Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles Rifles that just won't shoot?

mine was a savage in 222. 4-6 inches
sold it to my sister because it had been our older brothers(God rest him). she wanted it or I'd have put a .223 barrel on it just to see.

Worst: Ruger #1 in 243. Tried everything and it would spray at 100. Sold it.

Second worst: Custom 6.5-06, sprayed past 100yds. Barrel maker agreed to give me new barrel. Got it back it again it sprayed past 100yds. Sold off the parts.

Last: Remington ADL n 204. This finicky gun will only shoot one load accurately. 35gr Bergers. Tried a bunch of other loads, scopes, stocks etc, and it would hover around 2" at 100. Not good enough for a varmint gun.

My Christmas present in 1981 was a 788 rifle from Dad, chambered in .243 Win. It was a 2-4 MOA proposition in my preteen hands, but it did account for an enormous whitetail buck.

25 years later, after a long lapse in shooting/hunting, I pulled it back out of the cabinet, and even with a marked improvement in my shooting skills, it was still a 2-4 MOA rifle, regardless of bullet brand, weight or type, powder, primer� anything.

Discarding my first rifle was out of the question, so I consulted Mickey Coleman. He prognosticated it had a bad barrel, and made me an offer I couldn't refuse to rebarrel it in 7mm-08. Now it shoots like this:







And I am happy.



So happy, I sent the stock to Karnis to get some love. So I've now put several times the original purchase price into making it shoot well and feel good in my hands.







And it will have even more stories behind it when I pass it along to my yout's. But for the sentimental attachment, it would have been long gone.

FC

My worst was a early 70s Ruger M-77 in 7x57.
I spent a whole summer spraying bullets at a targets.
Finally found it would shoot v-e-r-y long Sierra's into 2"s on a wonderfully good (or perhaps lucky) day

Sent it to local gunsmith that shoved a 280 reamer into the chamber & turned it back one thread.
PRESTO.
It'll shoot 1 to 1 1/2" all day with most loads & I have lots of targets with groups in the 3/4" range.

It's now my "go to" gun & has accounted for lots of moose, deer & a few wolves

This very rifle loaded with 100 grain GS customs over a max load of Hybrid 100 V has proven to be one of my favorite tack drivers.

Been sucked down the rat hole of accuracy? Why yes I have. Bought an old M700 in 223 for a cheap varminter. After lots of loads, bedding, replacing the barrel and stock and rebedding and more loads it will shoot 1/2 inch.
Can't say how much I spent on a cheap varminter and don't want to know.
For you guys with bad experiences on Kimbers, I have one that shoots OK but has some issues. I pulled it out of the stock the other day to check the bedding (Super America with walnut stock) and you are right, the bedding is a thing of beauty. Trouble is, the stock was not inletted enough for the action to seat in the bedding! A little work with a Dremel and we will see...

I wore out a 22/250 and a 243 barrel on a 700 platform, trying to get good groups of 1/2" or less. I had a very popular expensive well known scope on the rifle(high power). As the 243 barrel was getting long in the throat, I changed out the scope, darn thing started shooting 1/2" group. Went to other loads, tiny groups.

I had a New rifle of another brand with a long throat(new) that would only shoot 1" groups.

There was an instance of an off brand in 7 Mag that I spent all Summer working on with no luck at all.

Many of the old Ruger tang safety and #1's had crap for barrels. The barrels that Ruger puts on their rifles today are top notch.

Most of the issues related to rifles that won't shoot are related to bedding, barrel touching stock, bad scopes, mag boxes pushing up on the center of the action. It is not common knowledge how the regular guy can tweek out his gun for accuracy.

Another issue that is taboo is how wind effects accuracy. Shooters refuse to address the issue of how wind moves bullets around. A $60-$100 wind flag will save you hundreds in reloading components and you will get more enjoyment out of your shooting equipment.

Some flagging stuck on the end of a dowel rod is actually pretty helpful.

I wore out a 22/250 and a 243 barrel on a 700 platform, trying to get good groups of 1/2" or less. I had a very popular expensive well known scope on the rifle(high power). As the 243 barrel was getting long in the throat, I changed out the scope, darn thing started shooting 1/2" group. Went to other loads, tiny groups.

I had a New rifle of another brand with a long throat(new) that would only shoot 1" groups.

There was an instance of an off brand in 7 Mag that I spent all Summer working on with no luck at all.

Many of the old Ruger tang safety and #1's had crap for barrels. The barrels that Ruger puts on their rifles today are top notch.

Most of the issues related to rifles that won't shoot are related to bedding, barrel touching stock, bad scopes, mag boxes pushing up on the center of the action. It is not common knowledge how the regular guy can tweek out his gun for accuracy.

Another issue that is taboo is how wind effects accuracy. Shooters refuse to address the issue of how wind moves bullets around. A $60-$100 wind flag will save you hundreds in reloading components and you will get more enjoyment out of your shooting equipment.

Copper fouling proved to be the biggest problem with my 300 Weatherby. I cleaned the rifle regularly but only with Hoppes #9. It could not consistently shoot better than 2" groups and often much worse.

With a 1/12 twist and a pencil barrel it is not meant for pounding away at the range with spitzer boat tails. I chased many leads but in the end, it was the copper. After extensive cleaning I can consistently put together 1 moa groups with the right load. That is as good as the factory advertised back in 62 when the rifle was made.

In the process of chasing many leads to improve the accuracy I must say I learned a lot and am the better for it. I will continue to try different loads to see if the rifle can do better, but with its light weight barrel, long freebore and fast twist it was not meant to be a 600 yd varminter. Hit big animals real hard is what it does. I use it accordingly.

I have a 7mm RUM that drove me nuts. I bought it used and had no prior knowledge of how it shot.

I tried a bunch of different powders and bullets. Eventually tried a box of factory ammo to see how it would shoot. Even the factory stuff was terrible.

The barrel fouled really bad as well. From a perfectly clean barrel, 3-5 shots down the tube and it would take a whole night of cleaning.

After a few nights of lapping the bore with JB Bore, I sealed everything up with Ultra Bore Coating and the rifle started to behave.

It wasn't much after that when I could consistently put 3 shots into a dime sized hole at 200 yards.

Wow...that's a really nice rifle to be so disappointed with.

Doc

I have a Ruger 77 in 250 savage made in the 70's that will not hit the barn in the same place,even when standing inside the barn.
With 87-100 grain bullets of various makers it would not repeat.
One day i loaded some 75 grains for another rifle and thought i would take it along,while not in the 2inch range it did repeat the shots.
Tried several powders as well.

It sets in my shop now waiting for me to shoot some 80grain lead cast in it again.

It did shoot the first real good.
I think along that time that had some crappy barrels.

I've had the same experience with a couple Win 70 Classics. The first one, a 308 no less, wouldn't shoot well even after bedded in a McMillan and free-floated. I then decided that its role was as a utility rifle and not a hunting rifle. It got shot hard with FMJ ammo a few times until the barrel got good and hot, then whatdoyaknow, it all of a sudden started shooting! It now groups pretty much everything into an MOA or less. I call it a "redneck break-in" and have started doing that with any rifle that won't shoot well out of the box.

Bought a brand new M70 in left hand action, caliber 338 and with several handloads it wouldn't hit due east! After I got through with it.....it shot just fine!!

Jgotro,



When I had one I took it to the gunsmith and had an adjustable muzzle brake installed. It went from a consistent two minute rifle to 2" at 300 on a bad day. The best it did was 1/2" at 300 yards!