When to give up on a barrel?

[Marky_mark]

I will do that as I am taking it back to the smith a 2nd time. I will ask him to go over it with a fine toothed comb.
I really do like this rifle and want to keep it and shoot it but it is really frustrating trying to get this thing dialed in.

Ya mine was making me pull my hair out too
I would get some decent results and then never was able to replicate them
At worst you could get your smith to bed it and that might help
Im replacing the barrel on my 6.5x284 ct. Its pretty much shot out now, but for the whole life of the rifle, the first shot out of a cold barrel was about 2 moa high. Clean or fouled it was the same all the time. First shot down range always high.

 

[Riverguy]

Riverguy
Hard to respond to that. I hope that you can get the results that you want with your hand loads, for that rifle, for upcoming hunts.
Happy New Year!

You have been here way way longer than I have and I really do respect everything you have to say. Please don't take my response the wrong way, it's just I really am frustrated with this rifle right now and my fuse is probably a little short. My apologies sir.

 

[LTH181818]

You have been here way way longer than I have and I really do respect everything you have to say. Please don't take my response the wrong way, it's just I really am frustrated with this rifle right now and my fuse is probably a little short. My apologies sir.

If it was me I would spend all my energy getting the manufacture to warranty the rifle. I have returned rifles after they said that everything was right, when they tested them. Two different times I asked to be there so I could watch them shoot. Both times they rebarreled the rifle. When you bed, change barrel channel etc. they could blame you for the lack of accuracy.
It is very difficult for smiths or manufactures. The majority of people are not capable of shooting that well, this is always on there mind. This is why many builders test before they deliver the product.

 

[Riverguy]

That sounds like a good idea in theory. I might try It. That is all I really wanted was a different barrel . Is. That to big of a wish from a company that has barrels coming out their asses???

 

[Coyote Shadow Tracker]

You have been here way way longer than I have and I really do respect everything you have to say. Please don't take my response the wrong way, it's just I really am frustrated with this rifle right now and my fuse is probably a little short. My apologies sir.

Hey understand you frustration and didn't take your response any way offensive.
I'll PM you and let's talk about your situation. Puttin words on a thread are sometimes hard to get the meaning across
Thanks much for responding.

 

[MagnumManiac]

Yes, it ok to cool your barrels…I do with methanol run through wound tubing, it works really fast.
There's a reason that rifle makers guarantee .5" groups with FACTORY ammo, it easy for them to find something that works with minimal effort. Factories use methods that ensure small ES/SD numbers. This at least is far more accurate across many rifle types, hence why the rifle makers use factory ammo for their guarantee.
Anyway, speak to your gunsmith regarding skim bedding and the recoil lug, this is the best platform you can start with.

Cheers.

 

[Hugnot]

Barrels are subject to all sorts of variations in ammo/loadings and other stuff. Very difficult to assess cause of less than desirable performance. Best to subject unsatisfactory barrel to intensive analysis & photos from bore inspection before making claim. I have given some of my take off barrels to others who were real happy & produced better results than I, possibly because they used better bullets & loading methods. A .308 take off barrel produced great 600-yard scores probably because the trigger puller was more talented than me.

 

[jasonco]

That's a bunch of rounds downrange. I'm right at 98, with my current barrel and not near barrel normalizing, so I'm not too concerned with it's slight inconsistent and erratic behavior. Basically, I'm still fireforming and have a second box of 50 Peterson to do next. Your barrel, for sure, should be normalized?

Do you have access to a borescope?

 

[jasonco]

I'm still learning about this load work up stuff, what does ocw stand for?
That might be part of the problem, I might be jumping over nodes trying to save on components and not burn the barrel out.
I have about 350 to 400 rounds through it. With that said I have basically come to terms that I will toast this barrel to learn as much as I can so I don't make the same mistakes on the next one.

It's funny you mention the ec tuner as I just ordered a tuner brake yesterday. Will be learning more with that also I hope.

Optimal Charge Weight load development. I prefer a hybrid method of it. Ladder testing, although I have a 1000 yd range, is very range or weather, or both, dependent.

 

[Hunterjones]

Try RE33 and RE50 with this bullet. I have shot 160 Accubonds, 168 Berger Classic Hunters and 168 LRX bullets in 2 fierce 28 Noslers. RE33 has been magic with all bullets I've tried.
RE 50 gave slightly higher velocities but also slightly higher ES's with accuracy close to RE 33

 

[Reelamin]

The thing is they are saying it is a .5 moa rifle but it is not with any reloads or factory ammo that we have tried. What I want is what they supposedly guarantee, a .5 accuracy guarantee. If they say it shoots .5 with factory ammo then why shouldn't I be able to obtain that with hand loads?

Look, I just want 1 rifle in my arsenal that if I luck out and pull a tag in say unit 23 in Arizona late season and need a rifle that will shoot 700 or 890 yards it is able to do it. Is that a completely unrealistic thing to shoot for?? And no I don't care about f class anything.

Totally doable and lots available. Get a Savage or Browning....your pick on the model, cartridge, and your needs fulfilled.

 

[BenelliHunter]

There are way too many guns out there that will shoot to screw around with one that will not. At this point in my life, if they don't shoot they go down the road really quick.

 

[richhymas]

Here is my dilemma. I purchased a new fierce carbon fury 28 nos this spring.
I like the rifle but it will not keep 5 shot groups to the .5 minute min. that They guarentee.
After talking to them I sent it back for them to go over and shoot.
They only guarantee a 3 shot .5 group which they did. I was hoping they would replace the barrel but they wouldn't because it shot 3 into .5. They were using factory nosler 160 gr accubonds. Nothing I could do at that point, it met their guarantee.
My problem is it is basically impossible to find the loaded ammo they used or the bullets.
I have a friend that does a lot of reloading and shooting and is very good at it. We have shot lots of different kinds and weights of bullets, including hammers, 169 and 155 hh. The thing is this rifle is inconsistent as heck. Sometimes the fliers are 4th and 5th shot and then be the complete opposite or anywhere in between.

The barrel is always cooled between shots and have used 3 different scopes and checked to make sure everything is tight.

On top of that now we are getting bolt clicks with adg brass that's been loaded several times. From the research I've done the bolt click issue is from the chamber being a little smaller and the Redding sizer die is able to resize enough to eliminate the bolt click problem.
Fierce and Christiansen chamber their Rifles smaller to gain accuracy from factory ammo which kinda leaves reloaders at a disadvantage.

I'm thinking of giving up an rebarreling with a proof research and starting over.
I need input on which way to go on this.
I would be ok with .75 or even 1moa but can't get the consistency to get it.

If you can sell the gun as is and start over it will probably be cheaper than discarding the barrel. Wierd that they are getting 3 shots in 1/2 MOA but can't get 5 shots in 1 MOA. The 1/2 MOA guarantee should be first 3 shots from a cold barrel, not any 3 shots out of a group.

 

[BCMAG2]

Throw away that good looking carbon wrapped gimmick and replace it with a fluted Bartlein or Hart steel barrel, and deal with the random flier issue no more. Worked for me.