Target crown on a hunting rifle?

[nico]

I have a little money to spend and was thinking about possibly having my shotgun and rifle stocks fitted to me (I'm 5' tall so the LOP for each is a little long for me). I was wondering if it would be worthwhile to have a target crown cut into the barrel of my Ruger M77 at the same time. I've done some reading and understand the concept behind a target crown, but is it worth the ~$30 it would cost and would I really notice a difference? Would there be any disadvantage to having it done? I know there are relatively cheap kits you can buy to do it yourself. But, from what I've seen, they don't seem any cheaper than having it done by a gunsmith and I don't really trust myself to do something that could do so much damage if done wrong. I use the gun for recreational shooting more than hunting (because hunting season is so short) so I definitely wouldn't mind some other cheap/easy ways to make it more accurate/fun to shoot if anyone has any suggestions. A timney trigger is already in my plans.

 

[JohnKSa]

First of all, you can't irreparably damage a rifle by crowning it badly. If you like to tinker go ahead and buy the kit and try.

If you screw it up you can have a gunsmith recrown it and you're only out the money. The only exception would be if the barrel is right at 16" long and recrowning it would shorten it past the legal limit.

Second, a good crown is a good crown. Changing from one style of crown to another probably won't have a noticeable impact on accuracy unless there was something wrong with the implementation of the first crown or if it had been damaged.

A bad crown or a damaged crown will keep a rifle from shooting well.

If you have a gun with an obviously rough crown, or a rifle that seems to be in otherwise good condition but won't shoot accurately then it's worthwhile to try a recrown. If the gun is already shooting well, it's probably not worth the time or money to mess with it.

 

[VG]

A "target crown" is just recessed to prevent it from being nicked. But you need a heavy barrel to create that recess, ordinarily, so your rifle may not have a heavy enough barrel. Just have a gunsmith inspect your crown to see if it needs work. Some match shooters recrown as often as every 500 rounds. Is your rifle less accurate than previously?

 

[Art Eatman]

Yeah, do the stock stuff and install the Timney. I put one in my 77 MK II and it was a piece of cake. A little grinding on the safety spur is about all that's needed. Install, examine, grind, install, examine, grind...No big deal. Five minutes, maybe.

After that, carefully sit down at the bench rest and check group size. Unless you're way over 1-1/2 MOA (with scope) you don't have to worry about hunting accuracy. (My 77 is .223; it's 1/2 MOA and I've not touched the bedding or the crown.)

After hunt season is the time for more tuning...

Art