Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Rifle wont shoot, what should I try next

I picked up my old Winchester 670 30-06 from my parent place after not using in 10 years. It didnt shoot well, but had a crack in the blind magazine, so I put it in a new boyds stock....still didnt shoot well, so I bedded it...thought it might be the scope...put ona weaver grand slam and its still doesnt shoot. Today I tried 168 grn ballistic tips over 56.6-58 grains of IMR 4350. The tightest group was 3", and the largest was closer to 7".
What should I look at next?

Crown? You could always rebore it to 35 Whelen?

Shooting technique. Are you allowing the bags to do ALL of the work of holding the rifle, with the only contact points being your shoulder and trigger finger? Are the bags placed under the stock and not touching the barrel? Are you allowing the barrel to cool between shots and between groups?

How did it shoot 10 years ago? If the new stock isn't binding somewhere, I'd have to imagine it is a problem in the metal. Fracture, corrosion, fouling, etc.

Have you looked at the bore carefully?

It shot ok. To be honest, 10 years ago it was sighted in and it shot deer, didnt see much time shooting it.
I'm thinking I will try a different bullet before I go too far. I have never had a gun not shoot ballistic tips, but its worth a shot anyway.

Did you scrub the cobwebs out before shooting it? It may be really fouled out or the bore may be pitted, depending how it was stored for the last 10 years. Everything else that's been suggested as well: "binding stock", "crown", your shooting ability. What kind of bedding job did you perform? Is the barrel freefloated? Check your mounts and rings too...

It's not the bullet, trust me. What does the bore look like? How's the crown, trigger, and are the rings and bases tight (loctited down and screws torqued properly and of the correct length)???

I remounted the scope today starting from scratch. Made sure everything is where it needs to be. The crown looks fine, no visible damage, and I cant see anythign in the bore. I had the stock bedded with a small amount of support in front of the lug. I removed that today and it is now free floating right to the recoil lug. I bedded it, and am far from a pro. I can't tell that its torqued or binding, seams ok to me. What should I look for?
I shoot my other rifles fine, so I'm thinkin its not me. 56.5 grains measured just a hair over 2". 57 shot 2.5" with 2/3 within one inch. 57.5 and 58 went to to hell...

I'd take a good copper cleaner and a good solvent and clean the bore right down to bare metal and try again....some rifles get really wonky when badly fouled and you can't see all that stuff just looking down there.The start shooting again.

If that doesn't do it then you have some kind of mechanical issue because 3"-7" groups is pretty bad with your mix of components and no amount of load juggling is going to help.You are just wasting ammo and components.

The rifle may need a good gunsmith to do a diagnostic and a fix.

Send Brad a PM

I had an old family rifle that wouldn't group, despite my hamfisted efforts to correct it. It was a cheapie rifle to begin with, but sentimentality wouldn't let me part with it.

A trip to Mickey Coleman for a new barrel turned it into an amazing shooter. I'm glad I went that route. Turnaround was awfully quick, too.

FC

First give the barrel a good cleaning , second let someone else shoot it for a group.

This is the same route I would take also, if you're going to keep it. I don't have idle time to make a poor shooting rifle a good shooter.

If you are not too attached to it, you could take it to a gun show and trade it towards a real model 70. Either a Classic or a pre-64. That would be my remedy if it were mine.

With groups like that, I'd first investigate the scope. Yes, I know everyone says that, but, if you check closely, you might find something. I've had loose mounts, rings and objective lenses bouncing off of the barrel chamber.

Secondly, I've had more than I'd like to admit problems post-bedding where the action was not tightened down enough. Pillars have addressed some of this, but, prior to doing that, I'll buy some allen head action screws that can be torqued down sufficiently. Has seemed to add almost more to accuracy than the bedding job. Go figure.

Load up a more of the 56.5 grain load for it.
Put a finger of bedding down the barrel channel from the front of the lug running up the channel about 5 inches. Make sure there is a little gap on the front side of the lug.
Shoot a couple 3 shot groups and measure.
Hog about an inch off the front of the finger (changes harmonics)and shoot again.
Hog out and shoot again until all the finger is gone
--OR when you find something shooting a reasonable group.
If get a reasonable group, then vary powder charges and check groups.
Then work with the best group charge varying seating depth.
Then hopefully you will have the hunting load you are wanting.
It has worked for me. But each gun IS different.
jmho
Tim