This is a continuation from this thread: http://www.snipershide.com/shooting...on-guys-who-shoot-lot-barrel-replacement.html
A quick summary for those who didn't follow the original thread: I had some questions about accuracy expectations and when guys replace their barrels. My .308 AIAX barrel has close to 6k rounds on it, most of them hot 155 Scenar handloads, and wasn't shooting like it used to. I was about ready to give up, as I have a fresh AINA .308 barrel ready to go as well as a 550 round AINA .260 Bartlein barrel that shoots lights out for me.
An update from today:
Perhaps this barrel has some life in it after all! I headed to the range today to "put the last rounds through this barrel" before spinning my .260 barrel back on. I was pleasantly surprised by the performance.
I had thoroughly cleaned it before bringing it to the range. The target board was shot at 100, and was shared between a friend (sbaird4000 on here) who was shooting his new MWS with some crappy ammo and with a bit of good ammo, and with me, shooting my AX. The numbered groups are the targets I shot with my AX, and the numbers follow the order they were shot. All measurements are for all 5 rounds, no allowances for "fliers," and represent all 50 rounds I shot (10x 5 round groups.)
Group sizes are as follows:
1: .717" (cold clean bore)
2: .567"
3: .703"
4: .406"
5: .322"
6: .736"
7: .525"
8: .613"
9: .507"
10: .638"
Average group size in inches: .573"
Average group size in MOA: .548 moa
It should be noted that all groups were shot prone, from a bipod, with a rear bag. The average of .548 MOA is an average for ALL 50 ROUNDS SHOT. I didn't non-count any groups, all were calculated in the average. Groups 7 and 8 were with 175 SMK handloads I had loaded to "generic Gold Medal" spec to try in the MWS. They weren't tailored to the AX.
Conclusion? I'm going to keep shooting it. I think I am going to clean more often, as it seemed to shoot well clean and it is getting hard to predict how many rounds are maximum between cleanings to maintain accuracy. I also will continue to keep a close eye on it, as I am "not in love" with this barrel and am willing to replace it when performance dictates. .548 moa for 10 groups of 5 is not bad enough yet.
Thanks for reading,
-Bob
A quick summary for those who didn't follow the original thread: I had some questions about accuracy expectations and when guys replace their barrels. My .308 AIAX barrel has close to 6k rounds on it, most of them hot 155 Scenar handloads, and wasn't shooting like it used to. I was about ready to give up, as I have a fresh AINA .308 barrel ready to go as well as a 550 round AINA .260 Bartlein barrel that shoots lights out for me.
An update from today:
Perhaps this barrel has some life in it after all! I headed to the range today to "put the last rounds through this barrel" before spinning my .260 barrel back on. I was pleasantly surprised by the performance.
I had thoroughly cleaned it before bringing it to the range. The target board was shot at 100, and was shared between a friend (sbaird4000 on here) who was shooting his new MWS with some crappy ammo and with a bit of good ammo, and with me, shooting my AX. The numbered groups are the targets I shot with my AX, and the numbers follow the order they were shot. All measurements are for all 5 rounds, no allowances for "fliers," and represent all 50 rounds I shot (10x 5 round groups.)
Group sizes are as follows:
1: .717" (cold clean bore)
2: .567"
3: .703"
4: .406"
5: .322"
6: .736"
7: .525"
8: .613"
9: .507"
10: .638"
Average group size in inches: .573"
Average group size in MOA: .548 moa
It should be noted that all groups were shot prone, from a bipod, with a rear bag. The average of .548 MOA is an average for ALL 50 ROUNDS SHOT. I didn't non-count any groups, all were calculated in the average. Groups 7 and 8 were with 175 SMK handloads I had loaded to "generic Gold Medal" spec to try in the MWS. They weren't tailored to the AX.
Conclusion? I'm going to keep shooting it. I think I am going to clean more often, as it seemed to shoot well clean and it is getting hard to predict how many rounds are maximum between cleanings to maintain accuracy. I also will continue to keep a close eye on it, as I am "not in love" with this barrel and am willing to replace it when performance dictates. .548 moa for 10 groups of 5 is not bad enough yet.
Thanks for reading,
-Bob
