Factory crown recut and accuracy correlation

[Cdiver0109]

As the title suggests I'm interested in members experiences with accuracy improvements, or the lack there of, after having a factory CZ barrel recrowned. Last night i noticed that the crown and muzzle threads for that matter looked like a drunk monkey cut them on my 455s 16" barrel. To be honest I was aware of the threads looking like garbage but they seem to be concentric enough that I haven't had any issues with baffle strikes or accuracy issues at 25, 50, and 100 yrds with mid range ammo. The rifle shoots pretty well in my opinion. Averaging slightly over MOA at all three distances with federal gold metal target. So far I have installed pillars and bedded the action, free floated the barrel and modified the striker. All of which have shown no real noticeable positive or negative effects on accuracy so far.

I have yet to slug the barrel which I would think is probably a good idea before spending money to have a smith cut on it, but otherwise I'm interested in the experience of other members in this department.

 

[viva la figa]

How did it turn out?

 

[djdilliodon]

The biggest problem with these factory barrels that will limit the accuracy potential is the way they slug, the chamber and leade, and headspace. You can do anything you want but if the barrel has any of those 3 issues or more, it ain't gonna shoot lights out no matter what you do. Some of these issues are fixable but it's not worth sinking money into the factory pipe.

 

[Cdiver0109]

How did it turn out?

After taking some advise given from a member on RFC to diagnose a improperly cut crown everything was still pretty inconclusive. If you're interested there's a post there under the same title that you can read for the details. This weekend I took the rifle back out to test with temporary cardboard shims to support the barrel. Results were dismal. Groups opened up between 1.5" to 4" at 50 yrds with Fed GM Target. Broken and defeated I removed the shims. Before calling it a day I broke out a piece of a box of Wolf Target Match I'd been given when I bought the rifle.. figured at this point I didn't have any thing to lose. Well hot damn what do ya know I fired two 5 rnd groups, the first of which measured .4 and was followed up with a .2! So either I got lucky or maybe I found the flavor my rifle prefers. Either way I'm ordering more for testing

 

[Cdiver0109]

The biggest problem with these factory barrels that will limit the accuracy potential is the way they slug, the chamber and leade, and headspace. You can do anything you want but if the barrel has any of those 3 issues or more, it ain't gonna shoot lights out no matter what you do. Some of these issues are fixable but it's not worth sinking money into the factory pipe.

Roger that, I appreciate the advice and will keep it in mind as I try to squeeze all the potential I can out of this thing. Honestly I wouldn't go any farther than having the crown cleaned up before replacing with a new match barrel. Funds are pretty tight right now so im going to try and make the best with what i have. I'm optimistic but time will tell... thanks again for your response DJ.

 

[Quarter Horse]

After taking some advise given from a member on RFC to diagnose a improperly cut crown everything was still pretty inconclusive. If you're interested there's a post there under the same title that you can read for the details. This weekend I took the rifle back out to test with temporary cardboard shims to support the barrel. Results were dismal. Groups opened up between 1.5" to 4" at 50 yrds with Fed GM Target. Broken and defeated I removed the shims. Before calling it a day I broke out a piece of a box of Wolf Target Match I'd been given when I bought the rifle.. figured at this point I didn't have any thing to lose. Well hot damn what do ya know I fired two 5 rnd groups, the first of which measured .4 and was followed up with a .2! So either I got lucky or maybe I found the flavor my rifle prefers. Either way I'm ordering more for testing

Did you clean the barrel before the ammo switch? I was shooting a Pre-A Mdl. 52 with Center-X and switched to CCI Std Vel without cleaning. Ist grp was better than the Center-X. 2nd grp. was the best the rifle had shot. Third and successive grps. were noticeably worse than the Center-X. Jbell has reported the same scenario.

I would suggest shooting some more grps. before ordering a bunch.

 

[Cdiver0109]

Rog that.. nah, I didn't clean the barrel between groups and have noticed that same phenomenon when switching between the FGM Target and CCI SV. Groups were noticeably tighter with the FGM after shooting the CCI's. I've got no plans of buying a case of the wolf but might as well get a brick online as to my knowledge no one keeps it in stock locally and it will hardly go to waste whether it shoots MOA or not. Regardless it's been an interesting journey thus far trying to eek out the best results I can with a basically factory rifle. Hopefully one day I can put a match barrel on it but until then I plan on enjoying the ride...

 

[...]

recutting the crown is usually the first thing i do when diagnosing a poor shooting rifle.

i have a Remington 700 that was shooting 1.5-2 MOA on me with good ammo (FGMM and Black hills)......

i recut the crown and lapped the barrel and that fixed the issues i was having, its reliably shooting .8-.9 moa.


its pretty easy to do yourself, i just use valve grinding compound and a brass screw chucked into a drill.......and thats also how i put a crown on a barrel when i rebarrel as well.