Range testing and gunsmithing mid-calibre rifles
Read the whole A mid-calibre rifle project story
Official Australian Hunter review
Range testing before modifications
It was a cold and wet day at the SSAA State Range at Monarto when we ventured out to try these rifles as issued. Prior to the testing, I had personally checked each rifle to see that everything was done up tight and I then fitted the scopes and mounts supplied by the distributors.
Each rifle was boresighted and then two five-shot groups were fired from each rifle at 100 yards with the various types of factory ammunition supplied. As these rifles were brand-new prior to this, they were cleaned after each 10 rounds just as a precaution. We used Butch’s Bore Solvent, Pro-Shot Copper Solvent (and brushes) and pre-cut cotton patches. All shooting was done from bench rests and spotting scopes were used to determine the exact strike of the bullet on the target.
Each shooter was required to make notes of their impressions of each rifle that they tested. Points were allotted with a maximum of 20 and various categories were used. The first five are out of three points and accuracy is worth a maximum of five points. The scores were obtained by averaging the sheets from the seven shooters and represent a good cross-section of what buyers could expect. The Sako scored the highest, due to its amazing accuracy with Federal factory loads.
As far as accuracy was concerned, groups were shot from each rifle and an average taken from all of the groups to obtain a figure. Each rifle exhibited a likeness for a particular brand, which is noted in the Best Ammunition column.
It must be said that to be able to obtain accuracy of 1.5 MOA or better from an out-of-the-box rifle is very good, and this will give more than enough accuracy for most hunting situations in this country. These are all quality firearms and one would expect them to perform at a high level.
| Testing before modifications | |||
| Rifle | Best group (") | Average group (") | Best Ammunition |
| Sako | .778 | 1.226 | Federal Power Shok |
| Weatherby | .788 | 1.368 | Federal Power Shok |
| Kimber | .902 | 1.482 | Winchester 100-grain SP |
| Thompson/Center | .786 | 1.484 | Federal Premium V-Shok |
| Remington | .994 | 1.506 | Remington 120-grain |
| Points allocation | |||||||
| Rifle | Price/Value | Design | Weight/Handling | Maintenance | Loading | Accuracy | Total |
| Sako | 2.5 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 2.5 | 4.5 | 18.5 |
| Weatherby | 3.0 | 2.5 | 3.0 | 2.5 | 3.0 | 4.0 | 18.0 |
| Thompson/Center | 3.0 | 2.5 | 2.0 | 2.5 | 3.0 | 4.0 | 17.0 |
| Kimber | 2.5 | 2.5 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 17.0 |
| Remington | 2.5 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 2.5 | 3.0 | 17.0 |
Gunsmithing
Having given the rifles a pretty good workout for a day, it was time to turn them over to an accuracy gunsmith for a good workover if needed. The person engaged for this did the stock bedding on my BAT DS Benchrest competition rifle - the one I used in a South Africa Benchrest Championship - so his ability is beyond question. A complete rundown of what was done was supplied and we give you this exactly as reported. The ‘issues’ were only specific to the actual rifle and are not an indication of the quality of the firearm brand.
The main aims of the exercise were to reduce any flexing of the bedding to one thou (0.001") or less (yes, it can be done!) and to reduce the trigger pull to a safe, light and creep-free level. Please note that all of the rifles shot quite well as issued, but everything benefits from a custom tune-up.
Sako
Before: The factory bedding has a steel recoil plate screwed into the laminated stock at the front of the receiver. This was springing in the stock and flexing was measured at 0.008" at the fore-end. The barrel was not centred in the stock, and was too close to the left-hand side. The trigger was letting go at 3lb 9oz and had a small amount of creep. There was a small nick in the crown.
Tune-up: The receiver channel was opened so that the barrel and receiver could be centred. The receiver and floorplate were pillar bedded, and the crown was lapped to remove the nick.
Weatherby
Before: Although this rifle has an integral alloy bedding system, the action tang was riding on the paint and the front of the receiver was bedded in a brittle epoxy glue. There was 0.015" movement at the fore-end. The trigger could not be lightened reliably.
Tune-up: The receiver front and tang was rebedded in metalised epoxy - flex is now less than 0.001". The trigger was stripped down and the sears lapped. Wolf springs were fitted and it is now a reliable 2lb 4oz.
Thompson/Center
Before: Flex was measured at 0.012" at the fore-end. The trigger was set at 3lb 9oz and had some minor creep.
Tune-up: The receiver base and triggerguard was rebedded - flex is now less than 0.001". The trigger sears were polished and a new spring fitted. Trigger pull is now 3lb with zero creep.
Kimber
Before: The barrel was crooked in the stock and hitting the right-hand side of the fore-end. The crown was very rough right around the lands. The trigger weight was heavy but no creep was noticed. The stock has moulded-in pillars, which provided an excellent bedding surface - just on 0.001" of movement as issued and no extra work was required.
Tune-up: The barrel channel was opened out, straightened and repainted. The crown was hand-lapped until neat and sharp. The trigger sears were lapped and a new spring fitted. Trigger pull is now reliable at 3lb.
Remington
Before: As this rifle is barrel bedded, it was not possible to measure bedding flex as issued. There was a small nick in the crown. The trigger was quite good already with minimum creep.
Tune-up: Removed the fore-end lump and floated the barrel pillar bed front and rear of action and triggerguard. The trigger was fitted with Wolf springs and the sears were polished and set at a safe 2lb 8oz - this could be further adjusted down if required.
| Modifications | ||||
| Rifle | Flex Before | Flex After | Trigger As Issued | Trigger After |
| Sako | 0.008 | 0.001 | 3lb 9oz | 2.5lb |
| Weatherby | 0.015 | 0.001 | 3lb 4oz | 2.25lb |
| Thompson/Center | 0.012 | 0.001 | 3lb 9oz | 3.0lb |
| Kimber | 0.001 | 0.001 | 4.0lb | 3.0lb |
| Remington | N/A | 0.001 | 3.5lb | 2.5lb |
The Hawkeye report
The bore and chamber of each rifle was thoroughly inspected using our Hawkeye borescope. It was pleasing to note that all rifles had a better-than-average finish. The button rifled stainless barrels looked the best, due to the process; however, there was a minimum of machine marks in the others. Likewise, we found no pitting or blemishes in the steel in any of them - this is not always the case with production rifles. No excess copper fouling appeared to be gathering in any of them and cleaning was easy by hunting rifle standards. Of course, stainless barrels clean up easily and with less attention (read: scrubbing) than chrome moly ones.
Back to the range
To check on how the tune-ups had changed the rifles, we ventured out to the SSAA Para Range on a number of occasions, taking three rifles the first time and the other two later. That way, we could give more attention to the ones in hand, rather than try to get through the lot in one hit. We used exactly the same factory ammo for this phase of the test. Two five-shot groups were shot with each ammo type and the groups averaged as before.
The Sako 85 Hunter Laminated Stainless was amazing, as it punched down group after group under the magic 1" mark - I guess that’s what you pay the big bucks for. The Thompson/Center Icon Precision Hunter shot the smallest group of the lot with some Federal 150-grain loads - a good indication of the accuracy lurking within.
The greatest amount of improve-ment was in the trigger pulls. Each rifle now had a lighter trigger that was creep-free and very consistent. They were a pleasure to use and contributed to being able to shoot good groups from the bench. I have always wondered why the manufacturers do not contract the specialist trigger manufacturers to supply them with high-quality triggers - they do it with barrels and indeed with stocks, so why not put great triggers on great rifles? Go figure!
| Testing after modifications | |||
| Rifle | Best group (") | Average group (") | Comments |
| Sako | .596 | .918 | Nice round groups |
| Weatherby | .662 | .964 | Very consistent |
| Thompson/Center | .496 | .976 | Best with Premium loads |
| Kimber | .900 | 1.068 | Some improvement |
| Remington | .798 | 1.114 | Best with 140-grain loads |
Handloading for accuracy
I made up some handloads using ADI (Thales) powder and both Berger and Nosler bullets - no doubt the prospective buyer can have a lot of fun tuning up with their own recipe. The loads used were perfectly safe and sensible in the rifles tested, but please observe normal safety precautions and slowly work up loads in your own rifle.
Once again, the Thompson/Center Icon Precision Hunter shot the smallest group, using Bergers and AR2208. The Weatherby Mark V Accumark was not far behind and as they are both .308 Winchesters, there may be a message there. Fortunately, I have my own rifles chambered in .25-06, 7mm-08 and .308, so finding some pet loads was no problem.
The .270 was relatively new territory, but after witnessing just how well the Sako shot with factory loads, I wondered if I could improve on it at all. I had collected the fired shells from each rifle during the initial testing, so I had nicely fire-formed cases to work with.
For the Kimber 8400 Montana in .25-06, I took some Berger 87-grain hollow-point bullets and loaded those over 50 grains of AR2209. This seemed to be to the rifle’s liking and turned in sub-MOA groups without problems. I then tried 100-grain Noslers over 49 grains of AR2209 and achieved just less than MOA accuracy.
The Sako 85 Hunter Laminated Stainless in .270 was tested with some 130-grain Nosler Ballistic Tips and 56 grains of AR2213SC - this was a mild load in this rifle, but it still achieved MOA accuracy. Moving up to some 150-grain bullets, I used the same powder charge and obtained groups just more than MOA. This versatile longer range cartridge can be tailored to suit whatever game is being hunted and is highly effective on goats when longer shots need to be taken in hilly country.
The 7mm-08 cartridge is well-known to me and it just thrives on AR2208 and bullets between 120 and 140 grains. My pet load of a 120-grain Sierra GameKing over 43 grains of AR2208 shot MOA from the Remington 700 CDL Stainless Fluted and appears to be mild in this rifle. My heavier load of 140-grain Sierras over 41 grains of AR2208 shot slightly tighter groups. Both of these loads have been used to knock over goats, pigs and fallow deer.
With two rifles in the .308-calibre, it was interesting to compare their performance. The Thompson/Center Icon Precision Hunter shot well with both factory loads and my pet hunting loads of AR2208 and a 150-grain Nosler boat-tail bullet, but it was with match bullets that this rifle excelled. A known accuracy load of 46.5 grains of AR2208 under a 155-grain Sierra match bullet gave groups down to half MOA. Witnesses to the shooting were amazed at how well this rifle performed, clustering those .30-calibre holes together.
The Weatherby Mark V Accumark also performed well with the 150-grain Nosler loading, producing MOA groups. Predictably, the 155-grain match bullets shot brilliantly, and like the Icon Precision Hunter, it produced groups of near half MOA at times. Either of the .308 rifles could be depended upon to produce excellent accuracy.
It was obvious that the attention to custom bedding and other things had removed the fliers from the original groups. On paper targets, the rifles now shot consistent round groups, which varied only with the loading used or that rifle’s liking for a particular factory ammo. As stated earlier, the triggers were now a delight to use.
Read about Technical and hunting information on the calibres
View the photo gallery