[6.5shooter]

Well i got hold of a Sendero in 300 Win Mag and was extremely happy until i got it to the range. My average group was 1.25 MOA. My best group was approx .85. My largest group was a 1.75. I was using Remington 180 grain Accu-tip. Would better ammunition make the difference in getting it down to .5 groups? Im in college, so i might have made the wrong decision as 300 ammo is EXPENSIVE. I guess my main questions are do you think it is worth keeping with the factors of A) the expensive ammo, and B) the accuracy not quite what i had hoped for.
thanks guys

 

[AK]

If you're in college, you may want to put that rifle away in your safe and pick a rifle that's chambered in a less expensive round until you graduate, drop out, are kicked out, whatever. I don't know if you party as hard as some of my mates, so the last may not be applicable.

 

[madgunsmith]

Get some reloading equipment. That way you will be able to afford to shoot the rifle. And accuracy will probably improve with handloaded ammo.

Please don't sell the gun. One always loses money selling a used rifle.

Mad

 

[muzzleblast]

Match ammo might be a little more conistant, yeah...Its hard for me to tell because my 300 wm has a sporter barrel, not match grade.

I agree though, hang on to the rifle. Practice when you can, because when you sell it you might take a hit...Shooting in college is tough, time/money wise...just went through that myself.

 

[Jeff_850]

match ammo is gnerally better
find a load that it likes
.300 win mag ammo is expensive i like the .308 cause surplus ammo is cheap, budget ammo is made in .308 too, for 100y and 175 gr match ammo is good out to 1000y

 

[jim]

My opinion...

You are right to worry about the amound of money you are going to spend if you decide not to sell your rifle,because if you do so you will probably pay much...
The .300 is an expencive round and match grade ammunition even more expencive if you want to have more accurate shots.
Although the accuracy you had is not that bad...
I suggest to take the opinion of a gunsmith if anything can be done (refering to the technical part) before taking any decision...xxx

 

[Jeff_850]

maybe if you could turn it in and get a Remington 700P in .308 for the same ammount you turn it in for?
Sendero is a bit more expenisve but the same performance and a 700P in .308 would be less expensive for ammo

taking it into a gunsmith for a bedding job or whatever you want done

 

[mele]

Thats a hard call to make. Handloading would help cost and accuracy both, but the initial investment to get into handloading is significant and might be beyond your college means. But mad is right, you always take a hit selling a used rifle.

Its funny how 1.25 MOA is considered bad with factory ammo. 15 years ago people would be dancing in the streets to get that kind of accuracy from all factory components.

MEL

 

[6.5shooter]

Thanks for the help guys. I think ill try a little "all of the above." First ill save what i can and try out some match ammo (hope it shrinks the groups); second, talk to a smith and see what he thinks. Depending on what he says ill make the decision on handloading or trying to swap for a 700P in 308. I guess i never realized how fast a box of ammo goes by at the range since i was shooting cheap surplus ammo. To bad they dont have surplus 300. :roll:
Chris

 

[muzzleblast]

If he did decide to sell the rifle what would you guys think of an auction website? I know you can set a reserve price on some of em, so if no one bids as high as he wants, he won't have to sell.

Its too bad that with trigger work or anything else done to accurize the Sendero, bullet prices will still be the same.

Hey Mel, about 15 years ago what would the standards of accuracy be for a non custom rifle shooting factory ammo? Like, 2 moa and you have a sweet shooter?

 

[Jeff_850]

Its funny how 1.25 MOA is considered bad with factory ammo. 15 years ago people would be dancing in the streets to get that kind of accuracy from all factory components.

MEL

factory ammo is generally accepted as great now and rifles that are built for precision work are now expected to do far better

i'd be disappointed if i bought a rifle that was 'only' doing 1.25 moa now
i have a lot of factory rifles and the only ones that do over 1 moa are older than me, used and not precision built and lack of match ammo in their caliber
any heavy barreled rifle with modern factory (match or atleast precision built) ammo would be expected to shoot 1/2 - 1 moa now adays

 

[muzzleblast]

A lot can be said about every rifle and every load being peculiar though, and it takes quite a bit of shooting to find out what your rifle likes and what it doesn't. With a quality heavy barreled rifle, maybe the results aren't so drastic, but there will still be loads that it just shoots like solid gold and others it hates, I'm betting. For a guy with a smaller ammo budget, thats a hard hit to take really. Up here, a box of premium 300 win mag ammo can be between 30 and 50 bucks...so trying say, 4 different kinds of ammo can be a real hit to take if you can't borrow off a bud. When I get a new rifle, it takes me quite a bit of shooting before my groups shrink down and become consistent too.

 

[mele]

15+ years ago, 2 - 2.5 MOA was the standard for a good sporting bolt action rifle. Now, every tikka T3 (light barrel or not) comes with a 1 MOA or better promise. 15+ years ago, a varmint rifle would be doing really well to get 1 MOA with factory match ammo.

The .300 Win mag is a tough one to get accurate from the factory, because of the belted case, it doesn't allow for as accurate/nice head spacing. With the sendero, if I stayed at 1 MOA or lower, I'd be happy

MEL

 

[Jeff_850]

i'd be happy with 1 moa from a precision rifle but would be hoping for 1/2 moa
thats why good manufacturers guarentee 1 moa on thier products or even better 1/2 moa guarnetee, 1 moa guarentees that every rifle will show good accuracy, 1/2 moa guarentee shows that every rifle will show outstanding accuracy or it doesnt leave the factory

its probably the ammo that helps sporter barrels but as far as heavy barreled rifles with bedding blocks and free floating barrels go they are expected to shoot much better than sporter rifles because of all thier accurizing features
most sporter rifles i fire hold 1.5 - 2 moa

i woudlnt be suprised that lighter calibers like .308 would be more accurate than .300 WM because of less barrel heat and barrel whip, also a reason that most heavy barreled AR-15s in .223 have been showing amazing accuracy lately