Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Most accurate hunting rifle out of the box

Question is what is the most accurate hunting rifle and caliber you ever purchased or tested directly out of the box without doing any trigger work or glass bedding. Not specifically present rifles but past and present, with either factory or handloads. Mine was Weatherby Vanguard Sub MOA in 30-06 purchased some 15 years ago, it was true under an inch rifle with Federal Blue Box 150 gr ammo and around .75 with various handloads.

Savage, weatherby vanguard

Cartridge...probably 204

Tikka T3X 6.5 CM

Amazingly, a Remington cheapo syntethic stocked 7600 pump in 270 Win. Never monkeyed with much factory stuff in it, but it loved H4350 with various 130 grainers.

Thing was a tack driver straight out of the box, but absolutely nasty to shoot. That narrow stock comb beat the hell out of my cheek. I never did squat to it, other than putting sling swivels on it. Ended up selling it after I moved down here to finance one of my slug gun purchases.

easy peasy - Tikka

I have owned a half-dozen T3 (223 - 3 ea, 243, 308), T1x - 2 ea, and 595 (223, 243 - 2ea)

The only thing I did to any of them was adjust the trigger pull weight, install a scope and start shooting nice groups, varmints or big game.

They sure changed my outlook on expectations of a factory rifle. Why don't other companies produce out of the box rifles that perform this well?

drover

I've had the pleasure of shooting quite a few different accurate factory rifles. One that stands out is a Bergara in 7mm Rem Mag. The handloads I put through it were high velocity and very accurate, using Hornady's 150 grain ELD-X and IMR 8133. Here's the 100 yard target:



Helped a new shooter/hunter sight in her 308 Win, a Weatherby Vanguard "Camilla" - and I was amazed that it was shooting sub 1" groups at 200 yards! From the bench, with Federal factory 165 grain hunting ammo! Not every group was that small, but several were. Really nice rifle right out of the box.

That's just a couple that worked out very well. Have also had great results with Remington 700's, Winchester Model 70's, Savage bolt actions, and more. Have the distinct impression that most of today's hunting rifles can produce very nice accuracy right out of the box, or perhaps with minor tuning.

Regards, Guy

Blaser or Steyr.

Remington 700 in 25.06. A Winchester pre-64 in .270. A Vanguard in .243.

I've had a few do great out of the box with no mods or bedding jobs.

Sauer 100xt in 8x57, out of the box with factroy ammo. 3 Shot group at 100 yards.



Ruger M77 FTW in 30-06 with cheap federal 180gr. 5 shot group.



Ruger African m77 338 win mag w/ Factory Federal 250gr Nosler partitions.

[img]https://i.imgur.com/1kONYbg.jpg?2[/img]

Zastava m70 9.3x62 285gr PPU reloads. Two sets of groups of 3. I was pleasantly surprised with this one. No bedding job or trigger work.



Stock Ruger M77 scout with 2.5X power scope at 100 yards. Norma Factory ammo.



Stock Ruger m77 SS in 338 Federal with factory ammo.




I have also had good results with weatherby vanguard, tikka and winchester. Lots of good options these days.

Ruger M77 MK II Sporter (stainless, laminate stock) in .25-06 Rem, 24" barrel.

The first load I developed was with 75 grain Hdy V-Maxes. Five shots, half grain increments, vertical string 1/2" wide by 1 1/2" high. That looked promising.

Came back the next day with the max load. Five shots, .38" group. Nice.

I subsequently fired three more groups with a fresh target on top of the original target. No individual group ever exceeded .55". That original target has a 20 shot group that measures .72" at the widest part.

It was my long range jackrabbit sniping rifle, back when I lived around jackrabbits.

Bergara B14 in 6.5 CM. Was a .5” gun with multiple factory loads. Never could warm up to the cartridge so the gentleman who bought it got a tack driver.

Rem 700 SS Mountain Rifle in .308. Bought it used at Scheels at a ridiculously low price with the intent to sell it and the scope separately. Shot it for the heck of it before selling. It was accurate with the only round I tried. Scraped together a test lot of 8 different factory loads to get a better idea what I had. The largest group of the 8 was under 1.5”. Most were sub MOA. The best 3 loads were in the .4’s. The 3 most accurate were 150 TTSX, 165 AB and 178 Terminal Ascent so lots of versatility. These are only 3-shot groups, but still impressive from a pencil-barreled lightweight. I never really had a need/want for a .308 but now would have a hard time letting this one go.

used rifle
Savage m340 in 222 Remington 50gr Hornady SP and H322 gives me around 1/4" at 100 yards (5 shots/bench)

new rifle
Remington m7 in 7-08 139gr Hornady FN (discontinued) with IMR4320 (discontinued) gives me 1/4 - 1/2" group at 100 yards (5 shots/bench)
Ruger #1 (1973) in 270 Win 130gr Nosler Ballistic Tips with IMR4320 (discontinued) gives me around 1/4 - 3/8" group at 100 yards (5 shots/bench

i haven't shot factory ammo for about 30+/- years.

Tikka T3 in .260 Rem (1:8")

A bit of a tie between my 30/06 Cooper model 52 and my present Proof Research Elevation in 300 Win Mag with the Barrett Fieldcraft 30/06 nipping at their heels.

A few stand out. A Rem 700 Varmint in .243. A Savage 12 in .22-250. And a Tikka T3x Varmint in .223. Of course, these are designed as varmint hunting rifles.

Weatherby Vanguard Weatherguard in 6.5PRC and a Marlin MR-7 in .280 Remington.

Mine was also a Savage 12 in 22-250. 1/2 to 3/4 capable rifle pretty easily

Rock River AR 223, less than a 1/2 inch with 62 grain Barnes, 3/4 with 62 Bear Claws.

Model 7 Remington Predator in 223, and a Model 700 LVSF 243, amazingly accurate right out of the box. A pair of Walmart clearance priced 700 ADL's in 243, one a Youth Model, the other a 24 inch barrel rifle. Not far behind, another 700 ADL in 6.5 Creedmoor. I also have a Howa in 6'5 CM that shoots every bit as good as the 700's do.