Bad load? Bad scope? Bad barrel

I have a custom rifle. I cannot get any traction creating a load for it. I either have a real bad load, bad scope or bad barrel.

It has shot 0.25" groups in the past, then I had a 3/4" load with Hornady ELD-X's of late, 2-3" is the norm now. I've tried 3-4 bullets, 3-4 powders, etc.

Ammo is loaded to a high accuracy level in terms of quality of components, accuracy of charge weight, accuracy of primer seating, seating depth, bullet runout. This is some of th3 best ammo i've made sd's are in the 7-12 range on several charges.

The load is not tuned, but who knows. I can't really tune it. Everything is bad. Barrel is a Brux….probably 1000 shots on it. Stock is tight. Scope screws are tight.

I'm stumped. I'm changing the scope just to see what I can see.

Thoughts?

have you cleaned it?

Change the scope. Barrel may be shot out if it is a big magnum @ 1K rounds but.... It sounds like a broken scope to me.

First thing is scope, if not scope, then you may have toasted the throat.
What type of cleaning do you do? Have you tried JB Bore Paste?

Cheers.

Have a bore scope? Magnifying glass? Look for a ding on the crown. It doesn't take much of one. And excessive wear, firecracking etc. Is the barrel toast? I've had a crown burr before.
A scope swap would rule that part out.
What action is in use? Firing pin spring could be weak. Is the pin making consistent contact on the primers? I've had this before, solved by a bushing/spring/pin upgrade.
Is the mag box binding? (BDL) yep, had it too.
Take it to a smith to check bedding, with feeler gauges. It can contract too much I'm told, depending on the compound used.
Is the lug recess clean?
The bolt handle clear of stock contact?
Is the front base screw clear of the barrel threads? I've mixed up long & shorts there.
Did you start seeing random flyers in your groups before they completely went wild?

Good luck, hopefully you'll find it before you go 20 other routes. It is an aggravation.

nksmfamjp said:

The load is not tuned, but who knows. I can't really tune it. Everything is bad. Barrel is a Brux….probably 1000 shots on it.

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Have you tried rechecking your distance to the lands?

Well you already know what you got to do.

After you change the scope out, might as well grab some factory loads, and see if shooting like a 3-5 rounds will group.

If no, then it's probably the barrel. My guess is the barrel is on its way out. I get about 1200 rds on my competition barrel with screaming loads, then it starts to open up like that.

Action screws loose, scope base or rail come loose, rings etc. I'd retorque everything just to make sure, that's a big difference in group size and if it was suddenly then I'd lean more towards something came loose or scope failure than barrel.

It sounds way to 'sudden' for the issue to be the barrel. Not to rule it out, but it wouldn't be the first thing that I would be concerned about. Please tell us what cartridge you are working with. If you can get it clean (JB Bore paste or Iosso paste), and if you can get your bullet seated back to the jump distance where it shot well, you should get a good clue as to whether the issue is with the barrel. All of these things have been touched upon, but in order I would do these things:

1. Mount a different scope on the rifle (checking the mounts screw torque as you install the new scope. If this solves the issue, great. if not- continue.
2. Get a bore scope and scope the barrel. Pay close attention especially to the crown. If it isn't perfect, recrown it yourself, or pay a gunsmith.
3. Copper strip the barrel, then carbon clean the barrel.
4 If you don't get it back to bare metal, use the iosso paste or similar to get it back to clean metal.
5 Check your jump distance compared to whatever baseline you have, and write it down.
6. Take the rifle apart and clean everything that contacts the stock.
7 Reassemble the rifle using know good torques on everything. (this includes scope bases, scope rings, action screws, etc.)
8.

Am I missing the cartridge and powder used?

A bore scope will answer some of your questions.They are not as expensive as they used to be.


Amazon Prime may have them for less money.

You haven't answered the questions about what cartridge and what scope you have. Need to know that before we can give good answers. Also, is this the same barrel that had 1K shots through it? Brux makes quality barrels; and if this isn't a hot and fast cartridge you should get more rounds through it. Let us know so we can better help you.

nksmfamjp said:

.probably 1000 shots on it.

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In my experience if you don't keep a good round count it's "probably" higher than that.

nksmfamjp said:

I have a custom rifle. I cannot get any traction creating a load for it. I either have a real bad load, bad scope or bad barrel.

It has shot 0.25" groups in the past, then I had a 3/4" load with Hornady ELD-X's of late, 2-3" is the norm now. I've tried 3-4 bullets, 3-4 powders, etc.

Ammo is loaded to a high accuracy level in terms of quality of components, accuracy of charge weight, accuracy of primer seating, seating depth, bullet runout. This is some of th3 best ammo i've made sd's are in the 7-12 range on several charges.

The load is not tuned, but who knows. I can't really tune it. Everything is bad. Barrel is a Brux….probably 1000 shots on it. Stock is tight. Scope screws are tight.

I'm stumped. I'm changing the scope just to see what I can see.

Thoughts?

Click to expand...

That's is exactly what I would do I have had scopes do it before when using factory ammo I would put the scope on a rifle known that's accurate with ammo