Remington VLS problems

[OldSavage]

I shoot with a fella that has been complaining about his VLS .243 for the past little while and I thought I would bounce some thoughts off of you guys and see if you can come up with something.

I have shot with him on many occasions and he has always been an excellent shot but it seems his VLS has been going down hill over the past year. Originally he was placing a 3-5 shot group at 200 yards in a cluster slightly larger than an inch, now he is lucky to break 2 inches at 100 yards.

He has tried reloading with ligther bullets, heavier bullets, seating the bullets further in, seating the bullets further out, different powders, different amounts of powder and yet the same thing keeps on happening. He has checked his mounts which are tight, he's tried shimming the barrel in the stock, even tried letting other people shoot it and it all ends up in the same place. He recently shot some factory loads and it was even worse than his hand loads.

Any ideas on how the help this guy because shooting with him is alot more fun when he's not pissed off.

Thanks,

 

[c4pyro]

How many rounds does he have down the barrel. the .243 is a barrel burner. I he only has a couple hundred down, its safe to say that something is amiss. If he is in the 1500 mark....he take his gun to a reliable smith and get him to bore scope it and see what she looks like.

 

[2bad4u2]

Assuming the barrel has been properly cleaned and free from excessive powder/copper fouling, it's time to have someone have a look at it.

Has the barrelled action been separated from the stock or has he checked the action screws for being too loose? It might be time to bed the action if it hasn't been done already.

 

[guntech]

It requires a inspection by someone qualified...

That's about the only definite thing that can be said with the information you have posted ...

... in all probability though the barrel is either fouled badly or worn badly and the crown needs freshening as well.

 

[OldSavage]

No more than 100 rounds through it but he has been experiencing a great deal of copper fouling as of late. Both the lands and grooves are filthy after 15 shots, and he is forced to soak the thing over night just to get it clean.
The rifle has always been taken care, and only shot in benchrest/varmit hunting situations. Its never been dragged through the bush, dropped, or abused.

 

[Ruthless]

I'll just go different direction and suggest checking the bipod if used or even checking if barrel might be touching the stock (free-floated I guess)

 

[casterpollox]

My 2 cents...

My .22 pistol had a similar problem when I first got it. Eventually it got so bad the bullets were keyholing.

Had the barrel inspected and copper was collecting in the rifling (just a little at a time) and then taking more material away from the next bullet. It could have been dangerous if a bullet ever got completly stuck.

I would have it checked there might be a burr in the barrel or some other unusual material.

 

[Cappy]

What is he using to clean it with? I've looked down some barrels with a bore scope that were supposed to be cleaned and they were full of very shiny copper. The owners weren't getting the copper out only the powder residue and carbon.

 

[Homesteader]

1) Give it a good cleaning
2) Go back to the original load
3) Swap the scope out for a known good one
4) Has the gun been apart, I have heard of weird things happening if the stock screws aren't torqued properly. I like the front one nice and tight and the rear one just so it's seated.

With only 100 rds thru the gun and the vast assortment of loads you say he has tried, I thinking he may have had a real good day originally. What was the wind like, a breezy day can open the groups up.

 

[guntech]

No more than 100 rounds through it but he has been experiencing a great deal of copper fouling as of late. Both the lands and grooves are filthy after 15 shots, and he is forced to soak the thing over night just to get it clean.
The rifle has always been taken care, and only shot in benchrest/varmit hunting situations. Its never been dragged through the bush, dropped, or abused.

I suggest you quite experimenting, take the rifle to a qualified person, have the rifle bedded correctly and the barrel free floated, the trigger worked lighter, re crowned and the mounts/etc. checked over... and the barrel cleaned...

... then using a Nosler reloading manual, use the load they found most accurate (they list it) as a starting point... with the bullet seated just short of hitting the rifling by about 10 thou...

Clean the barrel after 15 shots... and by clean I mean use a good copper remover and a bore guide... if there is any copper in the bore it is not clean...