Need Help

[Preacherman]

My son has a Winchester Model 70 243 Light weight we can't to group.
Tried several different bullets & powders. Anyone have a good load for this  rifle.we could try.
We tried different scopes and mounts clean barrel dirty barrel.
Thanks Preacherman

[stimpylu32]

preacherman

May want to check the crown on the muzzle , by the way , what cal. ?

Also check to see if you may be getting stock forend pressure on one side of the barrel and not the other .

stimpy

[Chris Potts]

How bad is it grouping?  Did it shoot well with factory ammo?

Chris

[Castaway]

Good advice.  Something else to look at is the rest.  Make sure the barrel isn't supporting the rifle and let the barrel cool at least 2 minutes between shots seems to tighten groups in many rifles.

[myronman3]

also play with bullet seating depth.  different powders can affect it also.

[Catfish]

Try bedding the action and floating the barrel. If this doesn`t help the accuracy it will at least keep the point of impact from moving around as the moisture in the stock changes.

[myronman3]

my brother had a nice rifle he couldnt get to group worth beans.  i went over the basics,  and one thing that stood out to him was customizing seating depth.   turns out,  when he got it set just off the lands,  it turned into a tackdriver.  evidently it had a long throat on that rifle.  it gave him fits and he was about to send it down the road.   his story had a happy ending. 

[MnMike]

Good advise from all.

I have one that gave me fits.

I finally found that it likes to have 100 gr bullets seated long with Reloader 15.

mike

[Dillohide]

I know you said a clean barrel wouldn't group but have you tried a good bore paste on it? I only say that because my Model 70 30-06 got to where it wouldn't group the old IMR 4350 / Hornady 165 gr SPBT combination and I kept it's barrel very clean, I thought. After trying several things, like you, I did the bore paste and it immediately went back to the tight groups I was used to. Copper build up can sneak up on you. If it's a new rifle, I saw where they are making them again, it can be full of factory gunk so the bore paste would still help.

[Preacherman]

Thanks for the all the help. The rifle was made about 1986 don't appear to be used that much.
The boy has been doing the loading so I'm not sure of the col.
It groups about 2 to 2.5 inches at 100 yards. I think I'll try the paste first then on to the seating and so on.
He is leaving for boot camp 11 Feb hope to get it fixed while he is gone.
The barrel is floated but not bedded.
Again Thanks

[skweeker64]

Stimpy had good advise and try all that first. But to take it one step further, if all else fails. Even if the crown looks fine. Try a different type of crown, I had one stubborn rifle that I had to put a target crown on before it would get under 3" groups. Like I said its a last resort.

[jhalcott]

 I know you want the best accuracy you can get,but what does he plan on using the gun for? It IS a light weight gun and 2 t0 2 1/2" groups at 100 yards are adequate for deer hunting. Before you start reinventing the wheel, spend some time figuring out what you REALLY need. I hope you don't take this as a flame, I have had a couple guns that would not shoot under 2". One was a custom .280 that weighed about 6 1/2 pounds with scope. My old man laughed at me for bemoaning the fact it wasn't "bench rest "accurate. He set some old milk jugs out at 300 yards and hit all 5 with 5 shots.! I had the gun built for carrying in rough country and it was as accurate as I needed it to be. I would still have it ,but the mill laid me off for a year. I sold that gun for more than I paid for it. I did NOT ask but was offered the $$ and sold it