Hey fellas I thought I'de contribute a little for the all Royal owners out there. I have an old 30-06 that I have dated back to 1957 which was the first year for the long action loads. It has the adjustable trigger and the beauty walnut stock and I even have the original PH rings that came with the gun. It has been in my family since the late 60's when my grand Dad bought it in northern British Columbia from the original owner. It was passed on to my Dad, and eventually to me after sitting on a shelf for 25 years at least.
The gun never really shot well though, and after some thinking it was decided that the old girl deserved some attention. I took it to a smith for a good cleaning and a re-blueing of the iron. I refinished the stock and when she was done it looked like new again. Unfortunately it still shot like ****...
I pulled the trigger on a new scope this year. I just couldn't bring myself to accept that this old classic that so many had said should be a A1 shooter couldn't group better than 3-4" at 100 yards. I mounted a new Leupold VX2 atop her and set out to the range. I figured that even if the rifle never came through that I would at least have a quality scope for a new firearm.
So the testing began. I got the scope dialed in enough to hit paper at 200, but the results were inconsistent... back to 100 yards for some more tinkering, then out to 200 for some more disappointment. Then the eureka moment. My partner had half a box of Federal premium ammo in 180g Nosler accubond. Five shots at 100 were within 1.5" of one another and at 200 two more shots were within 2".
Time to get more ammo and get dialed in! No such luck, the ammo was old and NLA...
Back to the drawing board. After trying every Nosler 180g load available I went back to the Federal premium but in the less accurate 180g Nosler partition. The game was back on. After some more 2" groups at 200 yards I had a round I could take out hunting.
It was just a week later that I took my first moose. Canada is the land of the iconic moose and my home province of British Columbia is one of the best places to get one. This year we had a draw for a mature bull, and everything aligned.
7:30 am we got into the swamp a bit late to find a cow moose staring at us right away. She was 400 yards off and in no hurry to go anywhere. Knowing it might be a while I started setting up for the morning. Just as I took the lid off my thermos out stepped the big bull behind the cow. This was it... I leveled the old BSA and put the 400 yard dot on the bull's shoulder. You could hear the buzz of the big bullet leave our position only to be followed up by a satisfying thwap!
That was it. The animal walked 30 yards and fell over dead. Double lung shot and the bullet passed though taking out a rib on exit. What a trophy and what a testament to the old gun that took it.
Once I put the time and development into this rifle I was more than happy with it. I have never been let down by it, but now I have a truly lethal hunter, a lineage, and a hell of a story to go along with it!
The gun never really shot well though, and after some thinking it was decided that the old girl deserved some attention. I took it to a smith for a good cleaning and a re-blueing of the iron. I refinished the stock and when she was done it looked like new again. Unfortunately it still shot like ****...
I pulled the trigger on a new scope this year. I just couldn't bring myself to accept that this old classic that so many had said should be a A1 shooter couldn't group better than 3-4" at 100 yards. I mounted a new Leupold VX2 atop her and set out to the range. I figured that even if the rifle never came through that I would at least have a quality scope for a new firearm.
So the testing began. I got the scope dialed in enough to hit paper at 200, but the results were inconsistent... back to 100 yards for some more tinkering, then out to 200 for some more disappointment. Then the eureka moment. My partner had half a box of Federal premium ammo in 180g Nosler accubond. Five shots at 100 were within 1.5" of one another and at 200 two more shots were within 2".
Time to get more ammo and get dialed in! No such luck, the ammo was old and NLA...
Back to the drawing board. After trying every Nosler 180g load available I went back to the Federal premium but in the less accurate 180g Nosler partition. The game was back on. After some more 2" groups at 200 yards I had a round I could take out hunting.
It was just a week later that I took my first moose. Canada is the land of the iconic moose and my home province of British Columbia is one of the best places to get one. This year we had a draw for a mature bull, and everything aligned.
7:30 am we got into the swamp a bit late to find a cow moose staring at us right away. She was 400 yards off and in no hurry to go anywhere. Knowing it might be a while I started setting up for the morning. Just as I took the lid off my thermos out stepped the big bull behind the cow. This was it... I leveled the old BSA and put the 400 yard dot on the bull's shoulder. You could hear the buzz of the big bullet leave our position only to be followed up by a satisfying thwap!
That was it. The animal walked 30 yards and fell over dead. Double lung shot and the bullet passed though taking out a rib on exit. What a trophy and what a testament to the old gun that took it.
Once I put the time and development into this rifle I was more than happy with it. I have never been let down by it, but now I have a truly lethal hunter, a lineage, and a hell of a story to go along with it!