All reasonable. But the "nut behind the butt" can often be discerned by the bug hole that one rifle shoots on the same day as another sprays them like a water pistol, from the same shooter, same conditions, same rest.Check all the fasteners, is your parallax set up well? Swap the scope for a known good scope.
Sometimes it's the nut behind the butt. Have someone else shoot it.
My previous picture showed that the barrel is a shooter.I prefer my barrels to shoot well, being pretty is low on the list.
Wish I could help all my shaw barrels have shot well. Same with the rifles I got from them. Start with the basics and double check everything.
This depends for me, some guns I shoot a ton and will burn a barrel in a year or maybe 2. Others that shoot less will last much longer. The ones that get change all the time I don't really care what they look like. The ones that will be around for a while I don't mind if they are pretty. That being said bluing isn't for me, I prefer stainless.My previous picture showed that the barrel is a shooter.
Why not have both?
I hate the thought that I paid for a "premium" barrel, then have to pay to ship it and get it reblued.
My friends Douglas barrel is a shooter also. But Douglas doesn't do their own bluing. You have to send a separate check for the person that does the bluing for them. Kind of a PITA.
And while the bluing was decent, it wasn't the quality of ER Shaw's bluing.