Recently traded for a bone stock 24" 5r in 308. I've tried 5 different kinds of match grade factory ammo that came with the rifle. Hornady, Remington and black hills168-175gr bullets. I've shot a 1/2lb of varget behind various sierra bullets from 165-180gr. Every powder charge and coal imaginable. Action screw tourqe from 45-65lbs. Swapped scope and mounts. Barrel is not touching a thing all the way down. Muzzle crown looks good to my untrained eye. The rifle will not shoot less than 1.25 groups at 100yds. What else could it be besides a bedding issue? I own several light weight model 7s that will greatly outshoot this thing.

Why not glass bed it?

Could be a copper mine. Tried cleaning the bore?

I have one, 300 Win mag, 3/4 groups on the first load I tried. 168 Barnes

Could be full of copper like posted above.

Son in law has a 308. He gets 1/2 with his. He would probably get that with mine too, ain’t as good as I once was.

I have a couple of 5Rs in the heavy barrel mil-spec version; one's a .308 and the other a .300 Winchester. Both shoot accurately, but .308 loads must be seated to full magazine length, about 2.84" with some bullets for best accuracy. Looks like it has a freebore-type throat. I've had good results with Varget in .308s, but have generally found that H4895 often makes slightly more accurate loads even if you have to give up a little velocity.

Although I like Varget in the 308, I'd try other powders. I've found that it pays to try different components in looking for an accurate load in any rifle.

I shot a similar rifle with a 20" barrel. Twist rate was on the barrel at 11.25. Throat was quite long, which I didn't like. However, it shot well with Federal Match ammo, 168 grain Sierras. The best load I found was 44 grains of Varget under the same bullet. The owner wanted to shoot 125 grain Ballistic Tips for less recoil, but they were too short for consistent accuracy. Sometimes a rifle needs a barrel bump in the stock's barrel channel to shoot accurately. I have one rifle like that now. I used two layers of silicone tape near the end of the barrel channel and it worked.

Varget is the popular choice, but for whatever reason I've done the best with H4895 and lately, RL15, about 41-42gr of that under 165-168gr bullets. F210M primers when I can get them, or CCI BR2.

I'd JB the bore and make sure the barrel and stock can't be squeezed together with firm pressure. Mag box clearance. Check that base screws aren't bottomed out.

Still, if those groups are 5-shot, 1 1/4" ain't awful, just not wonderful, or even 3-shot for most uses. Maybe that's why it was traded.

Bingo

That would be my guess if it doesn’t have a barrel full of copper.

Make sure the magazine box is not binding and glass bed behind the lug. Try Federal Gold Medal Match , if you cannot get sub 1" with that get rid of it.

Some rifles can be down right picky and finding the right load can be a challenge.What is the charge weight of your loads?Brass can make a big difference too due to different case capacities and also hardness.I like to start with once fired brass when doing load work up.I find I get more run out after brass gets harder and that also can affect your accuracy.Some rifles also hate a particular bullet.Seating depth another factor,bedding and the list can go on and on.Some barrels are not going to shoot well no matter what you do.I've fire lapped a few and helped some.Welcome to the world of every rifle is different.Some are easy and some are not.Powders I've had really good luck with are TAC,Varget and Accurate 4064.I use Winchester brass,WLR or WLRM primers.I started using the magnum primers and really didn't see much difference between those two primers.Here are a few of my loads that work well in my rifle.

I totally agree with the comment re: FGMM, if it does not shoot great groups with that loading rebarrel or sell it.

Yep, just look how many of our members happily "send down the road" just such a rifle for the next unsuspecting sucker to suffer.

Yeah, thats the chitty thing to do. I'd pull the barrel and use it for a tomato stake before I sold a poor shooting rifle. My buddy has a rem 700 stainless 5R barrel and that rifle loves FGMM, so the guys suggesting that ammo are spot on. However, id be on the other suggestions first, starting with a good glass bedding job. Id check to make sure its mechanically sound. IE: good crown, clean chamber, good sharp riflings, full freefloat, no binding mag box, loctited bases with proper length screws, fine tuned trigger. Then after all of that, if it didnt shoot the FGMM then, id pull the barrel. The 5R barrels are some of the least finicky barrels ive seen. Use a good "proven" scope, and not a leupold for x sake!!

If that gun won’t shoot lights out with good bulllets in the 165-178 range with Varget, then something is wrong. Mine will cut one ragged hole with an assortment of loads, and I’ve never read about one that wouldn’t shoot.

I agree with the binding mag box suggestion, and I certainly agree with bedding the stock. I skim bedded mine even though the HSP stock and its bedding block.

Is your scope known to be good?

Hes probably running a leupold

I got burned by a rifle that actually shot well when it chambered and fed correctly which was next to never. There is no way this person did not know of that issue , no plucking way.

Scope/mounts is the first thing I suspect.

I would try another scope also, before it went down the road

Well I found a partial can of 10 year old 4064 in the back of my cabinet. Worked up to 43.5 grains behind a 168gr matchking seated to magazine length and wouldn't you know it 10 shots went into 7/10ths of an inch. Anybody ever seen a 308 that didn't like varget? I had burned a 1/2 pound of the precious stuff in the last week tried every combination with it possible and 1.25" groups was the best it would do.

Maybe you finally got it broke in, or maybe you just got lucky.

I suggest you throw the barreled action in another stock if you have one available. I had a Sendero one time that I fought for over a year, then one day when I was sanding away just a little more material for better free float, I broke through the skin of a huge f**king bubble in the stock, probably an inch long, half inch deep. Basically I'd been shooting a tuning fork with a broken leg. So now, after I am sure the optics are good, bases are solid, trigger assembly isn't hitting the side of the stock, barrel is freefloated like it should be, etc I try swapping stocks. Probably would have saved that Sendero if I'd done that up front but in the year I had it, shot the crap out of it, and moved the throat 3/8ths of an inch farther up the barrel. It was done. Sold it to an accuracy shop where someone had something else built on it and tossed that problem stock in the trash.

Tom

sounds like you just needed to find the node. the 11.25 twist is “technically” for the 175 match king, but mine shoots 168s fine too. i never got best luck w varget, but if you want to do 1000 yd shooting with the 175 smk it is what most seem to do w the .308.

168s with r15, 4064, or 4895 at more pedestrian velocities is usually what i end up doing with my 308s. 39-40 g of 3031 and a 168 is a very accurate easy-shooting load. im rambling, you should go check out the 308 thread in the handloading section

A lot of guys love varget and swear by it. I've, at times, have sworn at it. Finally giving up on the stuff, as I found better accuracy with RL15 and AR comp in both 223 and 308w. I ultimately made the switch to AR comp, as it flows through my powder measure better than RL15 and forget about varget running through the uni-flo like water. It just doesn't happen. Varget has a following by guys that won't let it go and try something better, kind of like glock fanboys or tikka fanboys, or leupold lovers. They just use it and recommend it to everyone they know, even though there are far better products out there... I'm glad the op found a better load for that rifle. Those that suggested FGMM were spot on, generally those 5R 308's love that load. Good suggestion about the 175 for 1000 yard shooting too. My buddy is taking his remington 5R 308w to a match with me in April. We will be shooting from 300-1000 yards, but he's stuck on using the 168 FGMM because his rifle loves that stuff. His rifle will probably do pretty good, but he's preparing to get a good azz whooping from the 6.5 CM CTR...

I have two 40-x’s in .308 and one of them likes H-4895 better than Varget and the other does better with IMR-4064.

My brothers 5r is more accurate than his GA precision guns...no joke. Most accurate rifle I’ve ever seen. Shoots a 175 over varget

Well, at least you know now what powder to buy.

Make sure the front base screw closest to the muzzle isn’t bottomed out against the barrel threads. I had one that drove me bat sh*t trying to figure out. Also shorten the front action screw by one thread has fixed a few 700’s issues.
Good luck, Tom

I have had 2 of the 5r's, had a 24" and have a 20'', both shot good or better. Sounds like you got it figured out, but I bought a bunch of 168gr ELDM bullets and just couldn't get good groups with Varget. I dont have time to reload with little kids and work, but I would give the Federal Gold Metal 168gr a shot. I'll try some other powders another time, but for now I have some federal that average less then 1/2".

Agreed. I’ve had a few of these over the years and all shot FGMM very well no fuss.

Maybe check torque on action screws.