204Ruger

I've got a Cooper Montana Varmint single shot in 17 Mach IV I bought used for a nice price. It isn't very accurate with any loads......20 gr Berger HP, 20 gr V-Max or Nosler HP. I have Lapua cases along with some Remington cases (all .221 FB) and have tried many powders applicable to the cartridge.....H335, 8208, Benchmark, etc. No real improvement on the typical 2" groups at 100 yards. My other 4 Coopers are very accurate, with my .204 Varmint turning out 1/4" groups on occasion. The crown looks great and the rifle was recently re-bedded (by me) with no change in group size. The scopes I have tried on it are all good, the mounts are fine as well. Its not the shooter or the reloader (me) either, so likely is a bad the barrel.

That said, does anyone think it would be worth having a gunsmith shorten and re-chamber the rifle? I have free access to a 17 Fireball reamer but it is still a $250 job here in Canada. I would not mind a 22" barrel for the small cartridge, so cutting off the entire chamber and recutting the barrel threads and a fresh chamber seems like an option. Possibly the chamber end was damaged by improper cleaning by the previous owner? Obviously a new barrel is a decent idea and likely what I will pursue, but wanted to explore the alternatives.

Have any users had issues with 17 barrels being less accurate or shorter lived than .204 or .224 barrels?

Thanks for all comments in advance!

I'd just send it back to Cooper for inspection first, then new barrel in the same caliber. I love mine and how can you go wrong with a "17 VarTarg"?

dsandfort wrote:I'd just send it back to Cooper for inspection first, then new barrel in the same caliber. I love mine and how can you go wrong with a "17 VarTarg"?

That's exactly what I'd do too.

Guys, Thanks for the replies. I had contacted Cooper last year.......with the CA/US exchange rate a new barrel is about $640 Canadian, plus shipping the rifle from Canada to MT and back is likely $250 more due to the extensive paperwork. This is not worth it.......since I wasn't the original Cooper owner there is no warranty. The shorten and re-chamber option is a low cost option I am considering, along with re-barreling to a small bolt face cartridge.

In that case, it's a no-brainer.....rebarrel to 20 Vartarg and have the best of both worlds!

My Sako Vixen 17 M4 hardly gets shot any more now that a 20VT resides in the safe. Trust me, build a VT and you'll see what all the fuss is about.

$250 for "paperwork"?