Within this thread it seems a minor argument has come up concerning the 53 grain V-Max and 14-twist rifling
The picture is of the bullets I've tried in my 222. Left to right, Nosler Varmegeddon 40 grain flat base tipped, Hornady 40 grain V-Max, Sierra 52 grain HPBT Match King, Hornady 53 grain V-Max, Hornady 55 grain SPSX.
The 55 grain SPSX is the only one that shot with any semblance of accuracy. All others, despite extensive work, failed to meet my hopes. The 53 grain V-Max went sideways at 100 yards. All the others at least flew straight and punched perfectly round holes, if failing to meet expectations of accuracy.
As is often the case, there is a little more to the story, which I'll reveal in a bit.
I got this rifle (Rem 788) and went to work early last spring. I started with the 40-grainers, trying several different powders, many different charge weights and seating depths (working methodically) before finally realizing I was wasting time and components. I have always had good luck with SMKs in various calibers...tried to get 53 gr. Flat base SMKs but couldn't find them locally so went with the 52. Same deal...different powders, charges, seating depths...no luck. All of the bullets and various combinations seemed to shoot no better than 2.5 MOA even after methodical load development and only responded minimally to efforts to improve.
I had the 53 grain V-Max on hand so tried it. You already know the results. I didn't even bother to try to work anything up on that one. After the first range trip I pulled down the rest of my incremental loads.
As a last ditch effort I went and got the 55 grain SPSX because I knew 40 some years ago, in my “old” 222 that projectile shot well. The best I squeaked out was 1.25 MOA, after much development most groups hovered around 1.5 MOA. I had really hoped for better. At this point, the summer was gone. Autumn had arrived and all the woodchucks had gone to sleep for the long winter without my 222 ever getting a chance.
Meantime, I ordered some chamber casting alloy, something I could do myself, and started searching for a gunsmith with a bore scope I could take or send the rifle to in order to see if any diagnosis could be arrived at. It was that search which landed me on Accurate Shooter and the 50 dollar Teslong bore scope.
Here's the “little more” to the story:
A quick look with the bore scope showed...well, I'll attach the pictures below in another post. I figure there's no sense trying to get better accuracy out of this barrel, hence the decision to re barrel.
So, maybe, the crooked chambering job is a factor is the dismal performance of the 53 V-Max, and maybe it won't shoot even with a good chamber. I guess the only way to find out is shoot it in a known-good 222 barrel and see.