Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Barrel suggestions wanted

Back on Feb 16th I wrote about picking up this Ruger MKII .223 with Burris Fullfield II 3-9x at Cabelas for $436 before taxes. I thought it was a pretty good deal and still do, but it may now be a donor instead of the shooter I was hoping for.



At the time I was concerned that as a varmint cartridge rifle, a previous owner may have cooked the barrel or at least damaged it. The scope I wasn�t too concerned about because it has the Burris lifetime warranty. Now I�m thinking there might be problems with both the barrel and the scope.

Saturday I took the rifle to the range with a thoroughly cleaned barrel. I chrono�d some factory loads to foul the bore, shooting into the dirt berm behind and to the side of my target stand. Then I started on the development loads. To say group sizes were disappointing would be an understatement to say the least. Group sizes for the two load types (50g V-MAX/27.5g BLC-2 and 55g Speer SP/26.5g BLC-2) were awesome ugly. One was about 5�, the other closer to 8�.

After getting the rifle I had floated the barrel and tuned the trigger, which is now crisp, clean and fairly light. There was no stringing or other problems with the groups that indicated interference with the stock, and the action was tight in the stock. It would print a couple rounds fairly close together, then throw a flyer, leading me to suspect a scope problem. The scope was tight in the rings, which in turn were tight on the action, so a loose scope wasn�t the cause, either.

Yesterday I swapped the Burris scope out with an old Simmons Aetec 2.8-10x that had graced my 7mm RM for many years and was working fine when I replaced it. I then proceeded to shoot 5-shot groups with greenbox Remington/UMC and Federal American Eagle 55g FMJs. The Federal grouped at 2.2�, the Remington insignificantly better at 2.1�. Better, but still not satisfactory. Not even close.

First things, first, I�m going to call Burris and send the scope back for inspection. The is a good scratch mark on it so there may be some internal damage. Because of the flyers I expect this to be the case. I�ll also talk to Burris about swapping the Duplex reticle with a Ballistic Plex reticle while they have it apart. I �m sure that will cost a few $$$ but far less than a new scope.

Next I have to decide what to do with the rifle. The current barrel is a 1-12 twist. Ruger will rebarrel it with a 1-9 twist, which would be fine for me as I don�t intend to use really heavy bullets, probably 50g mostly and 62g on the heavy end. This may be the least expensive option for a new barrel and, given the way my other Rugers shoot, result in quite acceptable in the accuracy department. It would also keep the rifle fairly light, which I want as I already have a heavy barrel .22-250 for long range work.

The other barrel option is to spend more and get an aftermarket barrel. For this I�m looking for suggestions. More money most likely, possibly a lot more money. A fluted barrel with a slightly larger diameter (but no heavier than the current barrel) would be a prime consideration for going this route. For this route I am looking for suggestions � manufacturer, contour, etc.

Your suggestions?

I didn't see where you bedded the rifle? If not, I would do that before having a new barrel screwed on.

The Ruger barrel with the 1-9 twist shoot well, mine shoots really well, 3/4 or better.

If you end up swapping barrels sending it to Ruger would be the most cost effective route and I would gladly swap the 12 twist for a 9. If you want to go aftermarket I would suggest having Dave at IT&D dupe the factory contour with one of his Douglas barrels he does good work and has very fast turn around times. You may want to try some more handloads with the other scope also.

I bought a new Ruger Hawkeye in 223 and had problems with accuracy. After much cussing and growling, the problem turned out to be the Nikon Monarch scope, which had died. Replaced the scope and doing fine now. But if the scope isn't the problem, I'd go for the 1 in 9 twist replacement barrel. I've got a Ruger in 220 Swift with a #2 Douglas barrel on it, and it's a terrific shooter. And my Tikka T3 with the #4 Brux barrel is the most accurate rifle I've ever owned.

I would have the bore scoped before I did anything. Could be a pile of copper or a carbon ring in the throat.

I'd at least bed the action and give the barrel a good hundred strokes with an abrasive cleaner like JB paste. If it won't shoot then, it just won't shoot. So long as only the action is bedded, changing out the barrel on down the road won't require re-bedding.

603Country - "Nikon Monarch scope, which had died..." Died HOW exactly? Reticle broken, tube took a hit, run out of W&E?

Nikon makes really good scopes, as well as camera's and lens assemblies, with "Monarch" at the top of their scopes.

Have dealt with Nikon on a professional level (microscopes etc.) and found their products and service to be top notch. What does Nikon say?

Homesteader

I went through a similar situation with a M700 in 223. It had a 1 in 14 and since I am in an area where I can't use lead bullets it wouldn't stabilize anything longer than about 40gr. Douglas was the route I chose and after a fair amount of tweaking it will hold about 1/2 to 3/4 groups if I do my part.

This right here.

That stock is in WAY too good a shape for the barrel to have gotten the 3-3.5k rounds necessary for it to have been toasted.

On the other hand, going from 12 to 9 twist ain't never not a good thing .

Good suggestion, but my friend CH doesn't bed his Rugers. He freefloats them and calls them good. He's had good luck with this, but from my past experience I've always had better luck with bedding the dang things..

I wonder if Ruger would throw a newer Hawkeye 9 twist on there for him?? My little Hawkeye (9 twist) .223 rem was a shooting sob. It would keep up with the heavy barrel .223 rem target/varmint MKII I have..

I called Ruger a while back and yes, they would use a 1-9 twist. If they were going to do a 1-12 twist I would go elsewhere for a barrel.

Packaged up the Burris scope last nignt, wife will drop it off at the PO today. Guess I could have just dropped it off at the Burris facility in Greeley on my way home since that is where it is headed. 40 mins out of my way (wrong direction, too) but I could have had dinner with Daughter #2 and her hubby afterwards.

Am paying Burris an extra $60 to get the Plex reticle replaced with a Ballistic Plex so it will be like all my other FF-II's.

Homesteader, the Nikon scope that died was a Monarch 4-16x40. It was on my Ruger Hawkeye 223 as an upgrade to a Bushnell that I had originally put on the rifle. With the Bushnell, the rifle shot good groups during load development. Then I put the Nikon on the rifle and got good groups for a while and then the groups opened up. I couldn't make that rifle shoot a tight group with anything. I was stumped, until I happened to find a stack of targets that I had shot some really good groups on, and I realized that all the good groups I had in the stack were done with the Bushnell. Hmmm. So I put the Bushnell back on and went right to shooting great. And then I upgraded again and put a Leupold VX2 6-18x40 on it and life is good.

I took the Nikon back to Gander Mtn, and they swapped it (for a fee) for the Leupold. I never spoke to Nikon. And the truth is that I never really liked the Nikon. It had a real flare problem if you looked toward the rising or setting sun. I might buy a Nikon again some day, but probably I won't. And, just to mention it, I have several Nikon binocs and I like them just fine.

I hand load. I have a Ruger like yours in 270. It shot like crap. Had it glass bedded, free floated, trigger work and still shot like crap. I was getting ready to swap out the barrel and I tried a new load. That load shot like a house of fire! Today, I have shot more deer with that rifle than all my others. I have another Ruger MkII in 300 win mag. After I shot out the barrel on that rifle I swapped the barrel to a Lilja. One of the best shooting rifles I have! I believe Lilja to be one of the best barrels you can get. I'm having a Lilja installed on a Remington 788 in 223 rem right now. Can't wait!

Cag, it did take me a while to find just the right load for that Hawkeye, but it shoots fine now with 40 gr Nosler BTs over BL-C(2) or H335. I have rifles that shoot better, and I've been looking for an excuse to put a high dollar barrel on the Ruger. Yesterday, just to prove to myself that maybe I did deserve a new barrel, I took the rifle to my 110 yard range and proceeded to put 3 bullets into .6 inches. Well...it doesn't need a new barrel. And truth be told, I really do like that rifle.

And to stay on topic, I should mention that my Tikka T3 in 260 has a #4 Brux barrel on it, and brother will it shoot. Amazing. Of course it ought to shoot. I had it tuned up by a good 'smith'.

If that rifle is getting you 2" with a couple factory loads - neither of them what I would imagine are great target loads- I think I would give some handloads another go. Try a different powder perhaps. I think we sometimes get stuck on certain powders- especially when they work well according to our experience in a certain cartridge. But certain rifles seem to prefer other combinations. I have always liked H335 better in my 12 twist 223s with 55s. IMR 4895 has been a good printer with the 50s and perhaps less sensitive to needing an optimal high pressure condition to burn best. I would probably play with one or two powders a bit before twisting off the old pipe.

Torque the front screw to 65 in/lb, the rear screw to 50 in/lb, and snug the middle screw. If the magazine box isn't slightly loose with the screws tightened take enough metal off the contact points until it is.

Thanks - good advice. Unfortunately I did just that after I floated the barrel and worked on the trigger. German specs up front (gudentite), somewhat less so in the rear, snug enough to keep the middle screw from backing out.

I could keep dinking with other loads as people have suggested, but I want the faster twist barrel anyway as I plan to shoot the same loads as in my 1-9 AR. A new barrel would be harder to justify if I find a 'fix'.

Probably as important as barrel selection is choosing a smith that can put the chamber dead nuts to centerline of the bore.

I don't know if I would trust Ruger to do that.

I wouldn't send it to Ruger either. I have a MKII 300 win mag. This thing started to misfire. Happened to me while on a hunt in the process of shooting a deer in a Missouri cattle ranch. I must have chambered six rounds and none fired and then started repeating the rounds that had already failed. By the time that it fired one I was already all stressed because of this thing not firing and I missed! Totally nerve racking. Before this happened this rifle grouped incredibly good! It was like if the firing pin was not hitting the primer with full force. It would indent the primer but not fire it. My gunsmith took the bolt apart, cleaned everything up and it started shooting good. Great groups. After a couple of trips to the range it started misfiring again and I sent it to Ruger. Great customer service, and they didn't charge me a penny! They sent me a note telling they corrected the head space. This rifle never shot good again. Couldn't get it to group and finally I put a Lilja barrel on it and this rifle shoots fantastic now!