Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Gunsmithing **Where to start on accurizing?**

I would like to accurize my Winchester 70 Sporter in 300 Winmag, and have never had any work like that done before, where would I start, and what modifications should I do? I am not happy with this guns accuracy.

make sure the glass is good.<P>have some trigger work done.<P>float the barrel (i've heard that this may actually hurt accuracy on some guns, but it has ALWAYS helped mine, and if it is not accurate now, what do you have to lose?)<P>glass bed the action.<P>anything beyond this, is beyond me and my budget. there's still plenty that can be done, but by now the gun is usually a shooter (moa or better is a 'shooter' to me).<P>do you handload? if you shoot enough to justify the entry fee, this may be your ticket by itself.

The first thing I do with a new rifle is take it out of the stock and adjust the trigger until I'm happy with it. 3# is about right.<P>If you don't handload then there's not much point in going farther than that. Factory ammo may or may not shoot well out of your rifle. If you don't handload you don't have a baseline from which to start.<P>Second thing I do is to tap a fired case and measure the distance to the lands with my stoney point tool. Then I work up a load with the bullet .010" off the lands. It's rare that an accurate rifle won't shoot well with almost any load seated .010" from the lands. <P>If it doesn't shoot well then I glass bed the action and free float the barrel in the process. Come to think of it all of my rifles except one are glass bedded and free floated, the only exception being my M70 .375 H&H that shot 1.25" groups out of the box which is good enough for me for a .375. I wouldn't hunt with a deer sized rifle that wasn't free floated because temperature changes can affect stock pressure on the barrel and alter point of impact with thin barrels.<P>Summing it up:<BR>1)adjust trigger<BR>2)handload<BR>3)free float and bed<P>As mentioned above, you've got to be sure your scope is solidly mounted but that goes without saying. Also make sure the stock bedding screws are tight, no rifle will shoot well if the screws are loose.

First, Mojo, is the inspection stage. Check to see if the barrel is square at the muzzle, if the crown is centered (look at it thru backwards binocs to magnify-works like a loupe), and then eyeball the action screw holes. Are they in a straight line, or is one closer to an edge? Check the inletting for the action...is the recoil lug set straight in the stock, or is it a hair crooked? Inlet some more and use Acra-Glas if it isn't perfectly square. Is it pillar-bedded? IS THE PILLAR STRAIGHT IN THE STOCK?!? You'd be surprised how often they aren't.<P>Next, go to the range with a few tools. Loosen the action screws, and retighten them with a screwdriver bit in a torque wrench. Give them 20#, fire a test group, then increase in increments of 5#, testfiring as you go, until you get really tight. Any change? Memorize the values for the best groups. Keep in mind that the front and rear do NOT need to be torqued to the same #'s!<P>If your riflestock is supposed to be freefloated, run a dollar bill under the barrel, between it & the stock. Does it stick anywhere? If so, it may be time to either channel-ream it, or get a box of Acra-Glas.<P>Also, handload to progressively longer OAL; seat the bullet closer to the lands once the screws are properly torqued. <P>Lastly, tap each scope base screw in turn with a screwdriver on it using a 5 oz brass hammer, to cinch them down as tightly as possible. Use Loc-Tite Blue.<P>You should have groups 1/2 to 1/4 the starting size now. This has never failed me, and trust me, factories do NOT always get it right. If you want it done right, you must make sure it gets that way. Or buy an Ed Brown $3500 rifle that has already had this treatment done...the only other group-shrinker I can recommend is a Browning BOSS-type barrel weight that can be screwed in or out, and locked, to help deaden the oscillations caused by the stresses of firing. The muzzle has to be threaded for this, and you will need help if you don't have a lathe handy.<P>I prefer to buy more guns, personally!<P>Good luck, friend.<P>Jonesey

#1...trigger job.<BR>#2... have a good smith check the bedding<BR> and glass bed etc if he suggests it.<BR> I would also have the action "smoothed" a bit to take off any sharp edges.<BR>#3... Have the muzzle recrowned.<BR>If I still didn't like the way it shot, I would try David Tubb's "Final Finish" lapping process.

Model 70's, in my rather limited experience, benefit greatly from better bedding. <P>Don't know what your budget is but you might give Hill Country Rifles a call. They offer an accurizing service and guarantee to cut your groups by 50%. Their work includes bedding, recrowning the barrel, adjusting the trigger and lapping the locking lugs if headspace allows.<P>Their charge is $225 for this and if they can't meet their accuracy guarantee they only charge $150.00. They say their turn around time is 2 to 4 weeks - that's as good as and sometimes better than my local gunsmith.<BR> <BR>Never tried them myself but others on these boards have given them good reviews so thought I'd mention them.<P><A HREF="http://www.hcrifle.com" TARGET=_blank>www.hcrifle.com</A> or phone number is 830-609-3139

Thanks Jim, I have checked into them before, I have also looked at Answer Rifles as well for such services, as well as a local gunsmith. I have since bought a bedding kit and wanna try that myself first, and then decide where to go from there. I have adjusted the trigger down to a better weight, but it could stand to be lower yet. After I bed it myself, I will shoot it a few times to get an idea if its improved and see where its at.

If you do your own trigger tuning, make sure you do a thorough safety check after you make the adjustments. Most factory triggers benefit as much from a good polishing job as a simple tuning of the release weight.<P>As far as bedding, put release compound on everything you figure that will come in contact with the resin, and also places you woudn't expect it to come in contact with.

I rebarreled a 7mm mag for a guy a couple of months ago but he didn't want to pay to have it glass bedded. I was getting a little better than 1" groups at 100 with factory ammo during testing and I explained to him that bedding the rifle would quite probably cut that in half. But he didn't want that. Instead he had me send the barrel to be cryoed and ordered a HS Precision stock with a bedding block at the same time. The bbled action came back, the stock came in and he picked them up. Came in with a big grin on his face a few days later with a target showing no groups larger than 1/2". I would really have liked to shoot it in the original stock after it was frozen just to see if that or the new stock made the difference. I personally think the stock with the bedding block did it for him but he is now a convert to the cryo process. George

Good to hear, as I just ordered an HS Precision stock for my 300 Winchester 70 Classic. Hope it makes my groups improve as well. I decided to go this route for weather and impact resistance rather than bed the factory walnut stock.

If I could throw a suggestion in here. This also goes for your new stock as well do not over tighten your action screws. the rear should be just snug not tight or reefed on. The front should be tight. Also, tighten both screws, then if you have access to a dial indicator or some other way of measuring the movement of the forearm loosen the front action screw and see if the barrel pulls away from the stock as if there is a pressure point causing a bend in your action. A Remington 700 Varmint that I had had almost no movement maybe .002, a Ruger that I saw had .010-.014. Not conducive to accuracy. Sean

Precision Shooting Magazine sells a book called "Accurizing the Factory Rifle". It sounds like it would be a good resource.