Cold barrel

[gunjunky]

I have a Ruger M77 MKII 30.06 featherlight barrel. Modified rifle with a custom glass bedded stock with free floating barrel. first shot is always dead center.
when looking for groupimg to reload the next three shots are up 1 innch and left 1/2 inch in a group that can be covered with a nickle. what can I do to fix the cold barrel shot

 

[DrMike]

Welcome to the forum; it's good to have you on board. Your's may be a rifle that requires a slightly fouled barrel for accuracy. As you describe the situation, the simplest fix is to ensure that you shoot from a modestly fouled barrel. The only other fix is to play with such issues as powder, powder charge and seating depth until you find one that acts as you want.

 

[gunjunky]

That is great advice. So far I have tried .005, .010,.015,.020,.025. many different loads and powders. The best group is with RL19 59.5 grains and 150 grain AccuBond. I was just wondering if it might just be the featherlight barrel and if free floating it was a mistake. Or if there is a way to add presure to the barrel.
keep in mind this is a hunting rifle and it is holding a 1.5 inch group. I am just very picky about the performance of the load and rifle. I may just have to live with it or re barrel the rifle. I don't know. I really value any and all input thank you very much.

 

[DrMike]

To be certain, the light barrels can be quite whippy. However, the fact that you get tight groups after the initial shot would not support that theory. You can try a little fore end pressure. Try inserting some business cards or credit cards into the fore end to see if the initial shot moves. If the initial shot tightens into the subsequent shots, you can then put a fiberglass pad on the fore end to introduce pressure. Usually, this does not address the particular situation you have described. The fact that shots subsequent to the initial shot are tight would indicate the need for initial fouling, which is not really all that uncommon. If it were an issue of the barrel walking due to a pressure point, you would see shot stringing, and that doesn't appear to be the case.

 

[gunjunky]

Thanks Dr. Mike, I will take your information, work on it this weekend and post the results.

 

[cloverleaf]

The medium heavy barrel on my 250 takes 4-6 shots to settle down if its really clean. I feel your pain. Its frustrating. If shots 2-4 are falling like you describe that is pretty good consolation though. Hunt with her dirty. CL

 

[JD338]

gunjunky

Welcome to the forum, glad you found us here.

Most rifles settle down after 1-3 fouling shots. Sounds like you have a nice shooting load.

JD338

 

[FOTIS]

Welcome gunjunkie!


For one thing when you say cold barrel do you mean as in temperature only or in cleanliness also?

Is it cold and fouled or cold and clean?

Second do NOT freefloat it. The featherweight barrels are indeed whipy!

 

[gunjunky]

Wow lots of input. The barrel is indeed fowled I guess I should have stated it is just the first shot. I am going to add pressure at the front of the barrel and see what happens. I am addicted to reloading it is awesome.

 

[Guest]

I agree with what's been written so far, but I've got a feeling what you're dealing with is either an action bedding issue or a barrel contact issue. If you're shooting consistently these groups, it can only be one of two things - movement after the first shot "seating" the action, or heat causing the barrel to contact the stock somewhere along the channel and creating this walk to the "second" group.

I see you've already had the action bedded. Any chance there's an issue with the bedding? Depending on who did it, and how familiar they are with glass bedding a rifle, and this being a Ruger with their angled recoil lug, it could be a poor bedding job. Not knocking whomever did the work, mind you, just saying it could be the issue. If you have a spare stock you could swap to and see what happens, it would go a long way to determining if it's a bedding issue.

On the barrel float issue, I am inclined to agree with POP - a little forend pressure is probably useful in these lightweight barrels. But, I'd also try this next time you're at the range: Fire the first shot and then take a couple of dollar bills and see if the barrel is touching somewhere after the first shot and getting heated up. If it is, that's your problem, for sure.

Beyond that, there is the off chance that it's a scope issue. Again, swapping on a known good scope for a test run would answer this question.

Keep us posted on what happens.

 

[onesonek]

And don't clean your bore until accuracy falls off.

 

[gunjunky]

Well I took pop's advice and added forend pressure. Testing a new load to boot. I was very confident in his remedy because of the light barrel.
It was the correct call. Even testing a new load with Nosler data two of the groups were under an inch with only a slight bit of stringing. The final test was
a load that had shown great results before adding forend pressure. I was very please with a 3/4 inch 4 shot group at 100 yards with a sporadic cross wind
5-10 mph.

Thanks again for all the help.

 

[FOTIS]

Well I took Pop's advice and added forend pressure. Testing a new load to boot. I was very confident in his remedy because of the light barrel.
It was the correct call. Even testing a new load with Nosler data two of the groups were under an inch with only a slight bit of stringing. The final test was
a load that had shown great results before adding forend pressure. I was very please with a 3/4 inch 4 shot group at 100 yards with a sporadic cross wind
5-10 mph.

Thanks again for all the help.

Good on you bud!

 

[SJB358]

Glad that worked out well for you. Sounds like it is really shooting well now. Scotty

 

[FOTIS]

BTW can you describe the procedure when you added the pressure point? Just wondering how you decided how much up pressure you need and then duplicated same with acraglass. Thank you!

 

[gunjunky]

Pop I have been so swamped at work havent been able to do anything else with the rifle.
when I tackle it I will repost how I did the work