Rifling???

I had this happen once to me turned out the barrel was copper fouled, it seems my cleaning over time hadn't been effective enough and that coupled with Barnes bullets many years ago lead to 8 inch groups from what had been a 1.5 inch gun for years. After much hair pulling a gunsmith I took it to pointed out my problem, sold me some Sweets 7.62 and after a good work out with the Sweets she shot like a champ again.
I don't believe in over cleaning bores but it seems that this one had got away from me.

As mentioned above check the bedding that is something that can certainly change while a gun sits.

Dan
 
SwedishMan said:
Another quick test, especially for old guns, is to stand the rifle on its
butt.

1. Slowly lower a cartridge (bullet end first) into the muzzle.

2. If it stops before hitting the case, then you still have rifling at the muzzle.

If not then the rifling is shot out and worn away.
Click to expand...

Or maybe you've got a bullet with a long ogive.

Barrels tend to wear in front of the chamber where they are eroded by propellant gases. If a good cleaning doesn't bring the accuracy back, seat a fat base bullet backwards into the case and gently chamber it, then eject and see how long the lead is. If the lead is badly worn, you might want to seat your bullets out a bit farther or have the barrel set back and re-chambered if the tapper allows for it.
 
The rifler and caliber are relevant to this discussion. Very, very unlikely the barrel is worn out.

barrel fouling would be the first thing to eliminate. I don't like to over-scrub a barrel cleaned from the muzzle. I scrub with alternating doses of a abrasive cleaner, like Rem-Clean, that takes away the black gunk and then I slop in a copper solvent and leave the gun muzzle down on a pad of paper towel over night.

If the patch comes out blue the next day, i repeat. This might take a week, but there is a minimum of scrubbing, with the solvent doing most of the work.

For fast copper removal, I use Sweets. For overnight I use Hoppes Benchrest.

The abrasive is important because some metal fouling can be trapped under caked and pounded in powder fouling.

There is one other possibility to investigate and eliminate. The rifle has an action screw that must be tight. On many rifles this is in a blind hole. If the holes does not go all the way through the action, with the wood off, install the screw and count the number of half turns it takes to bottom the screw. Then install the wood and count turns again. The screw should stop before it gets to the first number. If the number is the same, you found the problem - a loose stock. number.
 
Well I must of had a brain fart when checking my rings and scope mounts because yesterday when I was removing the "copper fouling", I noticed my back scope base was loose. I don't know how I missed that! Any ways after 2 years of not using my favorite deer rifle I fixed the problem with som blue locktight and headed out to the range! I only got to shoot at 50 yards but I'm cloverleafing the 150 ballistic tips (41.1gr of IMR 4895). She's back in action!!!! Thanks for all the help!
 
All Savage 99's I've had shot best with a dob of glass bedding at the last 1" of the fore end tip.Playing with the stock screw will adjust your pressure.Should shoot MOA or better.Cut a piece of a business card loosen the fore end screw and insert it in the barrel channel at the tip.Retighten and shoot from a solid bench.You may need to add two cards........no way the barrel can be shot out............Harold I used 42gr Win 748 and a 150gr in mine and they clover leafed.
 
Camper said:
Well I must of had a brain fart when checking my rings and scope mounts because yesterday when I was removing the "copper fouling", I noticed my back scope base was loose. I don't know how I missed that! Any ways after 2 years of not using my favorite deer rifle I fixed the problem with som blue locktight and headed out to the range! I only got to shoot at 50 yards but I'm cloverleafing the 150 ballistic tips (41.1gr of IMR 4895). She's back in action!!!! Thanks for all the help!
Click to expand...
Was about to suggest that, kinda surprised nobody told you to check the mounts.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom