Sometimes it just all comes together and you end up with a magic rifle. Mine is my 300 Winchester.
Remington 700 action with a 26 inch Pac-Nor barrel glass bedded into a Pacific Reaserch Rimrock stock. This thing just shoots. It shoots 165 Ballistic Tips at 3250 into less than 3/4 usually 1/2 inch groups and shoots the 200 grain Speer hot cores to the same point of impact at 2960 fps. I thought I would try the Swift Sirroccos in 165 grain to end up with a better hunting bulet and with the same load as the Ballistic tips it shoots to the same POI with half inch groups. I just love that thing as a matter of fact I went out and bought it a new scope. Have you got one of those special rifles?
Take care,
Davve

Mine is my Browning A-bolt in .30-06 OUT OF THE BOX! I have a 4.5 x 14 - 42(?) mm Leupold VariX-III on top. It shoots really tight groups, similar to yours now, with a 3.5 pound trigger pull (bad at the range but no problem in the field). If I ever get off my duff and get the trigger pull dropped about a pound I can't imagine the groups it may shoot at the range (yes I know they are adjustable on the Browning, mine's bottomed out). I use 165 gr BTSP Federal Premium ammo now but everything I've ever shot out of the rifle groups similarly.

On one of my early safaris in Zimbabwe, the hunting was not good due to very high grass so I decided to do some bird shooting. I had a lot of fun shooting francolin but I got real tired of chasing guinea fowl. Late that same day we came over the crest of a hill of a little valley about 125 yards across and on the top of the other side was a rather large flock of guinea fowl. My PH asked if I wanted to try the shotgun again and I said no but asked him to put the vehicle in park. I grabbed that rifle, layed it on the hood of the vehicle and waited until I had three of them lined up (aim point was their necks) and squeezed the trigger. As the sky filled with guinea fowl my PH said I had missed! I told him that I doubted it. He sent one of the trackers over and he pulled up two dead birds. The PH's jaw dropped and he looked at me and asked if I could shoot like that all the time. I said of course off a solid rest who couldn't. After that he complained anytime I wanted my other rifle.

Yes, definitely.

I have a M70 that I have had alot of weight removed off the action to use primarily for sheep hunting.. It started out as a 7mmRem.Mag. I took alot of game with it. I wanted to lighten the barrel a little more so I decided to rebarrel it to a 30 cal. I wanted the 300wsm but was worried about feeding problems so I went with the 30-338.
Instead of getting a lighter contour barrel like I requested, I got the same contour as I had. To add insult to injury, the fired brass had tool marks on shoulder that you can see and feel! I was going to send the gun to anouther smith and have it fixed or maybe rebarreled again.
I needed to use the gun, so I worked up some loads for it. The thing shoots beautifully. It will shoot 165gr. Speer G.S's and Seirras at 3,215 fps. into a 1/2". For a light rifle, it balances perfect. I have decided to leave it as is. Tool marks and all. I have other rifles that shoot just as good and balance well but not in a light weight like this rifle.

Daryl

Mine is a Savage Scout rifle in 308 Win. I don't shoot nearly as well as you guys, but I am getting performance out of a 20" bbl that is close to the numbers of a longer bbl and I was shooting 1.25" groups at 100yds with a 2.75X Burris scout scope and Barnes XLC bullets. If I had a little more power on the scope I could definately shoot 1" and under. I am just blown away at how efficient the bbl is.l Other than fitting a magazine and reducing trigger pull to 3.5lbs it's a stock rifle.

Hi Dave,

So, are you going to stay with the 300 Winnie?

I've actually been getting out in the evenings this week, mostly scouting around and looking for grouse with the Kodester. Got yer messages though and will try and catch up with you on the weekend.

Cheers,
Chris

ps: To answer your Q, nope, I haven't had a majic barrel yet. My Gibbs is close in that its accurate enough, but it is a bitch to keep clean. Some fire-lapping could probably fix that up in a jiff.

I used to think mine was magic...
I have a Remington 700 in 300 SAUM that I got from Kevin Knight ( muzzlebrake.com ) It has shot everything under an inch Game Kings, Interlock, A-Max. I shot some partitions at .6 even.

Then my brother shows up with his 338 RUM, Model 700 LSS. He gets a muzzlebrake put on it, lightens the trigger and shoots a group slightly less than an inch - at 200 YARDS! Now, I have to try and keep up with him. Everything I shoot in my 300 SAUM goes way over an inch at 200. Back to the loading bench.

Results with a Winchester Model 70 338 Win. Mag. with a factory tube. 2 3-shot groups. 225-grain Accubonds:





The rifle:



Far from being a custom rifle, but the barrel has been free-floated and glass bedded, and the trigger adjusted to 3 lbs.

I have a couple like that, sub 1/2" occasional 1/4" groups; a Ruger 77 in .358 and a #1 in .257 Bob. Bob took a little work and opening my mind. I wanted it to shoot 115-120 grain bullets, it wanted 75-85 gr.

My favorite barrel however was built in TN. Engineer named Geo. Dickel did the trick. Took days to recover.

I've been lucky in that I presently own 3. A #3 24" 223AI, that shoots 50 grain V-Max's at 3650 well under 1/2". A #3 1/2 contour 6.5-06 that puts 125 grain partitions under .4" at 3100 fps. Finally a #1 contour 284 Win that puts 140 grain partitions consistently into .6" groups at 3050, 139 SST's into about half that at the same velocity. The 284 took a wee bit of work, the other 2 produced these results with the first load I tried in them. I never got around to working up "accuracy" loads for those...

Of course, all 3 barrels are Pac-Nors, and all 3 were threaded, chambered and installed by Bill Leeper after he trued the actions. Think there's a connection?

Me too. An A-Bolt II Stainless Stalker (w/ Boss) in 300WinMag. Set the BOSS to 8.5, turned the trigger screw as light as it goes (drop tested for safety). That's it.

I've fed it tons of stuff. Only thing it didn't like was Hornady 190gr factory. Best I've gotten is a 168gr Sierra MK at 2900fps for 3/8" groups. Also have a 125gr NoslerBalTip into 1/2" It shoots 200 and 220gr (Nosler and Sierra) into 1" and better. Recently tried a Hodgdon "Youth Load" and got a 1/2" with the 130gr Hornady SP and 42gr of H4895. I've the range of 300WinMag uses covered with this baby.

All these magical loads (except Youth) are at a grain or 2 short of book listed max. I have yet to find a load that shoots best at the maximum.

Dave,
Did you order the standard match or super match...chorme moly or stainless? That is a dream rifle with several different bullets at the same point of impact. I'm interested in sending a Win. 70 action to them and having it rebarreled in 30-06 caliber.

Is the action only bedded in your rifle or full length bedded? I had a 270 Remington that was full length bedded that would always shoot 130's and 140's same POI.
Regards,
Terry

I must admit that I've been blessed with some respectable rifles over the years ...

1) the 308 Norma Magnum Springfield that shoot < 1 MOA with virtually any reasonable ammo.

2) A preban Bushmaster custom flattop with a 20" heavy stock barrel that shoots Federal Match at 0.4" or better at 100 yards all the time.

3) A .338 Win Mag pre64 M70 that holds 1.4" at 200 yards and 2" at 300 yards.

4) A CZ 550 in .416 Rigby that goes less than an inch at 100 if I do my part even though it's usually mounted with a 2.5 Leupold Compact scope.

But the biggest surprize has been a box stock Mark V Weatherby Weathermark that has shot a 0.28" group at 100 yards with 235 gr Speers at 2934 fps, and holds 1.25" at 200 yards with 270 gr Barnes Xs. I paid $600 for the rifle used, sight unseen, so even though it looked new when I got it I was not expecting much. Just slapped a 3-9x Zeiss Conquest on it and proceeded to be amazed.

When they're good they sure are a joy ... and when they're not, they're a pain!

Hi Terry,
My barrel is a stainless super match grade with the action glass bedded and the barrel free floated. The barrel length is 26 inches. I just put a Bushnell 4200 2.5 to 10 with the rain guard feature. I'm spending a week up at my cabin over the Nov 11th holiday and we usually have about 5 inches of rain over that period. I'm looking forward to trying out the rain gaurd feature.
Take care,
Dave