I shot the donor....

[bobnob]

So I got onto a blued Howa 223 Rem in the classifieds. Just a barreled action advertised at an extremely low price. I rang and grabbed it as a donor action sight unseen.

I fully expected (and was happy to receive at the price) a clapped-out, pitted old farm gun with a shot out barrel. I had been made aware the barrel was threaded and that the thread cap had been lost.

The barreled action turned up yesterday. The thing is bloody near new! Turns out it’s a S2 Howa that looks to have had less than a dozen shots through it! Trigger came out of the carton perfectly adjusted to a crisp 2-ish pounds.

I chucked it hurriedly into an OLD S1 Vanguard plastic stock, threw a Philippino Sightron S1 3-9 scope on top and using some old used brass I assembled a small handful of test loads using the Sierra 55g SGKs that come in the 1000-packs the roo shooters favour.

After bore sighting and two shots at 25 yards to centre the scope, I took the target out to the 125y line and these were the first three shots...

I had made a promise to myself NOT to shoot the donor on this occasion but the thing arrived in such pristine condition I could not resist.

Sooooo.... Perhaps the 6x45 I had in mind will have to wait!

 

[Thebear_78]

Never shoot the donor!


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[Anonymous]

I too have made the mistake and shot the donor....

Then I ended up with a rifle I didn't want and shot too good to tear apart...so I had to sell it! Doh!

 

[bobnob]

With three young kids I figure one can NEVER have too many 223s. Or worse case I can give it away to someone who might be down on their luck and needs one!

 

[Guy Miner]

Excellent!

 

[Dwh7271]

Shooting donors is bad juju. :grin:

 

[DrMike]

Well, now you've gone and done it. Fine firearm, without a doubt.

 

[PJGunner]

I am guilty of making the same mistake. For a long time I've wanted a Ruger #1 in .35 Whelen with 26" barrel. I found a #1B in 25-06 that had been rode hard and put away wet more than once. Like the OP's rifle the bore was mint. I used a Lyman 310 tool set up for the .257 Bob and cobbled up 5 rounds with 100 gr. bullets and 5 round with 120 gr. bullets. The 100 gr. loads shot fairly well with a 1.25" group and the 120's did better at .80" IIRC. What to do? Metal looked good outside but the stock? Well to be kind it was a bit rough. At another gum show I spotted another 25-06 with some of the really nice wood Ruger is noted for using. The guy also had another nice one in 7MM Rem. Mag with quite decent wood. What to do? I bought both. Didn't have much use for the 7Mag. but it was one of the 200 year liberty guns so added it to the collection. It doesn't group all that well but I haven't done much with it yet. The really pretty rifle with the uber wood? I have a cylinder bore shotgun that groups bird shot in tighter groups. Haven't messed with it since. Sure is awful purty though. :roll: Maybe I'll just sent it out to be rebored to the Whelen.
Paul B.

 

[JD338]

Never shoot the donor!


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+1

JD338

 

[nvbroncrider]

Go buy another donor for your project.

 

[Gun nut]

+++1

 

[ShadeTree]

Nice! I done the same with a bull barreled mauser I got for a donor in 22-250. Didn't shoot as well as yours the first shots I put through it but good enough to make me want to mess with it. I should've left it sit. :grin:

 

[Polaris]

Discovering a diamond in the rough is never a mistake. A good rifle is a good rifle, regardless of how it looks. Always shoot the donor, some will surprise you and become special.

 

[bobnob]

Whoops, I did it again!

The above group earlier in this thread and below two are the only three groups I have shot out of this rifle. I swapped scopes, mounts and adjusted the zero in between as well!

The below two groups were shot off the tailgate of the truck.

About 0.47 MOA aggregate.

 

[DrMike]

Man alive! You're doing your best to keep that rifle as is! Oh, yeah, that is comfort realm.

 

[Guy Miner]

Okay - just for fun - take this sentence out of the context of rifles and say it out loud...

"I shot the donor."

Now what's that going to sound like to the general non rifle-nut public? :grin:


BTW, the latest group looks great! The 223 is so sweet to shoot. Accurate & mild. You've got a nice rifle there. I'd just leave it as a 223, and enjoy a good-shooting varmint rifle. Accuracy life of 223 barrels can be astounding too.

Buddy of mine won part of a "sniper" competition in Idaho years ago with a Rem 700 .223 varmint rifle that had somewhere over 7,000 rounds through the original Remington barrel.

Guy

 

[bobnob]

Yes its future is secured. Accurate as any rifle I own; holds six in the internal magazine and feeds slickly; the trigger is perfect and the rifle balances and points extremely well in the old Vanguard plastic stock.

I might tidy up and paint the stock because it came off an old beater rifle and is heavily marred. Beyond that it’s too good of a thing to mess with...

 

[bobnob]

By the way my calcs above were way out. Aggregate group size was more like about 0.59MOA not 0.47. Maths and me = not good!

 

[DrMike]

By the way my calcs above were way out. Aggregate group size was more like about 0.59MOA not 0.47. Maths and me = not good!

Well, that changes everything. Time to send that bad boy down the road. :mrgreen:

 

[Bbear]

I too have shot the donor, twice. The first one was a 308 I was going to do something stupid with that I thought I 'needed'. It's still a 308 and in the safe.
The second was a 30-06 that plans were to make into a 6.5x55. I shot it. It shot ok but nothing to get excited about. Off to Pac-nor and found a nice wood stock for it. Floated the barrel and proceeded to shoot a 4 shot group that went .33".
Will-power