A couple years ago, I inherited my Dad's 788 in .22-250. My
brother and I shot it a lot when we were teenagers in the pdog
towns of SW Nebraska. It was my Dad's one and only deer rifle
and not one mulie did he ever lose with that rifle.
My brother and I learned to reload for that rifle. Dad would not
buy ammo for pdog shooting but did furnish powder, primers and
bullets. Each of us also got a deer with that rifle. After all,
after shooting pdogs all summer, a pinpoint shot on a deer was
nothing....not even a challenge.
On a recommendation from one of his neighbors, Dad never
cleaned the barrel after removing the factory crud. The
neighbor convinced him it was the worst thing he could do and
would ruin the accuracy (I feel the neighbor ruined the crown
on his .30-06 with his cleaning methods). After bringing it
home and inspecting the bulged cases, I saw a barrel cleaning
was long, long past due. Ever try to get 35 years worth of
powder/copper residue out of a barrel? It took me over a month.
I'm going to have to recall what loads we all used in it. With
IMR4320, 55gr Hornady SP's pushed around 3600fps (as I recall)
a dime would cover 3-shot groups. Loads I have tried with 55gr
bullets with a couple of other powders won't hold inch groups.
However, 40 VMax's and 36gr Varmint Grenades do give 1/2"
groups. She's still a shooter when given fodder she likes.
