[geetarman]

I talked to the gunsmith yesterday that did the original barrel change. I told him that we were able to drop a -2 .220 pin ( .2198 ) freely through the barrel.

What he said to me was very interesting. He said regardless of nominal barrel dimensions, some barrel makers deviate from the design because experience has taught them what works best for their application.

He said you can look at a Shilen microgroove barrel and compare that to a Douglas and the depth of rifling is like night and day. Each manufacturer tries to produce what works best for them.

I don't know exactly what to believe now.

What I DO know:
1) The rifle was rebarreled with a Douglas Premium barrel in 2009 and shot pretty good for a while. 926 rounds.

2) The rifle was bedded at the time the barrel was installed and the action was trued.

3) The rifle shot pretty good up until a little over a year ago. It was cleaned and stored in a safe for a year.

4) The rifle did not shoot worth a crap after bringing it out of the safe.

5) The rifle was checked for anything wrong with the bedding and nothing was found. The action screws were re torqued and the accuracy did not improve.

6) The stock was relieved to ensure their was no contact from the barrel and accuracy did not improve.

7) The action was installed in a HS Precision stock that was made for a Remington 700 Varmint barrel. The accuracy did not improve.

8) The Nightforce scope was swapped out for a new Leupold VXIII 6.5-20 and the accuracy did not improve.

9) My handloads were withdrawn and factory rounds were shot through the gun and accuracy did not improve.

10) My handloads are loads that I have shot for over 40 years. Almost all are Sierra Match Kings and IMR4064. I now shoot a lot of H380. Nothing made the accuracy improve.

Last resort was a factory barrel that came off a Remington 700 22-250. The guy who bought the rifle wanted to rechamber the gun for something else. The barrel is a chrome-moly blue varmint weight barrel that had only been proof fired at the factory.

The picture that I posted was the result of shooting Winchester Premium 55 gr. ballistic tip bullets in nickel plated cases. I also had some Winchester 55 gr psp factory ammo that I used to get the scope sighted in.

I tried to take one logical step at a time to get to the bottom of this. I am not sure of what I could have done differently.

The proof is the rifle is shooting an ok group with factory ammo and I will bet my handloads will improve the performance.

I think the Douglas barrel was the problem and could probably have saved a bunch of money by swapping the barrel out first.

It has been a learning experience for me, however, I am happy with the way the rifle shoots now. I am bummed the old barrel went away after less than a thousand rounds. I don't know why. My handloads are not as stiff as factory rounds and should not have caused unusual wear. I had no bulged cases or blown primers. The gun just went bad and now it seems to be fixed.