Gunsmithing 7mm STW accuracy w/brake

[mtang45]

I had a Remington 700 professionally built 7 years ago and it has never lived up to what I thought it should do. It has had the action trued, bolt sleeved, originally bedded in a Accurate Innovation stock, and a 9 twist Shillen Select match barrel. I have recently tossed the original stock and put into an AICS and upgraded the scope to an HDMR.

I have tried several powders as well as an array of Sierra, Berger and Hornady bullets in weights ranging from 154gr to 180gr. This rifle hates lighter weight bullets and will only shoot 180 gr Bergers consistantly. By consistant, I mean that the best the 180's do is 3/4 MOA. I know that this is not necessarily "bad", its just that I have box stock rifles that shoot better and for my long range rig I expect better.

My question: When I had this rifle built I requested an adjustable brake (like the boss) as I was into this concept of barrel harmonic adjustability. What was installed on my barrel was a Que. Adjusting the Que has never done a thing for group size but it does do a great job for recoil reduction. Recently I had a friend suggest that that maybe the Que was the root cause of my randon grouping. Does anyone think there may be any fact behind his suggestion? Can a brake effect trajectory to a small degree?

All comments appreciated.

 

[jeepwilson]

Re: 7mm STW accuracy w/brake

All of my brakes are non adjustable but do what they are intended to do.You should be able to take your brake off and try it but remember to hold on.A muzzle break makes me shoot better by all means because of being able to relax while shooting.I would suggest working on load before blaming break.I would try adjusting the jump on your best loads.And an older guy told me a long time ago that to get more velocity out of the STW use a large rifle primer instead of magnum primer.But I have never tried it.Good luck.

 

[mtang45]

Re: 7mm STW accuracy w/brake

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: jeepwilson</div><div class="ubbcode-body">All of my brakes are non adjustable but do what they are intended to do.You should be able to take your brake off and try it but remember to hold on.A muzzle break makes me shoot better by all means because of being able to relax while shooting.I would suggest working on load before blaming break.I would try adjusting the jump on your best loads.And an older guy told me a long time ago that to get more velocity out of the STW use a large rifle primer instead of magnum primer.But I have never tried it.Good luck. </div></div>

Thanks for the input. Interesting concept on the large rifle primer instead of the magnum. As far as seating depths I have tried the the Bergers at various depths but being Berger VLD's they seem to only like being jammed into the lands. I need to try the new Berger Hybrid VLD's since I hear they are less sensitive to seating depth.

So you don't think the Que could be a source of bullet trajectory variation?