Ready to give up on this rifle, any suggestions?

[Taylorbok]

I think you need to check your reloading process and probably your load development process also. You should be able to pick a bullet and a suitable powder and make it shoot 3/4" pretty easily.

 

[rustyshackleford]

I'd try the 140 Sierra pro hunter to see if it just wants a flat base bullet. Before I did that I'd A) check my neck tension B) anneal my brass. You can study is some but a buddy of mine bought a bushing die and 3 mandrels and going to 2 thou neck tension made 2" groups go to 1/2". I try to anneal mine every 3rd firing too. You can feel the brass hardness when sizing if it's overworked.

 

[xsn10s]

As far as I know the Winchester 7WSM's came with a 9.5" twist. IMO I wouldn't spend a lot of time or money making loads that don't work all that well right now. I'd use what works and wait until components hopefully become more available. Meanwhile I'd recheck all the loading steps and try to mirror what factory ammo worked. Otherwise rebarreling would be the smart option. 7 WSM's have been known to have short barrel life. Why buy expensive bullets on something that isn't performing well?

 

[Carlos88]

If your rifle likes certain factory loads, and you are good with their performance, you could take a few of those rounds apart and probably determine what that load is in terms of bullet, powder and powder weight. I would also measure bullet seating depth before dis-assembly. The Lee Factory Crimp Die may help as well to replicate factory rounds.

I would choose the Hornady rounds if you try this out, that way you can use a Hornady manual to limit your powder options identification to what their manual recommends for that caliber. Federal rounds have a lot more variables (choices) from what I've seen.

Remember that manufacturers use canister powders and load weights will change to meet pressure and velocity parameters. I think it would be difficult to back track.

 

[emp1953]

winchester m-70 s/s synthetic 7mm WSM. I have tried 11 bullets (at multiple seating depths), 6 powders, three primers and three different cases. I have neck sized and full length sized. Two different scopes, bedded rifle and can not get this rifle to shoot any hand loads consistently. I have almost 200 rounds down this bbl trying to get some kind of load and I'm no closer now than when I started! Here is the kicker, it shoots federal fusion 150's lights out! Hornady outfitter 150 GMX shoots better than any handload I have made….. I know you are going to say just shoot the factory ammo and be happy. I can't do that. the only thing I have not done is crimp the bullet. I have never crimped any of my other rifles and never had a problem. I will try some tomorrow with a crimp and report back. I am open to any suggestions, is there anything I have left out? I love the rifle and would really like to get an accurate load before I shoot the bbl out… tks!

Further along this thread I see that it is a used rifle What year m70 is it? Do you know the original owner can you ask if he had similar problems with it? Is it an original factory barrel or did the original owner have the barrel replaced? Try to confirm the twist rate. Are all the bullet holes in the target perfectly round? You should be able to duplicate the factory ammo, or at least get close.
I agree, do your analysis using the Hornady ammo using their reloading data for powders and components. Stick with the 150's during your analysis.
Do you exclusively shoot from your internal magazine or do you single feed your cartridges?
I had an instance where recoil was moving bullets rearward which was changing velocity and POI.
Also had another where my press starting putting out rounds that weren't concentric. I haven't used my concentricity gauge since then but I'm glad I had it then. These were longer .270 Wby cases. I sent the press back to RCBS, they rebuilt it and all is good now.
I would also clean the bore and chamber well with something like Butch's Bore Shine. Get it down to bare metal, then pick a bullet and stick with it for a while. Differing metallurgy will cause copper build up at differing rates.
I have bought a number of rifles (cheaply) at the range where guys just gave up on it. All but one I was able to get to shoot well, that one was an M1 Garand that probably had 10,000 rounds through it. I bought a m70 .270win from a guy that said it just stopped shooting well and he sold it to me. I checked the serial number with Winchester and found it was made in 1953. A borescope showed a pronounced carbon ring and copper. It took me 2 weeks to clean it. There was still a stain and mark where the carbon ring was but the rifle again shot lights out.
If you have access to a decent gunsmith with a bore scope have him take a look. There may be a physical defect not obvious to the casual shooter.

Read this article about runout. https://www.rifleshootermag.com/editorial/the-rundown-on-runout/360599

 

[skipglo]

My time is worth something.
If I have a rifle that shoots factory ammo that well, I buy several boxes and move on with it. Well, back when you could buy ammo that is.

I have a 257 Weatherby that shoots 0.47 inches, at 200 yards, with two different types of factory ammo. Repeatedly.
Neither the previous owner or I have gotten near that with handloads.
Even at $80/box, I'll shoot my 4 rounds a year at antelope and buy factory ammo. It's the only Weatherby that I have to buy factory ammo for, but it's probably my most accurate rifle so I don't care.

Saved me alot of words! Being stubborn only costs more money than the factory loads!

 

[Gater]

Conditions were perfect today. Tried my best load to date (59gns H4350 w/ 160 Sierra hpbt game king) just as a base to go by, it shot 3 rd group at 100 at 11/4" which I could live with if consistent. Same load other than I crimped the bullet and the 3 shot group opened up to 3". Tried same load again with fed 210m instead of 215m and had 21/8" group. using a crimp and it shot 7/8"…… IDK, will play some more tomorrow and if doesn't work I'm going back to old faithful, only two weeks until deer season, sako 85 in 30-06 it shoots everything great… lol !

Don't crimp

 

[VALKYRIETP]

I have a Winchester model 70 Classic 7WSM (9.5 twist)
using Hammer 131G Hammer hunters I'm getting .538 grouping at 3325 fps
using RL26.
T.P.

 

[IHFarmer07]

I've got a similar issue with my Remington 700 Boone and Crocket edition 30-06 and I can't get the Barnes 150ttsx to stay consistent. I got a .75" or less group out of it once, went to go load three more, same brass, same primer, powder and seating depth and it turned into a 1.5"-2" group…..needless to say I said enough, I will just reload what I have left for this deer season and go on, just a short range/brush gun anymore. I'll go to a different bullet sometime when components are more readily available.
When I was putting the scope back on, I did notice the front mount loose so, maybe it rattled loose again, idk.
I feel the op's frustration!! So close to season and things aren't right.

 

[Carlos88]

If the front mount's front screw is touching barrel threads you have found the problem. Please do yourself a favor and check it. You will see flattened barrel threads (shiny).

 

[IHFarmer07]

If the front mount's front screw is touching barrel threads you have found the problem. Please do yourself a favor and check it. You will see flattened barrel threads (shiny).

I will check tonight. I looked at them but never payed that close attention to them. Have you ran into this before?

 

[jessej]

I had one rifle in my life that I couldn't make shoot. I never sell guns, but I sold that one to a gun shop. Couple years later it's still on the shelf at the gun shop. So I say to myself, I'm not gonna let that rifle beat me. So I bought it a second time. It lived in my safe for a year or 2. Recently I started back working with it with no success. Multiple powders, ladders, projectiles. Never shot a 1" group. 1-1/4 to 1-1/2" was the best. So I say to myself, I'm gonna fubar it or fix it.
Ran a sequence of tubbs final finish/ cleaning procedure.
Now it's a 1/2 moa shooter.

 

[Carlos88]

I will check tonight. I looked at them but never payed that close attention to them. Have you ran into this before?

Yes. About 6 times over the years.

 

[RuninL8]

I just had a gentleman bring me a rifle that wasn't shooting well. He had tried everything including 300+ rounds of trying to find a load. Bore scoped it and in 30 sec was able to tell him the gun would never shoot well. It had a crooked chamber, could have saved a lot of time and money.