how long for a barrel to settle in

[trxnav]

How many rounds roughly on a savage .17hmr before the barrel to tends to bed in really struggling to get any groupings at all tried blue tips red tips cci and winchester and remmington must admit the hornady seemed to do best but now starting to knock my confidence with the rifle!!!

[kent]

Have you been cleaning it, the HMR is bad initially for fouling up very much a 1 shot and clean gun for first twenty or so then every 1/2 dozen for first 50. Some say savage do better with 20 grn bullets but cant say as i have CZ's for all my rimmies

[Redgum]

check everything else is ok, mounts and scopes, it the barrel is meant to be free floating then check it is. I had the same problem with my CZ varmint, everybody was raving about lazer hot accuracy and I wasnt getting it. Firstly the extended range of the hmr will magnify any probs with the man pulling the trigger, make sure the prob isnt you. Relax and don't get uptight as this will not help. Try differant ammo and cleaning routines, what changed my hmr accuracy was experience.

It shoots 1inch groups mainly, sometimes 1/2inch groups if I'm on form and there is no wind. You will hear all sorts of accounts on here about 300yd foxes and same hole groups at 200yds, don't believe a word of it and concentrate on improving what you already have. I can get good groups sometimes off a solid rest, rear sandbag, and a still summers evening, I can repeat it the next day with rubbish groups but off sticks in the field all can change so practice that. As for how long for a barrel to settle in, well mine did seem to improve after about 300rnds but I have a feeling it was more down to experience in the end.

[kent]

Redgum pretty much sums it up as a calibre it can be overhyped by the braggers but do remember the all important wind even hardly detectable 2mph gusts can create havock at 100 yds group wise, drifting just under 4" at 10mph full value at said distance. They do get dirty in the begining though and if your one of those who thinks you don't need to clean rimfires you will get issues

[ace32]

sounds the same as mine,i molikoted the barrel,ran about50 rnds through,her,**** groupings at 100 yds,cleaned,re coated the barrel,got slightly better,got well ****** off,changed scope still ****,re zeroed at 50 yds,got sick of walking back and forward,then she seemed to settle down,after maybe 150 rnds,now after a few hundred rounds is shooting really well,but the slightest bit wind will affect the bullet,she just took a bit of bedding in,but dont believe these idiots who open the box zero in a couple of rounds then go popping bunnies a stupid ranges,it just does not happen,my mates hmr was the same,they are both cz,so patience is the key mate,just keep plodding along,check your barrel isnt touching any where,and your not clipping on the mod,i know it seems like a waste of vastly over priced ammo,but the time spent playing with her on targets will repay,itself as you get to know your rifle,best to put a few targets up say 35,50 65,75,100 yds,i was useing a 1/2 " bulls eye,maybe an inch one would be better,and get some shoot and see targets they save a lot of walking back and forward,and def use a steady rest,better prone,ok,i am useing the blue tips,red tips are just the same,but there is a lot of **** posted all over the place about the hmr,they are good,but not magic,and do take a bit of getting used to,ok,ian

ps,i set my zero,finally at 50 yds,east to work out h.over and under of that,just play wit her till you get used to her ok,ian

Edited August 16, 2010 by ace32

[ace32]

these are the type i use,you can get dif sises,check the web or the a1 e bay shop,ok,ideal to check your zero before you start shooting,ok ,ian

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Birchwood-Casey-2-Sh...ootingSports_ET

[al4x]

How many rounds roughly on a savage .17hmr before the barrel to tends to bed in really struggling to get any groupings at all tried blue tips red tips cci and winchester and remmington must admit the hornady seemed to do best but now starting to knock my confidence with the rifle!!!

 

 

not sure on the savage but how bad is bad group wise, generally the CZ's do take a while to settle in then don't clean till you loose accuracy as they take about 10 shots to settle down. Don't focus on different brands of ammo just stick with the one to start with and check everything else. Check the barrel is free floating and everything is good and tight. Sometimes its worth just checking a different scope to check, my cz is just functional I hardly ever clean it and mostly then its just a pull through with a bore snake. Still shoots sub inch groups at 100 and more to the point very rarely missed rabbits usually when i don't do my part. Had 8 out of 9 on friday evening on skittish rabbits so was rushing shots only one I missed was moving at the time

[trxnav]

im talking 3 shots within a 10p piece then two will be around a 1" out tried different scope tried with and without sak mod i have tried all sorts of ammo cleaned after 20 shots then get it settled down then exactly the same happen seems to be most consistent with blue tips and that is what i stick with now i suppose i have now put around 300 rounds through it just when i think its there and then i put one more clip through it then does exactly the same again i am pretty confident its not me as with my .22lr .222 and .243 i can pretty much put bullet after bullet!

[al4x]

are they consistently the 4th and 5th shot?

[Vince Green]

Copper jacketed bullets leave a residue which has to be cleaned out regularly. The more often you clean it the better (smoother) the barrel gets and it will still be settling in up to the point where it is starting to wear out.

 

Its like the old target shooters joke about by the time you have got your barrel shot in just how you like it, settled on a load you like and got it sighted at all the different distances its time for a new barrel and start all over again.

 

But what you describe could be a hot barrel "walking" ALL barrels shift their point of impact as they heat up. I don't know how hot your barrel gets.

Edited August 16, 2010 by Vince Green

[ace32]

if your just popping shot after shot,your barrel will warm to a digree,take your time,its not a race to run of a mag,plus its easy to get lasy if you just pop pop pop,take two walk up check the impact, come back,pop another,its just as easy to get bored aswell,then you dont take the same care over each shot,as its only paper,when you just want to get at the bunnies,ok,ian

[trxnav]

does not get hot just warm i do normally do a couple of shots walk to tgt then go back is generally no. 4 and 5 shot only have checked the barrel and tightness of all mnts again and all seem to be fine just took apart the sak mod and cleaned will give a go again tomorrow see what happens

[Vince Green]

Are you sure its not just you from walking back and forwards? Bit unfit maybe?

Edited August 17, 2010 by Vince Green

[trxnav]

how come i can get all other rifles to group fine though mate will admit im not as ft as i should be though

[al4x]

if its mostly 4th or 5th its either the barrel warming or as said could be you moving a bit with heavy breathing. Seems a little odd though its far from the first time its happened on here, is it a standard or heavy barrel?

[MC]

Get someon else to shoot it and see if it still happens.

[Frenchieboy]

Don't take this the wrong way mate but I am fairly sure that it is you and your shooting technique that is at fault rather than the rifle that is at fault! Please allow me to explain as I had exactly the same problem!

I have a CZ452 Varmint 17HMR with a Heavy Barrel which I am delighted with. I was however going through exactly the same problem when I first got the rifle as you are now, I could put the first 3 out of 5 shots almost touching each other but the 4th and 5th shots at the same target would go wide, sometimes by as much as an inch or more. I could not work this out, I tried blaming the rifle, I tried blaming tha ammunition, I tried blaming the wind for ghusting or changing direction or strength, in fact I tried blaming everything that I could think of except myself!!!!!

What I found that I was doing was either rushing or pulling the 4th and 5th shots even though I did not realise that I was doing it (It took someone watching me very carefully to point out where I was going wrong)! I could see that the first three shots (It was more often than not the same pattern) were good shots so I was getting overconfident and would stop thinking about my breathing or concentration and "rushing" the shot which inevitably led to me pulling it even though I did not realise that I was doing it. This led to me getting a bit frustrated and of course the more frustrated I got the more my accuracy deteriorated, causing a chain reaction!

Try this and see if it makes any difference - Treat each shot as a "One Off" and take say 15 or 20 seconds between each shot to think about your concentration and technique. (This will also help to a certain expent if it is the barrel that is warming up and causing a minor variation in the POI) Do not allow yourself to try to save time and think that because your first 3 shots were good then the other 2 will be just as good because as soon as you do this you are likely to find that they are not! Spend just as much time taking the 4th and the 5th shot as you did on the 1st and the 2nd shot. If you take the time to try this I am willing to bet that you will find a difference - I certainly did and it has been proven that I can no longer blame the rifle - If I miss a shot then it is me that is at fault!

 

Let us know how you get on!

[trxnav]

have done a complete strip on rifle and mod everything is tight and and cleaned going to spend some time sat morning on targets will let ya know the outcome it is standard barrel not heavy as well all advice taking on board fingers crossed but i am determined and will not give up.

[trxnav]

rezeroed tonight using blue tips as stocked up on them over the weekend now seem to be grouping at a 100yrds within a 50p size so im happy with that i was doing nothing different to normal the silencer when stripped was fairly clogged up could this of been the problem do ya think?