Sent a 700 with a pitted barrel in 7-08 to him to have it reamed to 358 and the barrel chopped to 20" and recrowned. 3 groove barrel shoots great. My only issue is its a little rough and like to be shot fouled. Im used to having to clean barrels often. It shoots many different powders into moa. Overall very happy with it. My best group has been a couple of .3's with H4895 and 200 gr Hornady sp.
Yeah, my .358 Win JES 3 groove bore is a bit rough thru the Hawkeye, shows some tool marks. When you recut an older barrel, you take a chance on what the steel is like, not that uncommon to have some flaws and inclusions.
It did foul a good bit at first, but after a DBC treatment and a number of rounds down the spout, it seemed to foul less and less, sorta leveled out.
And, it shoots pretty good as per the target I posted. Of course, a 3 shot group, but it'll shoot almost that good most of the time, just hard to duplicate those trophy 3 shot bragging targets.
But, if you look at Salvage factory barrels thru the Hawkeye, they can be pretty rough, but they tend to shoot a lot better than they look. The acid test is at the range and they pass.
A little fouling doesn't usually hurt accuracy. I don't do an OCD cleaning down to raw steel every time I shoot. Good way to wear out a bore. With DBC, you don't want to do that anyway, just use solvents and a patch, no harsh brushing.
DF
