A-bolt mods

[white Oak]

I have a Browning A-bolt in 7mm WSM. I'm getting into Reloading and wanted to modify my Rifle to shoot better. Since modifying me to shoot better is harder. LOL

I'm planning to get a Bell & Carlson Medalist stock. Should I take it to a gun smith and have them glass bed it also? What else should be done this off season?

[Guest Astra900]

I'd put it in the stock and group it before I spent the money to bed. If it pleases you, you saved the money, if not, well:rolleyes:

After you torque the action screws down, use a dollar bill to make sure the barrel does not contact the stock anywhere.

[white Oak]

Thanks for the info.

I was going to pattern it after each mod. I shot it with Factory Ammo now I need to load a few and shoot a few hand loads. I've heard hand loads make all the difference. I'm replacing the stock because I wanted Camo but hopefully it will help the group.

[Guest Astra900]

Handloading is the only way to go with the caliber you have.

You'll find in time, you can tweak it to do whatever you need it to do.

You have a VERY nice platform to work from.

A-Bolt:drool:

[Guest Guntrainer]

Shoot your rifle before you do anything to it. Your rifle may have stock contact near the forend. Most hunting barrels do better with this. The factory does this on purpose.

When handloading, the easiest way to cut groups in half is by segregating the brass by weight. Keeping groups within one grain for ranges up to 300 yards will really cut the size of your groups.

[Guest Mugster]

+1, shoot it first thing and benchmark it. It'll probably shoot MOA with good ammo.

Its very easy to mess up a rifle by taking it apart or changing stocks. Lot of guys do it for some reason. Have to send it back to factory to get it fixed.

Thats why I never buy a used gun.

[white Oak]

Thanks It shoots ok at 100yrds just like it is. It would shoot better if I could shoot better LOL. It was <1 inch groups. I wanted to change the stock to Camo for looks, I've had it about 5 years and just want a different look.

I'll check for Barrel contact also. Just run a Dollar bill under it to check for contact?

Any one ever use a Meadlisst stock?

[glockster157]

Wow, I didn't know that taking a rifle out of the stocks could mess it up so bad I might have to send it back to the factory. I guess I have gotten awful lucky the past 30 years doing that because when I put them back together,after cleaning and usually adjusting the trigger, checking bedding, tightening things up, I put it all back together and get better groups than when I started. I never, ever buy new as most folks just shoot the gun a few times and then put it away.

Have I ever got burned....not really. Case in point, Not long ago I traded a fellow for a Ruger #1B in 22-250. He let it go pretty cheap. I got it home and found he had jacked around with the quarter rib mount. Found the Millet Buck Gold scope that was on it was bad and to try and get it on paper he had tried to raise the rib. He must have thought something was wrong with the rifle. I removed his shims, replaced the screws with new ones, sent the lifetime warrantied scope back to Millet which they replaced with a brand new one for free and now it shoots wonderfully to point of aim and groups good as well. I also tightened the but stock as they are bad about getting loose. If you don't know how to work on firearms I suppose it would be better to leave it to someone else but If you put a mechanical device back together the way it is supposed to go it will work the way it was designed to work. If you understand the engineering of it you can take the time to fine tune a massed produced prodoct and tweak it to make it a little better. Leave those used rifles to me, that is fine by me.

[Guest Mugster]

I've been given probably 7 or 8 rifles over the years that "won't shoot a group". Some I could fix. Some I couldn't. I won't mess with them anymore. The one with no rifling was a puzzle. After a few phone calls, the original owner put a cleaning rod on a drill and let it rip. I'm glad you've had good luck though.