I think I'm going to have to admit defeat.

[Ian]

So it fixed itself. Don't ask me what changed except some time sitting on the rack and a few hundred more rounds of powder-coated bullets and zero cleaning.

First time I noticed a difference was at a suppressor shoot where I pulled it out to shoot at a 6"x10" hanging gong at 100 yards, offhand, with the same powder-coated TC bullets I'd been using before. I told everyone the carbine wasn't accurate enough to make the shot, but what the heck I was going to scare it anyway. Well, first shot went "Putt....CLANG". Hmmph. So again, "Putt...CLANG". Shrug..."Putt....CLANG, putt....CLANG, putt....thpppt in the dirt, putt....CLANG, putt.... CLANG, putt....CLANG" and on it went. Ran four boxes of shells through it between myself and a couple others and aside from the guy who just couldn't shoot offhand, it was nearly 100% hits. MUCH better than the 2' groups I'd been getting before. I was amazed and pretty happy.

So, fast forward a couple months to tonight when I tried some loads with the new, Canadian Universal Clays powder and put it on paper at 25 yards. Now it shoots, holding well under an inch with several in virtually the same hole. Loads with the old ADI Universal were nearly as good.

The only thing that changed is the barrel getting more fouled. All the bullets shot tonight were cast within the past month (about the same age as the same bullets/same alloy that I had tested before), so that's out as a variable. Maybe it's the muzzle after all, maybe it had to get fouled up to shoot well after I changed brakes. Maybe it's the throat, I don't know and I'll be danged if I'm going to put a patch down the barrel to check for PC buildup. I'm just going to keep shooting the heck out of it.

 

[gman]

Man I wouldn't touch that bore with a 10 foot pole!

 

[fiver]

I wonder if you just cut the edges off the rifling finally.
I had a Ruger model 77 223 that wouldn't shoot and I finally lost my patience with the thing and just kept loading and shooting [about 90 straight rounds] the barrel was hot enough to cook on but the holes started getting closer and closer.
I let it cool down and switched to some other guns and finally fired two 3 shot groups with the last 6 rounds I had before leaving, they both were right close to 1/2".
I never should have got rid of that rifle but I sure put it to good use while it had it.
it never wavered accuracy after I tried burning the barrel out that day.

I have advised others to give that same treatment to new guns that won't shoot, they will either stress relieve themselves or you were gonna buy a new barrel anyway.

 

[Pistolero]

Very odd. Maybe you just finally broke it in.

I try to explain to newbies that "every gun is a thing unto itself" and there are absolutely no two
guns which are actually alike. I am sure that they don't really buy it.

The older I am and the more I shoot, the more certain I am of it. Some of it is science, but
some if it is just darned near voodoo. I am sure it is caused by the complex interaction of
a LOT of small things, which puts the variability beyond our comprehension and measuring tools.

Bill

 

[9.3X62AL]

This whole realm of "accuracy analysis" is the most tenuous and unpredictable blend of science--art--voodoo--mojo--and things that go bump in the night I have ever dealt with. The more I think I have learned--the less I really "know".

I've had the privilege of knowing a couple men who ran steam locomotives in their early work life. Both of them also did some real fine shooting. Both men told me that rifles were closest things to steam engines that they still used regularly. No two locos were alike--their moods shifted with varying predictability--they had definite likes, dislikes, and responses to adjustments. One of the men said that steam engines are man's closest mechanical approximation to a living thing ever brought forth by manufacturing. I've had a couple moody rifles that in some past life must have been steam locomotives. As I slip past age 60 I have begun to content myself with the good loads I get from some rifles and their fodder, and to not spend so much time on platforms--calibers--or components that insist on unstructured poetry as their chief attribute. Being the patron saint of lost causes is slow pay, at best.

 

[freebullet]

That's great news, Ian!

I'm inclined to agree with fiver on the sharp rifling. I'm seeing similar in the rock.
Maybe 1k of plated or jax can help.

 

[Rally Hess]

I traded one time for a early model Ruger 10/22 , that came out of Montana. It was over 20 years old at the time and looked every bit that old, complete with "truck rack" marks on the stock and barrel. I'm quite certain it had spent it's entire life in a truck bouncing around a ranch. I traded some coyote snares for it so didn't have a whole lot in it. When I got home with it I ran a clip through it to see if it at least functioned. It was minute of popcan, but worked. Took about two hours to get the dirt out of it and the dust off it, and to see if there was any bluing left on it. I swear that rifle quivered when I wiped it down with Rem oil. LOL The junk that came out of the barrel looked like Gunslick grease. Got it all shined up and decided to shoot it again. I was lucky to hit a popcan at 25 yards. So, I put a target up at 25 yards, with several dots on a piece of cardboard. The dots were arranged like the dots on a dice five. I aimed at the center dot and it hit first almost 3" high and right 3"(by upper right dot). I just kept shooting, and watched as it walked down and left with each shot. I had fired eleven shots when it hit the center dot (factory sights, made no adjustments). The next four were in the 2" dot. Owned that rifle for about three years and never changed the sights or ever ran another brush down the bore.