We have two Model 70 Winchester featherweights, one in 243 and one in 7x57 both excellent for the type of hunting we do - chamois and deer in pretty steep country at around 4000-6000 ft altitude with typical ranges of 200 to 300 yards. We use the 243 mainly on chamois and the 7x57 mainly for deer.
Chamois are a small target (about the size of a goat) and unlike goats quite hard to knock down so accuracy is important. Has anyone had experience in accurizing these rifles?
With the 243 we have adjusted the trigger, pillar bedded the action and free floated the barrel. This has improved our groups at 100 yards to about 1.25 MOA which is OK but not that good. The Winchester manual for these rifles states that some fore end pressure is required for accuracy which seems to indicate that a free floating barrel is not recommended.
So our questions are:
1) What have others done to improve the accuracy of these rifles?
2) Is fully bedding the barrel worth a try?
3) Is fore end pressure desirable and how do you apply it? And how do you measure it or control it?
We have been using PMC 80 gr SP but have not found it very effective on chamois so have started reloading with Hornady 87 gr SP, which should improve our grouping but we still use the PMC as a control load for the "accurizing".
As an aside we have tried a bipod on the 243 with mixed results. From observation it appears that holding the rifle firmly causes the barrel to move down in the stock over the bipod which then exerts variable fore pressure causing erratic groups. When free-floating the barrel we just removed enough wood to allow a double thickness of paper to slide easily between the barrel and the stock but this may not be enough clearance when using a bipod. Any comments?
David
Chamois are a small target (about the size of a goat) and unlike goats quite hard to knock down so accuracy is important. Has anyone had experience in accurizing these rifles?
With the 243 we have adjusted the trigger, pillar bedded the action and free floated the barrel. This has improved our groups at 100 yards to about 1.25 MOA which is OK but not that good. The Winchester manual for these rifles states that some fore end pressure is required for accuracy which seems to indicate that a free floating barrel is not recommended.
So our questions are:
1) What have others done to improve the accuracy of these rifles?
2) Is fully bedding the barrel worth a try?
3) Is fore end pressure desirable and how do you apply it? And how do you measure it or control it?
We have been using PMC 80 gr SP but have not found it very effective on chamois so have started reloading with Hornady 87 gr SP, which should improve our grouping but we still use the PMC as a control load for the "accurizing".
As an aside we have tried a bipod on the 243 with mixed results. From observation it appears that holding the rifle firmly causes the barrel to move down in the stock over the bipod which then exerts variable fore pressure causing erratic groups. When free-floating the barrel we just removed enough wood to allow a double thickness of paper to slide easily between the barrel and the stock but this may not be enough clearance when using a bipod. Any comments?
David