Several years ago, Guntech built me a rifle on a 721 action I had laying around.
Barrel is a Lothar-Walther SS, 26", 1-8" twist, 6.5mm. The works is bedded into
a pepper laminate 700 BDL stock with pillars. It is chambered 6.5x55AI.
I built it as a sporter class rifle for the 1000 yard game. It has always shot well
with 140 Berger match bullets, or the Lapua 139 Scenar, with groups in the 5-6"
region.
I have decided to hunt this rifle this year, so bought some 142 grain Nosler LRABs
I loaded them in fireformed Lapua brass, CCI 200 primers, using 51.0 grains of
H1000, seated .015" off the lands. [I worked up to this amount] To my delight,
this load is very accurate, and will be just fine. See left group in picture below.
measures .33 moa....there were two prior groups around .5 moa.
Second group [on the right in picture] is from my Winchester M70 Featherweight
factory barrel in 7x57 Mauser. [160 Accubond, WW case, RP 9½ primer, 49 grains
IMR 4451, seated .020" off the lands]
This rifle initially gave me fits. Any load I tried shot into 4-5" with flyers very frequent.
I tried 139, 140, 145, 150, 160 grain bullets, but all were about the same. Since I
bought it used, I was thinking maybe I bought a "pig in a poke".
I decided to strip it down and take a good look. Here is what I found: Someone had
bedded it but failed to relieve contact between the barrel and stock on one side.
Additionally, the Guard screws were brutally tight..
On the positive side, it has a Timney trigger, which I promptly adjusted to a crisp 2¾ lb.
I corrected the bedding issues, relieved the stock contact, and properly torqued the 3
guard screws.
The group you see on the right is the pleasant reward I got for my work. I actually shot
3 consecutive groups of ¾ moa or less, with this the best at .37 moa.
I am ready to take either [or both] of these hunting deer this fall. Dave.
Barrel is a Lothar-Walther SS, 26", 1-8" twist, 6.5mm. The works is bedded into
a pepper laminate 700 BDL stock with pillars. It is chambered 6.5x55AI.
I built it as a sporter class rifle for the 1000 yard game. It has always shot well
with 140 Berger match bullets, or the Lapua 139 Scenar, with groups in the 5-6"
region.
I have decided to hunt this rifle this year, so bought some 142 grain Nosler LRABs
I loaded them in fireformed Lapua brass, CCI 200 primers, using 51.0 grains of
H1000, seated .015" off the lands. [I worked up to this amount] To my delight,
this load is very accurate, and will be just fine. See left group in picture below.
measures .33 moa....there were two prior groups around .5 moa.
Second group [on the right in picture] is from my Winchester M70 Featherweight
factory barrel in 7x57 Mauser. [160 Accubond, WW case, RP 9½ primer, 49 grains
IMR 4451, seated .020" off the lands]
This rifle initially gave me fits. Any load I tried shot into 4-5" with flyers very frequent.
I tried 139, 140, 145, 150, 160 grain bullets, but all were about the same. Since I
bought it used, I was thinking maybe I bought a "pig in a poke".
I decided to strip it down and take a good look. Here is what I found: Someone had
bedded it but failed to relieve contact between the barrel and stock on one side.
Additionally, the Guard screws were brutally tight..
On the positive side, it has a Timney trigger, which I promptly adjusted to a crisp 2¾ lb.
I corrected the bedding issues, relieved the stock contact, and properly torqued the 3
guard screws.
The group you see on the right is the pleasant reward I got for my work. I actually shot
3 consecutive groups of ¾ moa or less, with this the best at .37 moa.
I am ready to take either [or both] of these hunting deer this fall. Dave.
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