I have one of my 336's in 35 Rem shooting .8 groups at 50 yards. When I back it up to 100 the groups open up to 4+ inches. Ive tightened down the barrel bands, used 2 different scopes/ring combos. This has happened with 2 different types of ammo(both sub moa at 50 yards) Holes appear to be round. What am I missing here? I half expected to double in group size, maybe a bit more but even the groups arent really groups. The only thing i can think of is maybe some imperfection in the crown that I cant see. I would imagine this would also cause my groups at 50 to be larger as well though, or at least inconsistent.

U using an official Lee factory crimp die ?

Was shooting factory ammo. 200gr Winchester, 200gr Hornady FTX

Was shooting factory ammo. 200gr Winchester, 200gr Hornady FTX

Are they both boat tails?

I know the FTX are.

The Power Points are flat base

How long between shots?


I have a 30-30 that grouped ok at 50yds if you gave time between rounds. If you don’t fairly quickly groups opened up considerably. It never shot good at 100yds.

Here is how I fixed mine


I went back to the shop for disassembly and I knew when I had to take an acrylic mallet and knock the barrel bands off there would be problems.

I shot the rifle without the mag tube or bands and it shot great. I sanded a lot of wood off the forearm so that band would slip on vs hammer on. I gassed up the Dremel and cut a good amount of metal off the inside of the front band so again it would slide on vs hammer on. This actually got the mag tube off the barrel and created a small gap. I used some perma blue or something to reseal the metal.


Groups improved tremendously

I have a feeling it might be some odd barrel tension issue. On the bright side, I'm chopping it down to 16in and will not be using a front barrel band.

I wanted to shoot it first before dumping any money into it. I was really happy at 50 and of course expected bigger groups at 100. My next move was shoot without the mag tube attached. I have a slew of RPP parts coming so I may do this again when they get here. I just assumed there might be more to the extreme group size at 100 vs 50.....5-6in seems extreme.

I tightened up both barrel bands last week and tried again, though I noticed a big gap in the rear band where it wasnt making contact with the barrel. First 3 at 50 were .7, First 2 shots at 100 was .5.....3rd shot was 3in right of the first 2, fourth shot was 4in high of the first 2. At that point, I noticed the handguard had slipped forward some so I figured I'll wait for the RPP rail to show up and install that to at least rule out the rear barrel band being the issue which is what I suspect now.

Good advise here.

I have the same issue with a 30-30.



Going to give this advice some consideration.

I don't like the bands to be tight on any 336 except to be tight enough to stay on the mag tube but a bit loose on the barrel.
So i open up the band where it fits on the barrel to be a slip fit when tightened down.

The band on the stock I like it snug on the wood but a slip fit on the barrel, which means I also have to sand that part of the clamp out a bit.
Make sure the barrel and the end of the mag tube are not putting any pressure on each other. They should be separated by the barrel band.
If not the magazine tube is not coming out of the forearm straight and needs adjustment there to make sure it's straight with the barrel
all the way to the end.

Shot it today with nothing but the barrel.

Nice sub 1in group at 50....opened p to 3in+ at 100

Ive also notice the gun shoots extremely low and to the right. I ran out of adjustment on the VXII today. Ive tried 2 other scopes prior and always low and right. I started at 25 yards, gun was low right....brough it up and left. Moved it out 50.....rounds were low and right again. Moved out to 100....rounds were almost falling off the target so I had to choose a new aiming point to shoot the group.

Maybe try a heavy normal bullet and see what happens.
Slow it down some.

I would start with a really good barrel scrub. Use a good copper fouling sovent and even polishing compound on patches. I have also used the lead removal cloths with improvement. It is a several day process but once done, it is not hard to keep it that way.

This may be helpful to read:

Accurizing the Lever Gun

When I've had a problem like that, it has been because I rest the rifle in a different way and/or touch the barrel to the rest on a different place on the fore end, causing a different POI. I also have noticed that a hot barrel/receiver will start stringing the groups on certain lever rifles. I always sight in my hunting rifles of all types with a dead cold barrel......your first shot hunting is always a cold barrel.

Does it have a reduced power hammer spring, those low lock times mess up accuracy

Did you check the barrel crown?

Last time out with no mag tube, bands , sights or anything on the barrel i used receiver on the bag makin sure the barrel was 100% for all 6 shots. It was about as dead cold as I could get, was about 10 degrees pit with a light wind. 10min between the 3 shot groups.

Negative

I did, looked ok. Ill know for certain soon as I sent it off to get cut down and recrowned.

I have a 336D that I bought in 2000. It would not shoot a three shot group with any ammo, factory or handloads better that 3" to 4" at 100 yards. I finally sent the barreled action to get a cryogenic treatment. This brought the groups down to 2" at 100 yards. Good enough for me to hunt with.

Age of the rifle, and who produced it?
Sounds like tension issues w/ expanding metal. I would probably disassemble, and reassemble paying close attention to tension and retry. I am not a huge fan theoretically of no tension on the barrel/having no support, but admit I am not read up on it. These guns were not meant to be 'free floated'

Does the rest of the rifle 'line-up'?
Ordinarily I would say a 3-4" group at 100 is normal for a lever, or at least it used to be, but that is a big jump from one shot to another.

Also you will be giving up a decent amount of velocity for 35 Rem at 16," which you probably already know. Would probably be fine for 200gr core-lokts, but not every 35 cal bullet is designed to expand at low velocities.