accuracy and changing a stock?

[nitis]

As many of you know I recently go a christensen arms hunter in 257wby

I plan on adding their carbon fiber stock to it down the line as money becomes available

How will changing the stock affect my accuracy? if it likes a certain load will it change that with a different stock? I understand point of impact can change and the size of the group may change but will it have a whole new appetite all together?

I would just hate to spend a lot of time and money on load development to have to start over later as I really want to Find a lead free load if I can!

 

[Charlie-NY]

I can't believe that a new, properly bedded, stock will affect your groups very much. In a competitive benchrest rifle that shoots in the .1's I would expect to see some change due to rifle/stock harmonics but not in a hunting rifle.

My guess is that any stable, consistent load that you have now will likely work with the new stock.

 

[cloverleaf]

Not ot disagree with you Charlie...but it might. My experience has been the changing any of the variables might have an affect. Might not, hard to say, but it could. CL

 

[Guest]

It is possible to change out a stock for a different one, and have the rifle shooting the same as before. It is also possible to remove the barreled action from the stock and reinstall it in the same stock and have a change in both accuracy (point of impact) and precision (group size) due to nothing more than action screw torque including which one you tighten first. So there are clearly plenty of variables at play.

Now, having said that, I'd go ahead and shoot the gun. I can't imagine a rifle not liking the same load later on, with perhaps some minor tweaking for the new stock. I can't see it becoming a total dog. Of course, if the new stock is not a perfect fit to the action, you're screwed, and everything will change. That's generally the problem when you have trouble after removing and replacing a stock. Things must be bedded exactly the same each time to produce the best accuracy and precision.

I'd shoot the heck out of it, change the stock, and expect it to shoot almost the same. I'd be ultra careful swapping the stock, and use a torque wrench to tighten the action screws, and check everything twice, but I'd expect it to perform.

 

[cloverleaf]

+!1 to what Dubbyman said! I was just being crotchety last night.... By all means let 'er buck. If you like the new stock, why not? You may have some variables to mess with but your favorite load would be one of the last problems I'd expect. all we can do is shoot it and find out....that aint so bad... CL