Phenomenal inaccuracy

nbowlin

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Joined
Nov 29, 2011
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182
The story I have.
Rifle is a 7wsm. 26" 8t pt&g standard reamer + 60 thou of throat, blueprinted 700. Not a shotgun news mosin nagant(which would be an improvement) Rifle shoots 175eldx's and rl26 at 3100 at 1/2". Very forgiving on seating depth too.
Finally got some new brass figured I would give some 180 eld-ms a go. Did my normal grain at a time until pressure, back off two, load at the lands, 10, 20 etc to 50 off and absolutely nothing. Go to 80 and 100 jump and nothing under 10" at a 100yards. Switch from 26 to h1000 then Retumbo same deal. Verified the barrel is an 8 twist. Shot some on hand 175 loads and they still shoot great. Gave up on 180m's. Thought....I have some 183smk left over from a 28 Nosler deal. Match kings never let a guy down right? A total repeat of the above stated undertaking but even worse. 12-14" groups at a hundred. Read a really cool article by a guy here about his ladder testing deal. Thought what the heck went back to the 180's. The top of a freezer box lid barely contained the test at 500. Gave up again on 180's. Thought well maybe 162m's. Same repeat of above stated crap show but slightly scaled down to 8" groups at a 100. Loaded more 175 eldxs shot great. So I have accepted that is apparently what I will be shooting out of this rifle.
My question is how in the world can a rifle be such a *** and still shoot at the same time? All these bullets went through targets via round holes too. To me a rifle that is capable of shooting well should have a disliking of a bullet or what ever in the 2-4" window of bad not 12-14 inches. A guy with buckshot would truly put it to shame.
How is this a thing??
 
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Bbl mfg? Scope ?bases lock tight? Rounds fired? Sand bag rest or mechanical ? Agreed about the 2/4 inch window but no the 12/14 window , who built your rifle ? Action screws torked to how many ft lbs ? What kind of stock& is it beded &bbl free floated ? Thks
 
It's on a pic base, sig scope, McMillan game scout, it is bedded, has 200-250thru it....cleaned the poo out of it and bore scoped it with nothing of note....originally bipod and rear bag, but with the confidence whithering results I borrowed a lead sled with no improvement. It tracks and shoots proper. Same bench dial up and it does it's job, with 175's...at 650. Not sure on the screws. It's been apart and checked over and same 175's good everything else so far.....crap.
I had this built and started with 175x's and rl26 worked on that a little found my load shot it, took it to eastern Oregon killed a bunch of lava rocks at various distances. All good.
Got some brass, 3.110 box, added 60 thou to the throat, and thought I should try some 180'm's. Had I never ventured to a different bullet I would have never imagined what it does is possible. Just a great shooting little gun

The barrel and builder I will withhold. Don't want some sort of false anything going anywhere. The gun shoots as it should just with only the 175-x. Same barrels I Am running on 7 other rifles...all good and Smith I have used on the last 4 all good.
 
It's on a pic base, sig scope, McMillan game scout, it is bedded, has 200-250thru it....cleaned the poo out of it and bore scoped it with nothing of note....originally bipod and rear bag, but with the confidence whithering results I borrowed a lead sled with no improvement. It tracks and shoots proper. Same bench dial up and it does it's job, with 175's...at 650. Not sure on the screws. It's been apart and checked over and same 175's good everything else so far.....crap.
I had this built and started with 175x's and rl26 worked on that a little found my load shot it, took it to eastern Oregon killed a bunch of lava rocks at various distances. All good.
Got some brass, 3.110 box, added 60 thou to the throat, and thought I should try some 180'm's. Had I never ventured to a different bullet I would have never imagined what it does is possible. Just a great shooting little gun.

The barrel and builder I will withhold. Don't want some sort of false anything going anywhere. The gun shoots as it should just with only the 175-x. Same barrels I Am running on 7 other rifles...all good and Smith I have used on the last 4 all good.
 
Only thing I can think of...Did you clean between changing bullets? Pretty crazy to have one bullet that shoots well and then others that are terrible. I think you said that the holes in the target were nice and round. You might check the barrel twist manually and verify the twist.

Had a conversation yesterday with a customer who got a box of bullets that he and his friend are sharing. Both shooting 9t 300wm. One rifle shoots them great and the other rifle is printing oblong holes like a stability issue. Checked the twist rate and it is as advertised. My only other wonder was if the bore dia is correct. Maybe too large.

This is a bit different than your situation but kinda similar. Wondering if the 175's are a bit softer and are filling the bore under pressure better than the other bullets tested and getting better stabilized. I'm diggin deep.

Steve
 
Seems that it's not an issue with something being loose if it shoots one bullet good! That would be enough to drive anyone nuts. Good luck finding the issue; seems that it don't like the heavier bullets, like it should have a different twist for the heavy bullets? That is a real head scratcher!
 
How did you verify the twist? You might try a lighter weight bullet like a 160 Gr bullet and see what it does. If it doesn't throw them all over, like it does with the 180s, then you will know what you have as far as what the gun prefers.
 
Originally I was just running it and when it was all going south I cleaned it. Didn't affect anything. Also I had my self convinced that I had ordered an 8t and some sort of "right bin wrong part" shenanigans had taken place. But unless I put a two inch bow in the tape measure it's an 8t. Believe me I wanted it to say 10 just so I could have an answer. I tried 162m's and they sucked in the rifle as well just not quite as bad. At this point I do not believe the bullets are bad just do not agree with what ever that rifle has going on.

At this point i just want to understand how it's even possible to be good and at the same time suck? Reloading/load development defeat. Don't like it.
 
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How did you verify the twist? You might try a lighter weight bullet like a 160 Gr bullet and see what it does. If it doesn't throw them all over, like it does with the 180s, then you will know what you have as far as what the gun prefers.
Patch and rod. Pushed it in made a mark for starting and one parallel to the rod and pulled one revolution. 8"
 
Patch and rod. Pushed it in made a mark for starting and one parallel to the rod and pulled one revolution. 8"
Tried 162's. Just 8" instead of 12+. Not looking to shoot the lighter stuff did it for the science experiment type sake.
 
Only thing I can think of...Did you clean between changing bullets? Pretty crazy to have one bullet that shoots well and then others that are terrible. I think you said that the holes in the target were nice and round. You might check the barrel twist manually and verify the twist.

Had a conversation yesterday with a customer who got a box of bullets that he and his friend are sharing. Both shooting 9t 300wm. One rifle shoots them great and the other rifle is printing oblong holes like a stability issue. Checked the twist rate and it is as advertised. My only other wonder was if the bore dia is correct. Maybe too large.

This is a bit different than your situation but kinda similar. Wondering if the 175's are a bit softer and are filling the bore under pressure better than the other bullets tested and getting better stabilized. I'm diggin deep.

Steve
Even when I hail maried that ladder test at 500. Holes were round. Super odd.
 
Tried 162's. Just 8" instead of 12+. Not looking to shoot the lighter stuff did it for the science experiment type sake.

Might need a new barrel then or the crown is messed up. I would take it to a smith to get it scoped.
 
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