I pulled out my old Remington 700 BDL VS (25-06) and shot it over a chronograph for the first time. This rifle is 40 years old and has a pretty high round count. I'm not the original owner so I don't know the exact count, but I would estimate at least 1200 rounds and possibly a good bit more. It's safe to assume that the barrel has significant wear, yet this rifle still manages to produce respectable accuracy.
Anyway, the ES was 176 and the SD was 49 (20 shot string). These were quick and dirty reloads with old, mixed brass (Remington, Winchester and Federal) and minimal prep, so I wasn't expecting anything great, but this was worse than I would have guessed. Accuracy was an average of .739" for four, 5 shot groups. Not as good as this rifles usually does, but it was 90 degrees out, and my TRG actually didn't do a whole lot better (.693" average for three, 5 shot groups). Considering the crappy numbers, I'm surprised the Remiongton shot as well as it did.
So, I was wondering, was the aweful ES/SD due to the heat combined with low quality reloads, or is it typical for a rifle with heavy barrel/throat wear to produce erratic ES and SD?
Anyway, the ES was 176 and the SD was 49 (20 shot string). These were quick and dirty reloads with old, mixed brass (Remington, Winchester and Federal) and minimal prep, so I wasn't expecting anything great, but this was worse than I would have guessed. Accuracy was an average of .739" for four, 5 shot groups. Not as good as this rifles usually does, but it was 90 degrees out, and my TRG actually didn't do a whole lot better (.693" average for three, 5 shot groups). Considering the crappy numbers, I'm surprised the Remiongton shot as well as it did.
So, I was wondering, was the aweful ES/SD due to the heat combined with low quality reloads, or is it typical for a rifle with heavy barrel/throat wear to produce erratic ES and SD?
