If you just wanna skip directly to the question, start below the line of plus signs. for "background", just continue here: Back in November I posted a thread asking for advice for a friend--I needed a quick education on scopes for a 10/22, and what semi-auto platforms (10/22s) were the best options. He ended up buying an Athlon EP5 for his Ruger Takedown. I couldn't steer him from his "camp-gun" jones.
Several suggestions however tangential, were given to me so's I could try to convince him that a 'Takedown' and accuracy aren't compatable... HOWEVER. *I* was listening. kind of... I favored semi-auto over the bolt suggestions out of sheer funk.
I ended up buying a used KIDD Classic; I mounted a Nightforce NXS I've had in the safe for the last 20 years. After hours and hours of researching this forum and Rimfirecentral, I can't find an answer or even mention of my specific problem, so I'ma pose the question here...
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I've settled on two different rounds that shoot well enough for my desires--SK Long Range Match and Wolf Match Extra. I tested 8 different OEM loads by shooting FIVE 5-shot groups of each ammo load at 50 yards. It's not worth listing them all.
I only intended to shoot FOUR 5-shot groups, but something seemed to happen very consistently and forced me to shoot a "fouler" group for each OEM load--because these first foulers shot anywhere from 3-5 times larger than the rest of the four 5-shot groups.
As an example, I brought the cleaned rifle with a stone-dry bore to the range and started a fouling group as I expected it to need, shooting 40-some rounds of Remington Golden Bullets as cheap foulers until its' groups seemed to tighten up (or I was getting used to the new rifle). I then fired the first 8 rounds of Wolf Match Extra at the first target of the 5-target row intended for "Wolf ME testing"--disbelievingly-- because its' group size was about 1.75" (lots of posts touted Wolf ME as "acceptable", so I expected better groups than Remington Gold out of the KIDD). But since the last three shots of that 8-shot group were almost touching, I proceeded to shoot the other four 5-shot groups in that row, and the largest group was .587".
For the next row (SK Long Range Match), I shot the first target expecting that the rifle was very well-fouled now, which I thought was proven by the tighter Wolf groups in the row above. But the first SK LRM target was "huge" too, shooting .854" with 11 shots. Talk about Pissed OFF and broken-hearted over the cost of ammo... However, it's last three shots had tightened up, so I proceeded to shoot the next four 5-shot groups--.267", .303", .198", .254", .303". Man, was I relieved...
This regimen--large 8 or more- shot fouling groups was consistent throughout the different 8 brands of 22LR ammo that I shot; after each OEM "ceased fouling" the rest of that OEM got much tighter--but each and every OEM needed to be fouled first.
Does that make sense? My only experience is large caliber rifle... there, generally a 3 or 5-shot group fouled the barrel for the rest of every load for that day's session. I never had to "refoul" for a different load in an already-dirty bore. If this makes sense, can someone explain it? I didn't take breaks between different OEMs and I can't figure it out.
Thank you!
Several suggestions however tangential, were given to me so's I could try to convince him that a 'Takedown' and accuracy aren't compatable... HOWEVER. *I* was listening. kind of... I favored semi-auto over the bolt suggestions out of sheer funk.
I ended up buying a used KIDD Classic; I mounted a Nightforce NXS I've had in the safe for the last 20 years. After hours and hours of researching this forum and Rimfirecentral, I can't find an answer or even mention of my specific problem, so I'ma pose the question here...
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
I've settled on two different rounds that shoot well enough for my desires--SK Long Range Match and Wolf Match Extra. I tested 8 different OEM loads by shooting FIVE 5-shot groups of each ammo load at 50 yards. It's not worth listing them all.
I only intended to shoot FOUR 5-shot groups, but something seemed to happen very consistently and forced me to shoot a "fouler" group for each OEM load--because these first foulers shot anywhere from 3-5 times larger than the rest of the four 5-shot groups.
As an example, I brought the cleaned rifle with a stone-dry bore to the range and started a fouling group as I expected it to need, shooting 40-some rounds of Remington Golden Bullets as cheap foulers until its' groups seemed to tighten up (or I was getting used to the new rifle). I then fired the first 8 rounds of Wolf Match Extra at the first target of the 5-target row intended for "Wolf ME testing"--disbelievingly-- because its' group size was about 1.75" (lots of posts touted Wolf ME as "acceptable", so I expected better groups than Remington Gold out of the KIDD). But since the last three shots of that 8-shot group were almost touching, I proceeded to shoot the other four 5-shot groups in that row, and the largest group was .587".
For the next row (SK Long Range Match), I shot the first target expecting that the rifle was very well-fouled now, which I thought was proven by the tighter Wolf groups in the row above. But the first SK LRM target was "huge" too, shooting .854" with 11 shots. Talk about Pissed OFF and broken-hearted over the cost of ammo... However, it's last three shots had tightened up, so I proceeded to shoot the next four 5-shot groups--.267", .303", .198", .254", .303". Man, was I relieved...
This regimen--large 8 or more- shot fouling groups was consistent throughout the different 8 brands of 22LR ammo that I shot; after each OEM "ceased fouling" the rest of that OEM got much tighter--but each and every OEM needed to be fouled first.
Does that make sense? My only experience is large caliber rifle... there, generally a 3 or 5-shot group fouled the barrel for the rest of every load for that day's session. I never had to "refoul" for a different load in an already-dirty bore. If this makes sense, can someone explain it? I didn't take breaks between different OEMs and I can't figure it out.
Thank you!