Savage .17HMR with a damaged crown~accuracy killer?

.22LRGUY

.22LRGUY

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OK, I've read enough to know that a less-than-perfect crown CAN throw-off the accuracy to a large degree, but I figured the thread title might drag some of you guys in here for a look. :) I bought it used from a member here on CGN and it looked almost new with, according to the seller, very few rounds through it. I didn't, however, inspect the crown. I put an econo scope on it with Burris Zee Rings, checked that the action screws weren't loose, grabbed 3 boxes of 17gr. v-max, and drove 2 hours to the range.

I noticed, right away, that the POI was all over the place and refusing to believe it could be the rifle at first, I kept adjusting the scope..chasing the bullets. Didn't remedy the situation of course. I DO know that all rimfires seems to show a strong preference for one ammo option over all others but even taking that into account (and this being my 3rd HMR in the last 5 years) there was no way this rifle should be giving me poor groups @ 100 yards.

Really looking forward to some constructive ideas/input from you guys. Thanks for taking a moment to reply.
 
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Pick one ammo and stick with it. Especially rimfire. Once the barrel is fouled to that ammunition groups will tighten. DO NOT CLEAN the barrel, just the chamber. Accuracy will tighten up. From then on, dry patch only (and very occasionally)

Rimfire barrels shoot best when properly fouled. My CZ has over 15,000 rounds through it (between any cleaning, gun has in excess of 90,K thru it), and accuracy is superb. Dry patched every 1000 rounds, cleaned every 10K, but honestly, it only gets cleaned when accuracy can no longer be restored by dry patching alone.

Now about that crown, I would have it re-crowned. That 'flash' of metal is not helping your case at all. PS, try a different scope as well, and use an in-lb torque wrench to snug the scope down in increments. Cross bolt pattern.

Also, check your mounts. Locktite is your friend. For scope screws that are torqued, a little dab of clear nail polish on them (after everything else is dialled in and working) keeps my gun shooting perfectly every time.
 
Thanks for the replies so far guys. Got Juice?~are you suggesting you let an HMR barrel get fouled? I've heard of that with .22lr, but have read MORE about HMR starting to suffer from copper fouling without THAT many rounds though them. Not saying what's right, what's wrong...just that it contradicts what you said a little. Your thoughts? The bases were solid, as were the rings' grip on the scope...but I'll double-check everything after I figure-out who will be re-crowning the barrel.

chalkriver~Epps is an option, but Grech is only about 20 minutes further away, and I don't have to take a number to speak with him...or watch 10 window shoppers fondling guns while I wait in line. Thanks for the input though.
 
While I cannot speak for ALL the 17's out there, we had 1 Savage and one Ruger that we took out to the range to dial in for gophers. I understand the argument of cleaning the 17's. However on this day with BOTH the rifles, fouling proved to help.

BUUUUUUT....

Most .22's are lead round nose or copper washed where most of the .17 bullets are jacketed. So... while I would suggest less cleaning is better for the .17's, I tend to think they will need more frequent drypatching or a thorough cleaning before a .22 will.

I have not talked (or shot) personally a .17 with a high enough round count with the same ammo to be 100% certain this will work in all guns, but it shows a tendancy to be similar to a .22 in terms of cleaning. What round count will necessitate patching, and then cleaning will vary tremendously on the rifle and the ammo used.

With my .204 (hotter round.. chronoing in at 3980fps on a .40gn vmax) I find that this gun likes to shoot 100 rounds... then dry patch. After about 5-600 rounds (all dry patched) my accuracy will not return until I use wipeout on the barrel. So I suppose you could say that I don't clean my .204 until I hit 600 rounds.
Once cleaned it takes about 10 shots before it will group once more.

Just my observations in the field. If you find differently with the .17 please let me know, as there are a couple that are in the area here that won't group (from what I hear) and the owners are a bit vexed. I have yet to take them out with me to the range to check them over. I would appreciate any input you have that I can share with other shooters. Helping others out is what we do :)

I tend to belong to the camp of 'you can wear out or fkup a barrel by excessive cleaning' crowd. I shoot all my rifles the same way, and patch them as necessary, then clean them when patching does not bring the accuracy back.
 
That crown is definitely FUBARed and needs to be redone before you waste any more ammo. A recrown can be done by anyone with a lathe and a minimum of expertise. Do you have a local machine shop? Just get a machinist to recrown it for you, all you need to know is to make sure the tool is sharp, the barrel is running true and start from the bore and work out. It takes 5 minutes literally. You only need to remove 0.010" of metal to clean it up. It ain't rocket science, I've done probably 100 or so and mine all seem to shoot well.
Like "Got Juice?" I have seen more rifles ruined by cleaning rods and over zealous bone heads than I've ever seen shot out. I DO NOT clean the bores of my rifles except when they start giving me trouble which is usually not for thousands of rounds. OR if I use Barnes homogenous bullets which do copper foul quite badly in very few rounds.
 
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Cleaning up the crown is a 3 minute DIY job.
As simple as a strip of 600 grit sandpaper across the head of a dome shaped screw, press it against the muzzle lightly and spin it.


Clean the livin' heck outta that barrel. Clean it some more. Then some more.

My dollar bet, is on the barrel having been shot well past it's 'due for cleaning' stage, and fouled to heck as a result.

It's not.22lr. It's never gonna go hundreds of rounds, let alone thousands, before it needs to be properly cleaned out.

Get thee some copper solvent. Better yet, a couple different ones. Use 'em.

Cheers
Trev
 
I would even go so far as to say that you don't need a lathe to fix that. It would look a lot nicer if the face was cleaned up, but try it yourself, you're not going to bugger it up any worse. You know your chamfer tool for deburring cases? Try that. LIGHT pressure, hold it straight, and give it a couple of turns. Should get rid of that burr around the bore, and will cost you about 5 minutes of your time.
 
I've cleaned up many crowns with a brass round head screw and some valve lapping compound, just push a patch about 1/4" down then a bit of compound on the screw head. I use my drill press and sort of move the butt in a figure 8, just a few minutes then wipe and check with a Qtip to see if its pulling any threads. Re-blue and your good to go.
 
Hey guys, REALLY appreciate the replies~thanks so much. The "figure 8" and panhead screw comments... Screws are never a perfect radius. especially since most pan heads are slot screws so that, coupled with anything less than a dead-on approach...wouldn't that lead to an inconsistent/un-uniform crown? I know the crown on the rifle couldn't look look or be any worse, but I'm not sure I want to add the additional step of my home-grown solution negatively effecting the accuracy too. If it tighten's up the groups but still is off, I'll come back from the range still not sure if the crown is the issue.
 
Fix that crown and blast away. I clean my hummer once and a while. Most of the time it's a bore snake when I get bored. Have t noticed a difference it still hits gophers all the same clean or dirty
 
Some gunsmiths have a piloted 60 degree reamer used for finishing crowns... it's a 2 minute deal for them if they have the reamer.
 
If you are worried about the panhead bolts not being true, Do you reload????? If so, I`m sure you have a trimmer. I have a Lyman Accutrimmer and it came with numerous different machined gauge tips that I would never use. Try one of those with a bit of valve grinding compound. Just chuck it up into a drill.
 
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