@KzDurango glad to see you got it sorted out. That is definitely more like it!
Even though the original post was a year old, the posts that followed highlighted a lot of good points.
As I read through the year old responses, I wasn't surprised to see that the dialogue devolved into a focus on barrel cleaning. I see this time and time again. For whatever reason, barrel cleaning is a sensitive, highly opinionated topic. I find a little humor in some folks who swear their barrel cleaning regimen is THE only way to accuracy. Completely false. Not every rifle needs to completely stripped of carbon and copper to perform well. I have barrels with round counts that would make jaws drop if I mentioned my cleaning protocol, or lack thereof on these barrels and they still hold exceptional accuracy. In my experience, "fouling" has two different levels. We have "functional fouling" where the carbon / copper fouling in the barrel is present, and the rifle shoots just great. Then we have "detrimental fouling" where we start to have function and accuracy problems.
Every barrel fouls. Every barrel also fouls at a different rate and in a different way due to a mind boggling amount of variables, most of which we have no control over: metallurgy of the barrel (a BIG one), the reloading components used, metallurgy of the bullets, temperatures, the finish of the rifling, the type of rifling, the chamber dimensions, the chamber finish, the ammunition fit to chamber, the rate of fire, the jump distance, the contour of the barrel, the length of the barrel, the speed of the bullet, the construction of the bullet.... just to name a few. A bore scope is nice, but is in no way a necessary tool. They do come in handy as a diagnostic tool for confirming the presence of nasty carbon rings, throat erosion, and chamber issues. As fas as admiring the copper and carbon in the lands and gooves, just know it's there. It will always be there after ever trigger pull. Its OK to have it it there in most cases, so don't stress about it unless you single that out as being the source of your problem. I have customers who swear its necessary to absolutely strip the bore of all foreign debris after every shooting session, no matter how many rounds fired. I'll go shoot with them next time and they spend the first 10-20 rounds "re-fouling" the barrel to get it to shoot well, they proceed to bang steel or punch paper at distance. I scratch my head at this. I've asked why they do this before, and the answer was a confident "because I can control the level of fouling everytime...." No, no you can't. Everytime you pull the trigger, the characteristics of your barrel change slightly. Nothing is the same so basically they shoot until they see the groups tighten up, then proceed from there. Seems like a waste of time and ammo.... I subscribe to the "clean when necessary" theory for my bolt action rifles. Gas guns and pistols are a different story, especially those used for self defense or duty.
When we have accuracy issues, especially with a new rifle / barrel. It is rarely a barrel fouling issue. @skipglo hit the nail on the head. Go through the obvious causes for inaccuracy in a new rifle / barrel. That means systematically checking the whole rifle first. Check the bedding, make sure the receiver has good contact in the stock or chassis. Make sure the action bolts are torqued properly. Make sure the scope rail (if not integral) is seated and torqued as well and ideally pinned to the receiver, make sure the recoil lug is ground true flat, check your bolt lug contact, visually inspect the entire bolt / bolt face, check the trigger and make sure nothing is hanging up, check the headspace again, with different gauges if you can. Then check your optic. Optics can and do go bad. Mount a different scope temporarily to see if that is the culprit. Use good quality rings and make sure they are torqued evenly and properly. On the Savage nut rifles, make sure the nut is applying even contact to the recoil lug or receiver face. Use a torque wrench for EVERYTHING.
After all that. Look to your ammo. On a new rifle, I generally won't even try to do any load development for the first 100 rounds. I have a 2" thick notebook with a number of known "pet loads" that are safe and shoot well. I use these loads to get the barrel seasoned and learn its unique characteristics - is it fast, slow, tight and showing early pressure, etc. This gives me a chance to ensure everything is married up well and functioning correctly. I hate calling this a break-in because that gives me flash backs of the folks who like to "break-in" their barrels with the various "shoot one, clean, shoot two clean, etc." methods that the internet loves to make important. There is zero actual science or proof that those methods do anything to increase barrel life, accuracy, reduce fouling, or anything other than burn up your time.
Proper load development cannot be overstated. Barrel harmonics are a thing. If you are looking to get the old school acceptable "traditional hunting accuracy" of hitting a paper plate at 100 yards, load development is unnecessary. Find a moderate book load and go have fun. If you are looking to get the absolute most out of your rifle, a systematic approach to load development, good components, and knowledge of how your components interact is critical to success. If one bullet doesn't shoot, move on. Don't burn up components trying to force things to work that never will. Trust your process, document what you are doing, and be as methodical as possible. You will find success.
Glad to see the OP got his rifle shooting with just a bullet swap! Looks like a real tac driver now.
Cheers all!!!!
-Shawn (TPM)
Even though the original post was a year old, the posts that followed highlighted a lot of good points.
As I read through the year old responses, I wasn't surprised to see that the dialogue devolved into a focus on barrel cleaning. I see this time and time again. For whatever reason, barrel cleaning is a sensitive, highly opinionated topic. I find a little humor in some folks who swear their barrel cleaning regimen is THE only way to accuracy. Completely false. Not every rifle needs to completely stripped of carbon and copper to perform well. I have barrels with round counts that would make jaws drop if I mentioned my cleaning protocol, or lack thereof on these barrels and they still hold exceptional accuracy. In my experience, "fouling" has two different levels. We have "functional fouling" where the carbon / copper fouling in the barrel is present, and the rifle shoots just great. Then we have "detrimental fouling" where we start to have function and accuracy problems.
Every barrel fouls. Every barrel also fouls at a different rate and in a different way due to a mind boggling amount of variables, most of which we have no control over: metallurgy of the barrel (a BIG one), the reloading components used, metallurgy of the bullets, temperatures, the finish of the rifling, the type of rifling, the chamber dimensions, the chamber finish, the ammunition fit to chamber, the rate of fire, the jump distance, the contour of the barrel, the length of the barrel, the speed of the bullet, the construction of the bullet.... just to name a few. A bore scope is nice, but is in no way a necessary tool. They do come in handy as a diagnostic tool for confirming the presence of nasty carbon rings, throat erosion, and chamber issues. As fas as admiring the copper and carbon in the lands and gooves, just know it's there. It will always be there after ever trigger pull. Its OK to have it it there in most cases, so don't stress about it unless you single that out as being the source of your problem. I have customers who swear its necessary to absolutely strip the bore of all foreign debris after every shooting session, no matter how many rounds fired. I'll go shoot with them next time and they spend the first 10-20 rounds "re-fouling" the barrel to get it to shoot well, they proceed to bang steel or punch paper at distance. I scratch my head at this. I've asked why they do this before, and the answer was a confident "because I can control the level of fouling everytime...." No, no you can't. Everytime you pull the trigger, the characteristics of your barrel change slightly. Nothing is the same so basically they shoot until they see the groups tighten up, then proceed from there. Seems like a waste of time and ammo.... I subscribe to the "clean when necessary" theory for my bolt action rifles. Gas guns and pistols are a different story, especially those used for self defense or duty.
When we have accuracy issues, especially with a new rifle / barrel. It is rarely a barrel fouling issue. @skipglo hit the nail on the head. Go through the obvious causes for inaccuracy in a new rifle / barrel. That means systematically checking the whole rifle first. Check the bedding, make sure the receiver has good contact in the stock or chassis. Make sure the action bolts are torqued properly. Make sure the scope rail (if not integral) is seated and torqued as well and ideally pinned to the receiver, make sure the recoil lug is ground true flat, check your bolt lug contact, visually inspect the entire bolt / bolt face, check the trigger and make sure nothing is hanging up, check the headspace again, with different gauges if you can. Then check your optic. Optics can and do go bad. Mount a different scope temporarily to see if that is the culprit. Use good quality rings and make sure they are torqued evenly and properly. On the Savage nut rifles, make sure the nut is applying even contact to the recoil lug or receiver face. Use a torque wrench for EVERYTHING.
After all that. Look to your ammo. On a new rifle, I generally won't even try to do any load development for the first 100 rounds. I have a 2" thick notebook with a number of known "pet loads" that are safe and shoot well. I use these loads to get the barrel seasoned and learn its unique characteristics - is it fast, slow, tight and showing early pressure, etc. This gives me a chance to ensure everything is married up well and functioning correctly. I hate calling this a break-in because that gives me flash backs of the folks who like to "break-in" their barrels with the various "shoot one, clean, shoot two clean, etc." methods that the internet loves to make important. There is zero actual science or proof that those methods do anything to increase barrel life, accuracy, reduce fouling, or anything other than burn up your time.
Proper load development cannot be overstated. Barrel harmonics are a thing. If you are looking to get the old school acceptable "traditional hunting accuracy" of hitting a paper plate at 100 yards, load development is unnecessary. Find a moderate book load and go have fun. If you are looking to get the absolute most out of your rifle, a systematic approach to load development, good components, and knowledge of how your components interact is critical to success. If one bullet doesn't shoot, move on. Don't burn up components trying to force things to work that never will. Trust your process, document what you are doing, and be as methodical as possible. You will find success.
Glad to see the OP got his rifle shooting with just a bullet swap! Looks like a real tac driver now.
Cheers all!!!!
-Shawn (TPM)
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