I've had a Winchester P14 for several years. It is a nice rifle, mainly matching parts, intact volley sights, overall pretty good condition.

The original barrel was well past its best and I had it replaced by Fulton's of Bisley. I use it for local service rifle competitions, although it has never really shot well. On average it'll keep most shots in the black at 300yds (we're talking a pretty large target/scoring zone).

I took it out this weekend and had trouble just keeping the shots on the target board (300yds). The grouping was very erratic, left and right, high, low, etc. This is with good quality ammunition, the same load the majority of us use for .303 Britishicon (Viht N140 -39.5gns, 174gn SMK, Privi cases, standard Remington primers).

This Tuesday I should be able to test it out again, this time at 100yds. Figure it's time for a gunsmith to check it, assuming it still won't group well.

The crown could be better, but it isn't dreadful. This is all I can see that's visibly not as good as it could be. The bolt face is pretty rough - not sure how much impact that would have on accuracy, neither did Fulton's mention it as being an issue when they checked the rifle.

I use the standard iron-sights on it. The front-sight blade is drifted quite heavily to the left.

Maybe it needs a different load? Bullet choice is a bit limited (it's either SMK HPBT 174gn, or Privi in a similar weight). I've never tried adjusting the seating depth of the bullets, just loaded to magazine length.

How well should it group at 300yds with a barrel in very good condition?

This is probably all a bit vague to be of much use, but I don't know enough about them to give a very technical overview of what might be wrong with it. This Tuesday it'll probably be going for a second visit to Fulton's.

Anyway, I'd be interested in hearings peoples opinions on it.

Thanks very much.
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