Here is where I will disagree. I've used custom actions, trued Remington actions, and untrued Remington actions to put custom barrels on and the most accurate guns I've built have been with untrued Remington actions. Granted that is also the majority of the ones I've built but it still proves to me that truing a action is over rated. Also when you can buy a Remington that shoots under 1/2" for 5 shots with a hammer forged barrel and a un-trued action it makes it even harder to believe there is any difference in truing a action. If your selling a guaranteed 1/2" 3 shot gun and charging 1500+ in labor to build the gun, part of that is to cover your ***** if the barrel doesn't shoot and you have to install another one. Trust me this happens. About 5% of the barrels I've used I'd consider junk, shooting well over 1". About another 5% would still probably do 1/2" for 3 shots, if you really screwed with them to find a load, but aren't really something I'd keep as they like to shoot closer to 5/8-3/4".
The barrel is far and away the most important part of a gun shooting well. We are talking 95+%. Seriously I've seen guns chambered in a 3 jaw shoot 1/4" groups so you can't tell me the gunsmith is the most important thing, or the bedding, or truing a action, etc. I'd put the other 5% on the smith and the bedding but we are talking very little difference in group size. The last 4 or 5 guns I've barreled, in calibers I know good loads for, have shot 3/8" 3 shot groups or less the first time I shot them with those loads. These are all on Remington actions with just the lugs lapped. One 7-300wm shot a .211" group with shots 2 through 4 through the barrel. It was dropped into a HS bedding block stock 2 minutes before I shot it (I have a stock I use for testing and I shot my 30-338 Norma Imp through it first). I built a .338 Edge for a buddy on a Remington with the same lugs lapped that shot between .150" and .500" groups the first time he shot it using 5 different powder charges of R-33 and 300gr Bergers. Both of which he'd never shot before. He used someone else's load data. I have a barrel I paid 50.00 for that is a Green Mountain from Midway. I chambered it in 6.5-300wm and it shoots 123 Amax's in 3/8" or less at 100yds. It shoots my normal 140gr load in over an inch.
Spend the action truing money on a Jewell trigger, a better scope, or reloading components to make you a better shot. Those things would help your group sizes more than truing a action. Experience tells me that gunsmiths true actions to make money and to give you and themselves a warm fuzzy feeling. A buddy of mine has chambered over 300 barrels for himself and he will back my findings. He has had a dozen custom actions from BAT, Nesika, Defiance, Stiller, and Lawton as well. He sold them all and uses un-trued Remington actions because he sees no difference in accuracy. He has 4 or 5 rifles right now that shoot 5 shot groups in the .2's consistently.
I guess I'm just not a Kool Aid drinker or overly anal where it blinds me to the truth. I'm sure I'll take some heat for what I know is true but so be it.
