TAKE IT OFF WHEN YOU CLEAN YOUR BARREL AND CLEAN THE CROWN!

Yes, I was yelling! I hope you find this of interest and it helps someone!

I have a great Score High Gunsmithing 6.5 Creedmoor with a Tactical Muzzle Brake. It has about 2300 rounds down the Brux barrel. It hasn't been shooting worth crap lately. I even went back through complete load development again with no accuracy luck.

I just assumed it was tired and the barrel needed to be replaced.

Charley has been finding some problems with scopes lately, so he suggested we put another scope on and try my proven load. Went to the shop and he mounted the scope after going through the rifle and checking all the usual suspects; tight bases, stock screws, etc. He then went to make sure the muzzle brake was tight. He just removed it and checked the crown. It had some junk build up...I NEVER have removed it to clean the crown. He cleaned it with some fine steel wool and solvent til clean and the bevel was evident. I figured that might be the entire problem.

Went to the range this AM with my press and some loads at MOAL. Shot a group with the new scope...not great.

Seated them .010" deeper and got 4 in one big hole and 1 out.

Put my old scope back on and shot a sighter, made a sight adjustment.







Shot 4 in .236"....







There's a lot of stuff to think about in this precise rifle business!

Hey rc, great shooting and good advise to remove muzzle brakes when cleaning. Don't like getting all that cleaning fluids in the hard to reach nooks and crannies of a muzzle brake anyway.

That's tricky seating so close and on the lands. You have to sort bullets by bearing surface, have a competition seater and a very consistant neck ID and finish to keep your COAL variance small enough to stay out of trouble. The neck ID finish and bullet grip will effect the amount of force necessary to seat the bullets. An inconsistancy will increase or decrease the seating pressure and the compression of the linkages on your press and lead to variance in COAL.

Takes a lot of exact case prep.

Thingy's help a lot!

quote:

That's tricky seating so close and on the lands. You have to sort bullets by bearing surface, have a competition seater and a very consistant neck ID and finish to keep your COAL variance small enough to stay out of trouble. The neck ID finish and bullet grip will effect the amount of force necessary to seat the bullets. An inconsistancy will increase or decrease the seating pressure and the compression of the linkages on your press and lead to variance in COAL.

Takes a lot of exact case prep.

Thingy's help a lot!

I agree...mmm, that's weird


I've learned a lot about case prep here, mostly from you! You go the extra mile!

I always neck turn my brass, uniform the primer pockets, deburr the flash holes, and have been annealing every 3 firings.

I don't remember...do you anneal? I have noticed it really makes bullet seating more precise. All of the brass has virtually the same neck tension so OAL doesn't vary all that much, only a couple of thousandths at worst. Plus it extends case life dramatically. I use the Redding Competition seater with the micrometer and it's really accurate. I have virtually eliminated runout by using it!

I would agree as well seating on or close to the lands can create pressure problems if you can't measure the Max COAL for the bullet you are using ACCURATELY. The Stoney Point thingy or the cleaning rod method with the hard stops work very well and the measurements are accurate and repeatable. Can you post your cleaning rod method again? It may help some folks like it did me!

My case prep is more than most folks even care to do but your's borders on OCD!!!!


My God! Flitzing every individual case in the Zip Spin?

quote:

Originally posted by woods:


Takes a lot of exact case prep.

Thingy's help a lot!

Great tip! roger

Soak the mb in USGI RBC for 48 hours scrub with a tooth brush and clean with acetone or H-p9 and drive on.

The dirty crown is the problem, not the brake.

quote:

Originally posted by rcamuglia:
My case prep is more than most folks even care to do but your's borders on OCD!!!!


My God! Flitzing every individual case in the Zip Spin?

I just wish there were more letters in the alphabet, I can only load 26 at a time cause I run out of names for them after Zack!

quote:

Originally posted by woods:
Thingy's help a lot!

You learn something every day. I had no idea they made a Special Thingy for "measuring" the Residue left on the Muzzle Crown when a Muzzle Brake is installed. AMAZING!!!

quote:

Originally posted by Hot Core:

quote:

Originally posted by woods:
Thingy's help a lot!

You learn something every day. I had no idea they made a Special Thingy for "measuring" the Residue left on the Muzzle Crown when a Muzzle Brake is installed. AMAZING!!!

Really? You didn't know about that Thingy?

Heck, woods even has a different Thingy to take measurements on that Thingy to make sure it's measuring the residue right!

Yeah, that sounds right!

crown cleaning thingies!