Howa 1500 308 accuracy issue

[rafterjg]

Recently bought a Howa 1500 barreled action in .308, I bought the oryx chassis and glass bed it to the action. Rifle has Timney trigger, mdt 20moa base and the Burris xtr ii scope.
When I first got this rifle put together I ran tubbs lapping rounds through it to lap the barrel before figuring out the best load. I bought factory 150,168 and 178gr ammo and put it to the test and can not get anything under 1.5" groups and that's with 168gr.
Any ideas where to start, I tried my best to set this rifle up to be a shooter but I'm coming up short. I have taking the rifle apart to check bedding, action screws, scope base rings etc torqued. I know I'm not going to get .25 moa from this rifle but I was hoping to be under 1"

 

[jjmp]

Maybe have a gsmith evaluate it ,no pun intended. Cheers

 

[Ol' Red]

How many rounds down the barrel so far?

 

[Monteria]

How did you bed it? I learned the hard way that, unlike remington clones etc., any action with the front action screw in the recoil lug must be bedded to the bottom of the lug with no relief.

I'm sure that's probably common knowledge. I sometimes have to figure things out myself...

 

[rafterjg]

How many rounds down the barrel so far?

I did the 20 that were in the lapping kit. Then with the rounds tonight using the three different loads that's another 30ish

 

[del2les]

You may also want to have the crown checked and the bore slugged for size.

 

[rafterjg]

How did you bed it? I learned the hard way that, unlike remington clones etc., any action with the front action screw in the recoil lug must be bedded to the bottom of the lug with no relief.

I'm sure that's probably common knowledge. I sometimes have to figure things out myself...

I used devcron. Dremeled out some material around both action screws and behind the lug. Drilled recessed holes to allow bedding to adhere. So the back tang is bedded. Then then recoil lug bottom and behind by the mag well. And about a 1/2 in front of the recoil lug.

 

[Beluebow]

Just out of curiosity why the Tubbs final lapping thing without shooting the gun first?

 

[Chesterrose79]

Try using a different scope that you know is good. Might be the scope not the gun.

 

[Ol' Red]

I did the 20 that were in the lapping kit. Then with the rounds tonight using the three different loads that's another 30ish

My last rifle took about 100 rounds to start shooting good. I did not use a lapping kit though. I tried different powders and bullets during that time and then went back to the ones that were best. The first groups out of the barrel were over 2 inches, but about .5 inch when I went back to them. Good luck.

 

[rafterjg]

Just out of curiosity why the Tubbs final lapping thing without shooting the gun first?

I had read on a forum about a guy with a Howa doing it and had good luck with breaking it in and helping with cleaning

 

[Critter Picker]

Mine loves 2000 MR powder and 168 Sierria MK . I use Lapua brass and seat bullet to .02 jump. Will feed from mag.

 

[Turpentine21]

On my 308 gas gun I tried 8 different powders before I found the one. It would do 1 inch to 1.5 to even 4 inches with 1 brand of bullets. With AR comp and 165-168 grain bullets it's an honest .4-.5 gun.
I'm not sure if you reload. ***Use at your own risk. If you do try 41.5 of imr 4895 in LC brass, 39 grains of 3031, 42.8 of imr 4064 *** Gold Medal Match Clone, 46 grains of Varget ***this is a max load, work up to it. 40.6 of AR Comp in LC Brass, 41.7 AR comp in REM Brass, 42 AR Comp in Win. Brass. All of these loads use 165-168 grain bullets. I use Fed 210 primers but CCI 200s will work. These are known accuracy loads in the 308. Some are old military match loads. Unless specified I'm using commercial Winchester brass. Work up to these loads carefully. Very carefully.
If your rifle won't shoot one of these loads decently you very likely have a gun or a scope problem. Also check your scope mounting system as well as parallax.

 

[old_heli_logger]

I used devcron. Dremeled out some material around both action screws and behind the lug. Drilled recessed holes to allow bedding to adhere. So the back tang is bedded. Then then recoil lug bottom and behind by the mag well. And about a 1/2 in front of the recoil lug.

I'm not sure about Howa's, but Savages don't like the back tang bedded; they like it to be free-floated.
Good luck!