Thread: Tikka 223 not grouping after shortening

Originally Posted by McNotty

Little bit of a piss off but that’ll learn me for f&$king with perfectly good rifles.
What kind of things would I see with a crown that isn’t ideal?

A bit like wondering what your left thumb should look like - take a clue from your right thumb. I'd expect each land and groove which you see end-on to look the same. The classic "target crown" is cut at 11 degrees, not sure why, maybe the angle does not matter to the bullet, but it does protect the crown a bit as it sets it back from the muzzle.

I'm not sure if there is no ready answer what the crown should look like, beyond even -- including on magnification. Out there on the net there is a joker who hacksawed an inch at a time off a new rifle and just removed the worst chips (no crowning), and she shot just fine after each mistreatment.

Thinking of mistreatment - were you a good kiwi and did you give the barrel a really good clean and remove all the copper fouling before sending to the gunsmith for the shortening job? Maybe just needs some light shooting-in now?