As a banker i do appreciate the legal disclaimer and caution, but I have enjoyed helping out more than a few of my son's friends in this endeveavor. I do the tests in the guns and build them the bullets and then they usually start on their own, with a copy of one of the primary manuals that give the basic directions and cautions.
So for this gun I scubbed the barrel down good and took the advice to simply load for 3 grains below max, up to max, in .5 grain increments, and look for pressure signs. I used some Win Brass I had, IMR 4831, up to 51 grains, CCI 200 primers, and seated .010 off the lands.
I only shot at 25 yards as I wasn't sure where the scope was set, but put all the rounds within a very small area. No flyers and the only spread coincided with an adjustment to the scope elevation.
I know better than to call this good at this distance, but I saw enough to tell me there don't seem to be major issues that would make this gun spray 2moa or more with this combo. I just didn't want to waste a whole box of bullets to find out it's just a crappy gun.
I sent the gun, with the kid, to a gunsmith for a trigger job as the creep was attrocious, and the pull was about 6-7lbs.
Once back I will go back down to 49.0 grains and shoot 4 shot groups up to 51, which is right where I started to get some flat primers and sticky bolt(at 95 degrees on Sun).
Again, I am only looking for 1.5moa or better gun, or sub-milk jug out to 400 yards. I coach them all if they can't hit 4/5 milk jugs from multiple field positions you havn't earned that distance yet.
If our load meets our parameters, I load them 50 rounds on new brass and let them shoot over a month or two, then load another 50 before season and shoot another 20 or so in Oct. They are usually pretty good and need to work on their nerves at that point, not their technique.
Thanks to all for your opinions. I hope we get lucky with this gun/load. Otherwise, this kid will use my Tikka in the same caliber for hunting this year until he can afford a better one of his own.