At wits end....

[RonS]

Hate to tell you this but some rifles are more trouble than they are worth. Bought a Rem 700 varmint in .243 that I'd planned to turn into an F-Open rifle for mid and long range F Class. Over a 6 month period I swapped the trigger to a Timney (the stock adjustable would not adjust), swapped the stock, bedded the rifle, lapped the bore, reworked the crown, tried 4 different powders and several different bullet weights and brands at different loads and different seating depths. Very methodical in load development. I brought the groups down from about 2-3 MOA for factory match ammo to about 3/4 MOA on a good day. Usually 1-1.5 MOA for many of the best loads. Everyone who shot it got the same results I was getting. Not good enough for a varmint gun let alone an F Class gun. Sent Remington a nasty gram telling them about the troubles I was having. They wanted it back for service. They sent it back with a note saying that they lapped the barrel and included a 100 yards test target saying that the rifle was in spec. The test target, 1.5 MOA. The thing was gone the next day.

Swapped it for a used Savage LRP in 6.5 Creedmoor, grabbed a box of factory ammo and shot 1/3 MOA the first day. Following minimal load development it's down to 1/4 MOA. It's now reserved for 1000 yard matches.

Kicking a dead horse can be frustrating. You get caught in the mode of; maybe just another $100 or $500 will get it to shoot the way it should have out of the box. Sometimes all the money you've got will not get it to shoot. Send that thing down the road would be my advise.

 

[MudRunner2005]

Hate to tell you this but some rifles are more trouble than they are worth. Bought a Rem 700 varmint in .243 that I'd planned to turn into an F-Open rifle for mid and long range F Class. Over a 6 month period I swapped the trigger to a Timney (the stock adjustable would not adjust), swapped the stock, bedded the rifle, lapped the bore, reworked the crown, tried 4 different powders and several different bullet weights and brands at different loads and different seating depths. Very methodical in load development. I brought the groups down from about 2-3 MOA for factory match ammo to about 3/4 MOA on a good day. Usually 1-1.5 MOA for many of the best loads. Everyone who shot it got the same results I was getting. Not good enough for a varmint gun let alone an F Class gun. Sent Remington a nasty gram telling them about the troubles I was having. They wanted it back for service. They sent it back with a note saying that they lapped the barrel and included a 100 yards test target saying that the rifle was in spec. The test target, 1.5 MOA. The thing was gone the next day.

Swapped it for a used Savage LRP in 6.5 Creedmoor, grabbed a box of factory ammo and shot 1/3 MOA the first day. Following minimal load development it's down to 1/4 MOA. It's now reserved for 1000 yard matches.

Kicking a dead horse can be frustrating. You get caught in the mode of; maybe just another $100 or $500 will get it to shoot the way it should have out of the box. Sometimes all the money you've got will not get it to shoot. Send that thing down the road would be my advise.

Sort of like what happened with my Weatherby Accumark .257 Wby... Except I never sent it back to Weatherby, because they only offer a 1.5" 3-shots @ 100 guarantee on a $2,200 MSRP rifle... So I traded it back in to where I bought it from new, and got something else. Took a huge loss, but it was worth getting rid of that piece of junk.

I couldn't even begin to tell you how many hundreds of dollars, probably a thousand, I spent on components for that rifle over the years to try to get it to shoot less than 1.5". With factory ammo it was a 2.0-2.5" gun on average...But it had a really nice cold-bore pinwheel...It was just shots 2 & 3 that were a complete crap-shoot. Some days were better than others. Sometimes it would shoot a random 3/4" group (my theory is accidentally), and it would get my hopes up, but then go right back to shooting 1.5" groups.

Because 1.5 MOA must be considered good for a hand-assembled rifle in some universe...Right?

 

[Canadian Bushman]

Sort of like what happened with my Weatherby Accumark .257 Wby... Except I never sent it back to Weatherby, because they only offer a 1.5" 3-shots @ 100 guarantee on a $2,200 MSRP rifle... So I traded it back in to where I bought it from new, and got something else. Took a huge loss, but it was worth getting rid of that piece of junk.

I couldn't even begin to tell you how many hundreds of dollars, probably a thousand, I spent on components for that rifle over the years to try to get it to shoot less than 1.5". With factory ammo it was a 2.0-2.5" gun on average...But it had a really nice cold-bore pinwheel...It was just shots 2 & 3 that were a complete crap-shoot. Some days were better than others. Sometimes it would shoot a random 3/4" group (my theory is accidentally), and it would get my hopes up, but then go right back to shooting 1.5" groups.

Because 1.5 MOA must be considered good for a hand-assembled rifle in some universe...Right?

That would leave a bad taste in my mouth.

Have you bought any weatherby's since?

 

[MudRunner2005]

That would leave a bad taste in my mouth.

Have you bought any weatherby's since?

Nope, I traded it in to the store for a brand new Remington 700 5R Milspec .300 WinMag with a 26" barrel they had sitting on the shelf.

 

[Boozer]

Kicking a dead horse can be frustrating. You get caught in the mode of; maybe just another $100 or $500 will get it to shoot the way it should have out of the box. Sometimes all the money you've got will not get it to shoot. Send that thing down the road would be my advise.

I'm about to that point myself... Thing is this was the first rifle I ever owned. A gift from my father, and I know I would hate myself if I ever sold it. My goal was to accurizing it without having to bastardize it to the point I can't recognize it anymore. That is why it still has the original stock, isn't ceracoted, etc.

I'm leaning the direction of hand loading over new barrel. I think it will be cheaper, and I t will benefit me on other guns if I still can't get the 30-06 to shoot. Plus cabelas has $100 off the hornady starter kit, and 500 free bullets. Might have to try that ~56 grains of IMR 4350 with a 180gr. Amax that someone mentioned...

 

[RonS]

I'm about to that point myself... Thing is this was the first rifle I ever owned. A gift from my father, and I know I would hate myself if I ever sold it. My goal was to accurizing it without having to bastardize it to the point I can't recognize it anymore. That is why it still has the original stock, isn't ceracoted, etc.

I'm leaning the direction of hand loading over new barrel. I think it will be cheaper, and I t will benefit me on other guns if I still can't get the 30-06 to shoot. Plus cabelas has $100 off the hornady starter kit, and 500 free bullets. Might have to try that ~56 grains of IMR 4350 with a 180gr. Amax that someone mentioned...

Your father would understand if you sent it down the road. Most here who have been down that road will also understand if you want to keep trying. We've been there. There is no doubt that hand loading is the way to go and if you are not into it yet you might as well as start now with what you've got. The skills developed in load development will pay many dividends down going forward and it is possible that the gun will shoot if you have not tried it. I would never get rid of a gun until I'd tried to find all the accuracy nodes it has. When you do that you can make the call as to whether those nodes meet your needs. Not to mention that load development is addictive. It's a deep rabbit hole. Enjoy the trip.

 

[Canadian Bushman]

... There is no doubt that hand loading is the way to go and if you are not into it yet you might as well as start now with what you've got. The skills developed in load development will pay many dividends down going forward and it is possible that the gun will shoot if you have not tried it. I would never get rid of a gun until I'd tried to find all the accuracy nodes it has. When you do that you can make the call as to whether those nodes meet your needs. Not to mention that load development is addictive. It's a deep rabbit hole. Enjoy the trip.

I agree with Ron.

I have customs that wont shoot but a few handloads well. Some rifles are picky and some will shoot anything. Wish i could understand it. I spent close to 6k on my ftr rig and burned close to 300 rounds before i found a load it liked, and i got lucky and its a broad node thats insensitive and shoots good all year.

Sometimes handloading can take some time to find a accurate load as well. Just go into it knowing its not an instant cure. Many handloaders who seem to always get there rifles to shoot have been doing it for a long time and are keyed in on what to look for.

I compare it to running fast laps on a racetrack, once youve done it you know what it feels like, and you know what you need to get there. If youve never done it, you have to learn what it feels like before you know what you need to get there.