GUNSMITHING:

1. glass bed action and first 2 inches of barrel
2. Ensure barrel floats free
3. If that doesn't work pressure bed with oil soaked card stock or pieces of milk jug
4. Adjust trigger to 2-4 pounds with zero creep
5. Recrown if that doesn't work
6. Check scope with known good one
7. Check mounts

RELOADING:
1. Bullets kiss lands.
2. Use one lot of brass, weigh and seperate
3. Match bullets to twist.

YOU HAVE A VAST FIELD OF THINGS TO TRY BUT REMEMBER ONE THING, THEY ALL COME TOGETHER TO MAKE A SHOOTER. I HAVE PERSONALLY WASHED OUT BARRELS TRYING LOADS. THE ULTRAS SHOULD BE SHOT EXTREMELY SLOW SO AS TO AVOID HEAT-UP. TAKE LONG PAUSES BETWEEN SHOTS AND MONITOR THE HEAT. THESE ROUNDS CAN WASH A BARREL OUT QUICKLY IF OVER HEATED!!

Got a chance today to go out and try the Sendero after having done a skim bedding job on it.

I also acquired a torque wrench and set the action screws at 55 inch-pounds.

Fired two foulers and two five-shot groups. Nice and slow.
Group size was the same (about 1.1 MOA). Bummer.
The last three shots of the last group were less than .5 MOA. I think I'll leave the bore dirty for next time, just to see what happens.

I guess I'll now try a different scope. If no change after that then I'll bed the chamber area.

If that doesn't work I guess I'll have to get the rifle checked out by a pro.

It may have been the scope all along:

I took the Leupold Vari-X III 4.5 - 14 off and replaced it with a Bushnell Scopechief 3-9 that has always worked well on my 30-06.

Shot three groups using the same load as the other day and they were the 3 smallest groups I've ever shot with the rifle.

This makes me suspect something was amiss with either the Leupold scope or the way it was mounted (although everything seemed ok as I took it off, mounts tight, rings tight...).

I'm going to remount it and try with the same load again to confirm.

Went back out today with the Leupold back on and damned if it didn't shoot great!

Smallest group was .6" - largest was .8"

This is a big improvement over what I was getting before, where the smallest I could expect would be about 1.1" and the largest could be as much as 3"!

I started with the bore fouled from the last session with the Bushnell scope. So either there was something wrong with the way the Leupold was mounted previously or maybe there needs to be several shots through a clean bore before this thing will shoot (or maybe it just started to shoot for some other reason...)

The Leupold was originally mounted by me and I haven't changed the way I've done it. I couldn't find anything wrong when I took the Leupold off either...

Anyway, I feel that this is an accuracy level I can live with and expect to improve on with load tweaking.

Next thing I'm going to try is going back to a clean bore and see what I get, since the first time I started a session with a fouled bore was when I tried the Bushnell scope.

That's good news Two Tone, for what ever reason, if it holds up.

What kind of rings are you using?

quote:

Originally posted by x-man:
What kind of rings are you using?

Leupold Dual Dovetail rings and bases (steel).

How many times have you had them apart?

Ideally they are a one time thing...

quote:

Originally posted by x-man:
How many times have you had them apart?

Ideally they are a one time thing...

Do you mean how many times have I split the rings? Twice now.

If you meant how many times have I turned the bottom ring-halfs out of the dovetail bases, then zero.
They haven't been 'untwisted' since the initial installation.

Another update:

I've now determined that the rifle shoots better after having 10 or so rounds through it but it still shoots sub MOA from a clean bore.

I've made no further changes. I think it was a matter of the barrel breaking in. It's a little over 200 now. The bore remains easy to clean.

I just tried a load with RL 25 that shot sub MOA (just) right off the bat. This is the first sub MOA load I've gotten with the 200gn NAB. More load development to come.

If I can get this thing to shoot around .5 MOA I'll post. Also, I've yet to shoot groups at longer than 100 yd. Maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised at 300?

This is a hunting rifle, not a benchrest gun. If you can get .6 MOA out of it, then what's the problem? Particularly with a stock Remington barrel.
I was thinking about reloading for my LSS LH .300 RUM and called Dillon for advice. The guy at Dillon said why bother? The barrel life's about 800 rounds, so you'll never pay for your equipment with money saved. Mine shoots .75 MOA with the upper bedded, the barrel floated and a Timney trigger installed using factory 180 gr. Siroccos. I wouldn't waste the money to get another .25 out of it. I can kill a deer with it at 400 yards. That's all I want it to do in the first place. It's a Remington, not a Nesika.

quote:

Originally posted by jetdrvr:
This is a hunting rifle, not a benchrest gun. If you can get .6 MOA out of it, then what's the problem? Particularly with a stock Remington barrel.
I was thinking about reloading for my LSS LH .300 RUM and called Dillon for advice. The guy at Dillon said why bother? The barrel life's about 800 rounds, so you'll never pay for your equipment with money saved. Mine shoots .75 MOA with the upper bedded, the barrel floated and a Timney trigger installed using factory 180 gr. Siroccos. I wouldn't waste the money to get another .25 out of it. I can kill a deer with it at 400 yards. That's all I want it to do in the first place. It's a Remington, not a Nesika.

Yeah but....

Factory ammo is for the weak!

hello two tone,

i bought one may be 4 years ago and i had more problems with mine i will go through it quickly.

rifle was new
did reloading with different powder and heads spent alot of money doing this still not shooting so i had a vais brake fitted incase i was flinching no different then i changed the stock and had a mcmillan a5 bedded and put in a jewel trigger not much better and we are taking 6 inch groups final straw start again put a new pacnor barrel on it was when i did this the rifle smith phoned me to ask about the old barrel ?? he had checked the rifling and it was rifled so far and then raggy .i could not believe it.

regards
chris

Have well more than 1000 rounds through my factory Rem barrel---still shooting sub MOA--
it is after all-- a hunting rifle.

Just got in a new batch of Berger Hunting VLD 210's to get ready for this years loading.

This particular rifle does love the factory Premium 180 Sciroccos .

(Remington Premier Ultra Mag Rifle Ammunition PR300UM3P2, 300 Remington Ultra Mag, Swift Scirocco Bonded, 180 GR, 2960 fps, 20 Rd/bx)

Though my 210 Berger loads do group better--
for off the shelf these are great.

I read through all this and thought...fire lapping. Action screws are an issue, torque correctly. Try a little IMR 4064, good Jui Jui.

The 300RUM is a very accurate cartridge.Remington's 700 BDL will give you all the accuracy you could ever get out of the 300RUM. The rest is up to you.I STRONGLY suggest you use Nosler cases for this round.I used TSX bullets and the most accurate powder Barnes listed for my load.At 300RUM velocity,you need a 200gr TSX bullet for it because only a monometal will stand up to the impact,IMO.Don't think you are to good of a shooter who doesn't need to pay attention to the elementary accuracy rules like making sure your guard screws and all your other screws are tight and will stay tight(loctite),and that your bore is copper free(JB on a patch,on a brush).Also,if your action moves in the stock and you need to bed it,use as little of bedding compound as possible,or just enough so that it doesn't move.If you use just a bit to much,you will screw up everything.

Try Sierra 220gr HPBT's seated to .010" or less off the lands. The advantage, if any is to be had, is the quality of the bullets, and the length, which allows seating to the lands with a sufficient amount of bullet remaining in the neck. In my .300 Win. Mag., I use WC 872 or IMR 5010. I have Hornady dies with the floating bullet seater, but these days I usually use the Lee collet dies, unless the shoulder needs to be bumped back.

If you can get the rifle to shoot with one bullet, the Sierra, you could fault the other bullets, but if it won't shoot with that, you could probably conclude that the problem is to be found elsewhere.