Been shooting my Ruger Precision 556 a lot more lately getting ready for prairie dogging. Bought new, added a timney trigger, and a Surefire break. Other than that, it’s as it came from ruger.
Proper break in was performed, and it rewarded me with very acceptable accuracy.
After about 400 rounds I feel my groups were very good for a stock barrel. With handloads, 80g ELD’s, 75g BTHPs I was getting groups in the .4” range consistently at 100y.
I’m not running anywhere near max charges so I’m eliminating that as a factor. The weather has been pretty much 55-65 degrees, powder temp should not be an issue since my work ups were done in the same temps. Bullets, brass, powder are all same lots as I worked up with, and there’s been no change to my reloading gear or process.
After about 800-850 rounds, I see my accuracy has not been as good. Using same loads, same process, same setup, and even shooting from the same bench at the range, best I can shoot is around .7” group after group. I feel like I’m not shooting any worse, and my other rifles have verified this.
My normal cleaning process is every 250 rounds, I use breakthrough, brush, hoppes 9, brush, and alternating wet/dry patches until they come out clean. At 600 rounds I did a jb borepaste deep clean, just like I have with every other rifle I own. This didn’t change group size, was still around .4” using handloads. I use a coated rod, bore guide, all the normal cleaning stuff to not damage the barrel.
Within the last 150 or so rounds, my groups have noticeably opened up.
I don’t own a borescope, so I can’t exactly tell if I’m fighting cooper fouling, heavy carbon buildup, or what.
Do I need to get another bore cleaning product to add to my cleaning regime, or clean more often, or what.
Honestly, this is my first precision centerfire, excluding ar’s, that has a stock barrel.
Am I just at the point where a stock barrel has reached peak performance and is now dropping off? Am I being unrealistic in expecting a cold hammer forged stock barrel to hold sub half inch accuracy to 1k rounds?
Proper break in was performed, and it rewarded me with very acceptable accuracy.
After about 400 rounds I feel my groups were very good for a stock barrel. With handloads, 80g ELD’s, 75g BTHPs I was getting groups in the .4” range consistently at 100y.
I’m not running anywhere near max charges so I’m eliminating that as a factor. The weather has been pretty much 55-65 degrees, powder temp should not be an issue since my work ups were done in the same temps. Bullets, brass, powder are all same lots as I worked up with, and there’s been no change to my reloading gear or process.
After about 800-850 rounds, I see my accuracy has not been as good. Using same loads, same process, same setup, and even shooting from the same bench at the range, best I can shoot is around .7” group after group. I feel like I’m not shooting any worse, and my other rifles have verified this.
My normal cleaning process is every 250 rounds, I use breakthrough, brush, hoppes 9, brush, and alternating wet/dry patches until they come out clean. At 600 rounds I did a jb borepaste deep clean, just like I have with every other rifle I own. This didn’t change group size, was still around .4” using handloads. I use a coated rod, bore guide, all the normal cleaning stuff to not damage the barrel.
Within the last 150 or so rounds, my groups have noticeably opened up.
I don’t own a borescope, so I can’t exactly tell if I’m fighting cooper fouling, heavy carbon buildup, or what.
Do I need to get another bore cleaning product to add to my cleaning regime, or clean more often, or what.
Honestly, this is my first precision centerfire, excluding ar’s, that has a stock barrel.
Am I just at the point where a stock barrel has reached peak performance and is now dropping off? Am I being unrealistic in expecting a cold hammer forged stock barrel to hold sub half inch accuracy to 1k rounds?
