Yes indeed. I untuned it. I recently finished my Heavy Gun. I made it all by myself. Though it's not pretty and the stock needs to be sealed, I did manage to get my "temporary" stock to track very well. The stock is a Richards Microfit flat top that I inletted, bedded, added aluminum rails, added an @Alex Wheeler rudder, and added 5 lbs of Mallory metal in the butt. It is a 300 WSM that weighs 30.5 lbs and feels a lot like shooting a 17lb 6 BRA.
My reamer was made in 2005 for the brass available then, which was smaller in diameter than what we have now. The reamer is just too tight. Add to that how I stupidly set this barrel at minimum headspace, and I created an issue--clickers with mild loads.
So even with the clickers I found a sub 1/4 MOA 5-shot group load at 300 yds. Single digit ES. I do my "rough cut" tuning at 300 and then final tuning at 1000 the day before the match. This load was repeating.
Well, I had to resolve the clickers because they were going to keep getting worse. A friend who is also and gunsmith and LR BR competitor told me the fix was simple, just polish the chamber a little with 220 grit until the first case would fit smoothly in the chamber, then finish with 400 grit.
My lathe is in storage right now, but I made a new friend locally who has a lathe and he let me use it. After polishing, the clickers went away...........BUT..............the load went out of tune.
Easy right? Since the chamber was now a little bigger, a little more powder should bring it back. Almost. I got back half of what I had lost, but now it's a 1/3 MOA load at 300 yds. Still single digit ES. I am now able to use my Norma brass as well as my NOS Remington brass, but it didn't make any difference in group size.
I am not sure that a 1/3 MOA 300 yd 300 WSM won't shoot 4-5" 10 shot groups at 1000, but I would be more confident in that if I was consistent 1/4 MOA at 300.
If I get to go to the match this weekend--oldest daughter may be giving birth this week--I will do a little more than my usual fine tuning at 1000 yds the day prior. If all else fails, I have another barrel and I should have my lathe set up again this winter. And I will get a new reamer.
I wound up polishing off more than I thought--probably around .005". Now this just brings the back of my chamber up to today's reamer specs, so I should be able to get this tuned better.......I hope........or maybe my new best skill is "untuning" well-tuned loads...........
My reamer was made in 2005 for the brass available then, which was smaller in diameter than what we have now. The reamer is just too tight. Add to that how I stupidly set this barrel at minimum headspace, and I created an issue--clickers with mild loads.
So even with the clickers I found a sub 1/4 MOA 5-shot group load at 300 yds. Single digit ES. I do my "rough cut" tuning at 300 and then final tuning at 1000 the day before the match. This load was repeating.
Well, I had to resolve the clickers because they were going to keep getting worse. A friend who is also and gunsmith and LR BR competitor told me the fix was simple, just polish the chamber a little with 220 grit until the first case would fit smoothly in the chamber, then finish with 400 grit.
My lathe is in storage right now, but I made a new friend locally who has a lathe and he let me use it. After polishing, the clickers went away...........BUT..............the load went out of tune.
Easy right? Since the chamber was now a little bigger, a little more powder should bring it back. Almost. I got back half of what I had lost, but now it's a 1/3 MOA load at 300 yds. Still single digit ES. I am now able to use my Norma brass as well as my NOS Remington brass, but it didn't make any difference in group size.
I am not sure that a 1/3 MOA 300 yd 300 WSM won't shoot 4-5" 10 shot groups at 1000, but I would be more confident in that if I was consistent 1/4 MOA at 300.
If I get to go to the match this weekend--oldest daughter may be giving birth this week--I will do a little more than my usual fine tuning at 1000 yds the day prior. If all else fails, I have another barrel and I should have my lathe set up again this winter. And I will get a new reamer.
I wound up polishing off more than I thought--probably around .005". Now this just brings the back of my chamber up to today's reamer specs, so I should be able to get this tuned better.......I hope........or maybe my new best skill is "untuning" well-tuned loads...........
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