.308 handi wont work

[robin-hood-90]

I got this .308 handi barrel in february of this year and i cant get it to shoot it just strings them all over the place in 5 - 6 inch groups,I had the same problem with a .223 handi bull barrel and after an o ring trick and some good handloads it shoots like a champ with half inch groups at 100 yards, anyone have an idea on what is wrong with it?

[Ditchdigger]

Sorry I've  waited so long to answer,but I figured some of the other guys would. It may be a  bad barrel,there's been plenty of guy's thats sent there's back to the factory. Give them a call and ask about sending it back to them to fix it.  Digger

[Mac11700]

I got this .308 handi barrel in february of this year and i cant get it to shoot it just strings them all over the place in 5 - 6 inch groups,I had the same problem with a .223 handi bull barrel and after an o ring trick and some good handloads it shoots like a champ with half inch groups at 100 yards, anyone have an idea on what is wrong with it?

Same here...what load are you shooting...you haven't said anything about that...also have you checked everything on your scope to make sure it's tight? There can be a multitude of different things going wrong...and you haven't really said what you've done to correct it...or how many factory loads if any you've shot from it...so a litlle bit more information is in order before most of us can hazard a guess......

Mac

[Donaldo]

Have you applied the same things you did to the 223 to the 308?  If not why not.

[safetysheriff]

Loose base; Loose rings; defective scope; poor crown on the muzzle; bullets/brass/primers/powder not of the same lot(s); shooting cheap ammo' like I ran into with Sellier and Bellot .223 fmj's that were all "of one lot" per the stamp on the packs -- but the first two bullets I pulled were of different lots !!! (crimping grooves not in the same location told me that, Dagg-Nab-It!!!).  They shot to different locations, as you might imagine.    

Dirty bore; oily bore; heavily-fouled bore beyond just too dirty -- meaning the metal buildup, etc. has compromised all ability to launch the projectiles properly.    The rifle must be scrubbed with bronze brushes and a suitable solvent that can then be left in the bore overnight....and some of the solvents will ruin a rifle doing that.    (I use Hoppe's #9 mixed with either Marvel Mystery Oil or Rislone about 50/50)   You may have to scrub the bore a Number of Times over a 7 to 10 day period to get out all the metal.....if you let the chemicals do a reasonable amount of the work.

Lastly.....the bore is tight at the chamber and loose at the muzzle....out of spec' for consistency in the bore/groove diameters.    This is a reasonable possibility (unfortunately) with a button-rifled barrel.  

Good luck,

SS'

[robin-hood-90]

Robin-hood 90 is my son , he's 14 years old. So i guess that makes me Robin-Hood SR.  I've been messing with guns & reloading for several years & I've never seen a .308 that I could'nt make shoot. But I'm at the end of my rope with this one.   Everything is tight, the scope is good, &  Yes the bore is clean. I've tried doing different things to the fore-arm, my gun-smith gave it a really sweet trigger job & I've lost count of the different loads I've tried.  We went thru this with the .223 bull but we finally got it right. ( It will hang right with my 10FP .308, and believe me thats doing something)   The only thing I havent tried is a crown job, but the crown looks good to me.   Can these barrels be returned , & if so what is the process ?

[Mac11700]

Well...that's a start for info...tell me...how far off the lands can you seat the bullets to,and what types and weights have you tried...one thing I've found with my Handi 308...is it has a very long throat on it...and believe it or not...it gave the best overall accuracy with factory Federal Match Ammo...right at 1/2" at 100 yards on the last postal match we had...and accuracy would fall off the closer I seated them to the lands....

Mac

[Lead Poison]

Robin-hood-90, I have two friends who purchased the exact same model Handi Rifle. They are the brown laminated stock models, both chambered in 308 Win.

When the rifles were purchased, they expectated accuracy to be about 2" for 3-shot 100yrd groups. Boy were they ever wrong-and disappointed.

Both of these guys are so disgusted with the rifles, one has already traded his and the other wants to sell his. The rifles were purchased brand new and well taken care of.

Even though they tried 150 and 165gr factory loads from different manufactures, the best either achieved is 5-8" 3-shot groups.  :evil:

At this point, I don't believe any of us will buy another Handi Rifle.

Would the factory address the accuracy issue and make need repairs? It certainly sounds like this is without a doubt, a COMMON problem!

[Mac11700]

Robin-hood-90, I have two friends who purchased the exact same model Handi Rifle. They are the brown laminated stock models, both chambered in 308 Win.

When the rifles were purchased, they expectated accuracy to be about 2" for 3-shot 100yrd groups. Boy were they ever wrong-and disappointed.

Both of these guys are so disgusted with the rifles, one has already traded his and the other wants to sell his. The rifles were purchased brand new and well taken care of.

Even though they tried 150 and 165gr factory loads from different manufactures, the best either achieved is 5-8" 3-shot groups.  :evil:

At this point, I don't believe any of us will buy another Handi Rifle.

Would the factory address the accuracy issue and make need repairs? It certainly sounds like this is without a doubt, a COMMON problem!

Never heard of it being a common problem with the 308...that's a new one...did your friend do what everyone here has suggested to make these rifles shoot as good as they do???

At this point, I don't believe any of us will buy another Handi Rifle.

That's a real shame...they are worth the little extra effort to make them shoot well....


Mac

[fish280]

mercy.
my electroless nickel plated .308 ultra (actually it belongs to my youngest son now for his 17th birthday last week) consistently less than 1.5 inches with factory remington green box 150-grainers and factory hornady flat base 165-grainers.
i have not tried the rubber washer trick, nor otherwise messed with bedding; i have messed with a half dozen NEFs/H&Rs and am well-versed in the little tricks. we'll probably get through this deer season with what we have then go about attaching better glass, handloading, and trying other brands o' factory ammo.
i did jb weld mount the scope base and used the excellent leupold brand weaver style rings to mount the tacky little $24 bsa 4x32. the ring alignment was perfect. i suspect i could shoot smaller groups at 100 yards with a bit more magnification because the scope appears to be closer to 3x than 4x. but it is clear edge to edge and handles glare well. it'll do for now.
if those boys still haven't sold their .308s i might be interested in one of 'em for a fire-sale price. :wink:

[Mohawk]

I guess I got lucky. My .280 shoots less than 1" groups at 100yds stock out-of-the-box. I have a cheap 3x9 Tasco that still works great.

[handirifle]

I think some people have a misconception as to what accuracy is.  Also wonder how well those fellows shoot their other rifles.  Not flaming anyone but unless conditions are the same from rifle to rifle it's hard to blame the gun.

I just went through hell with my Savage '06 that was previously shooting good and suddenly decided to go south when I put on a new scope.

I finally got it straight again, but should I never buy another savage based on that?  NOT.

No telling if the shots were offhand, from elbows on the bench, from a bench rest or what.  With such limited comments you never know.

I was at the gunshop the other day and saw a guy finishing up a transaction on a synthetic 243 trading it in for a plain ruger 10/22.  He had to pay extra!

I told him I wished I'd met him earlier I'd saved him some time and money.  He had only tried 95 and 100gr loads in it and that was 3 boxes.  What a shame in my opinion.

It's like determining long term reliability of a car by test driving it.