# .243 100 grain accuracy problems?????



## Rediculous (Oct 16, 2013)

I went out today with my father-in-law to show him some long range shooting, which he has never tried before. I have a HOWA .308 20 inch that can reach out there pretty good, so I told him to bring a rifle and we would set them up and have a good time shooting out at 500-1000 yards. We hit the 300 yard range and I sighted my rifle at 100yrds punched it in the calculator and it was ready to go. Then my father-in-law brought out his old woodmaster .243 to sight in saying he wanted to finish off deer season with it instead of his 30-06. We set-up the remington in a shooting vice and let it rip at 100 yrds. The spread was immense to say the least, about 10-14 inches between each shot. After about 15 wasted rounds all over the place I asked him what the scope was on the rifle. He said he bought it from a friend at work, bushnell dusk til dawn. I had an extra scope in the truck and we installed it to see if this would clear up the problem. At 50 yards this time he was still hitting all over in a 5-8 inch circle. I am not familiar with .243 loads or with the remington woodmaster at all. He was using winchester 100 grain SP ammo. Is this the ammo, barrel twist/ammo combination or something else? The rifle is old but has seen very little use. He says he believes it has only seen around 120 rounds in its lifetime. Any input you guys may have would be greatly appreciated.

PS. He was nailing an 8"x10" steel target at 500 and 600 yards with my rifle so shooter error is not the answer.


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## Scotty D. (Feb 23, 2012)

Could've been using aluminum rods to clean the barrel. Aluminum oxide is an abrasive. Might've wallowed out the lands.


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## Rediculous (Oct 16, 2013)

Scotty D. said:


> Could've been using aluminum rods to clean the barrel. Aluminum oxide is an abrasive. Might've wallowed out the lands.


I will ask him about that, but seeing as it is rarely shot, I doubt this would be a factor


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## youngdon (Mar 10, 2010)

Is the barrel clean ? Possible copper fouling? Barrel floating ? Is this a 74 or a 76 series ?


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## Rediculous (Oct 16, 2013)

youngdon said:


> Is the barrel clean ? Possible copper fouling? Barrel floating ? Is this a 74 or a 76 series ?


Looks to be a 742 model, barrel is clean, I don't know about the barrel floaing.


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## youngdon (Mar 10, 2010)

Try running a dollar bill under it. You will have some obstructions. Those 742 (woods masters ) have always shot real good. I assume that it has shot better than it currently does ?


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## Jonbnks (Jan 21, 2012)

I had a problem with my rifle all of a sudden having terrible accuracy. Turns out the bipod I had installed on my rifle was pushing against the stock just enough to cause problems with the barrel. If you had the gun on a vice, and the barrel was pressed against the rest, it could be causing the accuracy issues, but it does sound like you should try a few different brands of ammo to see if that helps.


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## youngdon (Mar 10, 2010)

Jon makes an excellent point. Try shooting it off hand.


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## Rediculous (Oct 16, 2013)

youngdon said:


> Jon makes an excellent point. Try shooting it off hand.


Yes, after my father-in-laws attempts I decided to take some shots off-handed and off a bag, same results. If he had not removed the iron sights I would know for sure, but he took them off. Do you guys know if the barrel twist rate in .243 has effects on the heavier bullets? I know in 5.56/.223 it can have a huge impact, ie. shooting 77g smk's out of a 1-9 barrel.


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## youngdon (Mar 10, 2010)

The twist rate will have an effect on the bullet regardless of the caliber.

That era gun should be fine with 100 gr bullets. I'm not sure if anyone made a 6mm bullet lighter than 80gr and I believe that 100gr was the standard deer bullet back then. Remington should be able to tell you everything about it with a serial#


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## Rediculous (Oct 16, 2013)

youngdon said:


> The twist rate will have an effect on the bullet regardless of the caliber.
> 
> That era gun should be fine with 100 gr bullets. I'm not sure if anyone made a 6mm bullet lighter than 80gr and I believe that 100gr was the standard deer bullet back then. Remington should be able to tell you everything about it with a serial#
> 
> Thanks, I understand the twist rate effect across calibers, I should have clarified, that I am not familiar with .243 twist rates and ballistics, I'm sure it's the barrel floating or the ammo. We will get to the bottom of it one way or another. Thanks for the suggestions guys


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## Scotty D. (Feb 23, 2012)

Rediculous said:


> I will ask him about that, but seeing as it is rarely shot, I doubt this would be a factor


Doesn't take much to ruin rifling. It's more fragile than one might believe.

Not to mention the fact that the 742 &760 had to be swabbed from the muzzle end -- unless they were completely diassembled. (B4 the BoreSnakes were on the market)

Scuff up the rifling near the crown & the rifle will be a "scattergun"...

Sent from my SCH-S738C using Tapatalk


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## glenway (Mar 27, 2011)

Scotty makes a good point with the possibility of a damaged crown. Whatever the issue is, it should be fairly obvious to a good gunsmith.

I realize you swapped scopes but did you check to see if the scope base is tight? I have found this to be a problem at times when groups suddenly expand so much and are so erratic.

I cannot believe ammo has anything to do with it, based on the information you've provided but running any other ammo in it should answer that question.


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## Dang Dawg (Jan 14, 2013)

YUP I'd say crown.

the poor old gun only has 120 shot through it but it may have 100,000 miles with it resting on the end of the barrel in his truck, very bad on a crown.

To bad you didn't has something else to shoot through it. Try some 85's or even 75's I'll bet speeding up the bullet helps A LOT!!!!


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## jdshooter (Dec 7, 2012)

Definitely crown, most factory rifles in the box have terrible crowns. I re-crown the barrels on my rifles and it makes a huge difference in accuracy. One nick in your crown will make most rifles shoot like a shotgun

everytime. You can take it to a gunsmith & have him re-crown it or Brownells sells great re-crowning tools for the do-it-yourselfer. Those rifles were made to shoot 100 grain bullets so I would say that is not your

problem at all. Good luck. :hunter4:


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