I've been wanting to ask this for quite some time now since i'm the only one i know who reloads and has a ruger tactical in my area. Is it normal that my fired brass from my factory barreled ruger tactical have loose expanded necks such that sierra 52 hpbt heads would fall thru with relative ease on the fired hornady cases? I'm just wondering because my friend's .308 sps 700, using 168 amax, on his fired cases the fit is tighter when dropping the heads on the neck of the fired brass.
Is my case just normal for a factory barrel for a .223, or is my chamber out of spec having a looser chamber at the neck? Will buying another factory barrel with a proper fit chamber help in increasing the accuracy? Buying an aftermarket barrel in my case is out of the question because of the import laws from where i come from and having a barrel here rechambered, recrowned and fitted to one's reciever is a hit and miss affair, more miss than hits, because gunsmithing here is still very crude and low tech. My loads are light using only 23 gr of vit 133 powder on newly fired hornady cases, rem br small rifle primers and either hornady or local new armscor shells, i forgot exactly on my how deep i seat my bullet when reloading but it's just a tad below the max allowable over all length.
I'm getting .5 inch 3 shots groups at best at 100 meters under controlled conditions, paying close attention to the undesired flexibility of the houge stock being only pillar bedded, but normal 5 shot groups are around .75 to 1.25 inch on a warm to the touch barrel. I know this is already more than ok for my purposes which is informal target practice and point blank range hunting, under 300 meters, but i just would like the peace of mind that my rig's chamber is either on out of spec and that i could potentially improve the accuracy if i have the barrel replaced should it be out of spec.
Is my case just normal for a factory barrel for a .223, or is my chamber out of spec having a looser chamber at the neck? Will buying another factory barrel with a proper fit chamber help in increasing the accuracy? Buying an aftermarket barrel in my case is out of the question because of the import laws from where i come from and having a barrel here rechambered, recrowned and fitted to one's reciever is a hit and miss affair, more miss than hits, because gunsmithing here is still very crude and low tech. My loads are light using only 23 gr of vit 133 powder on newly fired hornady cases, rem br small rifle primers and either hornady or local new armscor shells, i forgot exactly on my how deep i seat my bullet when reloading but it's just a tad below the max allowable over all length.
I'm getting .5 inch 3 shots groups at best at 100 meters under controlled conditions, paying close attention to the undesired flexibility of the houge stock being only pillar bedded, but normal 5 shot groups are around .75 to 1.25 inch on a warm to the touch barrel. I know this is already more than ok for my purposes which is informal target practice and point blank range hunting, under 300 meters, but i just would like the peace of mind that my rig's chamber is either on out of spec and that i could potentially improve the accuracy if i have the barrel replaced should it be out of spec.
