# rifle shooting inconsistently



## kdog (May 4, 2015)

Gang,

I am somewhat new to rifles, I have a 243 winchester lever action that i used to hunt deer with some 24 years ago. I took it down to the range to sight it in along with my tikka 7MM. the tikka is shooting great. The winchester was very inconsistent with 3 inch or so groups at 100 yards. the trigger may need some work ( a little stiff) and I have no idea when the barrel was last cleaned. 

I am thinking that I will clean the barrel good and then shoot it a bit and see what happens. what do you think? or should I have a gunsmith work it over or start with the cleaning and see what happens?

Thanks


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## Critter (Mar 20, 2010)

How did the rifle shoot before? 

A good cleaning won't hurt. Also check all the screws on the mounts on the scope if there is a scope mounted on it


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## BPturkeys (Sep 13, 2007)

Those old 88's where never known as tack drivers but she should do better than 3" groups. I have one and it shoots about MOA . Clean it good, and make sure the scope mounts are tight. The " inconsistent" part kind of points to loose mounts.


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## kdog (May 4, 2015)

BPturkeys said:


> Those old 88's where never known as tack drivers but she should do better than 3" groups. I have one and it shoots about MOA . Clean it good, and make sure the scope mounts are tight. The " inconsistent" part kind of points to loose mounts.


Good to know. I will clean it good and check. the scope seems mounted on tight but I will double check that also.


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## colorcountrygunner (Oct 6, 2009)

When you clean you might also try using a good copper solvent. Sometimes a barrel can get a bad copper fouling problem after awhile that will hurt accuracy. You may even try a different ammo type to see if there is something else that the rifle agrees with a little more.


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## 7mm Reloaded (Aug 25, 2015)

colorcountrygunner said:


> When you clean you might also try using a good copper solvent. Sometimes a barrel can get a bad copper fouling problem after awhile that will hurt accuracy. You may even try a different type to see if there is something else that the rifle agrees with a little more.


Ever try Sweets 7.62 ? love that stuff, like $15.00. Copper comes off with the patch. oil well after. Military uses this. Ya its strong.


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## bowgy (Oct 10, 2007)

What colorcountygunner said, also try different ammo and bullet size.


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## colorcountrygunner (Oct 6, 2009)

7MM RELOADED said:


> Ever try Sweets 7.62 ? love that stuff, like $15.00. Copper comes off with the patch. oil well after.


I have only used a copper solvent once. I can't remember what brand it is, but I'm sure I could dig it out of my hunting stuff somewhere and find out. Whatever it was, it made my barrel shine like a diamond!


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## KineKilla (Jan 28, 2011)

I bought some KG 1 copper solvent and it worked beautifully without the effects of ammonia. I also tried some foaming cleaner that didn't work quite as well.


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## kdog (May 4, 2015)

Thank you everyone I will try the copper solvent also as well as a different type of Ammo. I had good luck with Fusion with my Tikka before moving to hornady. might try them for the 243 again.


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## waspocrew (Nov 26, 2011)

kdog said:


> Gang,
> The winchester was very inconsistent with 3 inch or so groups at 100 yards.


What exactly do you mean by "inconsistent"? Just poor grouping or was your point of impact shifting all over (scope not holding zero following adjustments).

If it's just poor grouping, I agree with a good cleaning and maybe running a different brand of ammo.

If point of impact shifting, check your scope rings and bases to make sure they are nice and tight.


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## kdog (May 4, 2015)

waspocrew said:


> What exactly do you mean by "inconsistent"? Just poor grouping or was your point of impact shifting all over (scope not holding zero following adjustments).
> 
> If it's just poor grouping, I agree with a good cleaning and maybe running a different brand of ammo.
> 
> If point of impact shifting, check your scope rings and bases to make sure they are nice and tight.


I think mostly poor groupings like 3 to 4 inches apart at 100 yards


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

kdog said:


> Gang,
> 
> ................................................The winchester was very inconsistent with 3 inch or so groups at 100 yards. the trigger may need some work ( a little stiff) and I have no idea when the barrel was last cleaned.
> 
> ...


Is that bad? just kidding

Everyone has brought up some good points I'll add:

243s are notorious barrel burners. Have you borescoped the barrel?

243s can be fussy about length of projectile/rate of twist combination. Do you know the rate of twist?

.


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## caddis8 (Sep 10, 2007)

Couple of other questions.

How old is that gun? What ammo are you currently shooting out of it? (Forgive me if you mentioned, I didn't see it)

I have an old(ish) .270 7400 from my late brother. He bought it new 30 years ago. It hadn't been shot in several years. I had a cow elk hunt that I thought would be fun to shoot it kind of in honor of him. Put on new scope and rings last year in preperation of the hunt. Couldn't site it in to save my life. Bought Federal Fusion 150 gr and Hornady Superformance 140 (I think)

I cleaned it really well with Sweets. (Smell is strong) and kept cleaning it until copper fouling came clean. Tried again. Didn't like Hornady even though I love Hornady in other guns. 

I came to the unfounded conclusion that Hornady was a little too fast for that older barrel. I think the twist rate had something also. I changed to Heavier (and slower) fusion and it brought it right back in to acceptable levels. I'm not looking for 1/2" groups or anything, just want sub 1.5" for as much as I shoot it. I want to have confidence that when I pull the trigger it will go where I intend to. 

Good luck!


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## kdog (May 4, 2015)

wyogoob said:


> Is that bad? just kidding
> 
> Everyone has brought up some good points I'll add:
> 
> ...


Sadly I do not know the rate of twist and have not borescoped it. It has just sat for 20 plus years with nothing done to it.

what would I be looking for when borescoping it?

How would I determine what the rate of twist is?


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## Critter (Mar 20, 2010)

There are all kinds of ways to determine the rate of twist, and one of them is to believe me when I tell you that it is a 1:10


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## swbuckmaster (Sep 14, 2007)

I bet the one in 10 likes the cheap flat based federal in 80 grain blue box. 

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk


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## Kevin D (Sep 15, 2007)

It could be too that the rifle is incapable of shooting sub MOA groups regardless of what you do. One of the revolutions of the digital age is that machining has become much more refined. Consistent tolerances of machined parts today were virtually unattainable 30 to 40 years ago. I remember back in the day when Weatherby boasted a 1.5 MOA right out of the box for their rifles, no other manufacturer would dare make such a claim for their off the shelve firearms. Today, a new off the shelve rifle only capable of shooting 1.5 MOA would be considered by many to be substandard. Oh how times have changed.....:|


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