Browninglover1
Well-Known Member
After the fall hunts were over I decided to try and see why a few of my rifle were plagued with velocity increases and pressure signs that I hadn't dealt with in the past. I've recently started shooting suppressed and wondered if the suppressor was somehow contributing to the problem. I cleaned the rifles with my usual regimen of Boretech products and then scoped the bores. To my surprise 3 of my rifle showed VERY heavy carbon fouling. Not just a carbon ring, but carbon in the grooves for the first 8-10" of the barrel. I bought some ThorroClean and with a little elbow grease I was able to get the carbon finally removed and the bores looking like new again.
The rifles have sat for a few months but Saturday was finally the day to get to the range. The 7 SAUM still grouped well (7 shots under 1/2") and velocity was about 60fps slower than my original load. This made sense to me as I had dropped the powder charge this fall to account for a 50 fps increase I had observed when getting ready for my hunts. I assume that as long as the bore stays clean I'll be able to go back to my original load and return to the intended velocity of 2800 fps.
The 6.5 Creedmoor was still loaded with my original loads and it dropped back down to the expected velocity and shot well. The last 10 rounds of the day I shot at a single target in heavy mirage. 9 shots went into a sub 0.6 MOA group and one of the 10 had to ruin the group! I'm not sure if it was the mirage, a bad shot by me, or simply the fact that a load sometimes isn't as good as we would expect, but it really ruined a nice group. haha
I also had my 223 shoot well after a few fouling shots and my 22lr built on a RimX gave some great trigger time at the end of the day.
Overall it was a great day at the range to squeeze some triggers and get reacquainted with a few rifles I hadn't shot in a while. Now I can work on tweaking some of the loads again in anticipation of spring rock chucks!
6.5 Creedmoor with a 147 ELDM at 2820 FPS
Full 10 shot group with the 6.5 Creedmoor.
The rifles have sat for a few months but Saturday was finally the day to get to the range. The 7 SAUM still grouped well (7 shots under 1/2") and velocity was about 60fps slower than my original load. This made sense to me as I had dropped the powder charge this fall to account for a 50 fps increase I had observed when getting ready for my hunts. I assume that as long as the bore stays clean I'll be able to go back to my original load and return to the intended velocity of 2800 fps.
The 6.5 Creedmoor was still loaded with my original loads and it dropped back down to the expected velocity and shot well. The last 10 rounds of the day I shot at a single target in heavy mirage. 9 shots went into a sub 0.6 MOA group and one of the 10 had to ruin the group! I'm not sure if it was the mirage, a bad shot by me, or simply the fact that a load sometimes isn't as good as we would expect, but it really ruined a nice group. haha
I also had my 223 shoot well after a few fouling shots and my 22lr built on a RimX gave some great trigger time at the end of the day.
Overall it was a great day at the range to squeeze some triggers and get reacquainted with a few rifles I hadn't shot in a while. Now I can work on tweaking some of the loads again in anticipation of spring rock chucks!
6.5 Creedmoor with a 147 ELDM at 2820 FPS
Full 10 shot group with the 6.5 Creedmoor.
