Interarms mark X

[tthomp302]

My uncle has had his interarms Mark X since he was a teenager. He reckons it was made in the 1970s. It is a 30-06 and he has used it every year since he got it. Not quite sure about the actual round count. It is now exhibiting signs of waning accuracy, It used to shoot sub moa with well-spaced 3 shot groups, and now it won't shoot under 2-2.5 inches. He gave the gun to me to try to see what I could do. I took all of the normal steps, Torqued action bolts, scope bases, and rings. I cleaned out the bore with butch's bore shine and got a lot of fouling out of it. Took it back to the range to test with a variety of ammo and still get about 2" groups on average. I know that's plenty accurate for hunting short range, but he would really like it to be back to sub moa. He is considering buying a new gun and making this one a wall hanger but I'm trying to tell him to rebarrel this one since it has a very nice Mauser CRF action. What would yall do? Invest the money in a new barrel and have it last or buy a new gun for sub $600?

 

[AlNyhus]

First, I'd put a known-good scope on it to eliminate that variable. Then take a peek with a bore scope. If you don't have one or access to one, a thorough cleaning of the barrel to bare metal with JB would be my suggestion before doing anything else. -Al

 

[tthomp302]

First, I'd put a known-good scope on it to eliminate that variable. Then take a peek with a bore scope. If you don't have one or access to one, a thorough cleaning of the barrel to bare metal with JB would be my suggestion before doing anything else. -Al

Sorry I didn't mention this in the first post. I had taken one of my tester scopes that has worked on many different rigs and used it for this application. I don't have access to a borescope but I feel like I might buy one for future reference.

 

[jghoghunter]

Unless it was shot hard it's probably not shot out. Did you check the bore with a bore scope? 1975 till now at 100 rnds per year would be roughly 4700 rnds. How many hunting rifles see a 100 rnds per year? How many see half that. My guess it's still dirty with less than 2000 rnds on it. I had a guy give me a rifle, rem. 700 243, that he won in a raffle on a job site. 2-3" was all it would do at 100 yards. A month later 5 cans of wipeout bore foam and a half can of butch's bore cleaner. 3 different handloads would shoot 5/8" repeatable.

 

[tthomp302]

Unless it was shot hard it's probably not shot out. Did you check the bore with a bore scope? 1975 till now at 100 rnds per year would be roughly 4700 rnds. How many hunting rifles see a 100 rnds per year? How many see half that. My guess it's still dirty with less than 2000 rnds on it. I had a guy give me a rifle, rem. 700 243, that he won in a raffle on a job site. 2-3" was all it would do at 100 yards. A month later 5 cans of wipeout bore foam and a half can of butch's bore cleaner. 3 different handloads would shoot 5/8" repeatable.

So I had tried to ask him how much he shot the gun to get an estimate for round count. He said when he was younger he would put 5-6 boxes (100 rounds) through it per year (Being young and just wanting to plink or target shoot). Some years it never got shot and others it was shot a lot. It seems like I should delve into deeper cleaning tactics for this one. He did mention to me the only cleaning he ever did to it was dragging a bore snake with hoppe's on it a couple of times at the end of each hunting season.

 

[matthias]

You need to clean that thing like its life depends on it. Many rifles are "shot out" just need a good effective cleaning.

 

[tthomp302]

You need to clean that thing like its life depends on it. Many rifles are "shot out" just need a good effective cleaning.

Well, that'll be my next step now. I'll use a few soaking sessions of wipeout and follow with butch's and a brush.

 

[Shawnba67]

Teslong has $40 borescope.

 

[SSL]

Teslong has $40 borescope.

Absolutely. Best/worst purchase you can make. Best because you can actually see what you are up against. Worst because you will see how dirty the rest of your rifles are and obsess about it!

 

[tthomp302]

Absolutely. Best/worst purchase you can make. Best because you can actually see what you are up against. Worst because you will see how dirty the rest of your rifles are and obsess about it!

I do love living in ignorance sometimes haha

 

[Bill Rodolph]

Look at the crown under magnification.

 

[NETim]

Absolutely. Best/worst purchase you can make. Best because you can actually see what you are up against. Worst because you will see how dirty the rest of your rifles are and obsess about it!

The Teslong borescope explained why the bullet comparator could push a bullet up and well out of the test case on the old barrel on my 223.

 

[SBS]

Many elderly hunting rifles suffer from barrel pitting, being the worst at the muzzle end. Most hunters don't take care of their bores and that's the end that gets the most physical damage and also the most pitting from falling weather and condensation. Most of the time, the last half is worse from pitting than the throat is from erosion, given the low volume most hunters shoot.

 

[slm9s]

I don't carry my rifle slung on my shoulder during elk season for more than 2 or 3 minutes otherwise the bore would fill up with rainwater where I hunt!

 

[Dusty Stevens]

I don't carry my rifle slung on my shoulder during elk season for more than 2 or 3 minutes otherwise the bore would fill up with rainwater where I hunt!

Drill a couple weep holes right in front of the chamber

 

[js2013]

Did you use the same ammo you used to shoot the sub MOA groups? Off the shelf ammo usually is not accurate. You can get the optimum accuracy from hand loads if don’t already do that. If the barrel is shot out I’d give Douglas barrels a call. They’re reasonably priced and good quality.

 

[tthomp302]

Well, here are the results. I did 2 12 hour soakings of wipe out and cleaned the heck out of it with butch’s until it was squeaky and shiny. The bore seems to have a good amount of corrosion. First group was the real right one at the bottom. Second was top right. 3rd was the group to the left of center (wanted to see if the scope was tracking correctly).

 

[Ggmac]

what weight bullet ? If 150 try 180gr ,itll usually come back . Mausers are fairly easy to rebarrel . Or send it to Douglas or ER Shaw for a new barrel . That gun will last many liftimes
Check pressure points on stock , see if its cracked , check muzzle crown , adjust trigger , etc

 

[tthomp302]

what weight bullet ? If 150 try 180gr ,itll usually come back . Mausers are fairly easy to rebarrel . Or send it to Douglas or ER Shaw for a new barrel . That gun will last many liftimes
Check pressure points on stock , see if its cracked , check muzzle crown , adjust trigger , etc

168 grain. Have a few others to try. This was the load that was pretty consistently under an inch for him before.

 

[tobnpr]

The bore seems to have a good amount of corrosion.

No amount of cleaning or abrasives will fix that.