Shooters,
There is always lots of interest in blueprinting and setting back factory barrels on rifles in order to save some money here and there and save for a full blown build. So I figured I would donate one of my personal rifles for this experiment and just see if I was able to see an increase in accuracy.
Some would argue (I have in the past) that setting factory barrels back is not worth the money. This is still true in my opinion, but if you insist on doing this due to your specific circumstances, then it is still a decent option (after considering a few factors of your rifle/barrel)
Here are my findings from this specific rifle that I worked on.
-I first checked the stock/action relationship. There was actually little to no stress being applied to the action from the stock.
-The receiver face and bolt locking lugs in the action were very untrue. They were squared up, the threads were left alone because we need the factory barrel to screw back on correctly.
-Bolt lugs, bolt face and bolt nose were cleaned and trued up. I only cleaned up the bolt nose because this is a .223 bolt and has plenty of material on the face and around the O.D. of the nose.
-New measurements were taken off the action and the barrel was set back .2000". The factory chamber was borescoped and the throat/chamber was not concentric with the bore. The barrel was re-chambered and throated to my specs, borescoped and final barrel work was completed. The new chamber/throat was clean and concentric to the bore.
-A surface ground Remington 700 recoil lug was installed.
-The muzzle was crowned concentric to the bore and then threaded for 1/2x28 TPI.
- X Mark Pro trigger was tuned to 2 3/4 LBS
For testing I attached a YHM 30 Cal Phantom and used a Leupold Mk4 ERT 6.5x20x50. Target range was 287 yards, pictured below was a 3 shot group.
I also engaged a 10x17" steel target at 500 and was getting groups less than 2" on steel.
Load used for testing was developed for another rifle, Hornady Brass, 25.3 Gr of RE-15, 69 SMK seated at 1.905 measuring with a bullet comparator.
Here are some pictures.
Accuracy increased greatly and this rifle can sure shoot.
There is always lots of interest in blueprinting and setting back factory barrels on rifles in order to save some money here and there and save for a full blown build. So I figured I would donate one of my personal rifles for this experiment and just see if I was able to see an increase in accuracy.
Some would argue (I have in the past) that setting factory barrels back is not worth the money. This is still true in my opinion, but if you insist on doing this due to your specific circumstances, then it is still a decent option (after considering a few factors of your rifle/barrel)
Here are my findings from this specific rifle that I worked on.
-I first checked the stock/action relationship. There was actually little to no stress being applied to the action from the stock.
-The receiver face and bolt locking lugs in the action were very untrue. They were squared up, the threads were left alone because we need the factory barrel to screw back on correctly.
-Bolt lugs, bolt face and bolt nose were cleaned and trued up. I only cleaned up the bolt nose because this is a .223 bolt and has plenty of material on the face and around the O.D. of the nose.
-New measurements were taken off the action and the barrel was set back .2000". The factory chamber was borescoped and the throat/chamber was not concentric with the bore. The barrel was re-chambered and throated to my specs, borescoped and final barrel work was completed. The new chamber/throat was clean and concentric to the bore.
-A surface ground Remington 700 recoil lug was installed.
-The muzzle was crowned concentric to the bore and then threaded for 1/2x28 TPI.
- X Mark Pro trigger was tuned to 2 3/4 LBS
For testing I attached a YHM 30 Cal Phantom and used a Leupold Mk4 ERT 6.5x20x50. Target range was 287 yards, pictured below was a 3 shot group.
I also engaged a 10x17" steel target at 500 and was getting groups less than 2" on steel.
Load used for testing was developed for another rifle, Hornady Brass, 25.3 Gr of RE-15, 69 SMK seated at 1.905 measuring with a bullet comparator.
Here are some pictures.
Accuracy increased greatly and this rifle can sure shoot.
