A friends' .375 is shooting all over the place. This is an old, battered Remington 700 with iron sights. He's recently been shooting at 25 yards to test the rifle and it seems to shoot relatively accurate the first 2 shots and then the 3rd and subsequent ones just go all over the place!!! The stock is tight, the sights are tight, the ammo is the same and he alternates shooting 3+ round with a "hot" and "cold" barrel showing same results.

The barrel seems to be bedded ok without taking ti apart. Rifling seem acceptable by my eyes but I'm not an expert.

Any ideas to causes and how to rectify?

clean the heck out of it... use a foaming bore cleaner...

check the crown

use a benchrest?
jeffe

Hello,
What may seem to be tight as you say could be misleading.
Remove action/barrel from stock, inspect for breakage/cracks, etc. in the action bedding area, tang, etc.
Re install in stock and make sure the action screws are snug and if possible replace action screws with allen head and apply torque wrench to front and back in that order and apply equal torque, some 50 lbs/in. No torque wrench, merely tighten w/short end of allen wrench first and then go 1/4 more turn w/ long end to front screw first and then to rear. Once that is done, double check accuracy and if works, great, if not, "super" clean barrel w/ Sweet's 7.62, Shooters Choice, etc. and then apply some JB compound to first one third of bore and then dry patch until reasonably clean patches appear. Take each step at a time for if more than one item is done you will not know which step really was responsible for results. Check sights for looseness. From what you describe it sounds like a bedding problem, but one never knows, does one!! Good Luck.

Thanks Jeffe and Driver. hopefully that will sort it out.

Hi Bawanamich,
How does the barrel channel look. When you pull it out of the stock can you see aany rub marks. You didn't mention if the barrel was free floated. It might be a good idea to do so if it isn't. Try Wipe Out to clean your barrel. If your not familiar with it it's a foam cleaner as Jeff mentioned and really cleans well. Your final option is a nice Super match grade barrel from Pac-Nor. Good luck with it.
Take good care,
Dave

You might try to release tension on the action screws and then re-torque keeping an eye on the barrel movement when you re-torque. This would tell you if it is a bedding problem. Also check barrel that it hasn't come loose. (pretty unlikely but it can happen)

quote:

Originally posted by 470 Mbogo:
Hi Bawanamich,
How does the barrel channel look. When you pull it out of the stock can you see aany rub marks. You didn't mention if the barrel was free floated. It might be a good idea to do so if it isn't. Try Wipe Out to clean your barrel. If your not familiar with it it's a foam cleaner as Jeff mentioned and really cleans well. Your final option is a nice Super match grade barrel from Pac-Nor. Good luck with it.
Take good care,
Dave

8 out of 10 times it's as 470Mbogo says, contact within the barrel channel, as the barrel warms, often occuring within 3" of the forend tip. For starters, check how far down you can slip a dollar bill between cold barrel (if at all) and forend and then again, after 3 shots. It may indicate just where to look upon disassemby.

You might try shooting a group or two with the gun to see if it could be the shooter. Sometimes the recoil affects you differently on any given day. Watch your trigger pull. When I started to shoot bad groups my Dad use to say he thought it might be the jerk on the trigger.
Never really knew how to take that. Shoot the gun for the guy. It might not be the gun.

Thanks to all of you. I will go through each recommendation systematically and hopefully that will resolve the issue. If not, i'll tell him to dump the rifle in a river and buy another

a suggestion, go to the boat shop and ask the parts guy for some outboard top end cleaner. It is designed to pull the carbon buildup out of barrels. The foamy stuff in an aerosol can is called Quicksilver Engine Cleaner. GM makes a similiar thingie. It will amaze you the gunk that will come out of a "clean" barrel with the stuff.

Rich