Might mention that while I've had several tangers that shot very well, whether from the box or after some bedding, have also experienced the occasional one with a really had barrel.
One was a 7x57 that former editor of Rifle and Handloader Dave Scovill sent to me, after never being able to get to to shoot better than 2-3" groups at 100 yards. I tried it with the same results--then use my bore-scope and noticed a lot of machining marks. So slugged the barrel, and the "tight" spots were around .287", and there were plenty of loose spots.
This happened occasionally with the brand of barrels Ruger used in the 70s and 80s. The good ones shot well, but some didn't. Bill Ruger eventually decided the company needed to make their own barrels, and bought a hammer-forging machine in the early 1990s. Which is why so many Ruger rifles group very well these days, including the American Rifles.
