ORIGINAL: Sheridan
I'm shooting 3 and now 5 groups of Hornady's 75 grain V max loads from a cold barrel and then running a bore snake with Butch's gun oil through the barrel 3 to 5 times.
After each group the barrel is hot and the groups at 100 yards are 2" apart and the groups at 200 yards are 3" apart.
I am new to rifle shooting as I previously did all my hunting with shotguns.
Does this seem normal and I just suck (and need more practice) or what??
Concerned; Rammer/Jeepkid Help
A three shot group should take you an hour if its cold outside and you are letting the barrel cool properly. In the summer it can take three hours.
Honestly, all you are doing is decreasing the life of your barrel. As bronko said... it is your investment. And even he, who is a barrel break in believer, said that breaking it in has no immediate effect on accuracy. If you shoot your rifle normally, and clean it regularly, it will be "broken in" just the same.
It sounds to me like you are not letting the barrel cool enough. Your gun should be capable of better than 2" groups at 100 yards... I'll put it this way, if its not under 1.5" then its going back to the factory. Simple fact is that not all guns are going to shoot under 1", especially with factory ammo. You can spend a lot of time and money and blood pressure points trying to find a load for an innaccurate rifle to make it accurate. 2" ain't bad... you just need to find a load it likes. And let the barrel cool. I'm not worried about a 3 shot group that will hide under a quarter... I'm worried about firing a shot at 5 pm... then coming out at 5pm again the next day and cutting the same hole as yesterday.
The more you shoot that gun with a hot barrel, the shorter your barrel life will be. I've never worn out a gun... and honestly I don't think I know a person who has a hunting rifle that has worn one out.