Hello, I have little experience with the BAR, unfortunately what I have so far isn't good. I am looking for some tips on making a BAR more accurate. I am not sure if there are any tricks or tips to look for on this model but I am hoping. I have a BAR Mk3 wood stock in 30-06. The trigger is pretty good with little creep and probably less than 3 pound pull. I bought this gun brand new. It has a brand new Leupold Vx3 3.5 - 10 x50 with Tally 1 piece rings / mounts tightened with Loktite blue. The best I can get for groups at 100 yards is 2 1/2 " with Federal Fusion 165 grain factory loads. I have tried 4 or 5 other quality factory loads with results from 3 - 6 inches for a 4 shot group. I have tried several handloads with 125, 150 and 165 grain ballistic tip, accubond and partition bullets and IMR4895, IMR4350, W760 and Varget powder. Same mixed results with nothing better than 3" groups, most in the 4 inch range. From what I have read, these guns are capable of shooting well. The places where I hunt have large hay fields and very long powerlines cutovers. That may offer long shots. My personal limit is 200 - 250 yards so I want something that groups a bit better than 2 3/4". Any suggestions on this gun?
What is the factory spec? I believe it is a hunting rifle and 2.5 groups at 100 yards is enough to get the job done. You may want better but it may not be possible without spending big money. Couple questions for you. You need to know the barrel twist to figure out a starting point on the grain of bullet. Then spend lots of time trying different brands and different grain bullets in that window. Then if it's still a problem you need to let someone else shoot it and see what they can do. If the groups are the same then that may be as good as it gets, if not then correct that issue whatever it may be. What does it do at 300 yards? Some other questions. What about the scope, it may have a problem, the rings etc. Are you shooting it off a bench? How's the recoil? The barrel may be jumping and you're not aware of it. There are so many possibilities, that's why I recommend someone else shoot it fist and see what happens. If all the above is correct, it may just be the best it can do then you wasted a bunch of money and time for nothing.
Hi Ranger, I had a MK3 in 7mm-08 that would shoot 5/8" groups with several different factory loads so I know these rifles are capable of it. Also, I currently have a bolt action Savage 110 that will gives me 1/2" groups very consistently. My groups with my other rifles tell me that I am also capable of shooting better than this. I shoot off bags on a shooting bench. Being a semi-auto the recoil is OK. I am not sure what you mean by the barrel jumping ? The barrel jumps on all of my guns when I shoot? A 2 1/2" group is OK, but its a 5" group at 200 yards and more at 250. Thats just the gun, if I am off at all that pushes it out to marginal in my opinion. I didnt want to spend $1500 for marginal. I can spend the next 2 months trying every bullet and powder combo that I can get my hands on trying to find something that works with this gun but I would rather not waste the time and money as you pointed out only to come up with something marginally better. Its been my experience that a gun that shoots well, shoots most ammo well, and vice versa. I was hoping there may be something specific to this action that I could look at. I read that the nut that holds the screw for the forend can be too tight and that could cause accuracy issues but I think the writer was referring to the mark 2 model not the mark 3 ?? Should I look at sanding the inside of the forend to give more barrel clearance?? The barrel is not designed to float because of the gas block. I dont know, just looking for ideas. Thanks
ok did some searching and accuracy is 2.037. Called an old buddy that shoots these a lot. His first question was, " did you buy it used"? I said, maybe. He said look at the barrel it may have been shot out. Second thing he said was get used to it. If you want better out of the box buy a savage. These are his words; sorry he is not a guy that puts things nicely, but he hasn't steered me wrong ever. I will say I agree on the savage, it doesn't get much better out of the box for a cheap rifle. The BAR isn't cheap, but I'm not sure you're going to get much better. Just curios have you tried a different scope? How long is the barrel? 18" I had a long-range rifle long time ago that was bedded wrong, and I played hell getting that thing figured out.
Hi Ranger, thats funny, I have 6 rifles and the two Savage's that I have are the most accurate. The BAR is new. I have read post after post about how their BAR is shooting sub MOA. I haven't tried a different scope. I dont have a better one than this. The barrel is 22" I guess I will just keep playing around with different handloads.
My old BAR v1 300 WM shoots and knocks down the deer and moose I point it at. That’s what matters to me. It’s not a gun I take to the range however.
Yup, my Remington 7400 in 30-06 does too, and that one only cost me $350. $1500 for this BAR doesnt make a lot of sense. This will be my last Browning.
I’ve never had a problem with accuracy with my bar. If you have one 30-06 hunting rifle already, why did you need another one?
You can never have to many. The issue the OP is having is it is not as accurate as he would like but falls within acceptable limits for a hunting rifle in my opinion. On his side of the fence, I do agree that it should be more accurate for the price that they want for the BAR. When you can buy several savages for the price of the BAR and be more accurate out of the box, it's hard to swallow. If you do a search for BAR accuracy you will see it's a pretty common thing.
