Has this ever happened to you

Brambles

Brambles

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I went out to the range the other day shooting 3 rifles. All 3 shot great. The new ones totally impressed me. The 375 H&H shot 3 shots in 9/16 inch and the 300 WSM shot 1/2 inch groups. Both were the first day the guns were at the range since I bought them. The other rifle had been at the range before and shot good as always.. To make a long story short, I took the 300 WSM to the range a couple days later and Could hardly hold it within 2 1/2 inch groups. same ammo. fairly similar weather conditions (few degrees cooler). Don't know what the hell is going on. Bought another box of the same factory's and havent gone out to the range with them yet. The only thing I can think of is that the rifle is shifting in the stock, the screws seemed to be tight but thats the only thing that makes sense right now.

Just curious has it happened to you, what do you think?????


Brambles
 
It is funny you mention this because my friend and I were out today and ran into something very similar. His Tikka 595 in .308 used to shoot 5 shots of a particular load into 1/2 - 3/4" at 100 yards. Next time out the groups opened up to 1 1/2", and those were only 3 shots. So he had the rifle bedded by a well known smith, who also lapped his rings. Went out and same thing, 1 1/2" 3 shot groups. I tried and got the same results. So we checked everything over and the only thing we came up with is a different brass lot.
 
I had a similar thing happen to me. I had my Rem 700 BDL in 7mm Rem Mag rebarreled with stainless matchgrade barrel. First time to the range it shot 1/2 " groups with factory ammo, from then on it had trouble keeping them in two inches with the SAME ammo. Go figure, can't explain it.:confused:
 
some days its just all against you

if you go out trip after trip to the range with bad results, then you can be sure something isn't right. could be a crapped out scope or loose screw

:confused:
​
 
And, dare I say it, sometimes it's the shooter. As much as we would like to believe we are all Dan'l Boons all the the time, we're not. Too much coffee, tiff with the wife, not enough sleep, or a idiot driver can be the things that put us off.

By all means, check out the equipment but sometimes it's not enough.
 
Used to go shooting with a buddy, he'd get clover leaf groups most of the time EXCEPT when he took it home and gave it a good cleaning the next time out it would shoot like crap for the first few shots.

We aren't gun smiths or experts by any means but we came up with this:

The barrel will be built up with copper from the bullets, then when you clean the living hell out of the rifle it removes all the copper fouling thus opening up the barrel. See where I'm going with this? Did he scrub the barrel down when he got it home?
 
This is just a guess, as I don't know any of you or your experience, do you clean out the copper fouling after 20-25 shots? The coppet can and will build up in most barrels until this situation occurs. This wiil happen suddenly, sometimes in the same string and sometimes after being put away and comeing back. This can be a very tough almost unfixable problem if it's allowed to go to far. Just a comment on your problem, I've had the same problem in the past and if the scope mounts, scope and bedding all check out, it's time to make sure that all of the copper is out of the barrel. Just because you can't see it at the muzzle, doesn't mean that there isn't an accuracy destroying buildup further down. Another thing. especially in a rifle that you or someone else has had for a long time and put a high round count through, say 500+ rounds, the throat may have eroded a few thou beyond the ideal distance for best accuracy. You talk about factory ammo, ammunition producers, because of financial reasons, use different componants from lot to lot and these will not perform the same way each time, even though factory ammo now compared to even 5 years ago is incredible considering how many rifles they are trying to match it up to. bearhunter
 
Copper fouling is very real and will affect your grouping. My 300 WM is particularly bad for copper fouling. I really have to pay attention to cleaning very time to ensure accuracy. At times I soak the barrel a few hours or over night to clean the copper out.

There are other variables: temperature, load, wind condition and the mental state of the shooter as well. :D :D :D

Danny Boy
 
I did it up at Bigredds place a while ago.
I put my 243 on the bench, and couldnt pattern a 2.5 inch group. For some reason, I was flinching. Redd sat down, and proceeded to put two into the same hole, and laughed at me.
I had done a ####load of shotgunning for the few months before, and was slapping my 1lb 13oz trigger, and pulling them all over the place.
Needless to say, I calmed down, and shot fine.
Sometimes its you, and you just dont know it.
 
Bad Groups are like bad blood pressure readings..You dont go bursurk over a couple gone south. When it becomes as regular as the mail its time to take her apart ,reassemble while watching for any foolishness like screws that bottom before tightening etc.I went out today with my sako 22/250 cause I noticed my steel cleaning rod had contacted the rifling. I shot 6 in a 5 mph wind 4 in a dime,2 flew away by .5 inch. So I'm not going to loose any sleep that the rod could have scored the bore. The 4 wouldnt be in the dime if it were
 
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