Has anyone rebarreled their Rem Ultimate ML? Wondering if it has any meaningful accuracy gains vs stock barrel.
I am also considering a Cooper and Knight Mountaineer. I don't think any of them are poor choices but trying to find the right choice for me. Not concerned with cosmetic differences between them, ability to convert to smokeless later, or the cost difference between them. Hoping to get a ML that has the capability to reach out to 250 or 300 if I do my part.
Thanks in advance.
Those that I know of who have changed RU barrels, are only doing so to put a .45 barrel on them to shoot smokeless. Honestly, I know of no one else changing barrels for any other reason.
I'm not certain why you would need to change the barrel just to reach out to 300 yards? The RU is very capable of 300yd shooting. I know an owner with the RU that is shooting his to 700 yards with MOA results. I know of two other owners who are shooting MOA at 300yds, the furthest they've been able to shoot. I just talked to a fella the other day at the sports shop, who said he just picked up a RU and was shooting darn near a "one hole group" at 100. He said he hasn't had the chance to shoot it any further to date.
There can be a couple contributing factors to RU owners who might be experiencing issues. First, you can't expect tiny groups at 300yds, without being able to see a target's tiny dot at 300yds. So many end up purchasing a long range rifle, then install a low power variable, normally a cheaper model scope. Now I'm not saying that a
GREAT shooter can't shoot small groups at 300 with a lower power scope but, not everyone is a GREAT shooter. I'd suggest a higher quality scope, mounts and rings, as the rifles have heavy recoil with maximum charges.
Second, with some rifles and shooters, the lighter 250gr bullet Remington suggests, might not be the best sabot/bullet combination. The two guys I mentioned above are shooting Harvester H5045LB sabots and using 300gr SST bullets.
Third, most new owners want to start right out shooting maximum charges. Some rifles may shoot better with a slightly less charge. 3 T7M pellets will drop you down to 180grs and the combination shoots very good.
NOTE: THE REMINGTON ULTIMATE AND THE ULTIMATE FIREARMS INC. RIFLES ARE THE ONLY RIFLES CAPABLE OF THESES HEAVY CHARGES. DO NOT USE THIS HEAVY A CHARGE IN ANY OTHER PRODUCTION RIFLE. READ AND FOLLOW YOUR RIFLE'S OWNER MANUAL.
There are still some hesitations with the Cooper. Its a beautiful rifle, but to date there's just not a lot of reports, especially long range reports. I've read concerns that Cooper only guarantees 2" groups at 100yds.
The Knight Mountaineer is a great rifle and many of them are shot in competition and do very well. I believe Knight gives a 2"-200yd guarantee on the Mountaineer. There are sometimes issues with blow back and primers, but Knight will take care of the issue if contacted. There is also one person building a custom breech plug for the Mountaineer. He guarantees no blowback with his breech plugs, which IIRC, has a removable/exchangeable vent liner. The bare 209 primer model appears to be preferred by most.
There's also the well proven and documented, long range muzzleloader produced by Ultimate Firearms Inc. Although a much more expensive rifle, it has a much better barrel.
Good luck with your choice.
