Good morning:

I just purchased a Winchester Model 100 carbine chambered in .243. Beautiful little rifle, but it shoots basketball sized groups from a sand bagged rest at 100 yards. From research on the internet, this is a fairly common thing, and the recommendation - besides selling or getting rid of the rifle - is to glass bed the stock.

I've never glass bedded a stock in my life, but am willing to try, and would appreciate any advice or guidance on this.

Thank you,

Dave

Based upon my observations of the construction of the rifle, glass bedding it correctly would be difficult. I personally would not attempt it without a thorough knowledge of how to create the proper amount of tension between the front barrel screw and the rear action screw. It would take several bedding and drying steps to accomplish.

Does anyone make a drop in synthetic stock for that model.

__________________
Don

You blame the bedding but is that the cause?
How is the crown?
Is the bore badly fouled?
How many types of ammo?
How long did you wait between shots?

As an older semi auto carbine you aren't going to get MOA accuracy out of it, so accept that now.
What you have is a quick handling, light recoiling, fast follow up shot carbine.
Clean the bore, inspect the crown, tighten action screws snug but don't go crazy especially on the front one, try more than one brand of ammo and finally let the bore cool at least two minutes between each shot.
What you want to figure out is where does the first shot from a cool bore go?
That gun was built to hunt. Low recoil fast follow up shot. It was made for the guy that shot a box or so of shells a year if that much. For that role it did a good job of. Target shooting / precise "across the beanfield" rifle it is not.

__________________
Straight shootin'
SWCA#2439

Hi Don:

Good thought. I doubt it, but I have an email out to MPI Stocks to see if they make one. I also located a laminated replacement stock ($175.00) that may be the best option.

Thank you for the thought.

Regards,

Dave

Hi Dusty:

The crown is fine, bore is clean, I used two different brands of ammo, but used the same bullet weight (100 gr.) and design (JSP). I waited at least 2-3 minutes between shots. I would be happy if I could get a 3.0 inch or less group at 100 yds. out of the piece. By the way, I'm not blaming the bedding. Research on the internet reveals this is the generally accepted fix for the accuracy issue.

Thank you for your thoughts and advice.

Regards,

Dave

This rifle has a similar set up to an M-14 or M1A. Both require a point on the barrel, and a point on the receiver, to mount the stock on the rifle. This is different from a bolt action which uses two bolts in the receiver. On a bolt action, you can bed the receiver action, and the action is held in place by the bolts without having a point of contact on the barrel.
To glass bed the Winchester 100, your going to have to first create a proper downward barrel tension in the area of the barrel bolt, then glass bed in the receiver at its rear point of contact.
Here's a test you can use to see if it is bedding:
Now you can experiment with business card type material.
Disassemble the rifle. Place a business card or two under the barrel near the barrel bolt. Snug up the bolt, but do not tighten it down. Do the same at the rear of the receiver, but you going to have to trim the card to make sure it is not affecting the internal action. What you want is that when you reassemble is to feel a tension on the barrel as you install the rear action bolt. It should only be about 3 pounds of downward pressure to seat the receiver. If you need more tension, put another card under the barrel near the barrel bolt. Tighten the rear receiver bolt. Fire a group. See if accuracy improves.

Boyds gun stocks... google it

What kind of condition is the barrel in reference to rust, copper fouling, etc? I hope it has not been shot out and need replacing, long time since they made the 100's. Could be worth a trip to anyone with a bore scope if you do not have one. One think about used rifles that will not shoot, a great cleaning and removing copper fouling sometimes does wonders and I have even hand lapped a few that were very rough and they did turn into very respectable shooters. After that, feed the ol gal with some accuracy hand loads with good high grade bullets. If she is still not shooting, yep, try a bedding job.