Chassis vs my hack bedding job

View · by **unfitmother** on Mon Feb 22, 2016 1:31 pm

Warning: If you are sensitive to the senseless destruction of rifle furniture, please stop reading, and hit the 'back' button now.

Also, I'm sorry about the poor quality of the photos.

Last summer I pillar beded my rifle. I didn't do a very pretty job of it because I had plans to replace the stock anyway. I used Devcon and cut up some brass plumbing pieces for the pillars.

I thought I saw my groups go from about 3 MOA down to 2. Still wasn't the accuracy I wanted, so I blamed the barrel. I decided to wait until winter to have the rifle rebarreled, so the next thing on my list was a better stock. I went with a folding chassis. Here is a picture of the inlet:

After switching the barreled action over to the chassis, I thought I saw the groups open up to around 2.5 MOA. Honestly, with my groups being so big, it was hard for me to tell what was going on :oops:

Fast forward 4 month, my rifle is back from being rebarreled, and now all I am waiting on is for some decent temps so I can break in the freshly cut chamber and start shooting groups again. I plan on testing the beded action vs the chassis, and if there is any indication the chassis is less accurate, then I'll do a quality job of bedding it. If the groups are still around 2 MOA, then clearly the problem is my skill set.

I have a torque wrench, and will be shooting some decent factory ammo, so I can eliminate those variables in the test. Besides the fool behind the rifle, are there any other easily controlled variables I am overlooking?

View · by **photogpat** on Mon Feb 22, 2016 1:34 pm

Caliber, action type, age, barrel length...?

View · by **unfitmother** on Mon Feb 22, 2016 1:40 pm

I am planning on doing a full writeup about the rifle once I am able to get out and take some good pictures.

6.5x55 Swede
Rem 700
28 years old (me) 11 years (action and trigger)
30" Light Palma

Oh, and the old factory barrel was a 22" sporter in 270 Win

View · by **crbutler** on Mon Feb 22, 2016 2:55 pm

I would drop it in your bubba'd stock if it doesn't shoot well in the new one. Quite frankly, I have never had good luck with folders getting all that great of accuracy.

Did you have the gunsmith look at the action at all? Rem 700's are often a bit out of true and get blueprinted for longer range rifle builds all the time.

The trigger will make a huge difference as well off the bench, but on the bench it should not be that big a deal.

Make sure you are using decent optics (unless you already are known to be good with irons like Erud...) and that the scope is mounted correctly...then use an appropriate target to check on...it is amazing what an appropriate target will do to clean up group size.

Try a couple brands and bullet weights of factory ammo, that can make a difference in a picky gun.

Have someone who you know knows what they are doing with a rifle shoot a group or two, if theirs is substantially smaller than yours, you have the answer there.

Good luck on the project!

View · by **mmcnx2** on Mon Feb 22, 2016 3:07 pm

Honestly, hand loads most likely would have gotten you more of an improvement than any of those things. Seems like a lot of effort and money to go from 3 to 2. What is the goal?

I don't think I've ever had a stock bolt action shooting hand loads go much over 1 MOA with no modification off sand bags.

View · by **Erud** on Mon Feb 22, 2016 4:12 pm

Was the barrel you took off also 28 years old? Any idea on round count? Ever looked at it with a bore scope? I have no idea if you are the original owner of the rifle, but some barrels can be pretty ugly, especially if they aren't well cared-for. If you bought it used, theres a pretty good chance it could've been someone's hunting rifle that was not maintained very well. Excessive carbon, rust, pitting, etc can develop pretty easily with bad maintenance habits, not to mention other potential problems like a dinged crown. Could explain poor accuracy if other things check out, and new barrel shoots like it should. Sorry, probably not a ton of help.

View · by **unfitmother** on Mon Feb 22, 2016 8:34 pm

Erud, you were spot on. I bought the rifle used from someone who had hunted with it for the past 10 years, so I was not surprised by it lack of accuracy. It's my first bolt gun, and my plan was to shoot it, upgrade it some, shoot it some more, then upgrade it a little more, etc...

mmcnx2 wrote:Seems like a lot of effort and money to go from 3 to 2. What is the goal?

One day I might shoot F-class or go elk hunting with this, but for now my goal is to have fun while trying to score well on the THLR.NO proficiency test:
One shot
One MOA
One minute
One dollar (added by me)
500 yard at least

Sometimes I have doubts about the money I've invested in this hobby. But for now I'm enjoying the process and the range time.

View · by **unfitmother** on Mon Feb 22, 2016 8:38 pm

crbutler wrote:use an appropriate target to check on...it is amazing what an appropriate target will do to clean up group size.

Could you recommend one? I usually shoot at a circle painted on a steel gong or paper bullseyes printed off the interwebs.

View · by **Erud** on Mon Feb 22, 2016 8:58 pm

In that case, I'd almost guarantee that it'll shoot markedly better with the new barrel in either stock. Be prepared to hand load to get the absolute best out of it, but even with factory ammo I'm sure you'll be much happier than with the old barrel.

View · by **crbutler** on Mon Feb 22, 2016 10:28 pm

I have had good luck with the diamond type targets printed on a 1" grid. Most come with 4 on the corners and a larger one in the center. It helps to make sure you are centering the reticle in the same place each time. Often sold as " zeroing" targets.

View · by JJ on Tue Feb 23, 2016 7:38 am

unfitmother wrote:
crbutler wrote:use an appropriate target to check on...it is amazing what an appropriate target will do to clean up group size.

Could you recommend one? I usually shoot at a circle painted on a steel gong or paper bullseyes printed off the interwebs.

Use a dedicated sight-in target. this will help you line up the reticle on the target, forcing you to focus not just on the very center, but on the reticle as a whole. Depending on the optic you are using, you ma want a target with a thicker or thinner band going U/D, L/R. This will also help you with getting your gun and bags/rest setupo so you are not introducing cant into your rifle.

View · by **unfitmother** on Tue Feb 23, 2016 2:43 pm

Thanks for all the recommendations. I'm very excited to get out to the range.

View · by **Duane J** on Wed Mar 09, 2016 12:17 pm

A little late to chime in but my results with a brand new .308 too in a mcree chassis revealed the following:

Properly torquing the chassis matters!
Handloads of even decent quality are better than FGGM.

Shooting 1/2 MOA at 100 yards easily. Just under 1 MOA at 300 with a kind wind.

View · by **LumberZach** on Fri Mar 11, 2016 7:54 am

Duane J wrote:A little late to chime in but my results with a brand new .308 too in a mcree chassis revealed the following:

Properly torquing the chassis matters!
Handloads of even decent quality are better than FGGM.

Shooting 1/2 MOA at 100 yards easily. Just under 1 MOA at 300 with a kind wind.

How do you like the mcree? I've been looking at it for a rifle I have. Looks a little heavy, but solid.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

View · by **oneoldjimmy** on Fri Sep 16, 2016 2:15 pm

I screwed a 2x4 to the table top, and butted my lead sled up to it... My Savage 223 is impressively accurate, and so is my 45-70. At this point, if the bullet doesn't go where it's suppose to, chances are it's my fault.