Picked up a new 112 Target in .338 Lapua

I ran across this forum while researching the purchase of a 112 Target Magnum in .338 Lapua, so here goes my first real post. Gotta start somewhere, right?

The looks and mechanical layout of the 112 TM caught my attention awhile back, after stumbling across an article about it somewhere on the internet. The more I thought about it, the more practical it seemed for the type of shooting I do and would roughly double my current effective range. Northern Kentucky isn't flush with safe/legal one-mile plus shots, but I know where there are several within reasonable driving distance.

Fast forwarding to earlier this week, I'd ordered a 112 TM from a semi-local gun shop and had been notified it was in and ready for pickup. Most of the reviews I've read either claim it to be one of the best rifle bargains ever released to the buying public or highlight numerous quality issues and generally run them into the ground. Having this in mind, my eyes were fairly wide open going into this transaction. My first thought on unboxing it? Man, this is a big gun! "Robust" doesn't quite do it justice. Getting the plastic sleeve out of the way, I pointed the muzzle toward a nearby light fixture and looked down the bore. What I saw there would probably best be described as a dumpster fire. Lead lapping MAY help that mess a little, I thought, but was mostly committed to rebarreling by the time I loaded it into the truck.

Arriving back at home, I loosed the three action screws to get a view of the hidden bits. That's when I noticed the action fairly dances around inside the stock when unbolted. There's no way this is any good on any rifle, much less a big single-shot target rifle like this one. While in there, I also noticed the rifle is pillar bedded, but my pillars lack .010-.020" of reaching the interior surface of the stock. That's not how pillar bedding works, but it's a problem easily remedied.

Anyway, I got around to lapping the barrel yesterday and it took eleven hours to get it sorted out. That did include making the tooling for the job, coffee breaks, etc. It was clear that most of the bore damage was caused by the initial reaming (radial scores running the length of the barrel and spaced roughly .010" apart) and by the rifling cutter, which left fairly severe chatter marks in the rear half of the bore. This bore was so rough that the first two laps I poured were stuck in place and had to be driven out! I jacked the heat up on my third pour to induce shrinkage and once broken loose, managed to get it loaded with abrasive and pulled through the barrel. Things started going my way from there on out and now I'd be surprised to learn the bore varies much over about .0002" over its full length. I feel great confidence this tube will shoot, now. My barrel didn't appear to be crowned, either. It had the recessed target "crown" but appeared to have only been lathe turned. Burs were clearly visible at the lands and grooves under 20x magnification, and may help explain how some are reportedly struggling to shoot four to six MOA with these rifles. A proper crown was lapped on it while I had the brake off.

After getting the barrel issues straightened out, I'm back to being really excited about this rifle's potential!

Sounds like you’ve a decent effort into the bbl right out the gate. Hopefully it shoots good for you! I’ve had savage factory bbls on both sides of the spectrum. I just shoot them anymore, the last one I picked up looks to have the best bore on one I’ve purchased yet. I haven’t shot it yet so who knows how it will actually perform.