Hello, Happy New Year to All. I am a new member from Nebraska. I am somewhat confused with L46, L461. I am finding better accuracy with early thin barrel L46s made in the early 50s than I am with heavy barrel L46s and all L461s light and heavy. I should be pleasantly surprised, but am more confused than anything. Thanks Jamison
Why the confusion??? You have a nice shooting L46 Sporter, which isn't uncommon. What action or barrel contour a rifle has doesn't necessarily determine how accurate it is. I'm sure with a little tuning & load development you can get them all to shoot better.
Mr. Paulson, Thank you for the reply. I am very happy with the way that the early L46 .222s shoot. I would have assumed that the heavy barrels would have as well. Oh well, more load development is needed to make an assessment. Thank you
I have an L46 heavy barrel in .222 that shoots cloverleafs. It's the most accurate rifle I own except for maybe the Steyr SSG sniper rifle. You need to be sure the barrel doesn't have built-up crud or excessive copper in the grooves, and just work on finding the right loads. My favorite bullet for the L46 is a 52 grain Sierra Match King boattail. The best factory loads I've found are from Lapua, but they are expensive and hard to find. Nosler also makes some excellent ammo for .222 and .222 Magnum. I normally shoot 50-52 grain bullets but I've started experimenting with 40 grain and results have been encouraging. I think the L46's may be a bit more accurate, on average, than the later L461's. They are more finely finished. On the other hand, my half-dozen guns are a very small sample, so I'm hesitant to generalize. All three of my L461's will shoot sub-MOA groups with the right ammo (Lapua or handloads).