I know about the wood part of the Cooper story and that they get their barrels from Wilson, their parent company. What I'm curious about is whether actions are paired with barrels in the way that would guarantee optimal inline concentricity--the way that blueprinting an action would produce. They do have an accuracy guarantee, so one might expect that some accuracy gunsmithing goes on in their assembly, but does anyone here know just what they do? For their price and with the guarantee, one would hope that they do use all the accuracy gunsmithing tricks, including lapping in the locking lugs, but the company doesn't have anything to say about this.
What Goes into a Cooper Centerfire Rifle?
- Thread starter South Pender
- Start date
jonbearman
I live in new york state,how unfortunate !
You asked them and they wouldn't answer a simple question like that?
Dusty Stevens
Shiner
I know they must factor in replacing the original barrel cause theyve had to do it on every one ive ever dealt with.
shortgrass
Silver $$ Contributor
With the lapping compound and file that he purchased from MidWay USA?LHSmith said:
South Pender said:
What are all these accuracy gunsmithing tricks you speak of?
Some of the ones I mentioned: blueprinting the action, lapping the lugs, cutting minimal-dimension chambers, pillar-bedding the action, and lots I don't know about, but am sure the top accuracy smiths use.boltman223 said:
Can you explain why lapping in the locking lugs is "bush league." Wouldn't firm contact with all three lugs (in Cooper's case) result in a more solid lock-up? The Cooper trigger can be replaced by one by Jard that will reduce the pull weight into the ounces.LHSmith said:
^^^^^Well for one thing, it being a hunting rifle, it's going to have quite a bit of radial clearance (slop) between the bolt body and the receiver raceway.....meaning the lugs in battery may or not remain in the same intimate contact that it saw while lapping was done. On a blueprinted Remington to correct this- a closely matched PTG bolt can be used or (in the old days) a sleeve was installed on the rear of the bolt -and sometimes on the front as well ( aka Borden Bumps).
Maybe the Jard upgrade will be to your liking....but @ $200 extra no one has claimed it comes close to a Jewell or Kelbly.
Maybe the Jard upgrade will be to your liking....but @ $200 extra no one has claimed it comes close to a Jewell or Kelbly.
Not sure what they do but I have a M52 Classic in 6.5-284 and if it is any indication of their quality I wish I had a dozen more. Mostly I am a hunter that shoots some but not competition, last time I had it out shot a 1.25 inch 4 shot group from field positions with shots fired from 100, 325 and 413 yards, then couple hours later a cold bore shot from propped across truck hood at 790 yards on an 8 inch rock. After that went hunting and got my deer at 18 yards, oh well was no doubt it could make the shot.
The crisp just under 3lb trigger doesn't bother me in the slightest and is about perfect for a hunting rifle IMO.
The crisp just under 3lb trigger doesn't bother me in the slightest and is about perfect for a hunting rifle IMO.
Dusty Stevens
Shiner
That 5th shot is always the one that gets me too
no "tricks", just good machining of the action and bolt and fitting the barrel to the action true and square, their barrels are lapped. Lapping lugs is not necessary if the receiver and bolt lugs are precision machined so they mate properly, and of course they are hand bedded and each rifle is test-fired to be sure that it will meet their accuracy guarantee. There is a lot more hand work and care that goes into a Cooper than mass production rifles to assure that they do shoot well.
Actually a half-inch group 3-shot group is not that difficult to achieve. All it requires is having the proper alignment of components, a decent bedding job and a good load.
On my last Cooper purchase the test target showed a bit of horizontal stringing, when I was by the facility I mentioned it so they took the rifle to the tunnel and shot it and it shot 3 groups they were all one-hole (yes, I was there watching when the groups were shot, thought I should throw that in since some Cooper disparager will say that they weren't shot with my rifle). The slight horizontal stringing that was on the test target easily met the accuracy guarantee but the three groups they shot were all better and with no horizontal at all.
drover
Actually a half-inch group 3-shot group is not that difficult to achieve. All it requires is having the proper alignment of components, a decent bedding job and a good load.
On my last Cooper purchase the test target showed a bit of horizontal stringing, when I was by the facility I mentioned it so they took the rifle to the tunnel and shot it and it shot 3 groups they were all one-hole (yes, I was there watching when the groups were shot, thought I should throw that in since some Cooper disparager will say that they weren't shot with my rifle). The slight horizontal stringing that was on the test target easily met the accuracy guarantee but the three groups they shot were all better and with no horizontal at all.
drover
Dusty Stevens
Shiner
They do have a loyal following ive seen.
Actually it is a measured 50 yds and it is not in a basement, there is no basement in their facility but they do have a 3 bay shooting tunnel. Yes they do shoot the groups at 50 yds but the Cooper guarantee 3 shot groups 1/2 inch at 100 yds. If you measure the test groups they will equate to 1/2 inch or less at 100 yds. As usual when Cooper rifles are mentioned there is a lot of hearsay going on.
They are in the process of trying to get permission from the county to build a 100 yd indoor range but so far no luck.
drover
They are in the process of trying to get permission from the county to build a 100 yd indoor range but so far no luck.
drover
Are the targets marked as such (50 yards)? If not most owners will assume their rifle's accuracy beat the guarantee by a factor of 2; i.e 1/4" groups @100 yds. Pretty much S.O.P. to ALWAYS state the yardage when listing a group size. It is as important as listing the the unit of measurement used (inches or cm).
Dusty Stevens
Shiner
Do they give you the load data they used as well? I know some put that on the targets
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