rifle consistancy ?

[opr1945]

Several years ago I was a scoutmaster. one summer at scout camp I had the opportunity to spend time on the rifle range. They ad about 20 .22LR bolt single shot rifles. I shot several of them. There was one that I could shoot much better than the others, small 1.5 shot pattern on 50' range.

There were two rifles that did not shoot consistently. I could rarely not get patterns smaller than 6". What would cause a rifle to send bullets all over the place while a similar rifle would put them in the same place?

Tx.

 

[deadin]

What would cause a rifle to send bullets all over the place while a similar rifle would put them in the same place?

Bore condition, crown condition, bedding, etc.

 

[Ky Larry]

All rifles, like cars, are not creates equal. A lemon is possible with anything.

 

[d2wing]

Also no cleaning or bore damage, or crown damage. Hard to say but lots can go wrong with rifles over time.

 

[Zeke/PA]

A Scout Camp rifle??
How long has the rifle been in service?
How often has the rifle(s) been subject to a GOOD cleaning.
I worked a few years in retail and a local Scout Camp bought AT LEAST 100 thousand .22 rounds a year from the store.
Are the rifles EVER given a "bronze brush, Hoppes#9 "treatment.
The rifle that you speak of is probably "shot out" !

 

[StrawHat]

Loose action screws will also cause wild groupings. So will a change in how you grip the stock. Wish I had the Camp Rifle I shot back in the 70s. Wonder if it is still in Camp? It shot almost as well as the Win 52 I used in competition. Some flavor of a Remington single shot.

 

[Skylerbone]

Opr, the truth is a rifle can be far more finicky than some would suspect. You've got a short list above of probables, the most common being crown damage (the "tip" if you will of the rifling at the muzzle), extreme fouling and movement of the action in the stock. Add that different rifles even of the same model and lot may prefer different ammo. I've yet to see a .22 lr "shot out" though without regular cleaning the bore can and will pit due to priming compound residue.

The simple answer is that you found a fluke, one rifle that actually shot well.

 

[BCRider]

That's a lot of rifles to clean and maintain. Small wonder that they get the short end of the stick.

Barring crown damage they COULD be cleaned and correctly assembled with the proper screw torques and such and shoot a lot closer to each other. But likely as not they are simply suffering from lack of attention.

In any busy scout or other group like this finding leaders that are willing to take on such things can be tough. If you care about the rifles I'd bet the other leaders would be more than grateful to have SOMEONE take on the responsibility.