Advice Please - Accuracy showed promise but fell apart on custom 7 mm PRC

[uppercut11]

I had a previous thread on this rifle: https://www.snipershide.com/shootin...e-with-accuracy-issues.7230083/#post-11753452

I wanted to post a new thread as I have another situation with the same gun (different barrel) and would love any advice.

I will pick up where I left off on the old post. The gunsmith got a carbon6 barrel. 24" sendero with 1:8" twist. He chambered it and installed it on my Kelbly Atlas Lite action and got it back to me at the end of December. I started breaking in the barrel with some factory hornady 175 precision hunters and the handloads I had created for the previous barrel but seated a little deeper for new barrel (new ADG brass, CCI 250 primers, 65.7 gr H1000, 175 eldx bullets, seated 0.012" off the lands).

For break in I took 1 shot, cleaned out carbon and copper fouling, repeated for a second shot, and then went to 3 or 4 shot groups cleaning out carbon and copper fouling between groups. Initial groups were around an inch at 100 yards with both factory loads and handloads, but I wasn't too concerned as I was breaking it in. As I got more rounds through it the groups started to tighten up overall as I had hoped, and were consistently under an inch at 100 yards, with the best group (and last decent group) shown in the first picture attached. This group was with the handloads and was shots 33-36 through the new barrel. As I am still getting copper fouling when cleaning, I cleaned it again to bare metal. The next day, with the same loads, I shot the group in picture 2 (1.652" at 100 yds). I cleaned again and shot the group in picture 3 with factory loads (1.736" at 100 yds). It went from getting progressively better to shooting worse than ever all of the sudden.

The gunsmith checked in on how things were going and when I told him he said he wanted to look at it as he felt the gun was moving in the stock. He was planning to mill out some material on the stock and rebed the action. When he started removing material he noticed the crack shown in the last picture, which he felt was the issue. I contacted Grayboe and had outstanding customer service. I sent the stock in and they sent me a replacement. I mounted the gun in the new stock, torqued the action screws to 45 in-lbs as recommended by Grayboe (tightened front first while gun was upright resting on butt with a bit of downward force).

The first group with the new stock (shown in the 4th picture) had me thinking that the issue had been solved with the new stock, but after cleaning the fifth picture shows the next group (1.996" at 100 yards). Both of these groups were with the handloads. Another group after that with factory ammunition was over 1.25" but I didn't take a picture. Basically it seems that the stock was not the issue and doesn't explain the accuracy getting worse.

I have 59 rounds through the gun now and am still getting distinct copper fouling after shooting 3-4 rounds. In previous guns the copper fouling has been mostly eliminated by this point. I am not sure if that is important for anything, but sharing the information I can think of. I have verified multiple times that the Kelbly rail is torqued to 25 in-lbs, the night force cross bolts are torqued to 68 in-lbs, the night force rings are torqued to 25 in-lbs, and the action screws are torqued to 45 in-lbs as mentioned previously. Nothing has loosened up at any point. I don't have the means to check the torque value of the barrel to the action.

I am not sure where to go from here. Should I continue with break in and try to work up a load specific to this new barrel? I hate wasting more time and components on a gun that is shooting like this. It seems unlikely to me that I am going to fix this with reloading but maybe I am wrong. I haven't reached out to Carbon6 (I am confident they will be great to work with) yet as I wanted to start here and see what ideas the group has on things to look at or try. The gunsmith is kind of washing his hands of it at this point saying that his machining is good and it must be the stock.

 

[OREGUN]

Is it possible that all the cleaning is confusing things? Try shooting 21 rounds with no cleaning. 5, 3 shot groups to get it good and dirty and the 3 more for “record”. If those last 3 groups of 3 shots each are anywhere near 1”, do proper load development. If they aren’t smaller than 1.5”, get a new barrel. Spread those 21 shots over two days. Shoot the 3x3 that are going to matter with a cool barrel.

 

[7mm-08 Freak]

Have you ever thought about doing some fire lapping to see if you can get that rough spot smoothed down? I bought a brand new proof 7PRC yesterday and shot this 4 shot 100 yd group with it with no barrel break in. I’m about 80 rounds down the pipe in 2 days so far. Today I shot 200 yds with it and had 5, 2 hole 4 shot groups I’ve never been a big fan of barrel break and I figure if the barrel’s gonna shoot it’s gonna shoot whether I break it or not.

 

[uppercut11]

Is it possible that all the cleaning is confusing things? Try shooting 21 rounds with no cleaning. 5, 3 shot groups to get it good and dirty and the 3 more for “record”. If those last 3 groups of 3 shots each are anywhere near 1”, do proper load development. If they aren’t smaller than 1.5”, get a new barrel. Spread those 21 shots over two days. Shoot the 3x3 that are going to matter with a cool barrel.

Fair point. I haven't seen that on previous guns though. I have always tried to keep removing the copper fouling without many shots in between until it stops throwing copper, and typically have had guns shoot pretty well during this time, but I could try finishing the break in and shoot a longer string with some carbon fouling in there.

 

[uppercut11]

Have you ever thought about doing some fire lapping to see if you can get that rough spot smoothed down? I bought a brand new proof 7PRC yesterday and shot this 4 shot 100 yd group with it with no barrel break in. I’m about 80 rounds down the pipe in 2 days so far. Today I shot 200 yds with it and had 5, 2 hole 4 shot groups I’ve never been a big fan of barrel break and I figure if the barrel’s gonna shoot it’s gonna shoot whether I break it or not.

When you say fire lapping do you just mean shoot a bunch of rounds to get the bullets to smooth out whatever burr or rough spot is causing the copper fouling or is there more to it that I am missing? I am just trying to do everything right with breaking in the barrel. I am not knowledgeable enough to know how important break in is but I have read a lot of things from experts that convinced me it would be smart to do it. To your point, in the past I had guns that I didn't break in and shot well and more recently I have had ones that I did break in and shot well. I have never had one shoot as poorly as this one, broken in or not, which made me wonder if I was wasting time and money putting more rounds through it when there may be something wrong. I just can't figure out what the problem would be where everything is tight.

 

[7mm-08 Freak]

It’s not too complicated. You can buy the kit from Wheeler (Midway) FOLLOW THE DIRECTIONS EXACTLY!!! Your basically taking very fine sand and mixing it with grease and coating your bullets then shooting them. I’ve had some bad barrels that it helped and others so bad it made no difference.

 

[ShtrRdy]

I had a barrel once that seemed to copper foul easily until I got about 200 rounds through it and then it would not copper foul. I have no idea why it was like this.. .

 

[Maurygold]

It’s not too complicated. You can buy the kit from Wheeler (Midway) FOLLOW THE DIRECTIONS EXACTLY!!! Your basically taking very fine sand and mixing it with grease and coating your bullets then shooting them. I’ve had some bad barrels that it helped and others so bad it made no difference.

This is insanely stupid. Don’t do this

 

[Maurygold]

Are you still using the lead sled?

A half dozen people rightfully pointed out you should not be using that to shoot groups in the last post.

 

[OREGUN]

I don’t believe that “break in” does anything except waste time and components. After 60 rounds, your barrel is ready to go as it sits right now. Anything you thought you were achieving by shooting and cleaning has been accomplished, IMHO. If you want to shoot sanded grease through it, it’s your time and money. No serious barrel maker will recommend that procedure. You would be nuts to do it in my estimation.

I suspect you are dealing with a host of issues the most glaring of which is the fact that you are comparing factory ammo and reloads not tuned to this barrel, and you are cleaning the barrel and then expecting the best groups. I’ve never had a barrel that will shoot consistent velocities or the smallest groups immediately after a cleaning. Benchresters shoot “foulers” for a reason.

A great barrel will shoot anything you put in it “pretty well” right from the first round. I’m not hopeful that you have a great barrel on your hands. However, I think you could learn a lot if you stop chasing your tail and focus on one thing at a time. See if you can get a box of Berger 180 hybrids, start .020” off the lands with a mid range powder charge. Don’t clean the barrel again until you’ve shot 100 more rounds through it. Copper fouling, as evidenced by some “tell” during cleaning is completely irrelevant. Try a few powder charges up and down by 5% of total charge weight to find a velocity you like. See how it groups at those charge weights.

If, after all this, it’s not shooting to your standards (what are you capable of with other, similar guns) then it’s probably the barrel itself and nothing is going to fix it….at least nothing that’s as simple and cheap as replacing the barrel.

 

[OREGUN]

Are you still using the lead sled?

A half dozen people rightfully pointed out you should not be using that to shoot groups in the last post.

Wait. There’s a lead sled involved? Hell no.

We now have the trifecta of rifle WTF: barrel break in, “fire-lapping”, and the lead sled.

 

[Maurygold]

Wait. There’s a lead sled involved? Hell no.

We now have the trifecta of rifle WTF: barrel break in, “fire-lapping”, and the lead sled.

Last post. Everyone told him to ditch it already. Let’s see if he’s actually taking sound advice as a start

 

[OREGUN]

Last post. Everyone told him to ditch it already. Let’s see if he’s actually taking sound advice as a start

Yeah. It was all I could do to read this first post. I didn’t look back at that one.

 

[EXSOCAL]

Bro, it sounds like you're gonna wear your barrel out by cleaning before you shoot it out. Ease up on the cleaning. Your barrel doesn't need to be "copper free" to shoot well, in fouling helps in a lot of cases. Barrels accumulate copper for a multitude of reasons, none of which you or I can dial down to the exact cause - barrel metalurgy, rifling design, barrel finish, bullet speed, jacket composition, powder, and a ton of other things all dictate that. It's perfectly ok. Some barrels foul more than, others. Thats not an indication of a barrel being more or less broken in than another.

Advise based on what I read and saw in your first post...

Stop cleaning. Plain and simple. just shoot your rifle and learn what it likes. Some rifles can go several hundred rounds before they "tell you" they need to be cleaned. Too clean can be just as bad and worse in some cases, than a really dirty barrel.

At the very least, properly pillar bed that stock. That crack you got on the first stock was a compression fracture from the action bolt torque. It looks like there are pillars in there but they are sunk into the stock so the torque is spreading into the foam or whatever they use in the stock, instead of on the pillar itself. Check your new stock and see it this is the same. Something with moderate recoil like the 7 PRC needs to have a decent stock and mounting points or it will do bad things when shot at volume. A full bedding job works wonders.

If you are using a lead sled, take it and throw it in the garbage. If recoil is an issue for you get one of the more effective brakes out there like the APA Fat Bastard or a Salmon River Solutions SS Pro 5. Either of those should make that 7 PRC feel like shooting a 6.5 Creedmoor or less depending on the weight of your rifle. Accuracy goes to shit on lead sleds and they break stuff. No bueno.

Work up a load on this new barrel using your preferred method. It looks like you've been judging everything based on a load that you worked up for an old rifle and some factory ammo. Chances are it wants to eat something slightly different.

Lastly, barrel break in is BS, to put it bluntly. Shoot, clean, shoot, clean, does nothing but waste time. Take a new barrel and shoot it responsibly like you normally would, take it home and clean it and boom, its broken in. From there learn what the barrel wants like I mentioned above. It's counterproductive to proactively strip your barrel down to bare metal every time you shoot.

Hope that helps.

 

[Scotch_egg]

Shoot the rifle dirty. Some barrels just like being dirty and yours is clearly performing better with fowling down the barrel. You will be driven crazy if you keep chasing clean bore accuracy.

 

[Thump_rrr]

Step away from the cleaning rod and shoot some groups.
Are the groups below 1”?
If yes keep shooting groups.
If no try some load development.
If it gets worse it may be the barrel.

I have a barrel that has quite a bit of copper.
It still shoots 0.6moa at 1,000y.
I don’t try to remove all the copper and I clean the carbon out of it after about 160-180 rounds when the groups open up.
After 4-5 foulers its back where it was.

 

[Cheeseburger1976]

Have you ever thought about doing some fire lapping to see if you can get that rough spot smoothed down? I bought a brand new proof 7PRC yesterday and shot this 4 shot 100 yd group with it with no barrel break in. I’m about 80 rounds down the pipe in 2 days so far. Today I shot 200 yds with it and had 5, 2 hole 4 shot groups I’ve never been a big fan of barrel break and I figure if the barrel’s gonna shoot it’s gonna shoot whether I break it or not.

Elevation MTR???

 

[Rocketmandb]

@uppercut11 here are some thoughts:

- You've taken a random load and random seating depth and expect it to shoot right out of the gate. Sometimes you can get decent results in this regard, sometimes you can't. It doesn't necessarily mean the rifle won't shoot.

- As others have said, you're cleaning it too much. When I "break in" a barrel, it's to get it to a point where it doesn't foul as much to allow more consistency shot-to-shot along a greater volume of shots. I usually fire about 5 rounds, run a few patches of Eliminator through to get the nastiest fouling out to ensure I'm not getting so much buildup that it materially impacts pressures, then rinse and repeat after another 10 rounds, then fire however many rounds I have left and go home and clean normally.

- When you're currently cleaning down to bare metal, I'm assuming you're using some form of abrasive cleaner. Please do a search for Frank Green's (from Bartlein) post and his thoughts on using abrasives and over-cleaning a barrel.

- @Scotch_egg says it in his post, some barrels require fouling. Why? See below.

Okay, what happens when you fire a bullet down the barrel:

1) Pressure builds, and the bullet exits the case and engages the rifling.

2) The lands will engrave the bullet (dig into it), but the bullet will also expand and attempt to fill the grooves of the rifling.

3) Sometimes, the bullet won't fully fill the grooves, and you will get gas blow-by as the bullet moves. This can and will differ shot-to-shot. In some cases, depending on the bullet and bore, the bullet might tip slightly along its longitudinal axis due to this. Can you imagine what that does to the bullet? It likely wobbles as it moves down the barrel, and when it exits, it is likely not doing so consistently.

This is where fouling comes in. Fouling will fill the grooves and tend to stay there - it's a lot easier to get crap off the lands, than it is to dig it out of the grooves, so it will tend to stay there, especially closer to the chamber. THIS IS PERFECTLY FINE as long as you get to sort of an equilibrium point with your cleaning routine to maintain consistency.

4) Finally, on exit, if there is any variance, you will get increased dispersion. This includes issues with blow-by, but also if there are any issues with the crown of the barrel. Check your barrel's crown for ANYTHING that's not perfect. As the bullet exits, any imperfection can cause a minute difference in pressure on one side of the bullet, which will increase dispersion.


Other things:

- I'm Berger-biased, but try some Bergers. I haven't fire a Hornady bullet through any of my rifles in nearly a decade, and I'm happier for it - though I may be forced to in my 375...

- Try different powder charges and seating depths.

- Carbon barrels are a different animal. When I've helped friends with load dev on theirs, I've found them to be exceedingly finicky. I've ultimately been able to get the ones I've worked with to shoot, but it took a lot. The worst offender was getting similar group sizes (worse, actually) to what you're seeing.

Now, I'll say that any one of powder charge, bullet selection, seating depth, and cleaning regime may not take a ~2" group and bring it down to half-MOA, but they will all help. Still, at one end of the rifle is the biggest variable in the entire equation, and that's you. The fact that you're using a lead sled tells me you have some work to do on fundamentals, especially recoil management.

Check out my Science of Recoil videos - they might help:

 

[Part Timer]

Shoot the rifle dirty. Some barrels just like being dirty and yours is clearly performing better with fowling down the barrel. You will be driven crazy if you keep chasing clean bore accuracy.

This right here. One of my barrels does exactly this to the point where if the targets are shot side by side, you can see the progression of the groups getting smaller from clean to fouled/dirty over about 3-4 groups. Oddly enough, also a 7 PRC.

 

[uppercut11]

Thanks everyone for the input. I should have mentioned in the post that I have not been using the lead sled. Didn't think to include that update but that advice was overwhelming in the first post. To summarize what I am seeing from the group, I should shoot some groups without cleaning and go ahead and work up a load and see what it does.

I haven't seen anything here where someone has an idea of why it went from shooting consistently better and better to terrible all of the sudden, which is really what I was looking for. I feel like something changed in the rifle but there is nothing I can think of or find. I am not expecting it to shoot lights out with a load that wasn't developed for this barrel, but I also didn't expect it to start shooting well and then fall apart. I haven't seen that in any of my other guns. That is really what the post is meant to be about. I thought maybe someone would have seen this in the past and have some suggestions. I have found a few other similar posts, but none of them have shared the outcome if they figured it out.

I injured my shoulder a bit this weekend, but once I get past that I will shoot some groups without cleaning and start with some load development and see what happens. I am also considering trying to find another smith to just go through it and see if everything looks correct with the machining and barrel torque to rule any issues out there.

 

[uppercut11]

@uppercut11 here are some thoughts:

- You've taken a random load and random seating depth and expect it to shoot right out of the gate. Sometimes you can get decent results in this regard, sometimes you can't. It doesn't necessarily mean the rifle won't shoot.

- As others have said, you're cleaning it too much. When I "break in" a barrel, it's to get it to a point where it doesn't foul as much to allow more consistency shot-to-shot along a greater volume of shots. I usually fire about 5 rounds, run a few patches of Eliminator through to get the nastiest fouling out to ensure I'm not getting so much buildup that it materially impacts pressures, then rinse and repeat after another 10 rounds, then fire however many rounds I have left and go home and clean normally.

- When you're currently cleaning down to bare metal, I'm assuming you're using some form of abrasive cleaner. Please do a search for Frank Green's (from Bartlein) post and his thoughts on using abrasives and over-cleaning a barrel.

- @Scotch_egg says it in his post, some barrels require fouling. Why? See below.

Okay, what happens when you fire a bullet down the barrel:

1) Pressure builds, and the bullet exits the case and engages the rifling.

2) The lands will engrave the bullet (dig into it), but the bullet will also expand and attempt to fill the grooves of the rifling.

3) Sometimes, the bullet won't fully fill the grooves, and you will get gas blow-by as the bullet moves. This can and will differ shot-to-shot. In some cases, depending on the bullet and bore, the bullet might tip slightly along its longitudinal axis due to this. Can you imagine what that does to the bullet? It likely wobbles as it moves down the barrel, and when it exits, it is likely not doing so consistently.

This is where fouling comes in. Fouling will fill the grooves and tend to stay there - it's a lot easier to get crap off the lands, than it is to dig it out of the grooves, so it will tend to stay there, especially closer to the chamber. THIS IS PERFECTLY FINE as long as you get to sort of an equilibrium point with your cleaning routine to maintain consistency.

4) Finally, on exit, if there is any variance, you will get increased dispersion. This includes issues with blow-by, but also if there are any issues with the crown of the barrel. Check your barrel's crown for ANYTHING that's not perfect. As the bullet exits, any imperfection can cause a minute difference in pressure on one side of the bullet, which will increase dispersion.


Other things:

- I'm Berger-biased, but try some Bergers. I haven't fire a Hornady bullet through any of my rifles in nearly a decade, and I'm happier for it - though I may be forced to in my 375...

- Try different powder charges and seating depths.

- Carbon barrels are a different animal. When I've helped friends with load dev on theirs, I've found them to be exceedingly finicky. I've ultimately been able to get the ones I've worked with to shoot, but it took a lot. The worst offender was getting similar group sizes (worse, actually) to what you're seeing.

Now, I'll say that any one of powder charge, bullet selection, seating depth, and cleaning regime may not take a ~2" group and bring it down to half-MOA, but they will all help. Still, at one end of the rifle is the biggest variable in the entire equation, and that's you. The fact that you're using a lead sled tells me you have some work to do on fundamentals, especially recoil management.

Check out my Science of Recoil videos - they might help:

I appreciate the detailed response and thorough explanation of fouling and recoil. Very cool video you put together. I generally don't clean the barrel after considering it broken in until groups start getting worse. I have been following the process that panhandle precision put out in his video for breaking in and have had good experience with it on some other guns. The only other carbon barrel I have experience with is a proof barrel on a savage ultralight 6.5 CM I bought for my kids to hunt with. With pretty minimal effort I got it under 0.5 MOA with handloads. I had heard that there were quality issues with proof and my gunsmith advised going with carbon6 over proof. I have never tried Bergers as I have heard a lot of reports of poor performance on game, but I probably should try them for myself at some point. Thanks again.

 

[OREGUN]

If it is a pillar bedded version of the grayboe, try a little more than 45# on the action screws. Maybe 55. That’s a possible culprit for “erratic” accuracy. What you are describing sounds more mechanical in nature (loose screws, for example) than load or bullet selection. Retorquing the action might take care of it and 45# may be a little light. Barrel torque is very unlikely to have anything to do with it as long as you can’t unscrew the barrel with your bare hands.

 

[Baron23]

Ah…maybe I misunderstood but your gunsmith bedded the BA in the first Graybo stock, correct?

You got a replacement stock from Graybo and then mounted the BA yourself. You didn’t mention doing a home bedding job so my assumption is that you did not.

This may be a significant contributing factor.

 

[EXSOCAL]

There are too many variables to diagnose something like this over the internet. If this was a rifle a customer brought to me, I'd start with the basics. Check all fasteners for proper torque, swap scopes to something you know holds zero and tracks, check barrel channel clearance and make sure there is no contact, inspect the stock inlet / pillars and make sure the action is in contact with the pillars and not compressing the stock material, and grab a jeweler's loupe or magnifying glass to inspect the crown. Run a bore scope down the barrel and make sure the chamber isn't cut off center and inspect the lands and grooves. Also, with how much aggressive barrel cleaning you did, there is always the chance you inadvertently nicked the crown. That would contribute to some issues for sure.

Grab some good 7 PRC ammo. I build a ton of 7 PRC's for customers and they all seem to shoot good with either Federal Premium 175 ELD-X (my first choice) or Hornady Precision Match / Hunter. I've built probably fifty 7 PRC's in the last 6 months and I can always get sub 1/2 MOA test targets with one of these three rounds, its all I use for testing now.

I'd go through all that stuff mentioned above first and see if it makes any difference. There's no point to doing load dev if you have a mechanical issue with your rifle.

I hate to shit in your cereal but I've had nothing but problems with Grayboe stocks. I've had customers bring in cracked stocks very similar to your first one and we had some sloppy inlets that needed to be cleaned up. If you want to continue to use it, I'd recommend getting someone to do an honest full bedding job with contoured pillars cut to the proper height. Based on what you showed in the first pic, that would be a benefit to your situation.

I respect the fact your trying to diagnose it instead of just pointing fingers. Just be as systematic as possible as you change things and keep track of what you do, and the changes you made. Being completely honest, I'd drop the rifle off with your rifle builder with a couple boxes of ammo and let him figure it out. I'd never send a customer off with a rifle that had something wrong, even if it was something they managed to screw up themselves, I'd at least take the time to help. This is something that could be diagnosed by someone who knows what there doing pretty easily.

 

[uppercut11]

If it is a pillar bedded version of the grayboe, try a little more than 45# on the action screws. Maybe 55. That’s a possible culprit for “erratic” accuracy. What you are describing sounds more mechanical in nature (loose screws, for example) than load or bullet selection. Retorquing the action might take care of it and 45# may be a little light. Barrel torque is very unlikely to have anything to do with it as long as you can’t unscrew the barrel with your bare hands.

Thanks. I can't unscrew the barrel with my bare hands. I will try torquing to 55 in-lbs. It is a pillar bedded stock.

 

[uppercut11]

Ah…maybe I misunderstood but your gunsmith bedded the BA in the first Graybo stock, correct?

You got a replacement stock from Graybo and then mounted the BA yourself. You didn’t mention doing a home bedding job so my assumption is that you did not.

This may be a significant contributing factor.

The gunsmith did what he called skim bedding on the first stock where he didn't remove any material but added some bedding compound, including a big glob in that supported the first few inches of barrel (odd to me as I thought this was meant to all be free floated). Grayboe said they didn't recommend any bedding, which I realize doesn't mean it isn't a good idea. It seems to fit well in the stock for what it is worth.

 

[uppercut11]

There are too many variables to diagnose something like this over the internet. If this was a rifle a customer brought to me, I'd start with the basics. Check all fasteners for proper torque, swap scopes to something you know holds zero and tracks, check barrel channel clearance and make sure there is no contact, inspect the stock inlet / pillars and make sure the action is in contact with the pillars and not compressing the stock material, and grab a jeweler's loupe or magnifying glass to inspect the crown. Run a bore scope down the barrel and make sure the chamber isn't cut off center and inspect the lands and grooves. Also, with how much aggressive barrel cleaning you did, there is always the chance you inadvertently nicked the crown. That would contribute to some issues for sure.

Grab some good 7 PRC ammo. I build a ton of 7 PRC's for customers and they all seem to shoot good with either Federal Premium 175 ELD-X (my first choice) or Hornady Precision Match / Hunter. I've built probably fifty 7 PRC's in the last 6 months and I can always get sub 1/2 MOA test targets with one of these three rounds, its all I use for testing now.

I'd go through all that stuff mentioned above first and see if it makes any difference. There's no point to doing load dev if you have a mechanical issue with your rifle.

I hate to shit in your cereal but I've had nothing but problems with Grayboe stocks. I've had customers bring in cracked stocks very similar to your first one and we had some sloppy inlets that needed to be cleaned up. If you want to continue to use it, I'd recommend getting someone to do an honest full bedding job with contoured pillars cut to the proper height. Based on what you showed in the first pic, that would be a benefit to your situation.

I respect the fact your trying to diagnose it instead of just pointing fingers. Just be as systematic as possible as you change things and keep track of what you do, and the changes you made. Being completely honest, I'd drop the rifle off with your rifle builder with a couple boxes of ammo and let him figure it out. I'd never send a customer off with a rifle that had something wrong, even if it was something they managed to screw up themselves, I'd at least take the time to help. This is something that could be diagnosed by someone who knows what there doing pretty easily.

Thanks again for a detailed response. I have checked all of the fasteners for proper torque. The scope is a Nightforce NX8 which I am confident in. The barrel has no contact with the stock, although as I mentioned in another response, when the smith "skim bedded" the last stock with the previous barrel he put a big glob of bedding that supported the first couple of inches of barrel. This was odd to me. I don't have a bore scope and am not sure I am knowledgeable enough to recognize problems unless it was very obvious.

I am confident that I didn't nick the crown. I think I made my cleaning procedure sound more aggressive than it is. I swab the chamber, install a bore guide, run a patch with Hoppes 9, run a nylon brush 15-20 times, run a dry patch, scrub with a Hoppes 9 solvent patch, sit 5 minutes, run a dry patch, then repeat all of this but wait 15 minutes after the last solvent patch. Then I scrub with a patch wet with Barnes copper solvent, let sit 5 minutes, run a dry patch, and then repeat but let sit for 10 minutes. Then I run a few dry patches, remove bore guide, and swab chamber with dry patches. I don't use any abrasives.

I have tried both hornady precision hunter and hornady match ammo with poor results. I haven't tried the federal, but can look for some. Grayboe recommended not bedding it but I recognize a good bed job may be helpful. I have tried taking it back to the smith to no benefit. As I mentioned before, he claims it is a stock issue and basically not his problem.

 

[7mm-08 Freak]

This is insanely stupid. Don’t do this

its only stupid if you don't know how or why to do it. if you have a rough spot in a barrel this will either fix it or not its very simple