Brothers 6.5x300 Wby-127 LRX-Retumbo

SJB358

Ballistician
Dec 24, 2006
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My brother gave me his 6.5 Wby awhile back cause he was having a hard time getting it to shoot to his liking. Finally after a few months I decided to see what it would do.

It’s just a plain Jane Vanguard with a McMillan Sako Classic stock and SS 6X on top with TPS Rings. Trigger is okay as is. I told him if it were mine it’d get a Timney but whatever. His rifle, I’ll let him change it if he needs or wants.




I did have some factory ammo with the 130 Swift that shot okay.





So I kinda had a baseline. Since I didn’t have any Swifts I decided with the speed this thing makes maybe the LRX would work.

So I did a speed check with Retumbo, CCI250’s and Wby cases.



78 grains seemed like a good place to work.

3.580 was about as long as I could load them so I started there.



So then I bumped them down to 3.540



I was pretty happy seeing they wanted to shoot and I shot that 3.540 right at last light.

Took a few days break and decided to try again last night. Decided to start with 3.540 to see what would happen.



Well it seemed like the same darned thing so I decided to go deeper.

3.520



Nothing notable so I went shorter yet.

3.500



Now I was starting to get triangular groups.

I decided to try deeper.



Same thing. Now in my brain once I get larger triangles I usually wanna move closer to the lands and the 3.540 group was bugging me as two times I’d put two shots in nearly the same hole and was kicking one out so I thought maybe I’d moved it too much.

So I tried 3.530



So with that now I was seeing the two shots spread and one a bit out and decided to get a few more groups at 3.540 to see if it was me or the load.



I shot that one above and said, hmmmm maybe it’s not too bad and quickly ran back down and loaded 3 more right before dark.



I shot them and said maybe I’m okay there. About 3-4 groups of three have all been pretty good.

Something that I tried and wondered was I had 3 bullets left that I’d pull with a pair of diagonal cutters by latching on the bullet and then pulling the ram down. So the bullets had some decent scars on them from pulling. They still shot pretty well. I wished I’d taken a picture of them and wondered how they’d print. No issues. I guess unlike a cup and core that might get squashed the all copper bullets didn’t really care all that much.

I’m thinking I’m about done with it though. It’s got a pretty low useful life so I don’t know if trying more combos is going to net me much more considering it’s a 6X scope with a stock trigger. I may be at the max accuracy I can shoot.
 
You've definitely whipped it into shape, Scotty. Fine work and excellent riflery. Are these targets at 200 yards?
 
Nice shooting Scotty, would you think that there is a bedding issue?
Reason I asked, you would get two close together and one out.
 
Nice shooting Scotty, would you think that there is a bedding issue?
Reason I asked, you would get two close together and one out.
There might be TD. I’ll pull it apart and check it out tonight.

Mike, all 100 yards! Man, I wished I could get to 200 yards outta my front yard!
 
Is there pressure points at the end of the stock? I’ve found my Howas and Vanguards with sporter barrels need stock tip pressure with factory or Bell & Carlson stocks.
2 in 1 out can be frustrating.
 
Is there pressure points at the end of the stock? I’ve found my Howas and Vanguards with sporter barrels need stock tip pressure with factory or Bell & Carlson stocks.
2 in 1 out can be frustrating.
It is free floated. It’s a McMillan Sako Classic. I could try the old washer trick though to see if it wants some forend pressure. Might be worth a few shots to see if it changes.

that load will do a lot of hunting .

I think so as well Jim. It’s under 3/4’s if you take my dropped shots out of the picture. I may load 6-9 more and try it 3 shots at a time. If it’ll keep 9 shots or so around MOA I won’t mess around much more.
 
when I try a temporary pressure point , I shove a stack of business cards between the bbl and stock .

I still think it's shooting well . as you said if it repeats now .
 
I use a rubber hose washer when I do it Jim. But I’d think the cards would be great too. I really just think it’s more me than the load or gun. With a 6x I have never thought of cutting holes on demand.
 
Scotty having owned one of the Vanguards I would suspect the trigger not the scope magnification to be the suspect problem.
I changed out the trigger in the one I owned for a Timney and the groups shrunk considerably in that rifle which was a 300 Wby. I still have the old trigger stuck somewhere in my parts drawer but sold the rifle to a friend of Fotis's. I just couldn't handle the recoil which gave me head aches and blur vision when I shot it.
 
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