Hot barrel shoots better than a cold one?

[spudgun]

My thought would be to save a lot of time and money and get the action out of the plastic stock , and get it into a quality stock that can be pillar bedded , and full bedding job . Full free-float barrel , and you might find out you have a nice little 2-300 yard hunting rifle . Went through this with a friend who bought a moderate priced ( cheap ) hunting rifle . Did the stock change-over , and it shoots 1/2 MOA at 100 yards now . The original stock was ALL of the problem . And the only problem . And BTW , his "Before" targets looked exactly like yours do now .

I will agree with you 100%.

My intentions was to try to use this for F class shooting. Gun must be factory stock. Don't look like it's going to work though.

 

[243winxb]

I was always under the impression that the hotter the barrel the groups got worse.

Some factory guns will walk the bullets point of inpact in one direction. My 7 mag and a 243 moved rignt in a line.

Could your barrel just shoot better dirty? Had a M70 that needed 10 fouling shots, after cleaning, to group. Groove diameter was a little oversize.

 

[spudgun]

I think I worked out a load. Best group.

42.5, Varget, 168g HPBT, barrel temp 115 deg.

Now to the 600 yd range to shoot steel, we will see if it's a keeper.

 

[crustyrusty]

Have been trying to dial in my T/C Compass, 308 win for some time.

I hope I will answer all concerns first about this gun.
1. full free floating barrel (hot and cold)
2. Vortex PST II, 6-25X50
3. Scope rings have been lapped
4. 22" barrel
5. 1:12 twist rate.
6. shooting 168g HPBT hornady, 43.0 g Varget, 2625 FPS avg.

My last visit to the range supprised me with the results I got. This gun had been shooting 4 MOA at 100 yds for some time. changed out scope, got the trigger down to 2.5lb pull, tried different bullet weights and powders.

The target below is my shooting results at 100 yds with the above load. What i found strange is the accuracy and barrel temps.
1. First group was at the 5 O'clock target. barrel temps about 65 deg.
2. Second group at 11 O'clock, barrel temps about 80 deg.
3. Third group at 7 O'clock barrel temps was 143 deg.
4. Forth group was dead center and barrel temps over 160 degrees.

I was always under the impression that the hotter the barrel the groups got worse.

No on the flyer. I had 1 round of a older load that I wanted to shoot off.


Cant tell at this time. I ran out of 168 bullets to reload. I did get some last night and will reload and run this test again.

I know about barrel temps and normally stop shooting when my temps get about 140 degrees. This time I only had 3 rounds left and so I shot them at the center target.
I have a savage axis II rifle in .223 Remington.. all of my groups get better with temp increase and round count increase.. I dont loose accuracy until about round 80 or so and then not by much,, and I do load with CFE 223 and and IMR 4320.as for barrel cleaning i scrub with remingtons carbon scrubber and hoppes copper remover.....so i scrubb vigorly 10-12 times with the brush then follow it up with clean patches..it takes 5-6 rounds to restore accuracy after cleaning then its good to go again...... my 280 remington model 700 is the same way accuracy increses as barrel temp increases but round count isnt nearly as high as mt .223 I get about 30 rounds out of the 280 before accuracy goes away... i load IMR 4320 and IMR 4350 for my 280 Rem.



No I am not cleaning it squeeky clean. Learned my lesson with my 6.5 CM. after removing copper fouling my 600 yd groups went to hell. Took 16 rounds to get the grouping back to 3/4 MOA. Haven't cleaned it again....LOL

 

[crustyrusty]

my Savage .223 shoots better as barrel temp increases and stays there for about 25-35 rounds then I scrub like crazy and start over again.. its not uncommon for it it shoot 2'' at 100 yarda after cleaning and then gets better as I shoot and barrel temps rise until I hit my threshold of 25-35 rounds....as a matter of fact my best target was after 45 rounds a 10 shot group just under 1'' at 100 yards using prvi 75gr hpbt pills.. My dads Remington 700 ADL 280 did the same thing but just not as pronounced... I was developing loads using 174gr FMJ Prvi bullets with IMR 4320 with a velocity of 2450 just for plinking or maybe hog hunting... this round started out a vertical string at 100 yards in a cold barrel with 2'' groups... and as the barrel heated up the groups shrank to 1-1/2 and into a circular group. so I like a warm barrel so far.

 

[spudgun]

Well, gave up on the 308. Selling it to my Nephew, he wants a deer hunting gun. It shoots well enough to kill a deer at 100 yds. Besides I don't know if I can stand the kick shooting 50 rounds at one time.

Now if I can just get my 224 Valkyrie dialed in. After several loads I found that it likes to shoot with a barrel temp of 140 deg for best groups. However my best groups are over 1 MOA at 100 yds. Did a barrel check today and found this bad boy 1/2 way down the barrel. Big gash in the rifling, I wonder if this is damaging my bullets and causing them to fly funny.

 

[crustyrusty]

wow that looks weird

 

[spudgun]

Contacted dealer today to see if I can get a replacement. Only had it for 2 months and lot's of wasted ammo.

 

[searcher]

If that IS a gash in the barrel - send it back to the maker and I'd not even shoot it.