Couple of issues to check:

Bedding tops the list. To check the bedding for a right handed shooter. With your left hand, stand the rifle on it's butt. Next, grab the rifle with your left hand near the end of the forearm. With your left hand, Jam the tip of the index finger on your left hand between the barrel and the tip of the forearm. Now, loosen and tighten the front and rear guard screw. If you feel the action springing away from the stock, your gun is out of bed. In a perfect world, you should not feel more than .002 movement.

Check clearance on the magazine box. The box should freefloat between the floor plate and the action. If the floor plate is pushing up on the center of the action, it will cause stress on the action.

On Remingtons, if the trigger pins protrude enough to dig into the side of the stock, it will cause stress on the action. Also, if the Spring screw on the trigger housing is backed out on the trigger to the point to where it is touching the stock, it will cause stress.

Leupold a few years back made some screws out of spec on their scope bases. I have had a similar issue on a Rifle, and took the rifle completely apart. I found hash marks on the bottom of the front scope base screw indicating that the screw was digging into the threads on the barrel tenon. This will screw up accuracy big time. When installing scope bases on an action for the first time, I always tighten up the front scope base screw, then remove the screw looking at the bottom of the screw, insuring that there is clearance when the screw is tightened down.

After chasing down the mechanical things, next is seating depth, load, and primer choice. Other than mechanical issues, weak primer choice for the type of powder can be an issue, however this is really grasping for straws. I have seen a little hotter primer cure this type of issue, but it is rare indeed.

When this type of thing happens to me on a new barrel, I check the mechanicals, use a known scope of proven quality,playing with seating depth, change primers, then change powders.

I start off with the bullets kissing the lands, always! If I don't get bug holes at this point, thenI will go to .010, 0.30, 0.050, then 0.100 bullet jump on NON Barnes bullets. On custom barrels, I have not had to jump through these hoops, this is what happens on factory barrels.

With all the above crap don't over look the fact that the barrel does not like that bullet or like the powder you are using. I have got trapped into trying to make a barrel shoot a particular bullet or powder when the barrel may like a different kind.

It does not take a lot of shots to determine if you are on the right track, two shot groups will get you there in a hurry unless you are shooting in gusty winds. When gusty, you might want to move the target into 50 yards...you can still get your initial testing done at 50 when you are pinched for time with windy conditions.

If the bullets are not going into a tiny bug hole, you are not there yet.

Last edited by keith; 08/18/14.