I would give it a good clean, make sure the action and bottom metal are correctly mated and check for wear spots where metal on metal and address anything too proud or bed anything
also it may have historic copper deposits in its barrel. I plugged and left mine to soak while cleaning with JBs bore paste
you can counterbore your barrel the four inches that has excessive wear or pitting to maintain the look and foresite (I did this first in my days before suppressors) then shortened it a few years later
check the twist rate too, if you are on the edge of stabilising a too heavy proj Iv seen the inconsistency you are talking about
A flat base 80gr soft point would be my pick
Im on my second 18inch 243 and its my main rifle so dont be shy to trim the barrel, velocity loss is minor (100fps) and a shortened brno 601 is as good a bush gun as they come
look for spots in the stock where it has warped and may be either touching the barrel or twisting on the action. If its getting wet/dry and things are changing give them a little bit of clearance and some boiled linseed oil
dont rule out anything basic like loose rings or a scope in the process of failing too or a creepy trigger
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