Just purchased a new Remington 700 in 222. After
having broken in the bore, I decided to shoot some groups. The first was a less than one inch group, not great but not bad either. The next group was about three inches and the next was over six inches. The scope and mounts are tight.
What could be causing this horrible decline in accuracy.

My guess is the pad remington leaves in the barrel channel a few inches from the end of the forearm. My suggestion would be to take and get rid of it in order to float the barrel. If the groups begin to open up after the barrel warms up as it sounds yours did it is a bedding problem.

Too little information, Jerry.

Could be a bad scope.

Could be bad ammunition.

Could be loose action screws.

Could even be a horrible flinch you've developed from the overwhelming recoil of the .222 .

Anyway, give us a little more information and maybe someone can pinpoint your main problem.

Jerry, I assume you used same kind of ammo shooting those groups. Therefor a believe it is the rifle whom cause the problem. If you do as outlawsix suggest, you might get rid of your problem.

You might also find some interesting reading under the topic: Trouble with my .222 Rem and 60 grs Nosler on this board.

Good luck!

Pete

I vote for the loose action screw. Same thing happened to me with an old Remington 722.

Definitely not a loose action screw. As I said earlier I checked them before shooting the groups.
Was using 52 grain bullets, Remington BR primers and H4895.

Jerry, most guns open up as they heat up but yours does sound excessive. Check the bedding.

jerry,
free float the barrel. and don't over tighten the action screws, just snug. good luck.
dennis

I finally got this thing to be a one hole rifle!
Bedding was the key AND the right load. I found that this rifle is very finicky, it likes Nosler 50 gr BT and not much else. Now with BLC(2) and Noslers I have a real shooter. Thanks for all your insight.

I'm with outlawsix on this one - free-float the barrel and bed the first 1" or so of the barrel in front of the recoil lug with Devcon, Acraglas or similar 2 pot epoxy - remember to use sufficient release agent on all metalwork coming into contact with bedding compound - ensure screws are done up snug - my old rebarrelled BSA Majestic .222 regularly does 1/2" groups as a result of using this method. - btw - good choice of cartridge - .222s do not give all that much away to the .223s - hope this works out for you - your .222 is definitely capable of better - best of luck - Sevenmill.

The 222 is one of the most inherantly accurate cartridges ever developed and very easy to get to shoot well. How fast are you shooting these groups? Never let your barrel get warmer than luke warm to your touch. Light weight hunting barrels will throw bullets all over when shot to fast. You could have a faulty scope BSA and Simmons are the worst at breaking. Your information is very lacking and it is very hard to solve your problem.

Jerry B.
I have a REM 700 222. Try BLC (2) 23.00 grains, Nosler 40 Gr Ballistic Tip. Bought the gun second hand. The gun came with a synthetic stock with aluminum block imbed. Check Midway about purchasing a stock. I remember another member writing in about the stock i mentioned at less than $200.00 That price is well worth the value of not pillar/glass bedding. The stock does make a difference. Overall performance 10 shots at 100 yds, less than a dime in diameter. It is the most consistently accurate & rifle i own with minimum reloading. hope this helps.

222 arent known for shooting everything. they tend to like just a few things. My 725 likes 23gr BL-C and a 52 speer--or 21gr Re-7 and a 50 TNT