gatling
Blackhawk
A few years ago I scratched a 4-decade old itch and bought a B78 with pretty wood. It's been one of the toughest rifles ever to dial in. When I first started playing with this thing, it was shooting 4-inch groups. Very disappointing.
I had used up all of my Hornady 130 gr jacketed soft point bullets and with the ongoing Obama-induced shortages, I started exploring the use of other bullets I had laying around. I had a bunch of 168 gr BTHP Hornady bullets from my metallic silhouette days and I have been playing with them. 53 grains of WW 760 worked well in my S&W Model 1500 bolt rifle (it shot .75 inch groups with this load). It was erratic in the B78 when I first started experimenting with 760, but it was better than some of the others I had tried in the B78 (so I knew it had potential).
Using a Ruger No. 1 trick, I loosened the B78's forearm on my last range visit and it seemed to maybe shoot a little better. When I got home from that last session, I pulled the forearm and it had several high spots in the barrel channel. They looked like small clumps of varnish in the finish. I sanded those off just a bit, but I did not float the forearm (I just removed the clumps from the varnish).
When I went to the range today, I removed the forearm before I did any shooting. I had to raise the scope about 20 clicks to get the shots back on the paper at 100 yards (the forearm made that big of a difference). The groups were marginally better, but still not great. I was disappointed and I thought I might have to sell this rifle. I bought it for the wood, but I figured if I didn't shoot well there was no sense keeping it as a paper weight.
I then reinstalled the forearm (now with the high spots removed), dialed the scope back down 20 clicks, and I shot the two groups shown here...
I'd heard that some rifles shoot better with a bit of pressure from the forearm (presumably to dampen the barrel vibration) and I guess the B78 is one of them. I used two different kinds of brass for these two groups, and surprisingly, Remington and Lake City brass both shot to the same point of impact and both had essentially the same group size. Winchester brass doubled the group size and shifted the group to the upper right about three inches. Very interesting. I've never seen that big a difference just due to brass. What's nice with the groups shown above (in addition to their size) is there is no vertical stringing. The B78 used to do that big time.
This is the best this rifle has ever shot (at least in my hands). My thought is I want to hunt pigs with it someday, but the 168 gr BTHP Hornady is not a hunting bullet. I'll probably load up some of my WW 150 gr PowerPoints with 4320 and 4064 to see how well I can do with those. In the meantime, I'll pick up another pound of 760. I used the last of it in my loads this morning. I have one box each of both Hornady and Speer 165 gr BT soft points (those are supposed to be good hunting bullets), so I will probably try some of those with the same 53 grains of 760, too. I like 760 because it is a small spherical powder and it meters well (I don't have to weigh each charge).
I had used up all of my Hornady 130 gr jacketed soft point bullets and with the ongoing Obama-induced shortages, I started exploring the use of other bullets I had laying around. I had a bunch of 168 gr BTHP Hornady bullets from my metallic silhouette days and I have been playing with them. 53 grains of WW 760 worked well in my S&W Model 1500 bolt rifle (it shot .75 inch groups with this load). It was erratic in the B78 when I first started experimenting with 760, but it was better than some of the others I had tried in the B78 (so I knew it had potential).
Using a Ruger No. 1 trick, I loosened the B78's forearm on my last range visit and it seemed to maybe shoot a little better. When I got home from that last session, I pulled the forearm and it had several high spots in the barrel channel. They looked like small clumps of varnish in the finish. I sanded those off just a bit, but I did not float the forearm (I just removed the clumps from the varnish).
When I went to the range today, I removed the forearm before I did any shooting. I had to raise the scope about 20 clicks to get the shots back on the paper at 100 yards (the forearm made that big of a difference). The groups were marginally better, but still not great. I was disappointed and I thought I might have to sell this rifle. I bought it for the wood, but I figured if I didn't shoot well there was no sense keeping it as a paper weight.
I then reinstalled the forearm (now with the high spots removed), dialed the scope back down 20 clicks, and I shot the two groups shown here...

I'd heard that some rifles shoot better with a bit of pressure from the forearm (presumably to dampen the barrel vibration) and I guess the B78 is one of them. I used two different kinds of brass for these two groups, and surprisingly, Remington and Lake City brass both shot to the same point of impact and both had essentially the same group size. Winchester brass doubled the group size and shifted the group to the upper right about three inches. Very interesting. I've never seen that big a difference just due to brass. What's nice with the groups shown above (in addition to their size) is there is no vertical stringing. The B78 used to do that big time.
This is the best this rifle has ever shot (at least in my hands). My thought is I want to hunt pigs with it someday, but the 168 gr BTHP Hornady is not a hunting bullet. I'll probably load up some of my WW 150 gr PowerPoints with 4320 and 4064 to see how well I can do with those. In the meantime, I'll pick up another pound of 760. I used the last of it in my loads this morning. I have one box each of both Hornady and Speer 165 gr BT soft points (those are supposed to be good hunting bullets), so I will probably try some of those with the same 53 grains of 760, too. I like 760 because it is a small spherical powder and it meters well (I don't have to weigh each charge).