stories as mine, however seen a couple independent anecdotes of people shooting reloads of Berger 140 vld's and it turning into a sufficient enough shooter. Might have to find someone to make some up, but it looks like that particular bullet is pretty tough to find right now!

I'm going to go out this evening and do some shooting and see what kind of results I get after cleaning and retorquing the stock screws and scope mounts.

Hunting? I’d use ELD-M, TMK, or Berger Hybrids (and Hybrids only!)… definitely would not use the Berger VLDs (of any flavor).

 

[Semomike]

Well, I retorqued all the scope and base screws. Also torqued to 40 in-lbs the bottom action screws. This really seemed make the action operate smoother. I also scrubbed the hell out of the barrel.

Results were fantastic! Shot off of bags and best 3 shot group at 200 yards was just over 2” with the NEW. Remington Core Lokt box I had.

Don’t know what it was, but going to run with this combination for elk.

Thanks gentleman!

 

[TurdFerguson]

Glad its working better. Sounds like you have some brass to roll your own with. See if it improves with hand loads.

 

[2c1fr]

Do you reload because if you don’t it’s going to get expensive quick!