Cold Barrel Zero

S

Sweet Shooter

New member
A while ago I remember a thread about shooting 3 or 5 shot groups to determine how tight rifle could shoot. I mentioned that I felt that shooting groups with more rounds onto a dark target where shots were less visible was a better gauge. This (attached) is that same test. This group was shot from a cold clean barrel. The lower left shot was one of those shots where the guy next to you shoots a 300 'chester mag with a brake that blows your eye-wear sideways a split second before your trigger breaks. So I'm ignoring that one.

I was pleased with this group, it measures .8 MOA. I actually didn't bother shooting more after I saw this... I think it's zeroed!

It's a 700 SPS with a sporter weight barrel in .223 and I was shooting Fiocchi 50gr V-Max. It's got the regular synthetic stock and the X-Mark Pro turned right down to about 2.5 LBs.

Just thought it might be interesting and also I'd like to see others perform this same test.

I reckon any .223 that can hold 10 shots in an inch or just over, from a cold clean barrel is a good one. It was a bit chilly today so the barrel stayed quite cool. I waited a couple of minutes between shots.

-SS-
 
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Try it fouled

Now that you have a baseline for comparison, try your cold bore shots with a slightly fould bore. Clean it completely, then fire about 5-10 rounds and leave it fouled. Walk away for about 20 minutes to let the barrel cool down to ambient temp and then shoot 1 round. Let it cool completely and fire a second etc. and see which gives you the best group (clean vs fouled cold bore shots). I found that my Remmy 5R prefers a clean cold bore whereas my PSS likes to have about 8-12 foulers through the tube. It'll shoot basically the same POI every time afterwards for about the next 60 rounds. Then it starts to drift a little and it's time to clean again.
 
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