Most Accurate Out of Box Bolt Action Poll

[bkjeffrey]

Fn Spr 308

 

[lunde]

GunTech, you wrote:

Cooper is a fine, accurate hunting/varminting rifle. But it falls short as a precision rifle.

I'd beg to differ. I have owned several brands of bolt action rifles, and once I owned a Cooper Arms rifle, everything else became a distant second. I own ten of their rifles right now, and they have performed out-of-the-box, except to mount a quality scope. I have never fiddled with their triggers, because I never felt a need to do so. I just used my M21 Phoenix in .204 Ruger at Cooper Arms' 2007 One-Shot Competition, and my bullet hole was a mere 0.1 inches from the aiming point on the painting at which I shot. The shooting distance was 150 yards. One of the eight other shooters of the painting (there were five paintings and forty competitors in total) was a hair closer than me, and won it. In preparation, I shot three-shot 150-yard groups that measured in the very low 0.3s (0.322 inches, done in South Dakota at my dad's range, and 0.316 inches, done at the event prior to the competition proper). I am using the Sierra 32gr BlitzKing bullet, and muzzle velocity is a tad over 4,000fps.

Of course, the purpose of owning Cooper Arms rifles is not to primarily shoot at paper, but to hunt. The rifle above has taken a couple hundred prairie dogs thus far. I have other Cooper Arms rifles that have taken hundreds more. I have used their rifles chambered in .308 Winchester and 6.5x55 SE to take antelope in Wyoming.

BTW, the smallest group I have ever shot, three shots at 100 yards, was done with my Cooper Arms M22 Phoenix in 6.5x55 SE, using a hunting, not match, bullet:

Yeah, but can that be repeated? Sure:

My dad originally got me into these rifles. He would, on occasion, send to me one of their catalogs, with his latest acquisition noted. My first thought was "why would I buy a single-shot bolt-action rifle? I want something with a magazine, and the more it held, the better." After trying magazine-fed bolt-action rifles, specifically using them in the field, such as for prairie dog hunting, I discovered the wisdom of single-shot actions. BTW, my dad currently owns nineteen of their rifles. Two of them were gifts from me. He used one of those two gifted rifles, specifically an M21 Montana Varminter in .204 Ruger, to win the painting at last Saturday's 2007 One-Shot Competition.

 

[Afy]

Sako TRG 42

 

[quicktime]

G&E (Grunig and Elmiger) Easily the best trigger and smoothest action on a factory gun. But all of my guns came in a box at some point so in that case I vote for my Nesika.

 

[doc2rn]

I have owned all of them at one point or another, but the best shooter straight from the box is the Ruger 77 then Remington 700. I held on to those two because with either I could knock the stinger off a bee at 100 yds. Not an exact quote of my gunnies but close enough.

 

[Fish Springs]

XB-40c, M700, M788

Most accurate for the money: 788