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Challenges with me 338 win mag T3 hunter
I have had my 338 win mag T3 hunter for almost 10 years now, and I have never been able to get “great” performance out of it (sub MOA accuracy on a regular basis). My T3Lite 270, on the other hand is great to 600 yards on a regular basis. I am getting ready to quit on this gun. Maybe you all can help me figure out what I have missed and what to do next.
I am getting 2.5″- 4.5″ groups at 100 yards with 225 grain bullets, both VLD's and nosler partitions factory loads and hand loads. Makes the gun unusable in my opinion. Many years ago, I had the gun glass bedded by a gunsmith, and I got it to 1.5″ with 185 gr bullets. recently, I found the bedding cracked, and my groups were at 3″ again. I believe it was due to the heavy denting on the Aluminum recoil lug, so I removed all the bedding material, and re-bedded the rifle in the stock with brownells steel bed and a SS Tikka Performance recoil lug. Hoped this would solve the problem, but it hasn't. brought me back to 2.5″
Thought it was my scope, so I have done 2 different scopes with 2 different mounting solutions. pretty sure its not the scope, or the mounting system.
Have worked up loads with .5 grain jumps at 185 gr, 210 gr, and 225 grain. on the lands, .010″ off, 3 different powders, saami length. 3 different factory loads. More than 700 rounds down the barrel at this point. Going to be shot out before I get a load worked up 😉 . Lead sled testing with 5 shot groups.
replaced the bottom metal and mag with tikka performance AICS system. Replaced the bolt shroud with tikka performance shroud.
I wanted to shoot 250gr, and possibly 300 grain bullets. 225 was the lightest I wanted since I have a 300 win mag that can send that kind of lead already. I know I was asking a lot of the 1 in 10″ barrel, and it may be that this is just going to be a light bullet barrel ( believe 250's and 300's should have a 1 in 7″ twist rate to stabilize). I also know that I do not need 225gr to kill and elk, so lets not dwell on that.
Did I miss something simple?
Is the action good enough to be the base for a custom rifle build, or should I just start over with a high end rem700 clone? I want .75″ or better (really want touching bullet holes, but who doesn't) groups at 100 yards for longer range (400-600+ yard) elk hunting? Do I need to blueprint the action if I do order a custom barrel and do a custom build? Are my expectations too high for this gun?
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