My most recent experience with Hill Country's accuracy work involved a Remington .30-06. It shot okay with factory loads it liked. But it didn't like many, and okay isn't good enough for me. I could not believe the improvement when it came back from Hill Country.

The author’s Remington .30-06 did not shoot well, so he sent it to Hill Country Rifles for their accuracy package. These “before” and “after” targets show the improvement.

Prior to accurizing, the best load grouped a little over one inch at 100 yards. Now I consistently shoot less than a half-inch with the same load. Loads that shot horribly before now shoot between 1.0 and 1.5 inches. I would have been happy with far less, but getting such accuracy from a factory barrel made the $375 accuracy package a steal.

Harvester Rifles By HCR
Last year I told Bettersworth that I wanted to build a custom .260 for my children. We talked about the specifications, and he gave me a price quote. I think he could tell I was trying hard to justify paying the tab for another custom rifle. That's when he told me about Hill Country's new Harvester line.

Each Harvester starts out as a factory Remington, Winchester, or Montana Rifle Co. rifle. The action is then pillar bedded in the customer's choice of McMillan synthetic stocks; the scope rings and locking lugs are lapped; the barrel is recrowned; and the trigger is cleaned and adjusted. The result is an affordable and attractive rifle that is guaranteed to shoot almost as well as one of Hill Country's full-blown custom rigs.

So, with hunting season around the corner and my daughter Chloe ready to try her hand on a real deer instead of a target, I ordered a Harvester.

The rifle I received had a stainless Remington action with a lightweight barrel in a black McMillan stock. The test target that accompanied the rifle had confidence-inspiring groups, including a few sub-half-inch groups with Remington's 120-grain AccuTip load.

Hill Country Rifles Harvester

My first trip to the range inspired even greater confidence. The rifle functioned perfectly. I shot consistent sub-half-inch groups with the same Remington 120-grain Accu-Tip load. With a reduced load I ordered from Superior Ammunition, the groups opened up to just under an inch--plenty accurate for sub-100-yard shots at deer--so we loaded up and headed to the Texas Hill Country. When Chloe got her chance to take a fine axis buck, she was ready and drooped the buck with one shot.

With a base price of $1595 and a sub-inch accuracy guarantee, I think Harvester rifles are a heck of a value.

Old World Skills Live On
Hill Country does a brisk business building synthetic-stocked custom rifles. The rifles may be based on different actions, wear barrels of varying lengths and contours, and sport different finishes, but each carries Hill Country's "half-inch at a hundred" accuracy guarantee.

Synthetic-stocked rifles are nice, but many gunsmiths can produce such rifles. Few of today's gunsmiths possess the Old World metal and woodworking skills to perform the detailed work--like handcheckered metal and handfinished stocks that come up effortlessly and fit like a glove--that sets a true custom rifle apart from a rebarrel job. The artists who build such rifles are a dying breed, but fortunately, those skills live on at Hill Country Rifles.