Affordable accurate western rifle.

[mallardsx2]

God bless those Condors. Or lack there of.

 

[mcseal2]

So...I've been playing around with a Winchester Model 70 featherweight 300WSM. I put it in a Bell and Carlson stock, and tried several brands of factory ammo. The best group I can get is a little over 1 inch. I've read you should get .5 inch group for a good western gun. Anyone have any opinions on a quality gun for less then $1000?

I seem to have better luck getting groups with Nosler Accubonds or Ballistic tips than most factory ammo. I have a suspicion they are a little more forgiving on seating depth than most. For whatever reason no gun I have has liked Hornady ammo or bullets as well as Nosler or Sierra with the exception of the varmint bullets. Also better include the exception of a couple 7.62x39 guns shooting the 123gr SST I guess. I've loaded Interbonds and GMX bullets in several rifles and also experimented with the Superformance ammo but never found a load I stuck with using these.

Anyway if you haven't tried a 180gr Accubond load I'd try one. I've had good luck with the Nosler factory ammo loaded with Accubonds shooting in several rifles. It's on the expensive side but shoots well and the velocities are consistent.

If your barrel might have copper built up it might be worth giving it a real extensive cleaning also. I have had that really help some rifles I bought used. After I think the gun is clean I soak the bore with Hoppes #9 and let it sit overnight. If absolutely no blue comes out the next morning I quit, otherwise I keep soaking it and cleaning periodically until it does.

 

[SansSouci]

I have no clue of recently manufactured Remington Model 700's. My first big game rifle was a Model 700 in .270 Win. The '06 was thought to be too much gun for a kid when I was a kid. That rifle will shoot .25" with 60 grains of H-4831SC & 130 grain Gamekings.

If I were to buy a new rifle, I'd probably buy a Sako 85. But I don't need another rifle. Euro Optic has Sako 85's on sale right now. I believe one in .270 Win is under a grand. That's one heck of an excellent price. I believe Sako 85 is guaranteed to shoot 5-shot MOA.

I own two Sako AV's. They're 100% reliable and accurate. But they're not more accurate than my 43 year-old Model 700.

 

[Catahoula12]

RR I concur with Colorado Cowboy. It's not cheap to get started with reloading ( purchasing reloading instruments). You will see much improvement loading your own rounds. Do what you can to get started with hand loads, best of luck with your improvements moving forward....

 

[tim]

So...I've been playing around with a Winchester Model 70 featherweight 300WSM. I put it in a Bell and Carlson stock, and tried several brands of factory ammo. The best group I can get is a little over 1 inch. I've read you should get .5 inch group for a good western gun. Anyone have any opinions on a quality gun for less then $1000?

just use that gun, .5 inch groups just to hunt is keyboard jockey talk.

 

[Prerylyon]

RR I concur with Colorado Cowboy. It's not cheap to get started with reloading ( purchasing reloading instruments). You will see much improvement loading your own rounds. Do what you can to get started with hand loads, best of luck with your improvements moving forward....

Well...idk, you can reload on a budget. I got into reloading back in '14 ahead of a unexpected tag draw, so I could have ammo for my .280 Rem. I just bought the most basic Lee hand press, balance beam scale, calipers, some related cleaning/case tools and RCBS die and have been pretty happy. I wanna say it was well under $200 for all that? (not including components). No, I can't crank em out fast, but the cartridges shoot fine and kill stuff.

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