Cooper Rifles What Makes Them So Accurate

[Don Fischer]

I don't own a Cooper rifle, in fact never even seen one. Thing I think goes farther than anything to making a rifle shoot well in the hands of a good shooter is attention to detail. And in that I think the most important part is in stock bedding. I've had a good number of 1/2" hunting rifle's in my time but two thing's made them that way. First I learned to bed them well and then I worked on my own shooting ability. I think some of the things done to extract accuracy don't extract enough to make them worth while doing. I say that for no other reason than I have seen what can be done simply bedding a rifle well. That, it seems, is always where the best increase in accuracy come's from, seems like nothing does more to aid crummy accuracy than poor bedding. After bedding I suspect that the little bit's of attention to different areas while improving accuracy do improve it but simply not by that much.

I have a 700 ADL in 243 that came in a plastic stock that was one of the worst shooting rifles I ever had. Took it apart and completely re-bedded it and it turned into a 1/2" rifle on most days. Improve on that in small steps and you simply don't go very far for the money you would have to spend. This of course is not aimed at a competitive rifle, but will do well on most hunting rifles and varmint rifles. After the bedding I think the most important part is handloading for it. I have read of factory ammo now and then that does very well, no getting around that, but could well be that a good handloader can improve on that too. But find a factory load that good and get a lot of it. For the lot number will change and that could change the performance you get. I suspect Cooper put's a lot of work into bedding and to enhance it out a lot of care into all the other point's you don't actually recognize. Then to finish it out I suspect they do a very nice job of finish on the wood and metal. Most people that get a rifle that will shoot under an inch out of the box with factory ammo are gonna be thrilled! I strongly suspect what Cooper is selling is Old world skills!

 

[Don Fischer]

But you’ve never made a bad barrel shoot like a good barrel and unless you hand lap them yourself you’ve never made a barrel that fouls out quickly stop fouling out quickly. You can do everything right, and screw a crappy barrel on, and it won’t shoot.

If you think Sako does anything on their stocks and actions in a way that is inferior to Cooper, you’re wrong. The only reason a Cooper might be able to outshoot a Sako is the barrel, and I’d wager that on average a Sako Benchrest would beat the average Cooper...in the hands of a benchrest shooter.

I have Remingtons that shoot as good as anything on the planet and the only thing done to them is bedding them in good stocks and putting a good barrel on. Even SOME factory barrels will shoot lights out if you rechamber them.

The heart of a 40X is an action with tight tolerances. Then they bed it properly in a good stock, and you know what? They won’t put one of their hammer forged barrels on it. They have to put a good barrel on it or the rest was a waste.

A barrel is nothing more than a piece of steel made to work in a certain way. Absolutely no reason why one barrel maker can't make a barrel any other makes. The difference in the barrels may be the maker's attention to details. Also my 6.5x06 Has a Shilen barrel on it, shoot's very very well. I talked to Shilen and they claimed no barrel break in was necessary. Do they lap their barrels? Not a clue! I'm guessing that lapping by the owner come's from breaking in the barrel, I've never troubled myself with that! And still I have had some very good shooting rifles.

I knew a guy some years ago talking about gaining better accuracy by distance to the lands his bullet's were. He claimed if he could feel the bullet touch the lands closing the bolt he got better accuracy. My question would be how much better. if you already have a 1/2" rifle what value other than a boost in ego is a rifle that shoots 7/16"?

A barrel is no more than a chunk of steel that many people make barrels from. Some come out better than other's and that is attention to detail!

 

[ImBillT]

A barrel is nothing more than a piece of steel made to work in a certain way. Absolutely no reason why one barrel maker can't make a barrel any other makes. The difference in the barrels may be the maker's attention to details. Also my 6.5x06 Has a Shilen barrel on it, shoot's very very well. I talked to Shilen and they claimed no barrel break in was necessary. Do they lap their barrels? Not a clue! I'm guessing that lapping by the owner come's from breaking in the barrel, I've never troubled myself with that! And still I have had some very good shooting rifles.

I knew a guy some years ago talking about gaining better accuracy by distance to the lands his bullet's were. He claimed if he could feel the bullet touch the lands closing the bolt he got better accuracy. My question would be how much better. if you already have a 1/2" rifle what value other than a boost in ego is a rifle that shoots 7/16"?

A barrel is no more than a chunk of steel that many people make barrels from. Some come out better than other's and that is attention to detail!

Post up some 3-shot and 5-shot groups like these and you can start talking about how to make a rifle accurate.

The small diameter targets were shot at 100yds and the large diameter targets were shot at 200yds. Yes there’s a 3-shot group at 200yds that can be covered with a pencil eraser. One of those groups is ten shots. There are more. That was a quick skimming of targets. Most are old. I only shoot a handful of targets per year these days, but some of them are from last seasons hunting prep.

I’ll do some prep for this season in the next 2-8 weeks and maybe post something new.

 

[Don Fischer]

You should be proud of yourself. But like the vast majority of people on sites like this, I don't go after accuracy like that, I'm a hunter first! There are two types of accuracy I know of. Hunting and competitive. Competitive doesn't interest me. Not all that sure it does the majority of guy's on these sites. You seem in the know, how many rifles does Cooper have in competition? I sort of suspect they do hunting rifles mostly and in my ignorance I simply assumed hunting rifles is what we were talking about!

 

[ImBillT]

You should be proud of yourself. But like the vast majority of people on sites like this, I don't go after accuracy like that, I'm a hunter first! There are two types of accuracy I know of. Hunting and competitive. Competitive doesn't interest me. Not all that sure it does the majority of guy's on these sites. You seem in the know, how many rifles does Cooper have in competition? I sort of suspect they do hunting rifles mostly and in my ignorance I simply assumed hunting rifles is what we were talking about!

IN YOUR IGNORANCE YOU ASSUMED NONE OF MY POSTED GROUPS WERE FROM HUNTING RIFLES. Pictures 3,4,7&9 in post #43 came from a hunting rifle that I’ve used to kill 5 mule deer, 1 elk, and 1 pronghorn. I built it for pronghorns, and it’s a bit cumbersome for other types of hunting, but I’ve traveled as far as 23mi in a day with it on my back. I should begin testing a more suitable elk rifle in the next 2-8 weeks, and I expect it to shoot very well also.

So first you speak as an authority about what makes a rifle accurate, and next you speak of why accuracy is not important to you. Makes sense.

I’ve seen Coopers in factory classes.

 

[noharleyyet]

Post up some 3-shot and 5-shot groups like these and you can start talking about how to make a rifle accurate.

The small diameter targets were shot at 100yds and the large diameter targets were shot at 200yds. Yes there’s a 3-shot group at 200yds that can be covered with a pencil eraser. One of those groups is ten shots. There are more. That was a quick skimming of targets. Most are old. I only shoot a handful of targets per year these days, but some of them are from last seasons hunting prep.

I’ll do some prep for this season in the next 2-8 weeks and maybe post something new.

Good shooting BillT.

 

[Four22]

I made the mistake of looking at their website………… now I want one

 

[Nick87]

I made the mistake of looking at their website………… now I want one

Buy one

 

[longbow51]

Post up some 3-shot and 5-shot groups like these and you can start talking about how to make a rifle accurate.

The small diameter targets were shot at 100yds and the large diameter targets were shot at 200yds. Yes there’s a 3-shot group at 200yds that can be covered with a pencil eraser. One of those groups is ten shots. There are more. That was a quick skimming of targets. Most are old. I only shoot a handful of targets per year these days, but some of them are from last seasons hunting prep.

I’ll do some prep for this season in the next 2-8 weeks and maybe post something new.

Bill, that's amazing shooting. World-class, in fact.

 

[longbow51]

I made the mistake of looking at their website………… now I want one

You know in the scenario where you spend $700-1000 on a factory rifle, it doesn't shoot, you trade it off and try again, or have it rebarrelled, etc, you're very close to the price of a Cooper in synthetic.

 

[noharleyyet]

You know in the scenario where you spend $700-1000 on a factory rifle, it doesn't shoot, you trade it off and try again, or have it rebarrelled, etc, you're very close to the price of a Cooper in synthetic.

I unpacked a 300 Win Mag 52, did the due diligence throat metrics, worked up a ladder & walked the glass to clovers at the bull. It never strayed. T'weren't for a Citori I'd still have it. Smooth bolt, excellent steel to synthetic furniture fitment, nice carry weight, easy on the eyes...everything I'd ever heard about em.

https://flic.kr/p/2gd5vX4

 

[longbow51]

I unpacked a 300 Win Mag 52, did the due diligence throat metrics, worked up a ladder & walked the glass to clovers at the bull. It never strayed. T'weren't for a Citori I'd still have it. Smooth bolt, excellent steel to synthetic furniture fitment, nice carry weight, easy on the eyes...everything I'd ever heard about em.

https://flic.kr/p/2gd5vX4

Harley, much as I admire your taste in music, and your witty posts, you swapped a Cooper for a Citori? The horror, the horror...

 

[noharleyyet]

Harley, much as I admire your taste in music, and your witty posts, you swapped a Cooper for a Citori? The horror, the horror...

I swapped the Swaro for the Citori & threw the Cooper in for free. @nick87 is a shrewd negotiator.

 

[Don Fischer]

Best I can do Bill. All shot from factory hunting rifles I've re-bedded except one that was from a 6.5x06 by a gunsmith in bend, Ore. Every single group is better than anyone needs for a hunting rifle and even crap groups like these in hunting rifle are made more to sooth an ego than from any perceived need.

I realize these are not up to your standards but then My ego may not be as big as yours!

 

[ImBillT]

Bill, that's amazing shooting. World-class, in fact.

It’s not quite world class, but it would place ok in a lot of benchrest matches.

There’s a group there that would be a new world record if it had two more shots in it and if it had been during a registered match…but two more shot might have blown it. I only had three rounds loaded, so I couldn’t shoot two more if I had wanted to. It was from a hunting rifle, and shot in front of a benchrest hall of fame member that was on the bench beside me.

 

[ImBillT]

Best I can do Bill. All shot from factory hunting rifles I've re-bedded except one that was from a 6.5x06 by a gunsmith in bend, Ore. Every single group is better than anyone needs for a hunting rifle and even crap groups like these in hunting rifle are made more to sooth an ego than from any perceived need.

I realize these are not up to your standards but then My ego may not be as big as yours!

It’s not ego. It’s about what YOU THINK makes a rifle accurate, and what ACTUALLY makes a rifle accurate. At some point I have to post proof that my rifles will shoot because you just talk and talk and talk and like I have no idea what

Yes bedding, is important. It’s all important. The thing is, with CNC machining and inletting, and synthetic stocks being the norm, the quality of the barrel and the chamber job, are the two places that most strongly separate one factory rifle from another these days. It’s easier to turn out near perfect barrels via cut rifling and button rifling than via forging. Forging is cheaper and that’s why big companies do it. They can also forge in a rough chamber while they’re at it to make their reamers last longer and use less machinist time. Unfortunately that often causes minor problems that don’t get fully corrected when they finish chamber(because they would have to go deeper and cut the barrel short). If a barrel is button or cut rifled, then entire chamber was cut, and that means that if the machinist did a good job, then it’s a good chamber.

If you took 100 hammer forged barrels off the shelf from every brand, I’d say Sako would have the highest percentage of great barrels. CZ might be as good. After that it’s tough to say. If you then compared them to 100 barrels from Cooper, I’d be surprised if Cooper wasn’t better than every brand that uses hammer forged barrels with the possible exception of Sako(including Tikka).

Remington did not use forged barrels on the 40X, or certain other models that were expected to shoot. There’s a reason for that.

 

[ImBillT]

Best I can do Bill. All shot from factory hunting rifles I've re-bedded except one that was from a 6.5x06 by a gunsmith in bend, Ore. Every single group is better than anyone needs for a hunting rifle and even crap groups like these in hunting rifle are made more to sooth an ego than from any perceived need.

I realize these are not up to your standards but then My ego may not be as big as yours!

You have some good groups there, one that’s really good.

I wouldn’t say that getting a hunting rifle to shoot under 1MOA is required for hunting at all, BUT if you can do it, I do think it’s worth something.

I grew up shooting at a benchrest club range. I competed for a while when I was younger and have won a couple club matches in benchrest and f-class. I quit shooting matches almost ten years ago so that I could use that money to hunt out of state. I still have the knowledge of how to get the most out of a rifle fairly quickly(except for my brass prep, but I only have to do that once per rifle), so I do that. Why shouldn’t I?

I had some painful embarrassing misses last hunting season. In the end, I can’t blame the rifle. If it shot 1.5”, I’d sure wonder. That’s a deer’s vitals at 500yds.

 

[GKimPrice]

And still is

with ANY factory ammo you might try ?

 

[GKimPrice]

I have mixed feelings about dm's. Actually I love them unless you lose em then they suck. Took 3 years to replace one for my .204 browning, got smashed under the tractor seat. I treat that thing like gold now.

I shoot Tikka and Kimber Hunter exclusively and I've heard (...and heard) all the negatives about DM's - Tikka mags cost average $44 and are virtually indestructible, Hunter DM's a bit more but not much - I always have an extra in my pocket, always, and another in camp or truck but in all the days I've spent afield I have yet to have one drop out OR fail to feed ....

 

[noharleyyet]

Never a pause with detachable magazines, in many ways less troublesome than a dump.