A Lemon Story (Sabatti Rover Tactical)

[leendertp]

With the VLD type ogive I run up close but with hybrid ogive I have had great luck around the .1, Imo if I don't shoot with a Berger Hybrid, it just won't shoot. That gun and a good bullet u should be able to toss the rounds together and get moa atleast.

I agree.

 

[moosemeat]

Its not light, I'm lazy to go weigh it, but with everything I'm sure it's 15-20lbs. Doesn't need to shoot in the .2s, would have been fine if it looked like wanting to group, didn't keep throwing bullets far away. Also, the weight doesn't matter, with a big suppressor and brake it's very mild.

The barrel is 21.5mm at the crown and not too skinny. It's not been a noticeable case of 4 shots looking good, then a fifth or second group flying away. I've actually never seen that with any gun yet.

Actually a suppressor does very little for recoil measure in a lab setting. It makes the pressure wave longer but same peak force. What it does is take away the blast that it interpreted by our tiny brains as recoil. Rifle is still coming back at about 80% of unsuppressed force suppressor dependent.
I have "fixed" bad grouping large magnums by just shooting them for friends who either lacked a solid position or where flinching.
My advice- build the most solid position possible. Bag it front and rear. NPA. In position for the rifle to track. Shoot 1 slow 3 round group. Walk down and check the target. Let rifle cool. Try again. If that doesn't fix it rebarrel. 300 prc handloads ain't cheap.

 

[leendertp]

Actually a suppressor does very little for recoil measure in a lab setting. It makes the pressure wave longer but same peak force. What it does is take away the blast that it interpreted by our tiny brains as recoil. Rifle is still coming back at about 80% of unsuppressed force suppressor dependent.
I have "fixed" bad grouping large magnums by just shooting them for friends who either lacked a solid position or where flinching.
My advice- build the most solid position possible. Bag it front and rear. NPA. In position for the rifle to track. Shoot 1 slow 3 round group. Walk down and check the target. Let rifle cool. Try again. If that doesn't fix it rebarrel. 300 prc handloads ain't cheap.

Agree. When the above Winmag wasn't shooting first thing I took it shooting with my dad. Turns out that wasn't me.

Havent been to the farm with this one yet.

On suppressors, I agree with you. But I saw this clip years ago.



It just kind of stuck with me. So for the 300PRC I got a silencer with a brake on the front of it. It really is very nice to shoot. I normally just shoot everything off my bipod with a rear bag, but maybe it's worth trying something different.

 

[moosemeat]

Looks like about 80% to me.

My first long range gun was a 300wm Sendero. It placed in a few bigger f class matches. Shot the factory barrel out and had a Lilja screwed on. That barrel took about 80 rounds to settle down and start shooting. It also loved 190 smk and hated the 200something bergers.

 

[DJL2]

Okay, so my question.

Just change bullets/powder and keeping plugging away or send it back?

My take - you got a normal factory rifle with a normal factory barrel. If you keep shooting 10 rd groups, you’re not likely to get any “when I do my part” worthy results for self deception.

If you send it back, Bergara is going to fire 3 shot groups - I think the protocol call for 3 x 3. If/as soon as one of those goes under 1 MOA, that’s job done and you’ll get the same rifle back, unchanged.

In your shoes, I would rebarrel or sell. That’s entirely on how much you like the action.

 

[leendertp]

My take - you got a normal factory rifle with a normal factory barrel. If you keep shooting 10 rd groups, you’re not likely to get any “when I do my part” worthy results for self deception.

If you send it back, Bergara is going to fire 3 shot groups - I think the protocol call for 3 x 3. If/as soon as one of those goes under 1 MOA, that’s job done and you’ll get the same rifle back, unchanged.

In your shoes, I would rebarrel or sell. That’s entirely on how much you like the action.

That is almost the protocol, its basically 2/3 3 shot groups with 225 ELDM or 215 Berger should be sub-moa. There is a chance the rifle will do this, there is a chance it will fail. I wouldnt be there to see it all, so whatever standard it achieves is almost irrelevant.

I guess I thought if it holds that standard with factory ammo, there would be a reasonable chance that you could tune it better, and you read many stories about good factory barrels from Bergara.

But I think that is where I am. I shot it again today. It went okay (self-deception), tried some new bullets and powder. I had fun, that matters.

We go out to 1500yds once a month, I will load up something from today that shot alright, so give it a whirl at distance and it that's terrible I will rebarrel and probably get a different chassis, KRG Fanboy, and rebarrel with my local gunsmith doing everything so if there are any issues I can just go see Uncle Andy.

 

[DJL2]

My personal philosophy is that if a rifle won’t shoot right with factory ammo, it’s not worth hand loading for it. That might be because I’m not a miracle worker at the loading bench and I’ve never seen a 2 MOA factory gun turn into a sub MOA shooter with hand loads.

I’ve had my share of frustration with factory rifles. My Tikka T3x was the only decent shooter (excluding my KRG SOTIC which has always had a top tier barrel on it) in a group that has included M70, R700, CZ550 offerings.

 

[leendertp]

My personal philosophy is that if a rifle won’t shoot right with factory ammo, it’s not worth hand loading for it. That might be because I’m not a miracle worker at the loading bench and I’ve never seen a 2 MOA factory gun turn into a sub MOA shooter with hand loads.

I’ve had my share of frustration with factory rifles. My Tikka T3x was the only decent shooter (excluding my KRG SOTIC which has always had a top tier barrel on it) in a group that has included M70, R700, CZ550 offerings

Other than this magnum experiment, I've been really lucky. My other rifles shoot great. Some better than others but I have no complaints.