More 358 Hoosier questions

[cptmclark]

I've made the decision to have a rifle in this caliber. I have a 700 short action to start with and am ready to proceed. I found a nice fellow who is reputed to do a nice job with these, but he's not able to offer an accuracy guarantee. My first semi custom rifle that I didn't do myself and I'm not able to take much disappointment in the accuracy department. Sub MOA rack rifles are commonplace nowadays.
Some have reported very good accuracy and I wonder who did the work. Found a second source who quotes more than double the price, but hadn't gotten back w answer to accuracy question.
I wonder if barrel makers do this work. As you can tell, I'm green at this and don't want to make a mistake.

Thank you for any and all wisdom offered on this topic. I'm excited to be planning a new rifle project.

 

[Kleab]

They aren't the cheapest, but you should take a look at Hart Barrels.

You can send them your action and you will get a target-worthy barreled action in return.

 

[taylorce1]

The main problem your having is not having an accuracy guarantee from a gunsmith?

Lets be honest here, what do you expect? Any good gunsmith will stand behind his product to be free of defects. If built correctly with quality components you can expect a reasonably accurate rifle. However, what it sounds like you are asking for is an accuracy guarantee based off of your hand loading and shooting skills.

You're building a wildcat round with no factory ammunition to support it, so why would a smith be willing to give you an guaranteed accuracy out of it? Now if your willing to pay to have the smith develop the load data for your rifle and produce targets to guarantee accuracy, then there really isn't a problem with what you're asking. If you expect to walk away from your gunsmith with it only having been test fired for safety and still expect an accuracy guarantee then you're being unrealistic in your expectations.

Sub MOA accuracy guarantees only work if the person shooting is capable of shooting sub MOA. Plus most stipulate that "Premium Factory Ammunition" must be used. Most of the time the rifle out shoots the shooter regardless if it is factory or custom IME.

 

[cptmclark]

Ouch! That smarts!

My point of view is that it's going to be expensive (to me) and so it should perform to a certain level. I've bought a number of rifles that have accuracy guarantees. Only once did I send one back and it was corrected pronto.

Sorry if I offended someone in the business. Not intended.

This is a first experience for me, and I would be very sad if it turned out badly and I had no recourse. Badly is relative, but there are generally accepted levels of accuracy. I want my lever gun to shoot 2 to 2 1/2 MOA, with best tuning and loading. A custom or semi custom bolt gun should be able to hold inside 1 MOA and not be too finiky about tenths of grains and such. My match rifle does 1/2 MOA with more than one load. I don't think anyone should feel insulted by my saying that. I get to have my opinion too. I've achieved MOA with rack rifles for 50 years, just bedding, floating and normally careful loading. Occasionally I've failed, but I'm an amateur. I didn't offer myself as a professional. Frankly, I don't know why a professional would be offended by a customer wanting what is now considered normal good accuracy for mild recoiling rifles. Either he would offer that or not, but to take offense is a warning sign. Just my opinion of course.

 

[AllenJ]

If an affordable gunsmith gave me an accuracy guarantee I'd be suspicious, there are just to many things out of his control. It would be more believable if it were a gun maker giving that guarantee, since they're using components they either make or have vast experience using, and therefore have success with time after time. I think the best you're going to do while still staying affordable is pick a reputable gunsmith who has references, and who you like.

 

[taylorce1]

You didn't offend me and I don't work in the business, and I'm sorry if my remarks offended you. I have had built a couple of custom rifles, and have never expected an accuracy guarantee. I did however use smiths that had very good reputations for building accurate rifles.

However, without the willingness to spend a lot of money your not going to find very many smiths willing to stand behind an accuracy guarantee. Here are a couple of quotes from companies that will build rifles with accuracy guarantees. Their rifles start in the mid $3000 dollar range and go up from there.

People often ask "What type of accuracy guarantee do you offer?" It seems that most gunsmiths will offer you a .5 MOA guarantee but, in reality, custom built rifles will perform much better than that. The magic is in the ammo and the shooter. Don’t get me wrong, the rifle has to be first class with only the best components being used in it's construction but, at the end of the day, it boils down to shooter and ammo.

My guarantee is this:
Each rifle I build will be built to the absolute best of my abilities. Rifles we build that are .30 caliber and smaller, will print three shot .25” moa groups at 100 yards when match grade ammunition is used. If you have requested that we only re-barrel your receiver with no stock work, our accuracy guarantee does not apply.

G.A. Precision guarantees the accuracy of its rifles to be 1/2 MOA at 100 yards with match grade ammunition. This guarantee applies to any complete build or partial builds where G.A. Precision both barrels the rifle in combination with bedding it. As long as GAP agrees that supplied components are quality.

G.A. Precision defines match grade ammo as factory manufactured ammunition that the manufacturer markets or signifies as match grade or target grade Etc. Example: Black Hills Match, Federal Gold Medal Match, Cor-bon Match, Lapua Match , RUAG Swiss target, Remington Match ETC. This does not include hunting ammunition where the design of the bullet is to expand and retain weight these bullets are not typically accurate.

So hence my suggestion your desire of an accuracy guarantee is a little unrealistic with the wild cat round you want to build.