Guns & Outdoors Forum

A friend has one that he's brought by the ranch to get dialed in a few times now and we don't seem to be getting anywhere. He has a .338win mag barrel with a junk scope (forgot the brand) and a 30-06 barrel w a decent Nikon scope. It was shooting shotgun patterns initially and we put a spring kit into it and got the trigger down from 5-1/2 to 1-1/2 lbs and it got a little bit better. Then he found the rings loose and that helped a little more. Then we found the stock had loosened up and tightened that. By now we're focusing on the 30-06 barrel and he doesn't reload and we're using 150gr coreloks that I gave him. We've got it down to about 4" at 100yds which still sucks and when I finally shot it, I got a 3" vertical string with three shots, which is still unacceptable. Diver 43 was present and suggested pulling the scope and base and retorqing everything which sounds like a good plan and I'm going to lap the barrel also. He's had the rifle over 10 years but didn't start shooting it till recently and it probably has about 60 rounds through it between both barrels. I've searched around the Internet and found everything from "I own several and they all shoot sub moa." to "I've owned several and I could only get 3" groups at 50yds.". Does anyone here have any experience with these things? I'm not overly fond of the rifle but my friend is pretty attached to it.

Yeah I’m with Mr 43.
Pull the optics off and start fresh. One ring loose….im betting there’s other issues. If nothing else you eliminated one issue.

A cheap scope on a .338…probably not the best idea.

After you torque everything you might want to remember that in a single shot rifle many times all goes to hell as soon as the barrel heats up. If you can get it to decent two shot groups I’d call it a day. And I’m with CPJ, a cheap scope on a .338 is not advisable.

I’ll add a total scrubbing of the bores to make sure they are spotless.

Wambli Ska wrote: ↑Sat Nov 25, 2023 5:22 pm After you torque everything you might want to remember that in a single shot rifle many times all goes to hell as soon as the barrel heats up. If you can get it to decent two shot groups I’d call it a day. And I’m with CPJ, a cheap scope on a .338 is not advisable.

I’ll add a total scrubbing of the bores to make sure they are spotless.

This guy is pretty meticulous about cleaning all of his guns thoroughly ever time he shoots them and both barrels are heavy fluted stainless. After 18 rounds, the barrel didn't heat up much at all.

fisheadgib wrote: ↑Sat Nov 25, 2023 6:49 pm

Wambli Ska wrote: ↑Sat Nov 25, 2023 5:22 pm After you torque everything you might want to remember that in a single shot rifle many times all goes to hell as soon as the barrel heats up. If you can get it to decent two shot groups I’d call it a day. And I’m with CPJ, a cheap scope on a .338 is not advisable.

I’ll add a total scrubbing of the bores to make sure they are spotless.

This guy is pretty meticulous about cleaning all of his guns thoroughly ever time he shoots them and both barrels are heavy fluted stainless. After 18 rounds, the barrel didn't heat up much at all.

May want to put a dry patch through the barrel to see if it’s full of CLP or other leftover cleaner or oil is present. If it’s been stored for years want to see if there is any rust.
I shot the Browning 78 7mm RM a box at a time and didn’t note the barrel hot.

I have multiple TC frames from Contender to G2, and Pro Hunter. Hell, don’t even know how many barrels I have. The issue I’ve found with factory Pro Hunter barrels is the cross bolt.
Put the barrel on the frame. Place the recoil pad of the butt on a table or hard surface. Hold the frame in on hand without touching the barrel. Put the other hand on the muzzle of the barrel. Flex the frame side to side laterally while holding the muzzle still. See how much lateral movement you have from the right to left side of the frame.
The cross bolt is generically machined to fit multiple frame/barrels and often there isn’t a solid lockup.
Most of my barrels are customs from Match Grade Machine. I have worked with them tirelessly to eliminate this wobble and instill a solid lockup. Most barrels I’ve messed with that have sub par accuracy, this is the issue.
Otherwise, look for a round the barrel prefers. I’ve also noticed that the throat on many factory barrels is long. Causing freebore.

Another issue, relating to the vertical stringing, is the pressure placed on the Forend. Are you using a bipod or bag? Try to place consistent pressure. Not being free floated, a shooter can induce verticals stringing by varying the pressure on the Forend.

Just trying to throw out the experiences I’ve had.

I’ve found factory Pro Hunter barrels to be about 50/50 on shooters to non shooter. One of the reasons I went to Match Grade Machine.

I traded them some photography work on their barrels for……some barrels. Even 8 years later, they still use my pictures on their web.

Zee wrote: ↑Sun Nov 26, 2023 12:58 am I’ve found factory Pro Hunter barrels to be about 50/50 on shooters to non shooter. One of the reasons I went to Match Grade Machine.

I've shot two of his three barrels and they both seem to suck. I haven't checked for side to side play yet but the pivot pin is so tight that it has to be driven out with a brass punch.
I appreciate the input and it gives me a few more things to check.

fisheadgib wrote: ↑Sun Nov 26, 2023 3:16 am

Zee wrote: ↑Sun Nov 26, 2023 12:58 am I’ve found factory Pro Hunter barrels to be about 50/50 on shooters to non shooter. One of the reasons I went to Match Grade Machine.

I've shot two of his three barrels and they both seem to suck. I haven't checked for side to side play yet but the pivot pin is so tight that it has to be driven out with a brass punch.
I appreciate the input and it gives me a few more things to check.

Even if you have to drive it out. Check the wobble. I hade ones needing driving out that still wobbled.
It may not. But, I’d check. That was the biggest culprit. The side to side wobble.

I thought for sure that the issue was in the base or rings being too loose or maybe too tight. When you shot it and the horizontal pattern stopped and it only strun vertically I thought you found it after finding the loose stock bolt. I bet holding the rifle and placing it on the rest consistently with each shot stopped the side to side change and loose stock caused the vertical stringing.

Diver43 wrote: ↑Sun Nov 26, 2023 3:23 pm I thought for sure that the issue was in the base or rings being too loose or maybe too tight. When you shot it and the horizontal pattern stopped and it only strun vertically I thought you found it after finding the loose stock bolt. I bet holding the rifle and placing it on the rest consistently with each shot stopped the side to side change and loose stock caused the vertical stringing.

I shot it after we had tightened the rings and stock. That rifle is frustrating the heck out of me but even if we can get acceptable 100yd groups out of it, I don't think it's capable of being the long range rifle that Ken is looking for.

One of the worst kicking rifles I’ve shot was a TC Pro Hunter in .375 H&H Larry Weishuhn asked me to sight in for him to take on a bear hunt he was going on in Alaska. I now know why he didn’t want to sight it in.
Next to my lightweight .458 Win Mag, that rifle was the worst kicking rifle I’ve ever shot. Sucker hit me between the eyes with the scope TWICE!!!
.338 Win Mag can’t be comfortable. THAT is a rapidly recoiling cartridge!

Zee's Da Man on these things, and you've already got some good advice.

Because of the interchangeability of these things, you probably don't want to bed forends unless you want to dedicate one to each barrel. Within that confine though, I'd be looking for less permanent ways to unitize the barrel and forend - electrical tape wrap to snug up the fit, for example.

That rifle is so light that even the 30-06 barrel is unpleasant to shoot, in fact, the owner got a pretty good scope bite from it while we were shooting it.

Well we went over the rifle and checked everything checkable and found no major flaws. I retorqued ever screw on the whole gun, lapped the barrel, checked for side play of the barrel and receiver lockup, (there was none) checked forearm clearance to the barrel, only touching at the two mounting points as was recommended, the barrel to breechface fit was tight with no gap, The only thing left is to try and find some ammo that it likes. It will probably be a couple of weeks before I have time to shoot it again to see if it will be a shooter or a turd.

I’m puzzled. But, agree with the continued ammo search.

Zee wrote: ↑Sat Dec 02, 2023 7:04 am I’m puzzled. But, agree with the continued ammo search.

When he initially tried to sight it in, he was using current ammo at 38.00 a box and it was wasted as the stock and scope were loose. This last time we were dialing it in with some 40 year old Rem core lokt's that I gave him and now we'll go back to whatever current hunting ammo he chooses.

When my .338 Federal would not group I finally loaded some Barnes X bullets and it liked those, so I would suggest bullet design sampling over bullet brand sampling

Chiro1989 wrote: ↑Sat Dec 02, 2023 1:03 pm When my .338 Federal would not group I finally loaded some Barnes X bullets and it liked those, so I would suggest bullet design sampling over bullet brand sampling

This guy doesn't reload so he's limited to brands. On the rare occasions that I buy factory ammo, I've had good luck with Federal Fusion and they used Nosler bullets which I like, but he'll probably buy whatever the guys at BPS recommend to him. Incidentally they're the ones that mounted his scope for him.

My .338 Federal shot the Fusions second best

On the last the TC contender barrel I bought, the crown was "crap" It literally had a sharp edge that would cut your finger. Once I fixed that, it shot a LOT better

GrapeApe wrote: ↑Sat Dec 02, 2023 4:10 pm On the last the TC contender barrel I bought, the crown was "crap" It literally had a sharp edge that would cut your finger. Once I fixed that, it shot a LOT better

That was on my list also and even though it has a recessed crown, I ran a q-tip all over it looking for snags and it appears smooth.

Mine has a recessed crown as well, but it almost looked like they recessed it before they finished the bore.
Had a rim of metal pushed up