10-24-2018, 12:09 AM
ErikS Wrote:How many round through it?
Mine settled down after about 100-150 round and became pretty good shooter.
I've always been interested in talk about barrels 'settling down'. That they start out bad but then come good.
My experience is the opposite. In F Class we change barrels annually to remain competitive. I have heard the first 300 rounds called, 'the Golden age' because this is when it is the most accurate. From there it is all downhill as the barrel's accuracy slowly degrades as the rifling wears from the chamber forward. We used to chase the lands as they wore by increasing the COAL bearing in mind the surface area of neck tension decreases (you load single shots by hand in F Class, no mags).
You can always tell when a shooter has fitted a new barrel because their average scores jump. That doesn't last of course. They will be in the winning circle for a few short weeks and then it's someone else's turn. Some guys even timed the replacement of their barrels to just before the State or Nationals.
Apart from the first two or three rounds where the micro pores get filled with copper there's no 'settling' on a match-grade barrel in my experience. It's a good or bad barrel from the start. It may take you a few groups to realise its potential and by then you are well into the Golden Age. For guns, barrels and shooting where all the other grouping factors cannot, or are not removed you might not see the Golden Age as it is hidden by the wind and how the gun flexes, or jumps, or doesn't track as well, or the scope quality, etc.
If the difference in barrel quality is only a couple of hundred dollars why convince yourself two hundred dollars is worth the gamble that this might be the one budget barrel that shoots almost as good as a match barrel? If you are concerned about money (and who isn't?) you could buy just one Grendel, and make it a really, really good one.
'Beware the man with one gun; he knows how to use it.'