Magic Actions: Your thoughts

J

JRinCo

Guest
As I prepare for another shooting season, I'm having an epiphany. I have BAT actions, Nesika actions and Remington actions. Most have worn numerous different barrels in calibers ranging from .223 Rem. to .338 RUM. Some have had different stocks. All of the work was performed by top rifle smiths, names that you would all know and respect.

Conventional wisdom suggests that if your action, bedding, scope and bases are true, that all you need is a good barrel and ammo.

Here's what's interesting. I have kept a very good records of the performance of all of these configurations. What I'm seeing across the board is that an action that would shoot at specific level with one barrel would shoot close to that level any other barrel that I had on it. My first Nesika would shoot in the .3's using either target bullets or hunting bullets as did the next 2 barrels that I had on it. I have 3 BAT actions, 2 of them will only shoot in the .5's and #3 is a drill. The best example is a short 700 Remington action. I started shooting rifle silhouette in 1987 with this action, it has worn an honest 7 barrels and 3 stocks. Calibers .308 Win., .243 Win. and .260 Rem. With this action, 100 yd. groups are never worse that .35 and with its best ammo it will shoot .060. These barrels have a reverse taper and a stock that has a high comb that is designed to be shot off hand.

Does anyone else have any thoughts?
 
Now....

JRinCo said:
The best example is a short 700 Remington action. I started shooting rifle silhouette in 1987 with this action, it has worn an honest 7 barrels and 3 stocks. Calibers .308 Win., .243 Win. and .260 Rem. With this action, 100 yd. groups are never worse that .35 and with its best ammo it will shoot .060.
Click to expand...

Now...I have just one question; is the .060 group consistent, or a one time thing?:rolleyes:

virg
 
No this particular gun will shoot very consistently. I'm wondering why, that I don't reconfigure it and make it my 1000 yd. light rifle.
 
JRinCo said:
Conventional wisdom suggests that if your action, bedding, scope and bases are true, that all you need is a good barrel and ammo.

H

Does anyone else have any thoughts?
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are all of the barrels for a particular action the same length?
 
Maybe 50% of them have been the same length. But I have changed lengths in most of them enough that length doesn't seem to be a factor. There are 4 different brands of barrels that I have used and I like them all.

One of these more expensive actions I mentioned didn't want to shoot. I tried 3 different barrels in 2 different calibers, you couldn't tell any difference in the performance of the whole bunch. Tried rebedding, didn't help. Finally Greg Tannel went through the bolt and tweeked it a little. I can see that there has finally been some improvemet, next week I'll get to shoot a match with it. Stay tunned!
 
I don't think there's any magic to it necessarily. If anything, there is the occasional action out there that just won't shoot. I have five BAT's...four three lugs and a 2 lug. In the last 3 years or so, I've been able to swap barrels on them and all four of the 3 lugs perform the same with any given barrel. The 2 lug is a different animal all together. It never shot. No matter what barrel I put on it, it was doomed to be inconsistent. I've trued it up, re-bedded, restocked, and even had it in my rail. I find it very difficult to give up on something as expensive as a BAT action, but that action is now set aside for a future PD rifle or some such thing.
 
I'm sure of it

Magic actions are prerequisites to hummer barrels.

That said, if your action shoots .060 consistently you really ought to reconsider that deal you made with the Devil.
 
Is it for sale

JRinCo said:
No this particular gun will shoot very consistently. I'm wondering why, that I don't reconfigure it and make it my 1000 yd. light rifle.
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Is this rifle for sale? How many K's for it. You should put this rifle on auction, I'll bet she will go for more than $12,500. I dreamed of something of that nature, after watching 12 hrs. of re-runs of "meet the press" and 1-1/2 days of 'Mary Poppins" w/over a bushel of buttered popcorn under my belt.
 
Hal D. said:
I don't think there's any magic to it necessarily. If anything, there is the occasional action out there that just won't shoot. I have five BAT's...four three lugs and a 2 lug. In the last 3 years or so, I've been able to swap barrels on them and all four of the 3 lugs perform the same with any given barrel. The 2 lug is a different animal all together. It never shot. No matter what barrel I put on it, it was doomed to be inconsistent. I've trued it up, re-bedded, restocked, and even had it in my rail. I find it very difficult to give up on something as expensive as a BAT action, but that action is now set aside for a future PD rifle or some such thing.
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Hal,

Is the trigger properly timed?

al
 
Magic 788 remington

I must have found a magic Remington 788. Several years ago, after an eye operation, I needed a light recoiling rifle. A friend had given me a neglected 788 Remington with pitted bore and action so I decided to rebarrel it to .25BR. I ordered a threaded, chambered barrel from Pac-Nor and fitted it to the action, stoned the trigger the best I could, glass bedded the action, and refinished the stock.
I made my own loading tools to expand and reduce the thickness of the necks (notice I did not say turned), and to seat the 100 grain Sierra HPBT. With the only load I have ever tried, 29 grains of 748, this rifle consistently shoots 3/8" 5 shoot groups when I do my part. The trigger is the weak link on this rifle but I've never found anything to replace it with.
 
That's what I'm talking about

Hal D.
"It sure is. I've done everything imaginable to make that action shoot. I know of several other actions that are afflicted with the same thing, Farley's, Panda's, etc."

It's not my intent to malign any manufactuers quality control, I'd just like to be able to figure out why some of these S.O.B.s will not shoot!

One of these non shooters is on my 1000 light rifle. After doing everything else to it, I called Bruce Baer a couple of months ago. After telling him my story, I asked Bruce if he would sell me a new stock. To his absolute credit, Mr. Baer's reply was, that he would be happy to sell me a new stock, but the problem is not in the stock, it's in your action.

So if that's the problem, then what do you do!
 
Trigger timing...

alinwa...
I recently started a thread about my Hall "M" action about my trigger timing and bolt closing...
the only feedback I got was to....
contact Alan Hall which I did his response was
" does it go bang.!...if you don't have miss-fires there is nothing wrong with it don't mess with it"...
Now I am at a quandry...no-one thought my Hall needed to have the trigger timed...but an action that is not shooting well needs the trigger timed.????

whats the deal...
 
Foggy memory but...

didn't Harold Vaughn find that about half of the accuracy problem were in the action/receiver???
 
JRinCo said:
The best example is a short 700 Remington action. I started shooting rifle silhouette in 1987 with this action, it has worn an honest 7 barrels and 3 stocks. Calibers .308 Win., .243 Win. and .260 Rem. With this action, 100 yd. groups are never worse that .35 and with its best ammo it will shoot .060.

Does anyone else have any thoughts?
Click to expand...

"Never worse that (sic) .35"..." and screamer groups with "its best ammo".

Wow, sounds like you should take that silhouette rifle to benchrest matches and mop up those boys with your 700.

Sounds like magic to me. "Never" a group worse than .35" at 100y...
 
Bill Ohio, I'm not going to get suckered into that. The point that I'm trying to make is what Tom Shankle posted. "maybe half of the problem is in the action."
 
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That's typical.....

eww1350 said:
alinwa...
I recently started a thread about my Hall "M" action about my trigger timing and bolt closing...
the only feedback I got was to....
contact Alan Hall which I did his response was
" does it go bang.!...if you don't have miss-fires there is nothing wrong with it don't mess with it"...
Now I am at a quandry...no-one thought my Hall needed to have the trigger timed...but an action that is not shooting well needs the trigger timed.????

whats the deal...
Click to expand...

from Allan Hall. He has the attitude that if he built it there's nothing else that needs to be done.
 
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