Featherweight possible Accuracy

[danacobb]

I have a Win Model 70 Featherweight in 270WSM with a Nikon 2.5-10 Tactical and Harris bipod.

I use this gun for deer hunting and punching paper. Shots at deer won't be over 400 yards. I would like to punch paper as out to 800 yards if possible, but haven't yet (We're in the middle of setting the range.)

At the current time I don't hand load, but would like to start in the future. I have had the trigger adjusted to 3.0 lbs, fully glass bedded the action, and floated the barrel.

Before doing any work to the rifle it would consistant groups of 1.5 MOA, and every once in a while a .75 MOA group at 100 yards, with factory Win 130 or 150 BST's, but did notice the POI would change day to day. After having the work done, the POI doesn't change anymore, and the groups are about 1 MOA.

I am very happy with guns performance for hunting, but would like to get more accuracy for punching paper (this is currently my only long range rig).
Is it possible to get consistant .5 MOA with factory ammo out of a Featherweight stock? If so, what do all of you sugguest to start? True the action? New Barrel?

Sorry for the length, wanted to put down all the facts

Any suggestions would be much appriciated. Thanks.

[ 04-06-2004: Message edited by: Cobber ]

 

[Brent]

Certainly respectable from a factory featherweight in my book. My son has a Classic Compact in 308, biut 1 MOA is what it'll hold in factory fair. I just bedded it and got serious about ridding it of the creep in the trigger, now I'm anxious to see how it performs myself.

This one here, I know I'm at the end with it and it'll need a better barrel to get me any tighter, just done too much testing on it to leave anything else unturned. Plenty good for it's intended use in my case, or my son's that is. When he can hold 6-8" at 500 yards I'll get a new barrel put on it for him, until then he's got more practice on this barrel to get done.

True the action - Yes
Custom barrel - Yes (Maybe a carbon wrapped)

This one would still make a darn good practice barrel though, even hunting to be perfectly honest, but I feel your pain!

 

[danacobb]

Thanks for the response Brent. Just out of curiousity; how long do you wait in between shots with the factory toothpick? I know mine gets warm real fast. If I let it cool way down in between every shot, my groups tighten up a lot.

 

[Brian Rybicky]

I always wait about 1min maybe more/less depending on wind/temp, if you shoot a light barrel fast you can actually see it warp

 

[Pahunter]

I have a featherweight 7mm wsm. After a

little work it shoots 3/4 moa groups

consistently if Im doing my part.

 

[danacobb]

I've been pondering on this topic for a few weeks, and thought I would ask for a few more opinions. I've been shooting with my rifle out to 700 yards and it shoots well; but I want a rifle that shoots better than I do.

-Is it possible to get .5 MOA with factory ammo out of any gun?
-Is it possible to get the best possible accuracy out of a fetherweitht stock or do I need a McMillan or HS stock?
-If I keep the featherweight stock, should I have it pillar bedded? or just leave the full action bedding?
-What advantage does it give you changing the action bolts (ie B-squear etc...) or the recoil lug. (I've seen this mentioned on here).

Sorry to bring the topic back up; I just need to find some more input.

Thanks,
Cobber

 

[Ian M]

-Is it possible to get .5 MOA with factory ammo out of any gun?
I believe that you might mean - out of any factory gun? Reality as I see it is that you might get real lucky and happen to get a super-shooting factory rifle - but to average .5moa with factory ammo - let's say five consecutive five-shot groups - very rare. Calls for some **** fine shooting skills also. Some ammo can approach that accuracy, particularly BHA match or Black Hills Gold.

-Is it possible to get the best possible accuracy out of a fetherweitht stock or do I need a McMillan or HS stock?
Your stock is designed to be a nice handling, nice carrying tool that also looks good. It was not designed for optimum accuracy which is what some of the composite stocks have going for them. Matter of fact you can replace that wood stock with a McMillan factory featherweight stock - would it shoot better? Tuff to say, if you pillar-bedded each style of stock they will both shoot good. Only the composite stocks are much more resistant to dings and scratches, and they do not change if they get soaked.

-If I keep the featherweight stock, should I have it pillar bedded? or just leave the full action bedding? Best would be full-action bedded with pillars - they go hand in hand.

-What advantage does it give you changing the action bolts (ie B-squear etc...) or the recoil lug. (I've seen this mentioned on here). You cannot do anything about your recoil lug, it is integral and a good heavy one at that. Changing to B-Square stock bolts just lets you tighten the stock bolts more uniformly - you use a better screwdriver design is all (allen).

Your light barrel is one big factor influencing how well your rifle will shoot. It is going to heat up fast and accuracy will suffer. But that barrel also makes the rifle nice and light for carrying - it is a trade-off. If you want more accuracy and accuracy that is less influenced by barrel heat - Winchester makes the Coyote in the same caliber, but even that barrel is not really very heavy.

Enjoy your rifle for what it is designed to do - if you push its potential out farther then more power to you. Most important thing is to shoot a lot and get to know it very well.

 

[BountyHunter]

Cobber

You can true the action and rebarrel and easily get .5 MOA. However you are looking at $800 more for a 400 yard deer rifle. If built a 7 STW on mountain rifle kevlar stock, 26" #3 hart barrel and it would shoot .2-.3 normally, so it can be done. However, I used Neil Jones dies ($275) and BR loading techniques.

Suggest you learn and work with reloading more. Take that $800 buy quality reloading tools and a chrony and learn to make quality reloads. In the process you will find that you can tighten it up to 3/4 MOA in all probability

BH

 

[Pete Lincoln]

Ive a remington 700 that was 22.250,it is now a 308. i have trued the action and installed a factory remington 700 308 barrel that i begged in a gun shop for free. it shoots consistent 3 shot groups of 1/4" at 100m with Norma 180 grain Vulkan hunting ammo. the head space has been taken back to a minimum so that when a cartridge is seated in the chamber and the bolt is closed it forces the case between the bolt face and the shoulder with slight pressure. some factory barrels will shoot, some won't, they are all a bitch to clean. only way to make sure is have the action trued and have a good quality barrelinstalled. then try Hornady ammo.. Norma and lapua too..Pete

 

[Guest]

I believe thatthe weak like in this system is the "factory" ammo. The factory stuff is very generic , trying to get decient accuracy out of all guns. If and when you start reloading I believe that you'll probably be able to cut your group size by at least 25% maybe even 50% , that would equal groups in the .5-.75" range.

The trick to getting thin barrels to shoot is letting them cool suffeciently.
IF , I were going to do anything to a complete factory rig to try to help it shoot I would send it off and have it cryogenicaly stress relieved , I would doubt that any factory barrels are frozen and most are hammer forged so their is definatly some stress in that tube , NOTE: I'm not a big fan of having guns frozen but I have seen 5 factory guns done and ALL of them had tigher groups when they got back , they groups diden't wonder about like they did before.

In short , get your self a reloading kit and start rolling your own ,I know a couple guys that are getting into it and have gotten great results from the folowing setup

Lee Anniversary Reloading kit ($65)
Forster FL Bench rest die set ($50)

The Forster dies are great especialy for the low price , just set you FL die to resize just the neck and you'll see better groups from that. With this setup you'll be able to load better bullets for longe range and taylor the seating depth , one of the guys started out reloading by simply pulling the factory bullet and seating them back but not as deep so the bullet diden't have such a long jump to the troat.

 

[Brent]

Cobber,

I must have missed your question to me a while back.

Temps up here are pretty mild, but I still let the little 308 barrel cool 2-4 minutes between shots after the first couple down the tube.

Last week I really got it smokin hot to see the effects. I put about 80 rounds through it and half the strings were 5 and some 10 shot groups fired with no mercy on the little barrel. I fired enough both ways that I saw no difference in "this" barrel here.

I have noticed my 300 Ultra shift around some if I don't keep the barrel temp stabilized.

 

[danacobb]

Thanks for all the excellent info. At the current time, I don't have time to reload; but I am going to in the future. I'm trying to get this rifle to be my dual purpose target / long range hunting rig, but I don't mind lugging around the extra weight. I'm not going to do anything to it untill the winter (can't shoot much here in VT in the winter).

So after soaking in the info given, I think I'll have a heavier (#4 or #5) aftermarket barrel put on, have the action trued, and have pillars installed and keep my featherweight stock (I like the looks). Hopefully by next summer, I'll be able to start hand loading.

Thanks again for all the info. A year ago I thought a 200-300 yard shot was far, now shooting 650 doesn't seem to bad; thanks to the info on this site. Thanks again; you guys are great!

 

[BountyHunter]

Cobber

think you should try some different ammo, but with the 270 WSM being new, might not be too much to choose from.

Personal opinion is going to a new slightly heavier barrel ($450-500) is a big waste of money if you are still going to shoot factory ammo with limited choices. Doubt that will give you what you want by itself.

Have the muzzle of the barrel recrown and pillar bedded first. Then retry.

If the bore seems rough while running a patch through it, then order the David Tubbs Final Finish kit ($30) and have someone load 5 each of the bullets to fire down the barrel. They are coated with a grinding type compound in various grits to smooth the throat and bore. Normally helps accuracy in factory guns. Has 5 grits and 10 bullets each. Think I would start with 5 each and see what it does.

But custom barrel and same factory ammo is probably still not going to fix your problem and cut groups to .5 MOA.

.5 MOA can easily be down with lightweight gun, custom barrel and quality reloads. Your problem is that the 270 WSM does not have multiple brands of ammo to try and find the load the gun likes. You are really going to have to reload.

You can go on Ebay and buy used Rockchucker press ($50-75), used RCBS 10-10 scale($30), dillon micrometer ($30 new price),Forester BR 270 WSM dies ($60) and other odds and ends for an additional $150-200 and that will get you started very easily. All of that is less than your rebarrel job and you can hit the .5 to .75 MOA mark very easily and cheaper to shoot than factory ammo.

BH

 

[Brent]

The only thing I'd add to what BH said is, you will also be able to shoot twice the ammo for the same cost, which means the learning cuve (we all have one) gets twice as steep in all likelyhood, a huge bonus!