Poor shooting Rem 700 youth model

45C said:
so some of you think 1 1/2 moa is acceptable? My SU 16 can do better than that .. lol
I’d try some different bullets or powder
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He did try different bullets and powder.

IMHO, those rifles with "pencil" barrels aren't intended for shots past 200 meters.

They're for light, stalking rifles, where shots seldom exceed 100 meters.

Every Rem 700 and Rem mod 7 rifle I've kept for my personal use that had factory pencil barrels on them, I usually replaced the barrels with heavier barrels.

After three shots, groups tend to open up more with every shot.

Some of them, with pencil barrels, shoot very well, but it's luck of the draw.

A youth rifle shooting into 1.25 inches with factory ammo, is usually about as good as it gets. IMHO.

OP, with that twist rate, I would stick to flat base bullets, with short ogives.

Cup and core types, loaded at those velocities, will shoot fine, are cheaper, and at those velocities will perform just as well.
 
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Shots past 200 meters?

Sounds like what most hunters do, but a pencil barreled rifle that cannot manage it is exceptional level of junk, IMO
 
Changing the barrel will be the most effective adjustment at this point

AKAalbertacoyotecaller, I would shoot 3, three shot groups with a cool down between each group at the same aim point and post up the target pic. It will give us a good idea of the potential of this firearm​

 
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I respectfully disagree.
The stock is the easiest thing to change and is likely to be very effective, along with being much cheaper than a barrel swap is likely to be.

I have had numerous pencil barrels over the years and they all shot very well as long as I did my part and treated each shot like a "Cold Bore".
Granted I no longer own them because my personal kink is for rifles that will shoot a 5 round group relatively quickly.

I sincerely doubt that any modern bolt action rifle, even the savage axis. ruger americans, etc., wont shoot MOA with decent support.
I have only ever owned one rifle that wouldn't shoot MOA and I got rid of it. The guy I sold it to shoots it to 600 yards now, well under MOA.

OP, are these rifles even free floated?
If not, that's a place to start, then bedding and stiffening of the rear portion of the stock. Depending on the vintage, some SPS stocks can be stiffened, others are not worth the effort.

Do you know anyone with a R700 Short action chassis like the MDT?
Drop the barreled actions into a chassis and try again with 80-95 grain bullets. If they wont shoot MOA from a chassis, use them to hold up tomatoes in the garden.
 
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The twist on your rifle is just fine for a 100 grain Hornady bullet.
Clean your barrels... make sure all the copper fouling is gone.
Are the barrels free floating? You might want to try that on one for a test.
If factory ammo shoots better than your reloads, that is a statement in itself.
 
45C said:
So if a 1 1/2 to 2 moa rifle is good enough for hunting,what’s up with all the gun manufacturers coming up with 1/2 moa rifles? Why bother,especially if it’s only a waste of time as nobody can shoot that well anyway?
And what’s the cut off 3 moa, 4 moa?

Or maybe they should start advertising guns as 100 yard capable?
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What we want is often not the same as what we need. - dan
 
Leavenworth said:
Yes . MOA is a 3 inch circle at 300 yards ?
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MoA is minute of angle. It's based off a circle - 360 degrees is a full circle, and each degree can be further divided into 60 minutes. This terminology might be familiar to you in the context of paper maps, where coordinates may be listed in degrees and minutes.

So when you use MoA to talk about the size of a group, it is distance-dependant. At 100yds 1 minute of angle is a linear distance of approx. 1.047". At 300yds 1 minute of angle is 3 times larger, or about 3".

Here is a picture. If you're still not quite sure let me know and I'll try to help you understand.

1000030318.png
 
Beeron said:
I respectfully disagree.
The stock is the easiest thing to change and is likely to be very effective, along with being much cheaper than a barrel swap is likely to be.
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To be fair he said most effective, not easiest. A new barrel from a reputable company isn't cheap, nor easy(unless you've got the tools already), but it IS likely to be effective.
 
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I can't remember where I read this little saying, but it is so telling!
"There are a lot more 1/2 minute rifles out there than 1/2 minute shooters"
In my experience without a bench , front rest and rear bag, you can expand that to 1 1/2 minute shooters!
As far as a rifle being sub 1 MOA capable for hunting out to 500 meters being needed , it's far more about the shooter.
1MOA is totally acceptable for a kill on a deer at 500 .
Cat
 
Suther said:
To be fair he said most effective, not easiest. A new barrel from a reputable company isn't cheap, nor easy(unless you've got the tools already), but it IS likely to be effective.
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There are lots of very decent Remington take off barrels around. Much cheaper than a custom barrel.

I see them at gun shows, often right around $100.

Likely someone on this site has a decent take off barrel looking for a home, they would sell/ship reasonably.
 
bearhunter said:
There are lots of very decent Remington take off barrels around. Much cheaper than a custom barrel.

I see them at gun shows, often right around $100.

Likely someone on this site has a decent take off barrel looking for a home, they would sell/ship reasonably.
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Sure. But if the goal is best accuracy possible why bother? Especially if you've got to pay someone to do the work?
 
guntech said:
The twist on your rifle is just fine for a 100 grain Hornady bullet.
Clean your barrels... make sure all the copper fouling is gone.
Are the barrels free floating? You might want to try that on one for a test.
If factory ammo shoots better than your reloads, that is a statement in itself.
Click to expand...
I better not touch the barrel and clean it then…
 
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Suther said:
Sure. But if the goal is best accuracy possible why bother? Especially if you've got to pay someone to do the work?
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Most, not all Remington take off barrels just screw in without anything else needed, if they're from the same model.

Some need a bit of fireforming, and others may need the chamber reamed, if the owner insists on clocking the barrel so all of the stamps are in the correct position.

IMHO, the OP has just been unlucky with two rifles, and his hand loads.

He should pull a bullet on one of the factory rounds that shoots well, and purchase similar bullets.

If factory rounds are shooting better than his handloads, he's doing something wrong.

The very odd rifle prefers full length resized cases. All sorts of factors when it comes to such issues.
 
In this case, I've barely shot any 80gr ELDx in my 22 Creedmoor, and have only tried one powder. I bought a box of Precision Hunter and a box of Match 80gr just to see what it did in my rifle for velocity to give me something to compare my handload speeds to
 
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Factory ammo is like picking a random load from the book. Is it LIKELY to be the best load for your specific gun? Nope. But it COULD be. There is absolutely a chance that you picked the right load right out the gate, even if it's a small chance.

Do it a few dozen times and those chances stop being so small too.
 
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