Thompson Venture report
 

I purchased a Venture in a 300 win mag a few months ago and finally got to shoot it this past week. I've used Leupold rings and mounted a Zeiss Conquest 3x9 scope on the gun and was shooting factory Winchester USA 150 grain bullets. I bought these at a good price and figured I'd just shoot them up for practice and then use the brass to reload and come up with a good load for the rifle.
I used a boresighter to do the initial lineup with the scope and my first shot was at fifty yards and I hit 2 inches to the left and an inch low. I shot again and I couldn't see the 2nd bullet hole. I walked to the target and the 2nd hole was right in the first hole, I could barely tell there had been two shots through that hole. I adjusted the scope and backed up to a 100 yards and shot again. First shot at 100 yds was an 1 inch left and 1/2 inch high. Second shot was almost indentical, again it was almost one hole for two shots. I cleaned the barrel, just because it was new, and I shot 3 rounds fairly quickly. The first two were on top of each other, the 3rd was an inch higher and a little right. I let the barrel cool and shot another 3 round group with the exact same results. Again, I cooled the barrel and shot another 3 round group with the exact same results. I'm nowhere near an expert on shooting but I'm thinking the number 3 bullet in each group is going down a really hot barrel and that's why the separation from the first two bullets in the group. My 7mm mag ruger use to do the same thing. To validate that, I shot 3 rounds, 5 minutes between each round and I could have put a nickel over that 3 shot group.
I didn't have room to back up and do some long shots but I plan to do that soon and I also plan to reload some and try those although I don't think I could improve on the accuracy, I would like to try a little larger bullet, like an nosler accubond in a 165 grain.
I was shooting well braced on a bench. That was my first shot with a 300 win mag and it pushed the old shoulder back quite a bit but I had put a limb saver recoil pad on before shooting and it took the jar out of the recoil. After shooting several rounds, I didn't feel like I was going to pick up any bad habits from the recoil but I'll have to keep an eye on that.
Overall, I was quite impressed with the accuracy of the gun, best I've ever seen out of the box. Actually, it's the best I've ever shot regardless. I was also impressed with the clarity and adjustments of the Zeiss Conquest scope. I bought the scope on sale for $399 and paid $379 for the rifle on sale and I'm very pleased with what I got.
I'll let you know how the reloads do.

Sounds like you have a real shooter there. I recently put the same scope on top of a new 308 I bought and love it. It was my second Zeiss Conquest and I loved the first, hence the second one. :wave::)

The rifle has the 5R Rifling right? Sounds like it is working pretty good in your rifle.

I don't know about the rifling, but it's definetly working.

I have a Venture in .243 and it's just amazingly accurate. It'll shoot under an inch at 100 yards with all 3 factory loads I've tried so far.