Light Barrel Accuracy

[Clancy]

I have shot barrels from a 0 to a HV contour. Some of the best, if not all, of the groups I’ve shot have been with Krieger RVC and #5.

3-5 contour barrels will shoot way inside half moa if you keep them cool, and (in my opinion) relatively short.

As far as a “hunting” bullet, I don’t personally know anyone that does that anymore, except a handful of bear and moose fellas I have met. Berger Hybrids are an excellent big game option, as are their EOL and HVLD. I cannot say from personal experience, but guys I trust have had great results with the Sierra game changer as well.

I’m not into factory rifles, so if I’m going to build a $4,000 rifle and throw a $3,000 optic on it, I’m not going to accept anything but stellar accuracy. I generally pull 6mm barrels when they shoot mid .3s, and 6.5 or 7 barrels in the mid .4s. Life is just too short to shoot big groups

That being said, I’ll still leave the house with a family heirloom that struggles to put 3 into 1.5” at 100 and not feel the least bit handicapped.

 

[mikecr]

You can cold bore develop a cut rifled light contour barrel, for field accuracy, just as good as heavier barrels.

 

[Bill Norris]

I understand it is a custom build hunting rifle but I get 1/4 inch groups with my Hunter M-7 30BR with Nosler 125 gr. A Bs. This 5-shot group includes the cold bore shot @100 yds. from the M-pod and rear bag with a new load I recently tried without load work-up except for seating depth change of .003. I recently removed the tuner/brake as there is no recoil to amount to much anyway.

125 GR. NOSLER A B **HBN C 1.584 O M 2.284 COL T/L B S .290 B C .366
POWDER AA-LT30 33.0 GR. PRIMER CCI 400 .323 BU. .326 LND
SEATED @ 1.557 O M 2.257 COL .027 OTL
.246 5-SHOT GP .84 DEG. REL/HUM 66% 09/04/23 NO TUNER
AVERAGE VEL. 2796 FPS E S 10

 

[Tesoro]

Most hunting applications don't BUT I like tiny groups which gives me a bit of wiggle room on a critter. Most of my shots are taken 200-350 yds on animals that are moving along runways and you have a short amount of time to acquire and fire with many times less that optimal rests.

I was kinda kidding! I am guilty too of wanting overly accurate rifles. Infact I will never keep a field rifle which cant do at least .5 moa

 

[qldreloader]

Depends on the purpose of the rifle. My .243 pig hunting rifle (Tikka T3x Lite) will put 3 rounds into 1 MOA from cold bore so it's good to go from a stalk and shoot perspective. I also test it with 5 shot groups from a hot barrel (after a few 3 shot groups) by firing 5 rounds over a backpack at a 100m target in 20 seconds. This simulates running into a mob of pigs on a crop with the spotlight and shooting over the bonnet (hood) of the vehicle. Generally after 5 rounds the pigs have split up and hit cover. The last test I did like this came in under 1.75MOA. Time from 1st to last shot was 18 seconds. Resulting group attached.

I sometimes have to run a light barreled rifle hot so I want to know how it will perform.

 

[Carl S]

Virtus Precision copper bullets I use in my'go to stalking' rifle.6.5x47 light weight barrel.shoots really tight and kills deer great.Berger bullets shoot good aswell..may be I'm just lucky.

 

[TaperPin]

As a hunter I have to say building a 1/2 moa rifle has been one of the best investments ever made, and not for the reasons you may think.

The most obvious advantage is it feels good to see tiny 7 mag groups with a lowly, outdated, vintage, old-geezer, relic of a Leupold 6x. I have to admit it makes me smile inside when the dude one bench over with a varmint weight barrel, scope the size of a wiener dog, tactical 6-gun soft case, and Mercedes Benz range finder (exclaiming the gong is actually 203 yards from the benches and they really need to fix it) is curious about what makes my mountain rifle shoot so well. Saying,“What gun did you shoot that group with?,“ as we staple up new targets, thinking I must have a better rifle in the case.

The main value of a 1/2 moa gun is it makes life simple. Two shots from a 1-1/4 moa rifle could be 1/2 moa off one way or the other, but two shots is all that’s needed to check zero for an accurate gun. If a scope gets bumped, two or three shots confirms it’s ok or not. Three shots from a 1-1/4 moa rifle might be lopsided and not show a 1/2 moa shift and in the back of your mind there is doubt, when there are more important things to focus on. Same goes for after a backcountry hunt - two shots let’s you know if the rifle was handled too roughly. Gone are the self induced excuses of a pulled shot, the sandbag wasn’t settled in, or it’s a windy day - the accurate rifle shows you shoot better than you think, or at least it did for me.

An avid hunter and hand loader took me under his belt as a teenager and I owe him a lot. In his younger days growing up in western Wyoming, his hunting rifle was a JC Higgins 51-L in 308 with a Leupold 4x - a little rough, with plenty of scratches since it was often used as a loaner when guiding clients. Originally a 1 moa shooter, over a decade it slowly became less accurate despite a lot of handloading experimentation and he sold it to me for $125, but it was reliable.

A 1-1/2 moa rifle is all it could be with an oddball 1-1/4 moa group giving hope, but the next group would take that hope away. It was sold to a friend and within a short amount of time an internal lens unscrewed enough to fall over sideways! Leupold replaced it with a new scope and even with a 4x the rifle shot 1 moa with factory ammo all day long.

The scope’s slowly deteriorating condition would have been picked up much sooner had that rifle been more accurate - the lesson learned was worth it, nonetheless.

My 1/2 moa gun taught me something unexpected on a snowy deer hunt. It rained for half a day, sleeted the other half, snowed heavy the entire next day and cleared up with still cold conditions day three. A buck was spotted and despite sparse vegetation and the fresh snow it was easy to get within 400 yards. With a prone rest over a pack and the heavy fresh snow acting like memory foam it was as steady as a bench rest. CLICK! No boom?! CLICK! Nothing. Finally, the iced up firing pin hit hard enough to detonate. This was an easy shot given calm conditions, but the bullet hit 2 moa left of point of aim, barely clipping the deers chest. Had it been 500 yards that buck might have died of old age.

In mixed freeze/thaw conditions I’m now much more vigilant about moisture and let the firing pin down quietly on an empty chamber to periodically check as things begin to freeze. To this day I’ve wanted to shoot a group at long range with very poor ignition to see how bad it gets.

 

[ringer]

.280 Remington
140 HVLD
Norma Brass
IMR4350
CCI large rifle primer
#2 contour 24” 1:9
100yd 3 shot group

 

[Terry]

.280 Remington
140 HVLD
Norma Brass
IMR4350
CCI large rifle primer
#2 contour 24” 1:9
100yd 3 shot group

View attachment 1515008

Excellent!

 

[JMA]

I think the biggest obstacle to extreme accracy in a light barrel hunting rifle is
here in WNY you might be hunting deer at 60' or at 0'
That plays havoc on tune