Why would my groups open up suddenly?

[actionshooter]

I'm shooting a Bergara with Center X for NRL 22 and noticed my groups have opened up in the last 2 weeks.... Same brick, groups have always been 1 hole at 50yds and VERY close to 1 hole at 100... Nothing has changed and now the group sizes have doubled at 50 and tripled in size at 100. Checked all of the screws and the scope and everything seems fine.

I have always been in the "no need to clean" rimfire bores camp, before I went down that road, figured I would ask here. Total rounds out of the gun would probably be about 2500 total.

Thanks all

 

[LR1845]

Have you checked for a carbon ring? I clean the throat every time I shoot more than 50ish rounds and lightly clean the barrel every 500-600 rounds.

 

[DFOOSKING]

These guns need cleaning. Lol

I average 1 to 2 times per brick. And I'm not one of those uber anal retentives about cleaning.

Have a carbon and a stainless.

 

[Hoser]

Clean your rifle.

After years and years of cleaning after a match I tried the whole "Dont clean the barrel, just the chamber" thing.

About 1/2 way through a belly match that goes from 50-220 yards on 2-3 MOA sized targets my accuracy dropped fast. Pretty soon I couldnt hit a 2 MOA target at 50 yards. By the time I called Uncle, I couldnt hit a 6 inch target at 100 yards.

I spent some time carefully inspecting everything looking for worn/broken stuff like scope, mounts, screws and nothing.

Then I started cleaning. It took a while and I even used a brush instead of my usual VFG pellets. Once it was close I put some CLR in there for about 5 minutes and scrubbed it clean.

Accuracy came back along with my cleaning after every match or practice. It only takes 5-10 rounds to settle back in after a cleaning.

I cant control how dirty the barrel gets, but I can control how it gets.

 

[MarkCZ]

I ran into the same thing with my B14R, with a no clean. I started chamber, carbon ring removal with c4 carbon cleaner. I have not had a problem sense.

 

[bobby1028]

Temperature and lube type ? My normally sub .500 at 50 Norma shot terribly in the cold last week, but the ammo was at a true 20 degree storage temp

 

[chevy_man]

I clean mine with c4 every 2000 rounds.

 

[actionshooter]

OK, Thanks Guys.... Figured you guys were going to tell me to clean..

I assumed it's an "old timer" thing I had always heard about not cleaning 22s..

 

[demarpaint]

OK, Thanks Guys.... Figured you guys were going to tell me to clean..

I assumed it's an "old timer" thing I had always heard about not cleaning 22s..

I fell for that old timer thing too. I had the same issue, a good cleaning resolved the problem.

 

[Big Phish]

Carbon ring plays a lot with my accuracy so whenever I see it open up I clean it which I gotta do before next week match. I cleaned a CZ 453 I picked up last week and did a cleaning and was shocked at the nasty fouling in the carbon ring! I put some SK RM in it and will shoot!

 

[grauhanen]

Regarding the "old timer thing" about not cleaning, it would have been not uncommon to hear that only a few decades ago from older shooters themselves. Those who shot .22LR in the first half of the 20th century would very likely have been aware of the time when cleaning .22LR bores was a necessity. Until the introduction of non-corrosive ammo in the late 1920s, shooters shot corrosive .22LR ammo that required bore cleaning to avoid damage. Once the change to non-corrosive ammo was widespread, shooters could now avoid the time-consuming demands of regular bore cleaning. "There's no need to clean the bore."

No doubt many of these shooters continued to not clean (at least not regularly) as the decades passed in the 20th century. Now that corrosive .22LR ammo is something from almost 100 years ago, few shooters will have had experience with it as it's now often associated with inexpensive foreign CF ammo. But some shooters will be able to recall old-timers telling others that there's no need to clean the bore of a .22LR.

The experience of serious competitive .22LR shooters in RFBR and ISSF (Olympic style) shooting is that cleaning regularly is the preferred approach to maintaining the best accuracy performance.

 

[TimK]

Clean your rifle.

After years and years of cleaning after a match I tried the whole "Dont clean the barrel, just the chamber" thing.

About 1/2 way through a belly match that goes from 50-220 yards on 2-3 MOA sized targets my accuracy dropped fast. Pretty soon I couldnt hit a 2 MOA target at 50 yards. By the time I called Uncle, I couldnt hit a 6 inch target at 100 yards.

I spent some time carefully inspecting everything looking for worn/broken stuff like scope, mounts, screws and nothing.

Then I started cleaning. It took a while and I even used a brush instead of my usual VFG pellets. Once it was close I put some CLR in there for about 5 minutes and scrubbed it clean.

Accuracy came back along with my cleaning after every match or practice. It only takes 5-10 rounds to settle back in after a cleaning.

I cant control how dirty the barrel gets, but I can control how it gets.

I was a witness to this event and the head scratching that followed. I had also been toying with not cleaning, but had not gotten so far down the road. I immediately went home and cleaned everything.

 

[RTH1800]

The “old time” shooters who won consistently in the 50-70’s also cleaned consistently.

 

[Nik H]

Clean....clean and clean the rifle.

Rimfire is notorious for this. I seldom clean my centerfire rifle barrels but always clean my rimfire after every range session. Lead bullets with lube that accumulate have a pronounced effect on accuracy IMHO.

 

[Haney]

The “old time” shooters who won consistently in the 50-70’s also cleaned consistently.

Truth right there .

 

[Rodney65]

Check your action screws. My T1X went all cylinder bore shotgun on me and it turned out they were loose.

 

[AirGunShawn]

Its either you and a loss of confidence or a dirty rifle. I have had mine get dirty, mid match and cleaned it in the lane while others were shooting. My game is Feild Target, so I have that ability. A quick pull through, a couple of fowlers and on to second place, unlimited "A" class PCP. After that match, I learned to clean often. Why.... I should have had a shoot off for first place.
IMHO?? I don't have one of those!