Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Your most accurate rifle

I'm anopther one who shoots very little factory ammo...a couple of my rifles have never fired a factory round, and are pretty accurate. I'd say the MOST accurate with factory ammo is my RRA AR-15 Varmint, but it's not just any old factory ammo...it likes the 69 grain stuff.

My 700 ADL in .270 shoots really well with the Winchester 130 Power Points...got a 2/3" group at 200 yards with it.

None of my Centerfires have ever had a Factory Round fed to them isnce I've owned them !

Hard to hand load those little buggers

My most accurate rifle so far, with handloads or factory has been my Ruger M77 mkII in 300 WM, it does have a Timney trigger though, pretty much under or around an inch for everything, best group was a .297. Have only shot the cheap stuff so far in my Weatherby Vanguard 223, but it is showing promise, best group has been a .515.

Ive gotta agree with none.

I dont shoot "any" factory ammo. I have a old .270 that I dont reload for because it shoots factory federal premium 140 Accubonds great.

My custom .257 wby isnt a barn burner, doesnt shoot in the .2's or .4's or anything SUPER impressive like that, but I have the confidence in it that I can grab it, turn the turrets and kill what is standing infront of me.

I have never had a load for my 300 WM that was worse than an inch and a half. Everything I have fed it is good. Never shot factory loads in it though. The worst was when it cracked the stock and even then it still was about two inches.

It's a BSA action, Douglas barrel and Herters stock, (Herters model U9)

I havent shot a factory round since 92, cept for the box they(Scheel's) gave me after i returned a Winchester for a VSSF 22-250. Now are you talking about a certain yardage? Right now Id say my 6mm is about the best, but my 708 is right there if I dont let the barrel get hot, my new 308 SPSS is showing some promise, all the rifles with varmint barrels wil shoot under an inch(5 shots), sporters also will shoot under an inch but with 3 shot groups, I dont see a need to shoot 5 shots for a deer rifle, but the 708 will shoot under 1/2"(5 shots), so its my 708.

This is an easy question for me to answer.....even if a bit "embarassing". Embarassing because it is NOT one of my finely tuned, custom rifles, but it has consistantly beat any rifle I've owned (and thats a LOT of rifles).

Thirty plus years ago I was a young married man....and very broke. I wanted a true deer rifle (not the lever guns I was using at the time), but couldn't come close to affording one. With the help of a gunsmith friend, I found an old FN Mauser barreled action in the back of his shop chambered for .30-06. He "sold" (actually nearly gave) it to me for $20 and added a walnut board for another $10. Then over the next year he taught me to inlet and carve wood, polish and blue metal, weld a bolt handle and drill & tap for scope mounts (I later taught myself to checker).

This rifle had the military "stepped" barrel and I fully intended to rebarrel as soon as I could put together the funds. However, deer season was approaching so I decide to use it as it was that first year. The very first time I went to the range, I shot 5 rounds of factory ammo after sighting in......and the group measured just under 3/4". That's the FIRST group I fired with this gun!!

The rest of the afternoon was spent firing groups that ALL measured from 1/2" to 1". Over the next few years I tried every brand of factory ammo I could get my hands on.....and they all shot groups under and inch (often under 3/4").

When I started handloading a few years later I decided to work up a load and see just how good this rifle could shoot. As I worked up loads I found that unlike most rifles, this one seemed to shoot tighter and tighter as the loads got hotter. This was in my younger, stupider days and I thought any load that didn't lock up the bolt was alright (flat primers and partial case separations after two reloads be damned). Some of those loads are actually scary when I look back and were....needless to say....ABOVE book loads.

I still have a target on my shop wall fired with some of those loads. It has five 5-shot groups on it. The largest measures .378" and the smallest is just .221". This was an "honest" 1/4" rifle with the right handloads.

Even without those "too hot" handloads (which I abandoned as I got "smarter") this rifle would still shoot nearly anything I fed it. Didn't matter if it was factory or handloads (the handloads DID shoot a bit tighter) and didn't matter if it was 150, 165 or 180 grain bullets....EVERYTHING shot great (at least 3/4").

After many years of use I have begun to see a drop-off in this rifle (not too surprising as I have "personally" put more than 5000 rounds through it and who knows how many before I got it). It will still shoot the best of my loads to an inch, but factory stuff tends to group near 1 1/4-1 1/2" now. I may rebarrel soon, but I've resisted changing ANYTHING for the last 30+ years because I was afraid I'd never get back to the accuracy I had.

I can only pray that another rifle this good comes along before I leave this world......I'm still looking.

My TC Encore with my 243 factory tube topped with a Conquest 4.5-14 would be my most accurate. It will put 5 Federal Fusion 95 gr bullets into the same hole and 5 Federal 100 gr. Nosler Partitions into the same hole. The funny thing about the barrel is it will key hole the 90 gr Swift Scirroco loaded by Remington.

Dang, I got nothing either, only factory ammo I shoot is 22 LR and 12 Ga.

Gunner

Rem 700, McMillan stock, 24" Krieger 1:12 twist barrel, chambered in .308 Win. I've used it for deer & bear hunting as well as varmints and have shot a few matches with it as well. Groups particularly well with 168 gr Federal Gold Medal match ammo, and my handloads shoot well in it too. Have happily and accurately used bullets from 110 - 190 grains from it. Just a real peach of a rifle.

Regards, Guy

My Tikka T3 lite shoots everything from 168 tsx and 165 Hornady handloads to Federal blue box 180 and 150 into 2" any given Sunday. I shot a 5 round group of one of each four times one day and each group was just under 2" with a slight show of vertical stringing. I am pretty confidant that at 100 or 200 yds what ever gets shot is making the trip home. To be honest the 168 and 165 touch each other so that keeps the group small.

My Ruger #1 303 shoots 1.25" groups with either 150 or 180 grain bullets but when shot on the same target gives me a 10 shot 2.5" group that looks like a figure 8.

Randy

That'd be my 700 ADL in. 270 Winchester. It shoots anything wearing the proper head stamp into an inch or better. With its favorites it'll get under a half inch. This was the first rifle I ever legally purchased....

This is with my 110 Accubomb handload but it'll do better with ..... sigh... 130 core-lokts...... shoots 140 Interlocks exceptionally well also.

My Tikka T3, in 6.5x55.

It shoots (100gr BT's, 130gr Accubonds, 155 Lapua Megas), into an inch or less, regardless of charge. I have custom rifles that don't shoot like this. It didn't like VLD's though, but so far, none of my rifles have.

And no masking tape covering flyers Nice shooting

Raybass, The question was perfect, just as you first posted.
While it might not be the case here, I'd be willing to bet the vast majority of hunters out there are using factory ammo. I certainly do.

I doubt I fire more than 70-100 rounds thru all the centerfire rifles I own in a given year. I sight in in June, before I start shooting dperadation tags on the farm, and I'll shoot a couple more times during deer season to make sure noting has moved. The rest of the bullets I shoot are for deer and hogs. I just don't see where I can justify the initial cost of reloading equipment, bullets, brass, manuals, etc to bother with handloading. It would probably take me 15 years just to break even. Even with the one rifle I have that's a bit picky about what it shoots, I can order from Superior ammo, and get exactly what I need.

As to the question in your OP, mine is a Browning A-bolt (I guess that's strike 2 for me!!) It doesn't seem to matter what you feed it, they all seem to shoot well. I can stop at Juniors bait and tackle, and feed store, walk in and find what ever happens to be on the shelf in 130grn .270 Win, and expect it to shoot them to within a 1-1/4" every single time. It shoots 150 grns just as well as the 130's, but of course, the POI changes. I honestly have no idea how many deer I've killed with this rifle.

The most accurate rifle we have is a certain Kimber 84M in .260 that a fine gentleman on here from Texas let me buy.
I have to thank him every so often for giving up on that one. It routinely shoots 120 grn Barnes in to itty bitty 3/8" groups. Makes me look like a far better shot than I really am...

I have a Tikka and two mod 70's that each has shot 5 shot 300 yard groups within 3" with some kind of factory ammo. But none of these will shoot all brands with different weight bullets that well.
I wouldn't expect them to really.
Any time you change a component of your load, you're likely to get a change in the way it prints.

I was actually surprised my Tikka shot the 155 Megas so well. Really long dopey bullet, but my barrel is an 8 twist so it worked great. Just a really slow bullet, so probably won't get much use from me.

Remington Model 700 Faux CDL in .30-06. It shoot's 1/2 MOA or less with any factory ammo. It will do a lot better with the right factory ammo.