.204 Ruger Issue

[effendude]

I have a friend with a .204 Ruger rifle made by savage that is giving him issues. Approx one out of ten rounds tumbles. Velocity is consistent as he has shot over a chrony and the tumbled rounds are moving at the same speed as the accurate ones. He gets nice .5MOA ten shot groups and then a tumbled round. Current load is 26.5gr Benchmark with a 32gr Blitzking, Win brass and 205m primer at 3875 fps. He has tried different bullets, powders, no change. Savage tested rifle and said it is within specs.

I told him it sounds like a bullet/barrel issue but he has tried most weight bullets and they all did it. There are not many .20 cal choices for varmint bullets and he has exhausted the selection. Is it time for a new barrel?
Thanks,
Scott

 

[dawe11]

A good friend of mine had the same problem. Sent the rifle back to Savage and they said it was in spec. He then had the barrel scoped and saw why. Short story, very crattered barrel. Sent the barrel back to Savage with scope report and they, then replaced the barrel after several weeks.
Dale

 

[CoverDog]

My guess would be that he is not getting the carbon out. He may clean it and have no copper but it's the carbon that is making the bullets keyhole. I had the same problem with a Savage BGTV SS in .204

No carbon no problem.