Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Very erratic velocities?

Have you tried any factory rounds in the SAME SESSION as your loads?

No I have not. I have played with 3 different powders, 3 different bullets, 2 different brands of cases and 2 different brands of primers.

After really scrubbing the barrel the erratic velocities went away. As long as I clean every 10 shots or so the gun acts like it should. But no matter the combination I get a lot of powder fouling.

I bought this gun probably 15 years ago and just never used it much. Probaby only fired 2 boxes of factory loads in that time. I surely cleaned it but do not remeber anything terrible. I recently decided to work up loads for it and when running them over the chronograph I started seeing all the irregularities.

So bottom line, with all the combinations tried, it is not the components. Gotta figure why it fouls so much now.

Still using the nickle plated brass? I gave up on it years ago, Looks cool
but seems (as best as I can remember) I had too many issues with it.
Brass only for years now.
Probably should list the plated stuff here and sell it as not using it personally.

I have some and use it for my hunting rounds sometimes.as I do not shoot them a lot, for example my Nosler PT loaded rounds. Too expensive to shoot and reload for practice and plunking.

Works fine for that plus they do not tarnish.

"My experience with bore pastes is mostly in stainless barrels and they will always show black patches, even with bare steel."

None of my barrels are stainless and they show black patches. One rifle copper fouled so bad the it would take 8 hours or more to remove all the fouling. Black patches all the way through th session. I got ma and fire lapped the barrel and then worked with the JB for a couple more hours. patches still came out black. When I had my custom .280 built, other than the gunsmith firing a single round to test the gun, no other ammo was run through the barrel. I ran a few patched wit JB though it and they came out black. I doubt a single shot would have deposited enough carbon to cause black patches.

To prove my point, take a piece of steel that you might have laying around and "polish" it with a bit of JB on a patch. bet you money the patch will have black stuff on it that ain't carbon from being shot.

I use the Winchester nickel cases in my custom .280 Rem. and have not had any problems. (Probably just jinxed myself saying that.) One batch of brass had been shot five times and then annealed and so far shot two more times with no problems. The load is a 160 gr. Speer Grand Slam (older two core version) over a max load of the long discontinued WMR powder. Velocity is 2907 FPS average. Rifle is a custom based on a 1909 Argentine Mauser. The load is 57.8 gr. WMR/2795 FPS/56,800 PSI according to the Winchester booklet #15. Accuracy is superb with .75" being about average.
PJ

Before you replace the barrel try fire lapping it with one of the bullet kits on the market with the various grits impregnated onto the bullets.

Was checking one by Wheeler out this morning. Certainly worth a try IMO.

I have been cleaning rifles for over 55 years, never had one powder foul like this one does.

I used the bore patste one time to clean out the rough spots. I believe it was fouled so bad it created build up which I could feel running a patch through it. The paste worked and the erratic velocities went away. I have been cleaning it every 10 shots since and it is now throwing consistent numbers. But the patches after 10 shots to clean it up are black for 7-8 patches. All my other guns show a slight black for 1-2 patches before showing the blue which is the copper/guilding metal starting to come out. This is after many more rounds, maybe 50 or so. So something up with this barrel.

Get a Teslong and take a look, bet you just think it’s clean and it’s not. BTDT.

Not a bad idea.

You won't regret it!

Anneal and check for donuts at the neck/shoulder junction!

Both were already suggested--but on threads that go on for more than, say, a couple dozen posts it's common for some members not to read the entire thread before posting....

Sorry. Just trying to be helpful!!

Just ordered one, I may be very surprised.....

Might need some fresh primers.

Well got the Teslong borescope today. I have been working on the barrel on and off for over a week and it is actually pretty clean other than some carbon in the corners of the rifling closer to the chamber.

Then I scoped one of my 243's, a stainless Tikka which I had patched not long ago. That one surprised me. I believe it was Swifty who said it could be an eye opener, and it was.

The bore on the Rem KS 280 is definitely rougher than the Tikka. I have heard so many good things about Borecoat so I believe I am going to order enough to do all of my centerfire rifles. With the Teslong I can tell when they are truly clean and then use the Borecoat. Should be a good thing if all that I heard about that stuff is true.

Thanks to all again whom replied!

Winchester cases are hard to start with. I have had them split on the second firing. I don’t/won’t use them.

One possible reason for excessive fouling is that your loads are not developing near max pressure. Try a hotter primer and work up.

A borescope will tell the tale.