Accuracy and cleaning rods...

I recently purchased a savage 110 tactical, and put a vortex diamondback 6X24X50 on it. 1st day at the range was excellent, was using fiocchi 142 grain match king 6.5 bthp and the rifle was cloverleafing at 50 yds and within 1"to 1 1/2" at 100(probably due only to me).
Returned a week later with federal american eagle 120 grn tmj target rounds, and my group opened up to 4 or 5 inches at 100yds, it was a big change. . I checked the usual suspects, rail,rings scope, action screw, the barrel cap, and everything seems fine. Now im out of state kind of freaking out because I read an article that said cleaning the barrel with a segmented rod could scratch it. I used an aluminum rod to clean it, and it was touching the barrel as I ran it down due to one ill fitting segment. How likely is it that an aluminium rod scratched the rifling after being ran down? I didnt reverse the brush in the barrel, and I thought for sure aluminum would scratch steel after one cleaning. Its the fluted barrel, im using a bipod and a bag under under the butt, I did remove the stock and set the accutrigger between visits, but everything seems tight...
I had only put 60 rounds through the barrel before I tried the federal rounds, I fired 60 of the federal rounds. Im hoping my rifle just didnt like that lighter grain bullet. Thank you.

One cleaning? It is fine. Probably not liking those bullets. Cleaning all the time is overrated and counterproductive IMO, especially on a factory barrel. They often shoot better fouled.

Congratulations on acquiring your new rifle.

I suggest you get yourself a good quality one-piece carbon fiber or coated steel cleaning rod and a bore guide before you clean it again. Tipton and Bore Tech make good rods. Possum Hollow bore guides are good.

Your rifle is going to tell you what it likes to shoot and what it doesn't. You can add Federal AE 120 grain to the don't like list.

Thank you for the input, I will find another rod, carbon fiber or steel coated.

Respectfully, You don’t need a Tipton rod for that barrel. And You didn’t ruin Your barrel with that segmented aluminum rod.

Question...how did You prove that the problem wasn’t the scope ?

And, a common problem is the front ring/base screw being too long and bottoming out on the barrel threads, in case You haven’t checked on that.

A 4 or 5 inch group at 100yds is something besides the cleaning rod.

I use coated Dewey rods for my rifles. On a factory barrel I wouldn't worry so much about copper fouling but I'd be sure to get the carbon out.

I WOULD sent it back. 6.5 should shoot really small out of the box with any ammo.
known fact of a 6.5

Hornaday BLACK, 6.5CM, 140 gr has shot tiny groups out of every stock Savage I've encountered. Its kissing cousin American Gunner in 140 gr also shoots well.

Before I knew any better I wouldn’t clean but every few years. Shot fine.
Then I was putting a segmented aluminum rod in a drill with a brass brush and some solvent and giving her hell. Shot fine after a few fowl shots.

Bore scope shows the pitting my stock savage barrels have.
Shoots fine.

A clean crown, not nicked or corroded and a stiff action to stock, floated barrel correct ammo seem to make the difference in accuracy.
Not what kinda cleaning rod you jam down the pipe. A few rounds down the pipe seem to smooth out all the ugly.

Navy SEALs hardly ever clean the pipe. “A fouled barrel is more predictable”


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navy seal's have a LOWER accuracy requirement
than a lot of "accurate" shooters.
their sniper ammo is spec'd at basiacally ONE MOA.
remember they shoot at "large" targets.....

Quote:

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Originally Posted by hamiltonkiler

Before I knew any better I wouldn’t clean but every few years. Shot fine.
Then I was putting a segmented aluminum rod in a drill with a brass brush and some solvent and giving her hell. Shot fine after a few fowl shots.

Bore scope shows the pitting my stock savage barrels have.
Shoots fine.

A clean crown, not nicked or corroded and a stiff action to stock, floated barrel correct ammo seem to make the difference in accuracy.
Not what kinda cleaning rod you jam down the pipe. A few rounds down the pipe seem to smooth out all the ugly.

Navy SEALs hardly ever clean the pipe. “A fouled barrel is more predictable”


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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That much change would scare me too.

Get to know your barrel.

Check how much copper build up is in the bore. Just look at the muzzle area with a good light (I also use magnifiers, my eyes aren't what they used to be :) ). If you see nice wide copper streaks, then you might benefit from a break in procedure, after you clean all the copper out. I like to use the non-ammonia types, like KG12. They work fairly fast.

My BVSS shot great the first 20-40 shots then would not group worth beans. Cleaned all the copper out. Shot some more. Still not great. I got impatient and used some Iosso paste on it. Shot some more. Finally showed better groups. I suspect if I had done the break in instead of just shooting it, things would have been better faster. Now it shoots jacketed ammo at right around .5MOA and cast at just under 1MOA if I do my part. I do not shoot much better than 1/2MOA so I can't blame the rifle.

The mass mfg barrels are hit and miss. Many shoot well from first shot to last, some do not.

Last, barrel heating. This is also a barrel specific item. My big, stainless BVSS barrel does not like to be hot. If it gets warm (~100F) I stop and let it cool. My cheap Axis with a 'heavy barrel' (not near as heavy as the BVSS) loves to be hot. It will make 1/2MOA groups from the moment it comes out of the case until the barrel is too hot to touch. POI changes about 1MOA from cold to hot.

Cleaning rods like everyone else said. One piece. Good bore guide. I like coated steel, but, wipe the rod each time it comes out of the bore.

I have a 110 tactical and I did the break-in. A tedious process it was but it was worth it. I could see towards the end my rifle was really starting to shoot or at least wanting to shoot. The lightest bullet I have shot was the Barnes LR 127gr. They shot really good. As stated above I don’t think it would be a bad idea to “start over” and try a break-in process, with the right stuff. There is so much out there I wouldn’t know where to tell you to begin. I used Buch’s Bore Shine. I also use a Dewey Rod.