Browning BLR Accuracy??

[MS 9x56]

My 358 win shoots minute of deer and that’s all I need.

 

[Cornbread]

Hi there,
I bought a .308win TD Stainless baby recently and groupings are leaving something to be desired. I tried 7 different boxes of factory ammo:
150, 168, 178 and 180 grains at 100 yds. The best ones were
- Federal Power-Shok 308 Win 150Gr JSP
- Sako Gamehead 308 Win 180 Gr SP
-- these two delivered barely 1.25 MOA 3x shot groups. I installed Vortex Venom 1-6x24 on the receiver. It seems to fit and work well for me. I like the concept of this rifle. It is stainless, has an excellent safety system and only 20" each piece when taken down. I stalk hunting a lot. And I really want it to work better as much as possible. Because my Sauer s100 XT in 6.5 Creed delivers holes touching each other at 250 yds. It is to say that I'm a bit spoiled and disappointed in the same time with the BLR test shooting results.
Some people say that one of ways to improve groups for BLR is to remove the barrel band.
I.e. you can check this vid for reference

- but the guy in that vid says nothing if it helped to improve accuracy or not.
Yesterday I removed the forend, also done a very light sanding inside. I can see that the laminate forearm has some generous tolerances out of factory which remedied by adding some epoxy putty pads here and there. I've removed two little spots in the front of it, just trying to make it "floating barrel". Then added some plumbing putty right in front of the anchor point, as I imagine that the forend can be stressed in this area while not having those front putty pads touching the barrel - once again, I removed those two as already said above... Inserted couple of ~0.3mm flex plastic strips in between the forend bed and barrell to make sure the barrel doesn't touch the walls, then get it seated and assembled back. Tomorrow when the putty get cured I will pull the strips out which will leave the barrelt "floating" then tighten the bolt up to +1/4 ... 1/2 turn more.
The rifle is brand new. The trigger is around 4...4.5LB and is OK for me. My trigger discipline is not bad.
Ok, to put it short, please share your experience making BLR shooting better groups besides doing trigger work?
I'm kinda itchy to find time to go to the range this week.
Hopefully these my efforts won't be like wasted time.

The guy in the video has a model 81 (I believe) BLR. I have now 3 BLR's and all 3 are the Pistol Grip model. The front barrel band is like the old time Win '94, and precision was poor. I just bought a stainless in .270 that I have yet to shoot. My one in 7mm RM shoots 13/16" groups. The one in .300 WM shoots 1 1/4" groups but I desperately need to get the trigger lightened. I have a Weaver digital trigger guage and after 7 times the ave was 8.25lbs. So I think, once I get the trigger lightened, it may shoot much better groups. You have takedowns, right? Maybe the precision isn't great with those. Too many moving parts to potentially loosen. I try to shoot premium hunting ammo with TSX, CX, or Terminal Ascent bullets. The 7mag loves Federal Premium with the 160gr TSX. The .300WM loves Federal Premium 180gr Trophy Copper. Call Browning before you make any adjustments. And make sure you send it to a top gunsmith.

 

[borealStalker]

The guy in the video has a model 81 (I believe) BLR. I have now 3 BLR's and all 3 are the Pistol Grip model. The front barrel band is like the old time Win '94, and precision was poor. I just bought a stainless in .270 that I have yet to shoot. My one in 7mm RM shoots 13/16" groups. The one in .300 WM shoots 1 1/4" groups but I desperately need to get the trigger lightened. I have a Weaver digital trigger guage and after 7 times the ave was 8.25lbs. So I think, once I get the trigger lightened, it may shoot much better groups. You have takedowns, right? Maybe the precision isn't great with those. Too many moving parts to potentially loosen. I try to shoot premium hunting ammo with TSX, CX, or Terminal Ascent bullets. The 7mag loves Federal Premium with the 160gr TSX. The .300WM loves Federal Premium 180gr Trophy Copper. Call Browning before you make any adjustments. And make sure you send it to a top gunsmith.

hi,
like already said here Aug 24, 2024 -- I've already achieved 1moa. Recently I found another good ammo which delivers about same results: Norma Whitetail 150gn .308
While it looks reasonable and logical to use Browning support and pay gunsmith services, etc,
it can be also time and $$$ consuming. I like to fix and improve things myself. My recent tests show that I've achieved my goal.
Thanks

 

[Keep'er Movin]

Had a 308 that would print 1.5-2" groups but the trigger was so stiff on it, I can't say that it was a real joy to shoot. Sold it long ago and really never looked back.

 

[Cornbread]

Well, I thought I'd post the groups on my new Stainless BLR in .270. The 2 groups at 100 yards measure 1" exactly, the exact size of the black bullseye. The third group is at 300 yards and measures 2.5" at the narrowest and 5" at the widest.

 

[borealStalker]

Well, I thought I'd post the groups on my new Stainless BLR in .270. The 2 groups at 100 yards measure 1" exactly, the exact size of the black bullseye. The third group is at 300 yards and measures 2.5" at the narrowest and 5" at the widest.

your BLR delivers 1", so I wouldn't mess with it. Stick with that ammo.
And congrats on new rifle.

 

[Rie Bread]

Well, I thought I'd post the groups on my new Stainless BLR in .270. The 2 groups at 100 yards measure 1" exactly, the exact size of the black bullseye. The third group is at 300 yards and measures 2.5" at the narrowest and 5" at the widest.

Tha’ll do that’ll do

 

[Cornbread]

your BLR delivers 1", so I wouldn't mess with it. Stick with that ammo.
And congrats on new rifle.

That's exactly what I'm going to do. Thanks.