Diagnosing a accuracy problem with my .222

Team I need help.

I bought a BSA Majestic .222, looks the business, BSA fans froth at the mouth looking at it, but the sad news is that it does not group.

I've tried various factory rounds, my handloads, friends handloads, I've changed scopes, rings, and had friends shoot it to rule me and the optics out of the problem. The trigger is great, breaking at around 3lbs.

I've had it bedded and free floated, I've tried 40, 45, 50, 52 Match, 55 SP projectiles, AR2207, AR2206H, AR2208.

Always the same result, 2 or 3 or 4 in a nice tight group, and the rest 2 to 4 inches away at 100m.

Alan Carr thinks he can see minor pitting in the last 3 inches of the barrel, another respected friend thinks it has been mildly ringed in the same place, while I use the same eyeball method I can't see any issues myself. But something is amiss, and I need to find out what that is.

Does anyone know someone in the Wellington or nearby areas who has a borescope, or an air gap measuring device that can definitely diagnose whether my barrel has an issue?

Any help or suggestions appreciated, perhaps I have other options I have yet to try to diagnose this problem.

With some barrel bulges you can feel them yourself with a patch and cleaning rod.
Might be too small though.

you could lead slug the barrel to see the actual size of the bore and no doubt find any bulges at the same time
Id recrown or chop an inch off the barrel at a time until it shoots satisfactory

My old brnos barrel was worn before my father got it, so I took it to @gundoc and he counterbored it because I wanted to retain the front site for looks
It worked to restore some accuracy

Sorry to hear yr problem,222 I use on a good day leaves touching holes at a hundy.A good gunsmith should be able to help you out.

Have you tried a pressure point at the tip of the forend

It takes very little muzzle damage to upset accuracy. Muzzle damage (the last 2-3 inches) is very common in NZ hunting rifles that are a few years old, usually caused by firing rifles without cleaning after having been standing in a cupboard for a few months. Dust (microscopic stones) settles in the muzzle and firing just pushes it into the barrel wall. Do that 2 or 3 times over a few years and the accuracy is gone. Shortening and recrowning improves the accuracy but reduces the velocity. A swipe with a dry patch before firing prevents the problem starting. It never ceases to amaze me the number of shooters (including many professionals) who keep the outside of their rifles pristine and never care for the bit that makes the rifle do what it does!

i store my rifles muzzle down to help prevent this and oil etc running into trigger mech and stock

Greetings 243WSSM,
I think Alan Carr, your respected friend and Gundoc have pretty well nailed the problem. A BSA Majestic is older than many of us and may have seen a great deal of use so a good look at the throat would be worth considering. Alan may have checked this already. I had an ex police Brno .223 at one time that had been shot heaps and had the throat to prove it. I could never get it to shoot as well as my later .223 rifles.
Regards Grandpamac

It must be a reasonable bore defect. The bore on my BSA .222 is quite pitted, it feels damn gritty when pushing a patch down it. Somehow it still manages a decent .6” group at 100 with federal 55gr. Gets better as it fouls up. I know the barrel is shagged but can’t bring myself to replace it just yet.

Try bedding again. Just because it is bedded doesn’t mean it’s bedded well. Looks can be deceiving.

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Originally Posted by 243wssm

Always the same result, 2 or 3 or 4 in a nice tight group, and the rest 2 to 4 inches away at 100m.

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Are they spread relatively evenly, or in two clusters? Two clusters would suggest a bedding issue to me.

yip the double grouping thing suggests something else is at play here.

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Originally Posted by GravelBen

Are they spread relatively evenly, or in two clusters? Two clusters would suggest a bedding issue to me.

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Nope, a nice group, and flyers go anywhere, up, down, left, right. I think it is ringed, so maybe counterboring it so it still looks the part. But I'd like to know for sure first, hence the borescope question, does anyone have a service where the bore can be inspected?

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Originally Posted by northdude

Have you tried a pressure point at the tip of the forend

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I went the other way, had it bedded (it was original metal and wood) and the barrel floated so a piece of paper can be run under the barrel to the bedding.

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Originally Posted by csmiffy

With some barrel bulges you can feel them yourself with a patch and cleaning rod.
Might be too small though.

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I can't feel any difference with a patch where others see something, which is about 3 inches from the muzzle.

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Originally Posted by 243wssm

I went the other way, had it bedded (it was original metal and wood) and the barrel floated so a piece of paper can be run under the barrel to the bedding.

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It may be worth a try doesn't cost anything I had a rifle that I thought I was doing the right thing by floating the barrel fukn thing shot like shit after I did that

Quote:

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Originally Posted by 243wssm

Nope, a nice group, and flyers go anywhere, up, down, left, right. I think it is ringed, so maybe counterboring it so it still looks the part. But I'd like to know for sure first, hence the borescope question, does anyone have a service where the bore can be inspected?

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Is the nice group the first few shots and then it walks around? Or just a few of the spread happen to end up close together but not any particular timing?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by 243wssm

Nope, a nice group, and flyers go anywhere, up, down, left, right. I think it is ringed, so maybe counterboring it so it still looks the part. But I'd like to know for sure first, hence the borescope question, does anyone have a service where the bore can be inspected?

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Find a decent gunsmith in your area, with borescope, and get him to give it a going over. Throat, general barrel, crown area. Mitch Maxberry? At this stage you don't have enough info to make a decision on a countermeasure. You are not yet at the chopping bits of stage.
(Lots of people now have borescopes but that doesn't necessarily mean they know how to interpret what they see.)

As already posted by someone else, a cleaning rod with patch will usually momentarily "go easy" as it passes thru a bulge. A bulge doesn't always kill accuracy. Probably a bit more concerning in a centrefire but I have seen lots of 22s with bulges that still shoot bloody well. (Got an old Sako P54 exactly like that.) You can also usually see a bulge. Sometimes quite distinctly, sometimes just a discoloration in the blueing.

My original 22-250 eventually grouped like yours. Few shots good then sprayed. When I finally re-did a seating depth check the throat was so far advanced the if I tried to seat a projectile anywhere near the lands, the projectile wasn't engaged in the case neck. I wouldn't expect a 222 to burn out like that though.