I admit to having my own opinions on this subject, but I am truly interested in hearing from others with experience in the accuracy tweaking arena. For reasons of clarification lets limit the discussion to bolt actions (at least for the beginning)
Here is initial listing of common tweaks. It is by no means comprehensive so I am hoping that we can add a few along the way of this discussion.

Lapping lugs

Squaring receiver face to threads

Barrel bore surface finish

Consistency of bore surface finish

Concentricity of barrel bore to barrel OD

Concentricity of chamber to barrel bore

Fit of chamber ie tight tolerance control & elimination of chatter marks

Dimensional tolerance of bore (say no more 0.0002" breech to muzzle)

Squaring bolt face to barrel bore

Anyway I am sure there are more. Please add as you see fit. My goal is to create a meaningful discussion, which will ultimately create a list of accuracy improvements from biggest improvement to least improvement.

[ 09-03-2002, 02:39: Message edited by: Todd E ]

Trigger job or replacement trigger

Todd E,

Nothing you mentioned. Maybe for a benchrest rifle but otherwise all of those things are quite unusual.

The most for the effort is to make sure everything is tight.

I view it as problem solving. So if the rifle shoots well that's enough. If I see damage to the crown it needs to be corrected as an expample.

[ 09-03-2002, 02:57: Message edited by: Don Martin29 ]

Okay,

Hypothetical example. I buy a bolt action rifle, lets say a M70 classic, and it shoots 2 MOA out of the box regardless of load that is as good as it gets. Now continuing on, I know the easiest way to "fix" it is to sell it and get another, but I really like this particular rifle and I want 1 MOA out of it. Lets assume further that I know enough to adjust the trigger down to a reasonable 2.5# - 3# pull and it is crisp. Further lets assume that there are no pressure points between wood and metal and the bedding is
sound, but perhaps not perfect.

What would you gentlemen suggest I do to maximize the accuracy of this rifle in one or two sets. I mean is there a single thing I could do to the rifle that would get me 85% of the way to 1 MOA.

[ 09-03-2002, 04:55: Message edited by: Todd E ]

Glass Bed the action and float the barrel. You might also consider pillar bedding, but I personally don't think it's worth the extra trouble.

#1..trigger job.
#2..depending on type of stock I would either pillar bed or glass bed.
#3..recrown it.

If it still isn't shooting decently and especially if it was fouling a lot I would use David Tubb's FinalFinish method of lapping.

If none of this works and I knew my scope was a good one and mounted properly I would get rid of it.

If you feel that the action is correctly bedded, and the barrel is floated. Then I would play with adding pressure to the barrel at the forend of the stock. As far as which one of the tweaks you mentioned. I don't have a clue.

But if you want to spend around $400-600 then send it too a GOOD gunsmith and have him rebarrel and do the action work you mentioned. Then you will have a quality barrel, chamber, and action work.

Also have you checked the crown?

Bedding and ammo tailored to the specific rifle,will grant the most,for the least...........

Yep, glass bedding, free floating, and good handloads.

Glass bedding is something I would do before I even tested the rifle unless it had one of the rubber stocks in which case bedding may be a waste of time.
If both locking lugs are contacting at all lapping will make no real difference in accuracy. It is only when one lug is contacting and the other not at all that the big gains come from lapping.
Really ugly barrels can shoot surprisingly well but improvements can be made.
Crowning can be a big improvement if the original crown sucks.
If the rifle is mechanically reasonable then load developement is the primary route to improved accuracy. Regards, Bill.

HEY,
MY solution to accuracy.I do all the things you have all mentioned.However,I do it by building a custom rifle.To me it makes more sense,to spend the money up front.This way,you can choose your barrel.The smith does the rest.My smith stands stands behind his work,I have only once sent a rifle back to him,and that was to increase the throat.By the way,every rifle he built for me,shoots .500 or better.The ones he rechambers the same.
1geejay
www.shooting-hunting.com

1) Scope mounts that don't flex the action after the scope is installed.

2) A dead-crisp, reliable trigger job.

3) Lugs lapped into full contact.

4) I precise, stress-free bedding job. Pillar-bedding with machined aluminum pillars is best.

5) Re-crown if necessary.

6) Carefully tailored handloads.

None of it will work if you have a bad barrel to begin with or a bad scope.........

AD

If you have good ammo, the screws are tight, the scope is sound and everything is firmly attached, the best all-round cheap way to make a rifle shoot better in the field is to add a good shooting sling and learn to use it. The Ching sling, military loop sling or Latigo sling differ only in how quickly you can use them.

After that, I'd say touch up the crown, do a trigger job, then bed the action & float the barrel. Okie John.

Bed it, float it, trigger it. With the right load it will or won't shoot. I've found this to be true almost 90% of the time.

Howdy,

It has been my experience that the cheapest, easiest, and quickest way to get a good return on a new factory rifle is to lap the locking lugs. The second quickest cure is to re-bed the rifle either in epoxy or pillars. Just my experience.

Coach

Assume all scope mounts/rings are tight, true and square, that action screws are tight.

1. Handloading
2. Trigger
3. Bedding/floating
4. Re-crown
5. Truing action/lapping lugs (if you're going to do one, you may as well do the other)
6. Re-barrel

So far, that's the way it's worked for me. - Dan

If a rifle shoots erratic with factory loads, the first thing I check is the bore.

I slug the muzzle, ahead of the cone and the middle of the barrel(from both ends).

If the breach slug is smaller than the muzzle slug, you get erratic projectile stablization.

It is prefered to have a "squeeze bore". That is where the bore gets smaller going closer to the muzzle.

That is why fire lapping sometimes works. It wears the most at the chamber end and less as the muzzle end.

I've seen crappy guns made dramatically better with fire lapping. OG