Took my scope off my .223 trainer and slapped it on my new AT-X for a few rounds of breaking in...which is mostly breaking me in to familiarize myself with the trigger and rifle.
I shot five to zero, and then (4) 5-round groups after a cleaning patch battle that cost me a new rod (mostly my fault).
I did chunk one low, but otherwise everything felt good.
View attachment 8182189 Please don't mind the POI shifts, I let the rifle cool for a long time between groups, and the shift is merely me not getting back behind the rifle consistently between groups (was screwing with buttpad placement).
Unfortunately, I had a cleaning patch sick itself inside the barrel. The rod wouldn't budge either way. I noticed what felt like a rough spot on my first patch, but it made it though, and I attributed it to fouling. #2 got stuck worse than I've ever had one stick before.
^ Light tapping with a mallet got the rod through, but the patch was still stuck, and I had to tap the rod backwards (and I boogered up the threads on the way back).
Cleaned the patch out. Grabbed a .243 jag and tried again...could feel a friction point, and then the rod stuck again. This time I was able to pull the rod back out. Ran a wet bronze brush (CLP) through about 30 times and it patched dry without issue. That was after shot #4.
I then shot the four groups above over the next 90 minutes.
I'm probably going to run my borescope through the barrel in the next day or two, just to see if I find anything...hopefully I got whatever it was shot out.