Ho0w do you know if your rifle barrel is shot out?

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Dave

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Oldest son has a Remington 700 in 7mm Mag. We had a real tough time getting it to shoot in the same place twice. When the barrel gets just a little warm the bullets are going all over the place. He bought the rifle used probably 15 years ago. Over the time he has owned it he probably hasn't fired 300 rounds.
 
I'd try a few different batches of ammo. The only way to know if it's badly worn is looking through a bore scope, and even then it might take an experienced gunsmith to know for sure. It takes a LOT of rounds to wear one out, and even when one is worn often times you can find a load that will still shoot well.
There's also the possibility that the barrel wasn't stress relieved properly at the factory and is bending more than normal from the heat. There are other areas that can also be affected by the expanding/heating metal like the receiver. Tough to say for certain.
 
Alright. First things first. Pull the bolt OUT.
UNLOADED AND SAFE!!
Clean the bore. Set the rifle on your sandbags and LOOK thru the bore. Does the rifling look ok from throat to muzzle?
Look thru the muzzle end. Same?
Good..
Now check the action screws and make sure the action is tight in the stock.
Give the scope a wiggle...
Do u think u thought u felt something?
Check the scope bases and rings for tightness.
I've seen scopes go to crap in short order too. Dont hold your face in the EXACT same spot and the crosshairs will dance all over the target.
Is the barrel freefloated?
Easy enough to check with a dollar bill or simple piece of paper. Run it under the barrel between it and the stock.
Most rifles have free floating barrels for hunting guns.

Let us know what ya find?

I had an 06 that would get warm and sling bullets everywhere. On the bench it had a float issue. The wood stock would put just enough pressure at the end to make it dance. Bit of sandpaper fixed that.
1/2 inch at 100 with hand loads was the norm after that.

Theres an easier trick to verify b4 getting the sandpaper out too..
Pull the action out of the stock, and cut a piece of an old cereal box.
Place it between the action and the bedding block in the stock. At the forward action end. Put it back together tight and test fire a few.
 
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I have a 1954 Mosin Nagant M44 that I believe may have the barrel shot out. You can shoot the high dollar stuff like S & B or Privi Partizan and it shoots all over the place , but the cheap Monarch stuff from Academy was dead on. The downside with the Monarch stuff was that 1 or 2 out of a box of 20 were going to be duds and not shoot.
 
Bedding issue or something loose. A 7mag will shoot 1000 rounds before accuracy fails because of worn out barrel
 
Good to know, I still haven't sighted in my 7mm rem mag, it's a 1974 model Winchester, just had a new stock and scope put on by a professional, hasn't been fired in 25 years, and had little use before that so it should be in good shape.
As long as the first shot hits dead on, I don't need a second!

One note on the scope, make sure if it has parallax adjustment it's set for the correct distance, hold the rifle steady and on target, but move your eye around, the crosshairs should stay on target if the parallax is correct
 

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