To know the true abilities of the rifle why not buy a few different boxes of off the shelf ammo and see how it shoots before you start reloading? see what kind of groups you get with 150's, 165's, 180's of off the shelf ammo. You get great brass that way and you can find out if there is a weight your rifle prefers? If after 4-5 different types of factory ammo you see your gun won't shoot better than 1.5" it's probably a 1.5" shooter. but i'm betting you'll find something your gun likes. If you find something your gun likes consistently better than the others then focus on developing a load that can beat that.
loading 308. frustrated.. hitting the limits of rifle, or shooter?
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Make sure action/barrel is centered in the stock and the stock on one side or other of the barrel is not touching. Torque the bedding screws with a FAT screwdriver.
Good adjustable front rest, bags rear.
I think your gun is capable of better as are you.
I have a Savage 11 in 223 which wouldn't group less than two times what my Bushmaster stocker did. Or my Contender carbine.
Stock was installed a little canted, screws were unevenly torqued, cheap scope from factory. I did a little shaving of the stock material, torqued the screws and put on a Nikon Buckmaster and now it is doing honest minute of angle for three shots. Bushy still does 3/4 for five.
Good adjustable front rest, bags rear.
I think your gun is capable of better as are you.
I have a Savage 11 in 223 which wouldn't group less than two times what my Bushmaster stocker did. Or my Contender carbine.
Stock was installed a little canted, screws were unevenly torqued, cheap scope from factory. I did a little shaving of the stock material, torqued the screws and put on a Nikon Buckmaster and now it is doing honest minute of angle for three shots. Bushy still does 3/4 for five.
I don't understand this reasoning:
If someone shoots a few groups with several types of ammo and two of them are about 1.5" extreme spread, what objective is met if a couple dozen others range from 1.8" to 2.9" averaging 2.3"?
If you shoot enough groups with the same load, one will finally be about .25 inch. Forget that 4" one that follows it.
Maybe I'm weird 'cause to me, rifle accuracy is where all shots go. Those few clustering close together is mostly luck as most of the variables cancel each other out; seldom are they all at zero (perfect). Biggest groups show what the rifle shoots inside of all the time. You don't roll snake eyes or 3-eyed jacks with dice all the time but never more than boxcars. There's half a dozen or more pairs of dice in your rifle/ammo system. And a few pair in you. They're all tossed on the table every time you pull the trigger. Each pair represents a variable about 7 (7=0, 2=-5, 12=+5 units of error). When all pairs are 7's, everything's perfect and all shots go into the same hole; .000" extreme spread. When all pairs are 2's or 12's, that bullet hits furthest from point of aim.
How often will you roll 7's on all pairs each time you shoot them?
Why claim it's a 1.5" rifle when it seldom shoots that good?
If someone shoots a few groups with several types of ammo and two of them are about 1.5" extreme spread, what objective is met if a couple dozen others range from 1.8" to 2.9" averaging 2.3"?
If you shoot enough groups with the same load, one will finally be about .25 inch. Forget that 4" one that follows it.
Maybe I'm weird 'cause to me, rifle accuracy is where all shots go. Those few clustering close together is mostly luck as most of the variables cancel each other out; seldom are they all at zero (perfect). Biggest groups show what the rifle shoots inside of all the time. You don't roll snake eyes or 3-eyed jacks with dice all the time but never more than boxcars. There's half a dozen or more pairs of dice in your rifle/ammo system. And a few pair in you. They're all tossed on the table every time you pull the trigger. Each pair represents a variable about 7 (7=0, 2=-5, 12=+5 units of error). When all pairs are 7's, everything's perfect and all shots go into the same hole; .000" extreme spread. When all pairs are 2's or 12's, that bullet hits furthest from point of aim.
How often will you roll 7's on all pairs each time you shoot them?
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tahoe2
Member
If been shooting hunting rifles over 30 years and only shot two that consistently shot under an inch @ 100 yards. One was an old Ruger 77 red pad (pre mark 2)
in 257 Roberts (3/4") and my own personal Remington 7400 (semi-auto) in 280 Remington (7/8") everything else was 1-1/4" to 3" at 100 and have always felt
confident with them. I don't try to shoot game in the next county, so it works for me
in 257 Roberts (3/4") and my own personal Remington 7400 (semi-auto) in 280 Remington (7/8") everything else was 1-1/4" to 3" at 100 and have always felt
confident with them. I don't try to shoot game in the next county, so it works for me
readyeddy, I like the way you have spoken with respect to the spacing of shots fired, I am in total agree with your technique, especially when I am shooting the average sporter with a bbl., I have found that the majority of sporter weight rifles, in 30/06 or 308 tend to place the first 2rounds nearly touching while the 3rd round is usually a good bit out from the 1st 2 rounds, My post 64 Model 70 sporter has a tendency to do just that despite the fact that it has been glass beded and bbl floated it still does this if I don't allow the bbl adequate time to cool off between shots. I don't have that problem with smaller caliber rounds like the.223, mainly due to the heating up at a slower rate..
I have owned a number of 308's, all have produced good to excellent groups with IMR 4064 and 150 grain bullets. I need to go dig out my notebooks for correct data. The best of the bunch was a bull barreled Ruger M-77. Most days it shot sub MOA at 200 meters.
Orcon
Member
I'm actually envious of those groups. I bought a Savage 11 LWH in 308 and I've taken several deer and antelope since. The lack of heft is very nice when humping it in the breaks and badlands but the shot groups are very disappointing after 3 rounds.
Sighting in 165gr Sierra GK Federal Premium:
Top shot group, 4rds
Bottom shot group, 4rds I adjusted my windage the wrong way, doh!
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B8yGGQ_FRRIMYURodW1QVFpzZ1BYcEZyREZCLWdEb1pHa3J3
I think the thin barrels just heat up too much.
This is out of a factory Stevens 200 in 243 win shooting 95gr Nosler BT in Federal Premium 5rds @ 125yrds
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B8yGGQ_FRRIMdkF6OXhhbjlGLTBmdTBLQWVNdGJSMlktcVpv
Both rifles fired prone with bipods.
Sighting in 165gr Sierra GK Federal Premium:
Top shot group, 4rds
Bottom shot group, 4rds I adjusted my windage the wrong way, doh!
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B8yGGQ_FRRIMYURodW1QVFpzZ1BYcEZyREZCLWdEb1pHa3J3
I think the thin barrels just heat up too much.
This is out of a factory Stevens 200 in 243 win shooting 95gr Nosler BT in Federal Premium 5rds @ 125yrds
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B8yGGQ_FRRIMdkF6OXhhbjlGLTBmdTBLQWVNdGJSMlktcVpv
Both rifles fired prone with bipods.
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