If the gun won't shoot .XXX initially, it isn't going to shoot.

[jackieschmidt]

Strictly from a Short Range Benchrest Competitor‘s point of view, you have to decide how many expensive bullets, powder, primers and range time you are willing to expend trying to make a mediocre barrel competitive.

Granted, the requirements in Short Range Group and Score can different than some of the other disciplines. Our primary concern is Agging capability, where most other aspects of downrange ballistics take a back seat.

The late Gene Bukys used to chamber up and take 10 barrels to the range, picking out, (hopefully) the few that he considered capable of winning Aggs. That is besides the other 100 he had in waiting.

 

[6MMsteve]

Frustrating isn’t it! Such a good looking bullet, great bc, won’t shoot worth a crap. The best I could get was .7-.8 maybe but averaged closer to 1.2-1.5 as well for me. I tried 3 powders, 3 primers, 2 different brass, jumping to jamming, over pressure to under pressure and I never could make it work!! Everything else I’ve feed it just hammers. It’s my least fussy gun eating everything I feed it with 0 load development and still getting easy .5 or better until those bloody rdf’s. After trying 10 different bullets with all under 1/2 no problem I was to stubborn to call it quits on the rdf! I was convinced I could make it work. 300 rounds later I gave up!

yes they look like they will just make a bug hole.... but it's more like taco bell and red white blue beer on Monday night at the screen door, you know what i'm tryin to say lol, $2.25 case of beer

 

[Ccrider]

I put over 500 rounds down a new 6ppc barrel. First barrel I was not able to get to shoot. I used proven loads with custom bullets and two different powders. No go. I could have stopped at 50 rounds. .2-.25 5 shot aggs with an occasional .15 -.19 teaser thrown in. I finally gave up.

 

[Ray123]

I expect a barrel to shoot acceptable accuracy for the intended purpose of the firearm....or I dispose of the barrel right away...some have been returned and not installed because of bore or rifling defects as seen with a with a bore scope. It has to shoot the bullets I intend to use, not some light varmint bullet, when the intended purpose is long range target, that barrel would be discarded...components cost too much and it's waste my time. Good shooting barrels I've had tend to shoot good right off, with a variety of usable components and not finicky... kind of like a hamburger...have it your way, double decker, double cheese, no pickles,...keep exploring the possibilities.

 

[Dangermouse]

No one has answered my question yet!

Where are you guys happy with a gun shooting and how much do you expect it to improve with load dev? Two numbers

Here is an answer, from experience:

In the original post in the section named "BAD", the bullet selection was fixed--one bullet, an 85.5gr Berger. In my experience, some rifles OR barrels will not shoot every bullet. This could be a case of the rifle simply not tuning to that choice of bullet weight. It has happened to me. Once upon a time, I thought I wanted to shoot 87gr Hornady Vmax bullets in a 6br. They would not group.

I've won a 600 yard match with the same gun (6BR Norma Savage factory Model 12 1:8 twist), scope, rest, cartridge case, and powder using 105 gr Berger hybrid ogive match bullets. The rig shoots into about 0.375" at 200 yards with my match load and loaded ammo weighed for consistency. That same rig also shoots 55gr Noslers, 75 gr Vmax, 69 gr Berger, and 80 gr Noslers equally well.

It will not consistently group the 87 gr Vmax. When that anomaly occurred, I switched bullets. It worked. Never give up.

-mouse

 

[Clancy]

My first 6BRA was an experience. I shot 50 rounds for fireforming into the dirt, then started my load work with Varget. I shot 18 rounds, stopped and bought some 4895. It shot in the .1s for 3 shots with H4895 and 1.0s with Varget. Never seen that before, but it turned out to be one of the best barrels I ever had. I didn’t have to waste more than 18 rounds to know when it was time to quit.