The Phoenix rifle

[gitano]

The sending of photos to you, or the use of an iPad to upload photos?

If the latter might I suggest that, based on post count, perhaps you have had a lot more practice than me :D

Marcus

I see your point!:laugh:

Send them! - I have them.
I'll upload shortly.

Paul

[branxhunter]

Thanks to Paul the photos are now inserted into the earlier posts in this thread

Marcus

[branxhunter]

Old rifles like this that are clearly "shot out" that can be made to shoot well - .6 MoA - are what makes me very skeptical about all the "fine tuning" voodoo that so many arm-chair 'experts' AND bench-shooters DEMAND. It just 'doesn't compute'.

Paul

This old rifle is certainly well worn, but that is not to say it hasn't had some fine tuning in the past. The barrel I put on it is an ex benchrest/varmint barrel that might not be competitive any longer but can certainly still shoot OK for my needs, the trigger has been lightened off (I have actually wound it up a little), and the action has previously been bedded into the stock. Given the bolt lugs are quite worn it's likely that they are both bearing evenly.

Even so, I think it is extraordinary that this thing shoots like it does.

Marcus

[gitano]

Those are good points, Marcus. What I recoil against is that if there is ONE THING isn't 'perfect', that one this has GOT to be the reason for poor performance. In this rifle's case, a completely shot-out throat, would have meant you couldn't hit the broad side of a barn from the inside to the arm-chair experts. In my opinion, and again for HUNTING, there's not too much that matters beyond the trigger, and the muzzle of the barrel.

Paul

[branxhunter]

Aaah, I see. I must have not been too clear in my description.

The barrel that was on the rifle when I bought it was completely shot out. It could only hold around 1.2 - 1.5" for four shot groups.

I found a second hand replacement barrel that has apparently had ~3,500 rounds down it, which is the one that shot the groups that were all <0.6".

Marcus

[gitano]

Actually, I think it's me that isn't being clear. (I've been kind of harried of late.) My point is this:

To (not too) many armchair experts, and even too (not to) many not-so-armchair experts, there are a hundred things that can be blamed for a rifle's inability to shoot straight enough (1 MoA) for hunting. Any ONE of which will require either a gunsmith's "prefessional" attention, or $1000 worth of reloading equipment to 'fix'. And my point is - Bull oney!

The absolute worst rifle barrel I have EVER seen on a functioning rifle is on a South American Mauser milsurp chambered in 7x57 that I bought on line. I was REALLY disappointed when I got the rifle in the mail and looked down the barrel. It actually DOES look like the proverbial "sewer pipe". It took me hours to get the RUST out of it, and when I did, it looked like 5 miles of bad road. Since I have three or four rifles chambered in 7x57, I decided to use the rifle for pressure testing 7x57 load workups. I mounted a pressure sensor on it, loaded up some ammo using the load I use in my wife's Ruger, took it to the range and 'let fly'. SUB MOA immediately! AND with just about anything I put through it! It's a LONG WAY from "bedded" or "target barrel" or even a "hunting" trigger. It's a plain "as issued" Oviedo milsurp Mauser and shoots 'like a house afire'. I can't explain it, but I can sure SEE it.

With that said, what I'm referring to with your rifle is that while you may have put on a "shot out" target barrel, and the action is bedded, and the trigger has been "tweaked", the fact that you did nothing to address the "aggregious" circumstance of the "worn lugs", illustrates TO ME, that "worn lugs" does NOT a ruined action make. CLEARLY, it doesn't effect the performance of the rifle in any hunting context. That's what I was 'talkin' about.

Paul