Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles When You Get a Lemon........

If and when you get a lemon, what is the etiquette for these? I have a friend at work that recently bought a new rifle and we just can't get the darn thing to shoot. We've checked all sorts of screws, bedded, floated, pressure pointed, re-loaded and just haven't gotten results of less than 2 MOA with anything and it doesn't sound like the factory will help him out either.

He doesn't want to sell it because he won't lie when someone asks him how it shoots. But, he doesn't want to keep it either. I suggested he send it to the smith for diagnosis and maybe get some truing/rebarreling/restocking done. This will be more expensive than selling and buying something else if he does it all at once.

What would you guys do?

Send it back to the maker?

Squeeze it - and get some juice!!

Just had to say that!!!

No seriously, if its under some sort of warranty - send it back. Or the idea of getting a good gunsmith to look at it is a good one. They usually have their "bag of tricks" to help find the problem.
7mm.

you do not say make or caliber. i have not experienced it . i have i few rems and few sakos. and two model 70s. i have a couple with krieger barrels they shoot small groups

What make/model? Base/rings/glass? Ammo?

What do the "groups" look like? Round patterns,strung vertical/horizontal?...................

Shoot it a lot more. Might come around with several hundred rounds down the bore...

The rifle is a Remington 700 Mountain Rifle DBM. It's been on the rack locally for a while. Its a 270 Winchester. He's had it since November. The scope rings are Leupold Dual Dovetails. I took the scope out and used a wheeler tool and found that they were straight. It was mounted by a local gunsmith. The scope was a Leupold Vari-X II. We changed out scopes to a Zeiss Conquest 3-9x40 that I bought recently and it didn't seem to matter.

He has gone through several boxes of premium factory stuff and used his friend's press and reloading equipment to reload. The guy with the press is pretty sharp and was supervising/doing it for him. I looked at the reloads and they looked fine. The brass wasn't super clean looking, but I didn't think that should matter too much, right? I'm just assuming the guy helping him was as thorough and careful as he is with his own reloads which shoot pretty good.

I did my best to try and shim the metal out of the stock a bit to float the barrel and that seemed to help a little bit. It quit stringing so much. He took it home and after reading a magazine, whipped out some heavy-grit sandpaper and went to town on the barrel channel. It's now "floated" all the way down and he hasn't re-sealed the exposed wood yet. That didn't change much either.

Still has a factory trigger but it doesn't seem all that heavy. Its not any heavier than the way my M70 Featherweight felt out of the box. He shoots his FN Mauser 30-06 pretty well and I think I shoot well enough to know its not me with this rifle.

At first, the groups strung from low to high. The first shot is about 2 inches high at 100. Second is 3 1/2 inches high and the third is usually at least an inch higher. They seem to go from 12 to 1:30 on the target. The first cold-bore shot is always a lot lower than the next two.

I'd pull base/rings and gawk the fore fastener,to make sure she ain't deadheaded into the barrel shank proper. It'll make [bleep] squirrely. Further,I'd make sure them fasteners were bloody knuckle tight,as a minimum.

What boolit/powder/COAL? Kiss,find pressure and rock on.

The bedding is surely [bleep]. Dab bed the lug,don't be shimming anything nor anywhere.

Triggers adjust easily,but I'd bet the Farm and the county both...that it's a fastener,ammo and bedding goatphuck................

I feel bad because I didn't think he'd actually try to DIY some of the things we talked about. After the groups turned more triangle after the shims, he went home and took the shims out and "floated" it himself after reading a gun magazine article about free-floated barrels. Luckily, I think that the damage is going to be fixable. He hasn't messed with the area around the action.

I'll have him try a different set of bases/rings and see if that changes anything. The bolt doesn't bind and you can't feel the screw protruding down through the holes.

This is the ammo he's used:

Federal Fusion 130gr
Remington Core-Lokt 130gr
Winchester Supreme 140gr Accubond CT
Federal Premium 140gr Accubond
Federal Premium 130gr Sierra GK
Federal Premium 150gr Partition
Hornady 140gr SST Light Magnum

Handloads:

52-54gr H4350 with Sierra GameKing
57-60gr of H4831 with Sierra GameKing
57-60gr of H4831 with Nosler Partition
57-60gr of H4831 with Nosler Ballistic Tips

Dan,
just a few points:
1. was the barrel properly run in? Not running in a barrel properly can bugger it up good and properly. Personally, I do a one shot / clean - for the first 5 shots, then 3 shots / clean for the next 9 shots. I then shoot a 5 shot group and give the barrel a clean , making sure no copper is evident in the rifling.
That uses up around 1 box of ammo. Then I shoot my 3 shot groups - never allowing the barrel to heat up. If its too hot to touch, its too hot to shoot.
2. Strining of the shots - comes back to the barrel overheating - and obviously could be a bedding issue too.

Get it checked by a good "Smith.

Gus

You can't "feel" the fore fastener,it butts the barrel shank,not the receiver's interior where the bolt rides. Hint. If the rings meld the DD recess snugly,I'd not fret them,under the assumption they's tight.

Bed thusly. Catch the lug and let the tang ride where it do and flush the shim notions.



The SGK is your Huckleberry for making mechanical determinations...stay that course as a constant. Establish headspace,size in accords,trim to equal and kiss. What's the bore's status,in regards to fouling/cleaning? I can see that being a goatphuck too.

The rifle is sound. Toldjaso in advance............(grin)

I did tell him to watch the barrel heat. I like to shoot each shot from a cold barrel, especially with a light barreled gun. This is his first venture into being a "loony".

I'm not sure how he broke the barrel in. I fear he could have got it hot right out of the box.

1) Bullshitt

2) Bullshitt again. They've got her bound in a [bleep] knot and it CAN'T shoot.

Happy rifles shoot round groups and ain't afeared of heat,as per the crux herein..............

Thanks Stick. I might "borrow" his rifle for a little bit to see if I can see what he's really done with this thing.

May as well start with a CLEAN bore and start scratching [bleep] offa da list. Thus my moly penchant...because bores can't ever get weird..............

Hope it can be rectified and made to shoot .

Gus

It's all there,but just dog-knotted up,something wonderous.

It ain't often,that the loose nut behind the trigger,ain't to blame for rifles that "don't shoot".

Seen it a Jazillion times............

How does the crown look?

I have only owned one rifle that wouldn't shoot. It was a Ruger #1. Never could figure out why it sucked so bad. Sent that baby down the road, and I still get cold sweats thinking about it.

Because it's a #1 and due to how their fore ends are hung.

Yet another feather in the B-78's cap...............