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New R1


Thunder90

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So I picked up a deeply discounted R1 comfortech in 300WSM during the Gander closing. At half price, I figured I'd give it a shot. Seems this place is a ghost town. Anybody still have one of these -- and shoot it? Reading a lot of negative press. Will try some different loads this weekend.

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So I picked up a deeply discounted R1 comfortech in 300WSM during the Gander closing. At half price, I figured I'd give it a shot. Seems this place is a ghost town. Anybody still have one of these -- and shoot it? Reading a lot of negative press. Will try some different loads this weekend.

Congrats on a great rifle. I dont shoot wsm, but have the R1 with .30-06 and .300 win mag barrels. Both are very accurate using a variety of factory ammo. If you dont reload, you will want to try a few different brands and bullet weights for best accuracy. Both .30 cals prefer heavier bullets, and Hornady and Federal Fusions shoot the best for me. Unfortunately, neither shoots non-lead bullets very well.

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Congrats on a great rifle. I dont shoot wsm, but have the R1 with .30-06 and .300 win mag barrels. Both are very accurate using a variety of factory ammo. If you dont reload, you will want to try a few different brands and bullet weights for best accuracy. Both .30 cals prefer heavier bullets, and Hornady and Federal Fusions shoot the best for me. Unfortunately, neither shoots non-lead bullets very well.

 

Thanks! I got out to the range yesterday to run some break in rounds through the gun at 30 yds. Will try different loads for groups once I get a few more through pipe. First impression with 150gn power points was that the recoil was much more managed than expected for a 30 cal magnum.

Understand the barrel is 1/11 and that lighter bullets are more accurate w the 300WSM... ? have a few boxes of various flavors to try. Will try the fusions and SSTs as you suggest.

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well, finished the first box of 20 Power Points 150 in WSM today.

Groups really opened up at 100. After first 5 rounds, I cleaned after each 3 shot group and was getting about 4 MOA. Not thrilled with that, but understand it needs more ammo and I'll try different loads.

Trying not to be discouraged.

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Keep trying. My .30-06 and .300 win mag are also 1:11 twist. Ive found that the rifle is more sensitive to bullet weight than it is to brands of ammo. Federal blue box soft points seem to be a good, relatively inexpensive round to experiment with. I dont own a rifle that doesnt shoot them well. I would try them in 165 and 180 grain. Interestingly, i have a browning BAR in ..308, and it also shoots the 180 grain Federal blue box at well better than 1" at 100 yards. It has a 1:12 twist, which you would think favored lighter bullets. Maybe its a European gun thing.

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Ran a 1/2 box of Fusion 150s today and it was maybe a bit better. I had a couple 3MOA groups at the end. But the nasty 4MOA groups are still gross. Round count = 30.

Will have to try some heavier pills. Have a box of Trophy Copper 180, but want to save those until this thing is properly broken in. Thanks for the tip. How long is your winmag barrel? 24?

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The win mag barrel was 24", but I had it cut down and added a muzzle brake for a total length around 22". Accuracy did not change, but recoil is now more manageable. The .30-06 is the Benelli 20" carbine. Saving the copper bullets is a good idea, especially since the 180 grain copper bullets will be physically larger than the lead ones in the same weight. I even get decent accuracy out of the heavy core lokts. Also, it seems like even the hornady interbond and interlock are better than the sst, and superformance are worse than the regular hornady.

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Interesting. Where did you have it done and by whom? I picked mine up thinking it would make a good all around hog rifle. I hunt NE Florida woods chock full of boars with attitude. 10mm comes with me as a backup, but a shorter barrel on the primary would be nice. First, I need to get it to group. Midway has a Federal sale today - may pick up some 165 Fusion and 185 Partitions or Bondeds to see if she likes the heavier bullets.

How is your trigger? Mine seems to live up to the brick reputation I've read about. Is what it is for an auto-loader.

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Interesting. Where did you have it done and by whom? I picked mine up thinking it would make a good all around hog rifle. I hunt NE Florida woods chock full of boars with attitude. 10mm comes with me as a backup, but a shorter barrel on the primary would be nice. First, I need to get it to group. Midway has a Federal sale today - may pick up some 165 Fusion and 185 Partitions or Bondeds to see if she likes the heavier bullets.

How is your trigger? Mine seems to live up to the brick reputation I've read about. Is what it is for an auto-loader.

 

We hunt very similar, which is why I had the barrel cut down, except I hunt hogs with attitude about 3,500 miles West of you in the Sonoma wine country coastal mountains. Thick, steep, oak timber. The short barreled R1 is perfect for it. I carry a Glock 29 10mm for backup as well.

 

The barrel cutting/muzzle brake was done by a guy named Ryan Pierce of Piercision Rifles. He's very well known in the custom muzzle loader rifle arena, but offers really well designed muzzle brakes. The brake he put on mine is a little big and ugly, but it works really well. The shorter barrel is great for quick shots in thick brush too.

 

My R1 is old (12+ years), one of the originals before they even invented the comfortech stocks. The trigger on it is great, just the right amount of creep and overtravel, probably at around 4 lbs. It has the original crio-barrel on it, which shoots same POI even when blazing hot, and it loves soft pointed, bonded bullets.

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Very similar! Your hogs prefer Pinot Noir and mine like bourbon. Both don't like 30 cal magnums. Terrain here is either swampy with thick oak hammocks and palmettos or dense pine stands. Flat, hot, dense and humid. Been hunting with a very handy 300BLK SBR this winter and done well w/ the right loads, but with more and more bear also on cam, I'd prefer some more KE.

I carry a Glock 20 w/ a KKM barrel and 200gr hardcast Underwoods in a chest rig - especially when bowhunting early season.

 

My R1 is also long in tooth. It was born in 2007 and apparently sat on the Gander shelf for 10 years before I came along and adopted it. It has the new gas block assembly, full comfortech furniture and, yes, the crio treatment.. Good to know it can handle the heat and I don't have to wait so long between strings...

I'll have to check the weight of my trigger. 4lbs sounds lighter than mine.

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  • 4 weeks later...
Very similar! Your hogs prefer Pinot Noir and mine like bourbon. Both don't like 30 cal magnums. Terrain here is either swampy with thick oak hammocks and palmettos or dense pine stands. Flat, hot, dense and humid. Been hunting with a very handy 300BLK SBR this winter and done well w/ the right loads, but with more and more bear also on cam, I'd prefer some more KE.

I carry a Glock 20 w/ a KKM barrel and 200gr hardcast Underwoods in a chest rig - especially when bowhunting early season.

 

My R1 is also long in tooth. It was born in 2007 and apparently sat on the Gander shelf for 10 years before I came along and adopted it. It has the new gas block assembly, full comfortech furniture and, yes, the crio treatment.. Good to know it can handle the heat and I don't have to wait so long between strings...

I'll have to check the weight of my trigger. 4lbs sounds lighter than mine.

Hey Thunder, hows that new R1 treating you? Did you get the ammo dialed in?

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I’ve been busy bowhunting - haven’t had much time lately. I did pick up some heavier loads to try though. Hope to try them soon.

Nice. Our archery season ended in September and now fully into rifle season. I did arrow a big boar sipping chardonnay in August, but lost it on the adjacent ranch. :-( Real boars dont drink chardonnay, so I was trying to get him out of the gene pool.

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Nice. Our archery season ended in September and now fully into rifle season. I did arrow a big boar sipping chardonnay in August, but lost it on the adjacent ranch. :-( Real boars dont drink chardonnay, so I was trying to get him out of the gene pool.

 

Hey PC - sry you couldn't recover your boar, but you did the right thing taking that shot. Never trust a chard drinker. Ever. I just arrowed a decent hog last night and got lucky - didn't take another step. May get out to the range today to play with the R1...

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  • 2 weeks later...
Hey PC.. you make out ok with the fires out there? Looking rough from what I can see in the media. Hope all’s well...

Thanks for asking. We are about 80 miles south if it, but the smoke was bad for almost two weeks. I cancelled a deer hunt last weekend, because roads were closed. Lots of coughing, my wife got bronchitis, kids had to stay in for the most part. Everyone around here knows people who lost everything. Really good support locally and from the rest of the country. Some wineries and vineyards were burned, but the majority of the damage was in blue collar suburbs and rural homes. Recovery will be a long haul.

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Glad to hear you and the fam fared reasonably well considering. Tough year for a lot of folks - makes you appreciate what you have. Irma had a similar effect here. Lots of my hunting spots are still underwater. Hope you guys get back to normal soon and you can get out in the deer woods w/ the R1. I may try and get out for an evening deer hunt today...

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Mine is a 30-06, it likes Hornady 165gr SST, 51.0gr H414, 3.210" COL, light crimp, 2,600 fps.

With a cool barrel it will shoots less than 1" 3 shot groups @ 100 yards.

sub MOA...impressive. Sounds like you found a great load. If I don’t find a factory load that is decent (be happy w 1.5 MOA for hunting) then I’ll likely make the plunge into rolling my own.

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  • 1 year later...
  • 11 months later...

Hey there found that the R1 with its 2 piece stock is very sensitive to front end pressure on the fore end.....need to apply a light grip to the rear of the forend....just like a lever action....mine went from 4 in groups with many fliers to 1 in groups with 180 grain speed SP ammo.....bulk buy....I know it hates all ballistic tip ammo so it likes the cheap stuff....probably will shoot partitions and A frames well......my 2c....

.

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