.30-06 Class Project Rifle

[tobnpr]

A well-bedded wood stock can deliver as least as good of accuracy as a poorly fitting generic synthetic stock. On the other hand, most people don't want to put the time and energy into bedding wood stocks so that they will deliver good hunting accuracy.

I would submit, as good as the most expensive and well fitted, synthetic stocks.

A rifle action has no clue as to the material in which it's situated.

A correctly bedded wood stock- and I mean correctly, which is not just throwing epoxy in a few places and torquing down screws- will deliver the same end result (if not better) than a precisely machined CNC chassis system.

PLENTY of benchrest competition shooters use laminated wood stocks.

With epoxy bedding and pillars, there's no dimensional changes- and therefore no variations in torque values and stock fitment. You simply cannot achieve a more precise, zero-movement fit of receiver to stock than a mirror-image epoxy "mold". At the end of the day, all that matters is that the action is stress-free (not being "warped" by action screw torque), and does not move in the stock under recoil. Whether that's in wood, composite, or aluminum is irrelevant.

Fact is, despite the precision of CNC inletting many shooters (including those at the highest levels) still mill out $1K stocks and epoxy bed the actions.

 

[Wyosmith]

You are doing very well Dakota.
My complements.
One tip I might give you is to remember the 60-40 rule for classic forends.
I leave about 60% of the visible barrel in open air and 40% of it in wood. Makes for a nice overall look. Some men like the barrel to be 50-50, so there is no right or wrong way, but the 60-40 look is very classic and most customers prefer it.









Sorry about the poor photography, but you can see the lines and profiles even if they are a bit blurred.

 

[Jbotto]

I've also only gotten on paper with Federal Power Shok and Remington Core Lokt, so it's possible I haven't found a factory ammo/bullet weight combination yet that my rifle prefers.

You shot under an inch with the cheapest ammo you can find? I'd say keep looking for better ammo. I bet that rifle shoots a lot better than it's telling you right now! I've shot decent groups with the Power Shok, but always around the 1.5-2" mark with Core-Lokts. Find some premium ammo to shoot and really see what you can do with it! Congrats on your success!

 

[BusGunner007]

 

[dakota.potts]

You shot under an inch with the cheapest ammo you can find? I'd say keep looking for better ammo. I bet that rifle shoots a lot better than it's telling you right now! I've shot decent groups with the Power Shok, but always around the 1.5-2" mark with Core-Lokts. Find some premium ammo to shoot and really see what you can do with it! Congrats on your success!

Thanks for your enthusiasm I did manage one 3 shot group, taking out a flyer, at under an inch but so far that's been the outlier. Most of my groups are right around 2" with the ammo I currently have. I have another box of the Powershok and I'm going to bring a timer with me to fire them 2-3 minutes apart, as well as play with my rest position to see if pressure on the forend is affecting the groups.

Once it's as tight as I think it will shoot with that ammo, I'll try some other stuff. On my list to try is Hornady SST/Superformance, Winchester Silvertip, and Federal Gold Medal Match. Like I said, I'd hunt with it in a heartbeat in its current condition and tightening in the groups is really about personal satisfaction at this point