Having issues with a new Sauer 100, that has a 1:11 twist on a 24" barrel, shooting Hornady SST 180gr bullets. Grouping is like 5"-6". Talked to a guy from Hornady yesterday and he recommend, in a 1:11 twist, to get a non-superperformance (slower) bullet, as well as a shorter bullet and I should be able to get my groups to a smaller group. Has anybody else ever run across something like this or does it make much sense? I am not big into reloading and know just enough to seem dumb if I was talking to a reloader.

Sticking with Hornady, since that is who I was talking to, he recommended their Whitetail 180gr or Fullboar 165 with the gmx bullet.

Any thoughts?

I by no means am a twist expert and I’m not familiar with the WM that much but I’m thinking that bullet should be stable at WM velocities. 5-6” groups makes me think loose screw somewhere in the optics mounting. I’ve done it myself more than once.

It's not the 1:11" twist causing any problems, I can tell you that with 100% certainty. My previous competition rifle was a 300 WM with a 1:11" twist, as well as my current 300 WM.

First, the Superformance is not known for being a target or match grade round. It's know for being a hot rod round. They cram it full of a really slow burning powder to get the velocities up high, with accuracy as an afterthought. The Hornady person is correct about trying something different and slowing the round down. But the comment on the twist rate is 100% incorrect. Anything you shoot in the 300 WM, except the Berger 230 Hybrid, 220 ELD-M, 240 SMK, and some of the really heavy and long match bullets, will work just fine. It's not a stability issue. It's a crappy ammo issue, if you ask me. The superformance ammo is one I hear a lot about that it doesn't shoot well.

You definitely want to try something different. Factory ammo will have large powder charge variations inside, which will take you in and out of accuracy nodes. The consistency on factory ammo is often very poor leading to high extreme spreads and not allowing the rifle to shoot very good. That's why I hand load everything I shoot and make match grade hunting ammo. The 300 WM is one of the top rounds I know best.

But, 5"-6" groups is concerning. I think even the worst ammo should do better than that. Which leads me to something else as a problem. But I need more info to know this. If you tried 3-4 different types of ammo and all were the same bad performance, then there's an issue with rifle/scope/rings/base. But start with shooting something else other than the superformance. If you need some quality match grade ammo that I know will turn in sub moa groups, let me know. That's what I do.

I also had a rifle shooting Lite-Mags from Hornady when they were discontinued and I went to superformance. It was awful. I don’t remember how bad but I know I have the rest of the box away. It shot great in his rifle.

Thanks Chad, I was hoping you would have some input. I can rule out the optics/rings/bases. In my first attempt to sight this rifle in I was having the same trouble, with the same ammo, so I thought logically I had messed up mounting the optic. I ended up putting a different scope on the gun and was very diligent in the process to make sure I was doing it right. I then had the same problems again this past weekend. I even rechecked my screws and optic, again.

I also checked to make sure the stock was not loose and everything appeared fine.

I am planning on picking up a couple of different boxes of ammo later this week and heading to the range to see if I can get something that it likes.

You're welcome! Buzz me if I can help you!

Fireman bug bought some Hornady Superformance .300 Win Mag ammo last year. We also say incredibly poor consistency at 100 yards.

I don't understand the mind-set of very high speed, but no consistency in where the bullet lands. I'll take a slower, precise shooting load every day of the week and twice on Sunday.

To add to this, I am looking for a hunting bullet to perform well. No need for a match bullet.

Thanks all for the advice.

Not sure if they’re available in WM but the Hornady Interlock is a dang good hunting bullet at a fair price. If I’m not mistaken it’s the platform the SST was built on. Maybe someone can confirm that I may have made it up.

1:11 should spin a 180 without any problem. As others posted, try other brands/loads and see what happens.

I run the 95-SST Superformance in my niece's 700 ADL and my dad's 788 .243s. Both shot 3-shot sub-MOA groups Sunday morning. In the 788 is out-shot the 95gr Fusion by .5". Used to run 100gr Core-lokts until Remington went to the dogs.

Just an update for those that care...I took four different types of ammo out to the range today and 180gr Winchester was the ticket I was looking for. Groups are touching and shooting great.

I personally have never seen 1 type of ammo shoot so poorly out of a gun, change nothing, except for the ammo, and get exactly what I was looking for. The instant relief and doubt that was washed away feels good knowing I have this rig dialed in now.

Awesome, good to hear!! And yes, ammo means EVERYTHING!

I've always heard it, but had never experienced personally.

I would always hear somebody say that and just assumed they didn't know how to shoot and was using it as an excuse. I had to be a see'er to be a believer.

I have seen it although not so dramatic as that.

I don’t handload, so I must try different types of factory ammo every time I get a new rifle. I like Barnes TSX bullets, but not every rifle will shoot them well. So I sometimes have to use different ammo with another type of bullet. Handloading can help a lot with this issue - although even handloading may not solve it completely. Some barrels just don’t like some bullet/powder combinations, and that’s just the way it is.

Glad you found some it liked.

Glad you got it squared away.

Buddy had a .243 Win that would spray most ammo into a 5-8” group. I finally found a Federal load that shot good. Went through the whole gun looking for loose screws, remounted optics, etc. Was a sigh of relief when I found the “right” ammo.