I've been thinking more about what bench shooting improvements can be actually observed in the field with a rifle in a "standard" hunting configuration.
Late yesterday I was shooting a factory 700 in 308 that I've had over ten years now. It's an LVSF barreled action in a McMillan 700 Classic stock. The one action modification is I had the bolt lugs lightly lapped to even up their contact a bit. The factory barrel has seen over 3000 firings.
The load I was shooting used thrown charges of long stick IMR4064, straight from the measure into the cases. I mounted/zeroed a Vari-X III 3.5-10x40, and used it set to 6x.
Despite the failing light of the day, with a heavy brush and tree line reducing the remaining light coming from the west, I was able to shoot 3/4 to 7/8 MOA five shot groups at 300 yards.
So for the purposes of this rifle I probably won't even worry about blueprinting when I finally do need to replace the barrel.
I could see going full custom on a hunting rifle for resale value, satisfaction of ownership and the like. I could also see it for a very precise target/varmint type rifle.
