johnnyo

Personally I would start with a good cleaniong of the bore as already suggested - but I would skip the Hoppes #9 stuff and go right to JB's bore paste. It is a lot more effecient at cleaning the bore.... Hoppes will help maintain but I think you are beyond maintenance - you need to work on the bore.

One other thing I might suggest.... with a really good pin light look at the bottom of the QLA where the crown is and see if you have any material from the FPB shaved off and caught in that area... Since the crown is internal make sure you get that cleaned also...

did they load any harder than the previous FPB's you shot?

actually, easier... maybe too easy!? the thought did cross my mind, that I had a bad batch of bullets.

hornady did have a number of bullets that went out bad. They were the ones that loaded to hard. I think i had a batch of them. Maybe yours preferred the harder loading bullets.

I'll give a good scrub and clean with the #9. need to track down some bore paste.

posting photo of the post-cleaning shoot.

80 and 90gr of bh209, w209 primers, 55 paces - shooting over sand bags on the back of my pickup. cold -10 c plus chill/cross wind

details to follow - i keep losing my internet connection

I would think that the 90 gr load is your load. Good shooting. I have been to Canada a few times and love the place. But never in hte winter months.

One of theses days I will make it up there in the fall for a deer hunt.

Okay, I wasn't going to get my hands on some bore paste, anytime soon so... after giving the bore a good scrub with #9, I took the plunge and tried a recipe of 50/50 vinegar/hydrogen peroxide.

plugged the breach plug and filled the bore. First for about 3 minutes, then agian for about 10 minutes. The longer session stripped the lead off. I had some flash rusting after I drained the barrel, but swabbing again with #9 cleaned that up and everything looked good.

Thanks, the shooting conditions weren't great, but I'm relieved that I've solved the problem. A guy could loss sleep over this.

I can't really complain about the weather. -10 c isn't bad for January, especially with the sun.