Savage F'Class 6.5-284 w/ Weird "Cold Barrel" Trait?

[NealWright]

My rifle seems to have a weird "cold barrel" trait that I can't place.

I've known for a little while that it must shoot 8-10 rounds from a stone cold barrel before it starts to group. This weekend I was shooting 3 shot volley's ... with about 10min in between to check targets.

Repeatably, when I would return to the rifle ... the 1st shot would be off again (barrel moderately warm). And by off, I mean all of them shotgun pattern'd ... with 2 out of 10 completely outside a 12" diameter. I really don't know where they went?

2nd & 3rd shot are beautiful (~.3MOA @ 300yd).

Has anybody ever seen a rifle behave like this?
Thanks, Neal

 

[Keith Glasscock]

I think I'd shorten the range until you can "catch" the fliers. They might be coming apart if they aren't on the paper.

I had a bad barrel that did some weird stuff, but even it would remain in a 12" circle at 300.

Hopefully someone with more experience will drop by and help out.

 

[NorCalMikie]

If it's a Savage "factory" barrel, don't clean it! Some of them (most) need to be coated to be accurate. After 10 or 20 shots (uncleaned) they seem to start shooting better. The more they get fired, the better they get. Won't cost you anything to give it a try.