Manufacturer ethics.

[PJgunner]

A few years back now I bought a Ruger #1A in 7x57 mauser secondhand. When it came time to shoot it, I think it thught it was a shotgun. Yeah, the grops were that bad. it had a throat so long that even 175 gr. bullets could not be seated far enough out to come close to the rifling. I had this confirmed by my gunsmith who did a chamber cast and the throat was 2.5" long. So, I called Ruger and they said to send it in. I did along with the letter from my gunsmith stating what he did and what he found out about the throat. Something like about seven months later I get a letter stating that the rifle would be returned on such and such a date by UPS and that someone would have to be there to sign for it. Seven months. Arrrggghhh! Well, the gun arrived and I took it to the range and doggone it, it's now a decent shooter. Still not as accurate as my two other 7x57 rifles but better than average groups compared to some of my other Ruger #1 rifles.
About a month ago, I'd been reading what some of the old timers like Bell and Selous did with the 7x57 and those slow 175 gr. bulleted loads, so loaded up a couple of boxes just for the curiosity of it. That Ruger shot it's first sub-MOA group since I bought it. Velocity was right on the money at 2300 FPS. For spits and grins, I shot the load in my other two rifles and the Winchester M70 was it's usual very accurate self with a couple groups in the .50" range. Velocity 2310 FPS from that rifle. My custom built on an FN Mauser actio with 23" barrel shot it's very usual .50" groups with a big surprise from the velocity. That rifle delivered 2410 FPS with that load. Suspicions confirmed. My normal load for the 7x57 is a stiff charge of W760 and the 140 gr. Nosler ballistic Tip. It shoots just fine in the Ruger and M70 but will lock up the bolt on the Mauser. Velocity is 2800 FPS from the 22" barrels of those two rifles. I discussed this with my gunsmith as I also have another mauser chambered to the .308 Win. that has the same problem. My standard loads will lock up the bolt. Seems like his metal man is not only very anal about the quality of his work but uses only match grade barrels and chambers to the minimum SAAMI standards. He's built four rifles for me over the past ten years and all but one are sub_MOA. The only one that wasn't was a half arse Ruger #1 semi-custom that had a Remington Model 7 barrel stuck on it. I used it as a walkabout rifle for a few years and sold it to a friend. It was chambered to the .223 Rem. We never could get it to do better than 1.25". Not his fault. If I'd gone with a proper barrel and chamber job it would have most likely been a tack driver. Can't win them all.
Paul B.