I have a Weatherby Vanguard in 7mm Rem Mag (stainless / synthetic) which is three years old. The target that came with the gun showed about a .63 group from the factory. I have been able to regularly get MOA or just below with both Nosler Accubonds and Speer 145 BTSP loaded behind RL22. The gun also shot well with IMR 4831.

This summer I ordered a laminate stock from Boyd's because I was tired of the tupperware and kind of bored. With the kind help of an accomplished rifleman, we glass bedded the rifle. I also had the trigger done by a local gunsmith who transformed it into a thing of beauty that crisply breaks at 2.5 lbs, light years improvement over the creepy gritty thing I had before the trigger job.

With a sense of anticipation, I loaded up a number of bullets with the IMR 4831 I had on hand, and 160 grain Sierra Gamekings, because the store was out of Accubonds and my friends have always had great accuracy with the Gamekings.

No matter what I have done, and I have tried so many different charges my head is spinning, the accuracy is beyond erratic. I then went back to my old Nosler / RL22 load that the gun very much liked before the new stock was put on. Best I could get was a little over 1 1/2 inches. While soe would say that's okay for hunting, It's not what I am looking for, or what the gun has produced in the past. The other troubling thing is that the groups are so erratic.

I am very discouraged and frustrated. A few people I respect have commented that I should have patience and try a few new powders until I hit one the gun likes, as the harmonics can change with a new stock, and the barrel is now free-floated, as opposed to the pressure point that existed previously in the tupperware stock.

I would welcome the input of experienced people who have switched stocks and found their gun no longer shoots the way it used to. As well, I would welcome recommendations on powders for me to try, keeping in mind I will be shooting 160s, as someone in our hunting party always has a moose or elk tag.

I guess what I am saying is I want informed opinions by people who have had a similar experience or firsthand knowledge of one. Not random advice which is not always helpful or a lecture on what is acceptable hunting accuracy. i know these things already.

My thought are to keep looking for loads that work with the barrel free-floated or add a pressure point to duplicate the original stock.

BTW. A gunsmith looked at the stock after it was bedded and felt the job was fine. Also I have loaded rounds that are touching the lands and others that are seated .017" off the lands.

If you were to bring the gun to me, I would eyeball the crown while working my way to a screw driver and the guard screws to check the bedding by tightening and loosening each guard screw to see if I could detect any movement of the action within the stock, and then correct that issue before moving on. I would make sure that the barrel is floating by more than 1$ bills width. Perhaps 10$ bills worth. Then I would take the last known loads that performed well and try them again. I would carry some business cards with me to the range to use as shims between the barrel and the forend to see if adding them made any difference and go from there before wasting a lot of powder chasing something that could be simple.

Well, if nothing else works, you could slip it back in the old stock and see if the accuracy comes back. That would eliminate anything else that might have gone wrong besides the new stock and bedding.

I'll bet westpac is right. I think you'll find that the barrell is contacting the channel at times. (His other advice is sound, too.)

Thought I'd give a brief update. After receiving advice on this thread, and via pm, I did a few things in hopes of finding a load that improved accuracy from the way the rifle was before I replaced the tupperware with a laminate stock, glass bedded, and had a trigger job:

1) I reamed out the action screw bolt holes that had a bit of epoxy resin that had made its way in, possibly causing some stress / binding.

2) I sanded the stock as the gap on the left hand side of the barrel was very narrow. I opened it up to .030" to make it equal with the clearance on the other side, ensuring it is completely free-floated. Two business cards no problem.

3) I backed off my seating depth to 0.020" off the lands.

4) I continued to try new charges with the powders I had on hand, as well as testing out three new powders I had never tried out of this rifle.

In the end, after considerable experimentation, I hit upon two combinations that offered, what is for me, exceptional accuracy out of a hunting rifle. In fact more than I was ever expecting.

The first was 56.5 grains of IMR4831 behind a 160gr Sierra Gameking, resulting in a .368" group. Best the gun had ever shot, by a longshot. The only fly in the ointment was that another member of this board, was pulling the trigger because I was beginning to doubt my own abilities after not being able to get anything to group with what was once a fairly non-fussy rifle. I hugged him like it was Christmas morning!

I then took the gun back and proceeded to knock off a .398" group using a different load, this time 69 grains of Retumbo behind the same 160 Gamekings. Man was I happy. My buddy is an accomplished marksman with trophies to attest to his skill - I don't have anything except venison and moose in my freezer to attest to my abilities I started to do a bit of a jig and offer up thanks to the good Lord - good thing there weren't many at the range They may have wondered if I was in the sauce, I was so excited.

In any event, I was elated to find that a bedding and trigger job indeed did make my gun more accurate, plus it looks much prettier with the Boyd's forest green laminate stock than the black tupperware it came with.

Thanks for all those who offered constructive advice. Sometimes load development takes much time and patience than we may anticipate. In total, I ended up trying various loads and seating depths with the following powders before finding the gun's sweetspot: RL 22, RL 25, IMR 4831, IMR 4350, and Retumbo. Another thing that changed was my gun now clearly has a preference for mid-range milder loads, rather than the hot loads it used to like.

What's better, meat in the freezer or trophies?

Informative post.

Thanks, PRW. I'm gonna take my marksman friend out on the weekend and kill some deer