Rem 700 Truing by Sisk Rifles

My life used to be fun.

I used to buy a rifle, and have oodles of things that I had to do in order to make it shoot and work like I wanted it to. My wife was convinced of the necessity, and tolerated it. I mean, who could argue with the need to bed the action. And then of course, it was necessary to buy various types of bullets and powder and primers and spend evenings in the workroom reloading for it, which required a gadget for this and a tool for that, and as long as I'm ordering, I think I'll take that too? Shipping, you know. Then of course, cleaning was required, which necessitated various smelly chemicals, and a few hours in the workroom after the quite frequent range sessions.

Like I said, life used to be so ... good. Buying a rifle meant I was assured of at least a few months, often more, of VERY important things to buy and do regarding my rifle. Serious stuff.

Enter Charlie Sisk.

OK, I gave him the benefit of the doubt on the .30-06 Ackley. I figured, you know, it's the first rifle he's building for me, he's going to make sure it's a ringer, etc. I dealt with the easy .5 MOA that rifle delivered as a fluke. I mean, this ain't my first rodeo. .5 MOA doesn't grow on trees, right? It takes lots of gear and time and ... fun to get it there. Charlie decided to deliver it right out of the box. Okay. ONCE!

However, this time, I think it's fair to say that I have a right to be peeved.

So the new .257 Weatherby gets here this week, complete except for the paintjob on the stock, which I requested he leave for me.

Specs:

Rem 700 BDL, blueprinted
25" #4 SS Krieger, 1 in 10 twist, 4-groove
Sako Hunter stock at an even 15" LOP
Talley QD's and my Zeiss 3x9 on there now while I await a new LPS 3.5-14 x 50 (thanks David).

AAAAAAnyway, I have two boxes of factory Weatherby fodder that I bought from Weagle. 120-grain Partitions. I get to the range late today, so I figure I'll shoot that up and make brass while I break in the barrel. Makes sense, right?

Not to this Sisk fellow.

First group at 100 yards ... .63.

Can't be. And get this, factory 120-grain Partitions are clocking 3380 fps! Huh? Factory ammo! .63?? 120's at 3400 fps???

So I figure I'll clean it before the next group. That oughta fix it. I mean, I've been HERE before. It's a fluke. The next group will be 1.75" and the velocity will drop like a rock, things will be back to normal, and I'll start working up loads.

So, Shooter's Choice MP7 on the brush, 10 strokes. Wet patch, dry patch. Shooter's copper remover on the brush, ten strokes, wet patch, wet patch, and let it sit.

Five minutes later, I send a wet patch through, and this Sisk fellow is really starting to piss me off, because it comes out clean as a whistle. Three shots, and the barrel's done broke in. I'm really starting to feel cheated now. You know that gnawing feeling in the pit of your belly after you've played the shell game and the joker is walking away with your $20!

But I figure, it's not over yet. OK, so she cleans up. But she still has to shoot.

Three more shots ... .410. SHEEEET. 3398. 3407, and 3409 fps. DOUBLE SHEET! What do I TELL MY WIFE MR. SISK??

Well, by this time I have a good feeling my goose is cooked. I go through this song and dance for three more groups, and only one is in the .5's. The other two are one-ragged-holers. You can guess how I was feeling! I mean, this was the end. A rifle that needs nothing. It's a one-holer with factory ammo, and it cleans right up with friggin warm milk! I can't justify reloading for it, can I? What the heck else more can I get out of it? And I can't rightly shoot up the rest of that factory ammo. I mean, 25 bullets left. That could last for years and years of big-game hunting. This Mr. Sisk guy is quite a piece ... of ... work!!!

And then it hits me. All of a sudden, I know the answer. BARNES!! Yes, yes, yes. I HAVE BARNES X's!!! I dig through my gear, and sure enough, I have 200 of the little 100-grain beauties all ready. Visions of posts referring to bad accuracy, finickyness, barrel needs to be clean, but needs at least ten rounds through it, but the gilding metal will mess you up, blah, blah blah, blah freakin BLAH! YES! Of course, this Mr. Sisk had also sent along some prepped brass, if you can imagine the nerve, so even though time was running short, I primered some up with Fed 210 ( I purposely did not use the 210M, which I had), lugged out the IMR 7828 (I'll do RE 25 next time), and cobbled a few together.

First group with 67 grains ... .55. DAMN! OK, but velocity is still low (3250), and it won't like 'em hot.

Very long story not so long, I crept it up to 71 grains, and EACH AND EVERY GROUP was in the .5's. What kinda load development is THAT? I mean, where do you GO from there, Mr. Sisk?

The only hope left is that it was getting so dark that the chrony did not pick up the velocity of the last two groups. Maybe it miraculously dropped to 2650 fps. Hey, it's POSSIBLE!

All I know is that I've been ROOKED.

I cannot recommend Mr. Sisk's services, unless you want to go through the same sort of experience I did today, in which case, I highly recommend him.

You've been warned.

Rick

P.S.: Anybody wanna buy a box of Sierra 100-grain Spitzers in .257. I don't think I'll be needing them, thanks to Mr. SISK!