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Accuracy Benefits
- Thread starter SRM
- Start date
Glass bedding will almost always give you by far the most bang for the buck. You can do it yourself for less than $30. Get a Brownells Acraglas Gel bedding kit and follow the directions. Make sure to free float the barrel. This is presuming that you have a commercial bolt action rifle.
Start with a decent action and then mate a match barrel to it. A great action with a poor barrel won't improve despite all the trigger work, glass bedding, sights, and other bells and whistles.
If you have an existing rifle and you don't want to rebarrel it, then glass bedding is viable and should be given serious consideration. It's not all that hard but you may also want to consider a synthetic stock. No warpage because of humidity.
Minor modification include converting the rifle to take hexagonal screws. This will allow you to torque the rifle down to the same poundage each and every time.
Heck, just read Precision Shooting Magazine. It's the best.
If you have an existing rifle and you don't want to rebarrel it, then glass bedding is viable and should be given serious consideration. It's not all that hard but you may also want to consider a synthetic stock. No warpage because of humidity.
Minor modification include converting the rifle to take hexagonal screws. This will allow you to torque the rifle down to the same poundage each and every time.
Heck, just read Precision Shooting Magazine. It's the best.
Sounds like some solid advice is already given here. A good scope will improve your practical accuracy... help you hit better. But as said before, it all comes down to your barrel. You want it Free Floated, and Flawless. Custom Makers are working some real magic with carbon fiber barrels with stainless steel inserts. They may cost a bit more than a match grade barrel, but hey - what did you open your first savings account for? To save for something special? One of the best ways to get an accurate rifle is to start with an accurate rifle... Your basing yours on a certain platform already I take it. And Keeping smithing to a minimum... try different loads. Look for boat tail match grade bullets as a starting point, and try different bullet weights and other variables.
Bang for the Buck! I've taken a 15 year old pitted barrel mini-14 and simply with a dot sight achieved 1.25" groups at a hundred yards! no bedding no trigger jobs no barrel work! My secret; 3 months developing a load for THAT barrel! Remember: Bullets, Barrels and Bedding. Once you find a bullet the barrel likes, it's a breeze from there! Good Luck!
Art Eatman
Staff in Memoriam
Concur with the glass-bedding; and see my Dec. 5th post about poor-boy bedding, in "Economical rifle tuning". Next most important is working up a load which marries up to your particular rifle.
I'm partial to a "breaking a glass stick" sort of trigger, and my pet rifle has one of Mr. Canjar's standard triggers adjusted to around two pounds; plus a shoe on it. That's a little light for most people, I know...It helps me a lot on off-hand shots, which is damned important for a walking-hunter.
Most barrels are plenty good unless you're in bench-rest competition.
My personal preference is Leupold scopes, if there is .308-or-more sort of recoil.
My hunting rifles stay under one MOA at 100 yards without worrying about weighing individual bullets or even cleaning primer pockets or tumbling cases. I weigh all rifle charges to 0.1 grain weight of powder. I neck-resize only on brass shot in my own rifles, and check case-length every once in a while when I think about it.
Hope this 0.2 cents worth helps.
I'm partial to a "breaking a glass stick" sort of trigger, and my pet rifle has one of Mr. Canjar's standard triggers adjusted to around two pounds; plus a shoe on it. That's a little light for most people, I know...It helps me a lot on off-hand shots, which is damned important for a walking-hunter.
Most barrels are plenty good unless you're in bench-rest competition.
My personal preference is Leupold scopes, if there is .308-or-more sort of recoil.
My hunting rifles stay under one MOA at 100 yards without worrying about weighing individual bullets or even cleaning primer pockets or tumbling cases. I weigh all rifle charges to 0.1 grain weight of powder. I neck-resize only on brass shot in my own rifles, and check case-length every once in a while when I think about it.
Hope this 0.2 cents worth helps.