driftrider

Me too. If you spent that much money on a Sako rifle AND fitted it with a high-end custom barrel, and 3-4" is the best it can do, then the 'smith screwed something up. My bone stock Savage 111 will outshoot your high-end custom rifle with a blind man behind the trigger...and that's just plain wrong. I think your gunsmith has some 'splainin' to do. [8D]

Unless, of course, it's not the rifle's fault at all...

Mike

stalkingbear

The 7mm08 is 1 of the most accurate rounds I've ever built a rifle in. I agree that something is seriously wrong somewhere and take it back to your smith with attitude.

falcon

"I have a custom 7-08 with accuracy issues. It has a glass bedded Sako short action and 20 in Douglas Premium light weight free floated barrel in a Manlicher(sp?) stock."

The problem is probablythe free floatedlight weight barrel.i have had problems with floating light weight barrels:Sometimesa light weight barrel will need some upward pressure exerted onit. Take a few thicknesses of duct tape about 1/4 inch wide and 1/2 inch long and place it in the barrel channel about 1 inch from the fore end tip. Use just enough thicknesses of tape to exert about 5 pounds of upward pressure on the barrel.

stalkingbear

Whatever the problem is,it shouldn't exist by the time you recieve it! When I build a custom rifle for customer,I ALWAYS make SURE it performs as advertized before I deliver the rifle. Once in a while I lose money by having to replace barrel or other componet when final testing. I would rather lose money than lose reputation for building flawless precision rifles. The point is-your "smith" should have figured this out BEFORE shipping.

BigBob .30-06

Mark,
My daughter and I both had 7mm 08s at the same time, Both rifles gave excellent velocities and accuracy from 22" barrels. Katie's used a 140 grain Nosler Partition and I used the Nosler 140 grain Accubond bullet. These rifles took 2 antelope, several mule deer (5 or 6) and a cow elk. Most were hit in the lung area and a few were neck shots. Katie's cow was hit in the neck and dropped so fast she thought she'd missed it when she lost sight of it during the rifles recoil. Those hit in the lungs took anywhere from 25 yards to 49 yards to lay down. That is about typical.

I've noticed over the years that there is a difference in kills depending on where an animal is hit in the lungs. Keep in mind that this is just my observations and are not backed by formal research. An animal hit low in the lungs seems to travel further than one hit through the center, top to bottom, of the lungs, Those hit high through the lungs go down faster than either of the other two. Those hit low in the lungs seem to have the blood drain from the lungs and the animal diesslower because more of the lungs still work. When this animal is dressed the chest holds more blood than either of the other two hits.

Those hit in the center of the lung die quicker than the low hit becausemore of the lung fills with blood quicker and the animal goes down pretty quick. This hit seems to end up with less blood in the chest cavity than the first hit.

Those hit high through the lungs drop immediately because the shock to the spine. Death follows very quickly because the lungs fill with blood and stop working. Of the three kills, this one seems to have the least amount of blood in the chest cavity.

I suggest you get a good book on the anatomy of game animals so you know where the bones and organs are located.

I hope that this is of some help.

mark2007

Well I didn't expect to find this but the fore end was touching the barrel about midway up and also at the tip... I know I checked this when I first got the gun but I am getting this taken care of and then I will go on from there.

Scope, nuzzle crown, action screws all ok.

Thanks for all the pointers.

Mark

eldeguello

"I would contact the gunsmith who built the rifle. Good luck."
I would try this first!

Since your barrel isfree-floated now, I suggest you try to put some upward pressure on the barrel from underneath in the forend of the stockby putting some card stock or metal shim material in the forend channel of the stock.Try putting about #10 of upward pressure on the barrel at about the point where you would put it if the stock was not a Mannlicher style. That's about 1" behind where the front end of the forend tip would be if it was a regular stock. It may be necessary to use as much as 20# to get the dampening results you need. If the forend pad approach doesn't work, try glass bedding the barrel for the entire length from the front of the receiver ring forward. (I am assuming that the action and barrel are solidly bedded now from the tang to a point two or three inches in front of the receiver ring, and free-floated from that point forward?)

Some barrels shoot best free-floated. Some shoot best with a pressure pad in the forend, and there are even some that need a full-length bedding job to shoot their best. The sad part is that these various barrels may all resemble each other in length and countour....

mark2007

I just found the barrel to have some contact with the stock fore end (slip of paper binds) at two places. Althought I am sure there was no contact when I first received the gun a couple of years ago (and the gun was not accurate then either), I will get this contact removed , then retest for accuracy as the next step. I suppose the stock "moved" a bit over time.

If that does't fix the problem, I will trythe pressure point suggestions. Re getting a specific#'s of pressure, I am thinking of using a spring scale to pull on the barrel up from the stock with , say, 10# force; then measuring the gap created between the barrel and the fore end; then using shim stock to duplicate that gap when thespring scaleis removed. Does that sound workable or does anyone havea better technique?

Thanks.

Mark

stalkingbear

I would reccomend going up in pressure same as going up in charge weight of powder when reloading.

eldeguello

That is probably as good a way as any. A slightly different method I used was to fix the stock upside down firmly in a checkering cradle and put a piece of wire around the barrel just in front of the stock forend tip. Then I hung a 10# (to start with) weight from the wire and then measured the gap. I didn't have a small spring scale of the type you mention, which would be as good, or maybe even better.