SmallCaliberCentral

I shot the holy carp out of my barrels when I was in CO earlier this year and by the time I came home the looked bad through the bore scope and were popping the occasional flyer out of otherwise excellent groups. I put the guns away and focused on my benchrest competitions for the rest of the season.

Last weekend I took AJ and my exchange student Milo out to my range and we shot some groups with one of my rifles. We were getting some good groups but also some flyers. At the end of the day I went to clean the rifle and noticed looseness in the connection of the action to the stock. I thought to myself, thought I, "You really should have used pillars when you bedded this thing you lazy dummy" Over time the wood alone was no longer supporting the screws. AJ offered to take care of it for me as he has plenty of time now that his son runs the trigger business.

Today we went to the range together and shot some excellent groups. We were shooting at 200 yards over flags in moderate winds. We shot some dots. At the end, I was letting friends try the rifle and they were all saying I should be using it instead of my ppc in the competitions but alas it is too heavy for that. Finally I had 10 bullets left having already shot 40 without cleaning.

The first shot was 1/2" low as I was using a firm hold on the rifle. I went back to a light hold for the next nine. I started putting them in one wad about the size of a 50 cal slug at 200 yards. I missed a pickup on one shot and let one slide over about 1/2". A stranger was watching so I offered for him to take a shot. His went right in the same wad I was forming. Most people at the range just have no frame of reference for this kind of laser accuracy.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with this barrel. Once again it was the nut behind the trigger. I have another rifle that is the twin to this one that I still need to put pillars in. I'm guessing that will fix that worn out barrel too. I can't wait for June, though I will be taking my deer with this one again this year. At 100 yards, I just choose which spot between the eyes to use as the entrance wound. Too bad I didn't figure this out in time for the postal shoot.

Unreal....but oh so true!

One of the local PD snipers stopped by my private table at the gunshow, inquiring that he heard I did gunsmithing. Two rifles were not shooting well. One is a brand new Sendero in 308. This rifle has a couple of problems. I advised him to send it back to Remington.

The second rifle is a 308 PSS with approximately 4K rounds down the tube. Says it will shoot two in nearly the same hole and then the next two in another hole, about an inch apart.

Took the HS stock off and showed him where the action was moving in the stock (shiny spots on action AND on the aluminum bedding block). He indicated this was impossible. I then showed him how much slop there is between the action bolts/pillars and how much room between the recoil lug and the bedding block.

I offered to bed the action, but he is going to talk with HS.

No need for him to talk to HS, there absolutely have to be some manufacturing tolerances to adhered to, so it will fit most any Remington action. All it needs is a bedding job, which all rifles seem to need nowadays, anyway. I wouldn't bother HS with it, it ain't their fault. Alas, some folks just think all you have to do is buy something, and it'll be miraculous. It doesn't work that way................

glenn asher wrote:No need for him to talk to HS, there absolutely have to be some manufacturing tolerances to adhered to, so it will fit most any Remington action. All it needs is a bedding job, which all rifles seem to need nowadays, anyway. I wouldn't bother HS with it, it ain't their fault. Alas, some folks just think all you have to do is buy something, and it'll be miraculous. It doesn't work that way................

Yep, I completely agree. Just because the stock has a V bedding block system, does not mean it will hold the action in place. Oh well....

glenn asher wrote:Alas, some folks just think all you have to do is buy something, and it'll be miraculous. It doesn't work that way................

I saw a post on another forum where a guy sent a new Savage rifle back to the factory and said if they can't get it to shoot .25moa he did'nt want it back.
I really felt sorry for Savages customer service that day.