I took two 300 Win Mags to the range, one shot one hole groups, the other did not shoot groups; it shot patterns like a shot gun with the same ammo.
I built a 270 Winchester, I took 120 rounds of 12 different loads using different case head stamps and different bullets. The 270 produced magnificent groups without a flyer. Some of the groups moved but none of them opened up.
I wanted to know what the rifle liked, it liked everything.
I bid on and won the ugliest rifle contest, my interest was 'the sum of the parts' but first I wanted to know what the builder was thinking. Again I loaded 12 different loads w3ith 12 different head stamps and bullets, I used different bullets. The groups did not open up and there were no flyers, some of the groups moved around and some of the groups used the same hole but there was nothing I could do to improve on the accuracy so I left-er the way I won-er.
My thinking? No one could bu7ild a rifle 'that ugly' without knowing what he was doing.
Is there a moral to the story? If the rifle shoots like a shotgun there is not much the shooter can do by changing ammo.
Back to the 300 Win MAg that shot patterns, I sent it back to Winchester, before it got back to Winchester their warranty man in the DFW area had a go at it. I told him the chamber was too long from the shoulder to the bolt face and the chamber was too large in diameter 'AND!' the chamber was ugly. SO? He polished, reamed and honed the chamber, when finished the chamber was still to long, too large in diameter and just plain ugly. So I asked him which remedy made the chamber shorter, or smaller in diameter and what process removed the 'ugly'?
He responded with "the chamber is still to long. too large in diameter and ugly?" He claimed it was that way when I brought the rifle to him
and then? It did not get better.
F. Guffey