Accuracy from featherweight barrels (2024)

I have three rifles with thin barrels. A Rem 700 Mountain laminate, a Rem Model 7, and a Winchester Featherweight. At age 78, these are easier to carry and hunt with from elevated box stands.

I wish there was something I could do to tighten up their groups. The Mountain rifle and the Featherweight are both wooden stocked.

Does anyone have a solution for these thin barrels?

I had a mountain rifle in 280.

Initially it had a tendency to string vertically. A shim under the front of the action to free float the barrel fixed that. I assume it was making contact in the barrel channel. From a cold barrel it was a MOA rifle but if you fired more than three shots without letting it fully cool off the groups would open up. But considering the first shot was the only one that really mattered I just worried about making that one count.

My biggest issue with that rifle is that I couldn't make it shoot, or more like I couldn't, straight off hand. From a solid seated rest it was a tack driver. On moving targets and snap shots I just couldn't connect with it. I need a little bit of weight out front to settle things down. Probably because I grew up shooting shotguns, but then again I'm a lousy wingshot lol.

I got a thing for lightweight rifles but just can't shoot them well unless it's more balanced like a lever action carbine.

Shakeyjake, I have 2 Christensen Ridgelines. A 26 inch 7 RemMag and a 20 inch 308. The 7 will reliably do 1/2 inch at 200. The 308 is just under an inch at 100, but I'm not done working with it. The 7 was a breeze with Fed LRM, IMR 4831, in Nosler brass neck turned and full length sized (bumped the shoulder back .002). Topped the whole recipe off with 150 grain Swift Scirocco .010 off the rifling.

The Ridgelines with the carbon fiber barrel and TriggerTech trigger are a dream to shoot though the muzzle breaks are a little loud. well, maybe a lot loud.

Pain is just an intense form of pleasure................:)

hit your target with the first round

seriously lots of range trips , one cold bore shot at each one

besides that , free floated barrel and glass bedded action

another thought is a 5 spot target one round in each spot , save the targets shoot them in the same order each time

groups with light thin barrels will open , but are your shots consistent

maybe you take 2-3 shots a left middle and right target , how predictable is shot 2 and 3

I think it is a case of good enough and no desire to invest time and labor for a maybe better.

Thin barrels are not inherently inaccurate. They can be very accurate. They just can't do long strings of fire without dispersion due to heat.

I've long thought the most likely route to getting around that is full-length hard bedding. Possibly pressure point and/or heat sink material.

A full aluminum chassis would be interesting for its heat sink properties.

With my hunting style, a light weight rifle that can put the first two together is better than a heavy rifle that can put five.

If I’m shooting colony type varmints, then the heavies come into play.

Bedding them has made hold accuracy at least through about 10 shots. Never shot more in a string because the Tikka in 270 is getting pretty hot by then and I don't want to shorten it's life. But she's still shooting sub moa hot without any groups growing that I can see

What caliber? The Mountain laminated is a 280. The 700 LVSF is 7-08, and the Win Featherweight is .243.

The 7-08 has a Triggertech trigger. The others are stock. All are under 3 lb.

Do you reload?

While I don’t buy into the notion that heavy barrels are inherently more accurate, or have the potential to be more accurate than light barrels, they are definitely more forgiving to find accurate loads for.

Lots more “whip” on the skinny tubes. Especially when you introduce a can.

Every rifle I’m building going forward will be a #4, maybe a #5. Not “light”, but not “heavy” either.