Last one I owned was a Winchester. Barrel was close to a sewer pipe. With common 150 gr. FMJ's, it shot about 4 inch five shot groups. This was firing from a good solid benchrest with proper sandbags, etc. However, it was suggested that I should try it with 180 gr. bullets. So, I loaded up 100 rds. using 180 gr. Hornady round nose bullets. Also I fiddled a bit with the bedding. End result was that thing went to shooting under 2 inches for five shots. Ten shots would stay under 3 inches. Got to think that if the barrel had not been so rough it would have given wonderful results. Really liked it a lot. Great for deer hunting. However, at that benighted time of my life, I was only really interested in 03 and 03-A3 rifles. So ... that Winchester went on down the road. Oh well. Live and learn. Sincerely. bruce.
PS. One thing that made this Winchester shoot very much better involved some toothpicks. I took two very hard round toothpicks, the sort that are pointed on both ends, and used them to improve the bedding a bit. I thought the rifle would shoot a bit better if it had a smidgen of upward pressure on the muzzle end of the barrel. So, I flattened two toothpicks into a long thin wedge, cut the opposite end off flat and then drove them in about a 1/4 inch off center to the right and left side of the barrel. Result was groups became nice and round and group size went consistently under 2 inches. When I whomped up some fiendishly accurate hot shot super marksman grade ammo - - - the rifle started bunching five shot iron sighted groups under 1.5 inches with pleasing regularity. Just a delightfully accurate rifle . . . even if it did have an odd number of grooves! Sincerely. bruce.
Last edited by bruce; 08-15-2019 at 11:01.
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