All,
Please read the whole thing before commenting. Ok here goes. I finished getting all the part's in for my wife's rifle and put it together. It is a savage 110 (long action) donor action with a 7mm-08 apache gunworks barrel (I believe he uses ER shaw blanks and finishes the crown on them) also have a competition recoil lug in a new boyds laminate stock. The stock is NOT yet bedded but the barrel free floats in the stock until about 1 inch in front of the barrel nut so if you in include the nut id say about the last 2 inches of the barrel are not free floated. I torqued the action screws to about 32inch pounds as that is what is suggested for wood/laminate stocks. I wanted to see what the rifle would do before having the rifle bedded (if it shot nice then I might have simply called it good). Took it to the range with some cheap ammo to start the barrel break-in process. YES, I do believe in breaking a barrel in. I used Hornady American Whitetail 139 Grain Interlock Spire Point ammo. This is their low end budget ammo. I shot the rifle 5 times cleaning in between each shot. Then started some 3 shot groups for the next 6 shots, cleaning in between the groups. I then cleaned the barrel, shot 2 fouling shots and then followed it up with a 4 shot group just to see how the rifle would do. It was BAD. the group was 2inches (at best...forgot my measuring tape) and I definitely did not pull any shots. I am a pretty avid shooter and have 2 other rifles I shoot sub MOA all day long out to 300 yards. The scope is a leupold VX2 which came from another rifle and shot perfectly fine on that rifle so it is not the scope. The bases and rings are good and tightened properly with some lok tite so it's not that. I know there is a ton of variables here.... 1: the rifle is not bedded 2: barrels can sometimes take 50+ shots to stabilize before settling in 3: barrel is not COMPLETELY floated 4: cheap ammo (did not try other ammo)

What I am wanting to know is when a rifle shoots this bad...is there little to no hope to have it go sub MOA after bedding and further shooting on the new barrel with other loads and maybe even a load work up OR could the variables above really contribute to that bad of a group? The rifle is currently with a competent gun smith being pillar bedded. It will be done in 2-3 weeks he said. I then intend to take the remaining box of ammo plus another box of a different brand to see how she shoots. If still not sub MOA, I will try a load work up. I just don't want my wife's expectations to be crushed. She was hoping for a sub 1 MOA rifle as she hunts on a 400 yard field once in a great while. Have any of you seen a rifle go from 2-3inch groups at 100 yards to SUB MOA after being bedded and a load work up?