jeffsqartan
Expert
- Nov 21, 2012
- 1,302
- 83
I am trying to diagnose an accuracy issue with my Remington 700. It's a virgin action with a 12.5" 308 KAK barrel and sits in a Pork Sword chassis. The barrel was cleaned thoroughly on Thursday. I made roughly 100 rounds of varying types today. All loads have Trailboss powder and large pistol primers. The cases were all full length sized. No crimp has been applied to any round. Each charge was worked up in .5gr increments and none of them showed signs of over pressure. All shots taken were at 50 yards. Very little, if any, wind.
110gr Vmax with 12.0-14.0gr of powder
125gr Speer TNT with 10.5-13.5gr of powder
150gr Hornady FMJ with 9.7gr of powder
215gr powder-coated lead with 10.0-13.5gr of powder
Included is a picture that shows a red dot, my point of aim, along with 5 shots around it. Those shots are circled and labeled in order taken. You'll see that there are two "groups" here. The top group is three shots, consisting of my 1st, 2nd, and 5th shot. The bottom group consists of shots 3 and 4. I took all of those shots in a 2 minute time period, and the gun was already warm/hot. Every load that I listed above was exhibiting this kind of issue. Out of any 5 round group, I would get 2 or 3 shots that would group around my point of aim, and two or three would drop considerably low. In some cases, there was more than 6" of drop.
A couple of weeks ago, I purchased some 168gr Federal Gold Medal Match. I shot it, and the 150gr FMJ load, at 100 yards. The result is also attached. You'll notice that while the 150gr ammo has a very tight horizontal spread, the vertical spread is quite far. Those shots did not "string" in a specific direction, IE the shots were not getting progressively lower or progressively higher.
Prior to this barrel, I had a 10.5" barrel. I had similar results. I could not get a group better than 3 MOA at 100 yards. I do not recall vertical stringing like this, though. Just terrible groups.
Please, if you have suggestions, I would love to hear them.
110gr Vmax with 12.0-14.0gr of powder
125gr Speer TNT with 10.5-13.5gr of powder
150gr Hornady FMJ with 9.7gr of powder
215gr powder-coated lead with 10.0-13.5gr of powder
Included is a picture that shows a red dot, my point of aim, along with 5 shots around it. Those shots are circled and labeled in order taken. You'll see that there are two "groups" here. The top group is three shots, consisting of my 1st, 2nd, and 5th shot. The bottom group consists of shots 3 and 4. I took all of those shots in a 2 minute time period, and the gun was already warm/hot. Every load that I listed above was exhibiting this kind of issue. Out of any 5 round group, I would get 2 or 3 shots that would group around my point of aim, and two or three would drop considerably low. In some cases, there was more than 6" of drop.
A couple of weeks ago, I purchased some 168gr Federal Gold Medal Match. I shot it, and the 150gr FMJ load, at 100 yards. The result is also attached. You'll notice that while the 150gr ammo has a very tight horizontal spread, the vertical spread is quite far. Those shots did not "string" in a specific direction, IE the shots were not getting progressively lower or progressively higher.
Prior to this barrel, I had a 10.5" barrel. I had similar results. I could not get a group better than 3 MOA at 100 yards. I do not recall vertical stringing like this, though. Just terrible groups.
Please, if you have suggestions, I would love to hear them.