TC Pro Hunter

hubee_7j

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Joined
Nov 1, 2009
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37
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Cross Timbers MO
I have been lookin into buyin a TC pro hunter and was wondering what I can expect for accuracy .I like the looks of the 280 and I looked at there custom shop and they chamber in the 280 ackley I could go that route if I like what I hear. Thanks
 
I would buy a frame and order a custom barrel from MGM or bullberry etc. The TC barrels are kind of a crapshoot. The likely hood of getting a bad one from the custom shop is probably less but buying the frame and a custom barrel is not that much more expensive. I have a pro hunter frame with a mgm 350 rem mag barrel that shoots under an inch. Mine is totaly stock no hanger bar or oversized hinge pin.
 
I have two barrels for mine both are just TC barrels. My .243 shoots .300 with my 80 grain Sierra Blitz reloads and my .280 shoots .80 with 140 grain Nosler BT's. I have been using rl17 with good luck. I don't know what factory loads would do since I have never shot factory rounds in any of my personal guns. Good luck choosing a barrel, factory or custom, and the cartridge of your choice...
 
I have the pro-hunter and 2 factory barrels. My .223 is a slow-twist (1 in 12") and seems to be incredibly-accurate, but that's with 40-grainers. I'm not a good enough shot to know about the '06 yet (recoil-shy...)

Check out Mike Belm (website) , some people with a re-worked Bergara barrel get 0.1" groups. These guns are VERY sensitive to proper headspacing, which is measured much differently than with a bolt-gun. They will shoot if things are right, no doubt about it...

280AI sounds great...
 
I would buy a frame and order a custom barrel from MGM or bullberry etc. The TC barrels are kind of a crapshoot. The likely hood of getting a bad one from the custom shop is probably less but buying the frame and a custom barrel is not that much more expensive. I have a pro hunter frame with a mgm 350 rem mag barrel that shoots under an inch. Mine is totaly stock no hanger bar or oversized hinge pin.



I am with Cajun on this 1+
 
I 2nd Cajun on this one. MGM, Match Grade Machines really make good barrels for really no more that a factory T.C barrel would cost you. I had them make me a SS Shilen 14" Contender pistol barrel in 30-30AI that is outstanding in the accuracy department. Well under 1" at 100 yards.
 
I have a ProHunter in 280 rem, and it will not shoot ANY factory loads under an inch. Have gotten good results with some 4350 and 150gr Siroccos though. If i did it again, i'd either go with the Ackley or 7mm STW from MGM
 
I have a Pro-Hunter with an MGM 280 AI barrel (28" 1-10 Douglas). It has a hanger bar & trigger job by Stratton. Primary hunting load is a Barnes MRX 140 over IMR 4831 & Nosler brass (3120 fps MV), worked up using the ladder method. Barrel to frame gap is .002 and I bump the shoulders to get as close as possible to .001 headspace. Bullets are set .045 off the lands. It consistently shoots 3/4 moa or better (as long as I do my part).

I'm very happy with the MGM barrel - those guys do great work.

MA
 
I am glad I found this thread as I am in the process of tuning up a load for a T/C Prohunter in .280 REM. AI may be in my future.

Mowdy AG, how did you identify 0.045" as your ideal off the lands seating depth? I also noted you mentioned your barrel to frame dimension. What is the ideal measurement for this dimension and why?

I am still learning how to make this T/C work so any insights would be appreciated.
 
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MGM makes a heavy factory barrel contour which I really like. Enough meat that it doesn't heatup too bad at the range and still makes for a well balanced rifle. Now I will say this. I did have a minor problem with my MGM barrel. The locking bolt mechanism was sticking and not resetting the trigger. The rifle would lock closed but the bolt was not moving far enough to reset the trigger. I was able to load it up with kroil and it finally worked free and started functioning properly. A coworker has a similar issue with a 350 whelen barrel and had to send it back. That being said I really like the barrel and plan on buying another in the future.
 
Whitesheep - after settling on an optimum powder charge (determined with all bullets seated .050" off the lands) I essentially did another ladder test with the only variable being the seating depth. The bullet-to-lands range I chose was .025" to .060" (Barnes recommends .050" as a starting point) in .005" increments, with six shots per increment. The bullets were color coded, by seating depth, with a Sharpie after loading and then mixed in random order for the test. The test was "blind" in the sense that I was unaware of each bullet's seating depth as the test proceeded.

Range procedure:
Tested at 300 yards using Lead Sled
Fired three foulers, then fired 16 test loads (target #1).
Cleaned barrel
Fired three foulers, then fired 16 test loads (target #2).
Cleaned barrel
Fired three foulers, then fired remaining 16 test loads (target #3).

I did this on a cool, calm day and took my time to minimize barrel heat-up.

I brought the targets home, touched the bullet holes with an alcohol-soaked Q-tip, and the paper lit up with the colors. I then measured and recorded x, y, and total distances from the origin (bulls-eye) for each hole, threw out one (worst) flyer from each set of six, determined the average dx and dy for each remaining set of five, and determined the SD for each set of five relative to average dx and dy. I also determined the total distance from hole #1, to #2, #3, #4, #5, then #2, to #3, #4, #5, then #3, to #4, #5, then #4 to #5, then the average and standard deviation for each set of ten measurements for each set of five. Theoretically it would have been better to have a larger sample size but I decided on a 48 shot limit, not including the foulers. Statisticians would probably fuss at me but enough is enough. The math part probably sounds like a lot of work but it's not bad if you're handy with Excel.

The total distance (hole-to-hole) Standard Deviations for each set of five were as follows:

.060 - 1.42"
.055 - 4.08"
.050 - 1.66"
.045 - 0.79"
.040 - 1.24"
.035 - 1.43"
.030 - 1.34"
.025 - 1.80"

.045's dy (vertical) results were the best by far (SD = 0.28" to second best 1.16") and dx (horizontal) results were second best (SD = 1.08" to best 0.70").

So you can see that .045 clearly gave me the tightest five-shot group. .040 was second best, supporting the indication of a sweet spot. I also plotted the hole coordinates on separate graphs and it was plain as day.

Might .044 or .046 be better? Maybe, but the .045 results are good enough for me.

Ideal barrel to frame gap? The idea is to minimize the movement of the round during the firing process while avoiding head contact with the frame prior to firing - in other words, ~.001" head space. I think a .002" barrel-to-frame gap is very good in a mass-produced modular rifle like the Encore (head sticking out of barrel .001" results in .001" headspace). Greater gaps can be dealt with relatively simply by tweaking the shoulder to head dimension (within reasonable limits) if you're a reloader and/or by using headspace shims. Some argue that this whole issue is overblown with respect to Encore accuracy but as you can probably tell by now, I'm a stickler for detail, so I definitely consider it in my own reloading.

You can find more interesting reading on the headspace subject at Mike Bellm's website (if you haven't already found it).

Hope this helps,

MA
 
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Mowdy AG,

Thanks for the detail. I didn't know about the alcohol sharpie thing, but I'll give it a try as I do like a blind test. I just got back from the range today and identified that my T/C likes the bullets seated touching the lands for the Sierra 160gr Game Kings I was testing. This is from eyeballing the spread. I have digital photos of all the targets so I will measure the spread, but it is pretty clear which was best of five shot groups.

I also started the process of working up a load for 168gr Berger VLD hunting bullets. I was able to get a best ever group from this gun with the bullets touching the lands. I need to spend some more time with this load. Berger generally recommends seating touching the lands, which I did, but Eric Stecker has an article on this site that suggests this may not be the case for all rifles. It likely is for mine, but given your seating depth analysis, you may be better off back a ways.

On another thread on this site Mikecr and others have put forth the idea that it is best to identify ideal seating depth before powder weight. You might be interested in this thread which is under the article, Load Tuning, By Jerry Teo.
 
Mowdy Ag is right as far as directing you to Mike Bellm's site also David White's site at D&T Custom Gunworks, between these to sites is all you need to know about accurizing a TC Encore or Contender and how to get the best performance out of them......
 
Whitesheep - I haven't loaded Sierras or Bergers for my Encore but have heard that Bergers do shoot best when touching the lands. That is not the rule of thumb for Barnes, although Mike Bellm reported good results in doing this for at least one 280 AI rifle. Aside from Bellm's exception, it seems to be generally accepted that, in most cases, Barnes bullets do best when they "jump" into the rifling. I did not test them with .000" clearance due to concerns about possible pressure issues with the all-copper bullets (although it apparently worked out OK for Bellm). Bottom line is, I wouldn't necessarily assume that what worked for the Sierra's and Berger's would work for all bullet brands in your rifle.

Thanks for the tip on the other thread - I will check it out.

MA
 
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