I was going to post this under the thread dealing with factory versus custom barrels and decided this thread would be better. I apologize in advance for the long winded dialogue.
I have purchased factory Encore barrels as well as custom shop Encore barrels. I have not noticed any difference in the accuracy between the two. I purchased custom barrels because of the caliber I “needed” or I had purchased a used custom barrel. I have purchased new and used factory barrels and depending on the caliber, I sent them to the custom shop for the muzzle tamer. Will there be an instance where the factory barrel or the custom barrel is poor from the get go? Absolutely, but I believe that to be a rare occurrence. Unfortunately those occurrences find their way to a forum and before you know it T/C barrels are labeled as poor quality.
There has been a lot said about the stringing of shots, the proper breaking-in of barrels, floating forends with washers, oversize pins, etc., etc. with many thoughts as to the pros and cons of why and why not the suggestions worked or didn’t work. In my humble opinion, a lot of the issues with inaccuracies are due in large part to the impatience of the shooter. I am amused at the range when a shooter starts fiddling with the scope because the shots are not hitting where they want them to. It must be the scope or its mounting. Or they stop and clean the barrel thinking it is fouled after the first few shots that were O.K. but the next few started wandering.
I believe a clean barrel will shoot well after it is “broken” in and that will occur at different times for each barrel depending on many factors. I have learned that thorough cleaning of new or old barrels is important to establish a clean platform from which to develop the perfect reload or to identify the best factory load. Depending on the condition of the barrel and fouling issues, I use various chemical cleaners (Sweets, Butch’s Bore Shine, etc.); brushing with Kroil; JB paste; etc. I even use the David Tubbs bore conditioning bullets (with great success too).
I recently acquired a new 204 Ruger factory barrel. I subjected it to brushing with Kroil and JB paste. I shot 20 rounds, basically to sight in the scope, cleaning with Outers after a few shots. I took it home and used the brush with Kroil and JB’d the bore. Returned to the range and shot 8 rounds followed by a light cleaning with brush and Kroil. I tweaked the setting on the scope. First shot was high; second shot dropped as did the third one. It was starting to string! The 4th shot made a group and a poor one at that. The 5th shot was almost dead center. Oh no! It’s stringing! The 6th and 7th shot formed a clover leaf! Yahoo! See picture below. Only 35 rounds out of the box to get it to shoot great! Where would the 8th shot hit? I don’t know but at least now I know where to start from with Hornady’s 40 gr. V-Max at 100 yards. When I reload them I’ll start over again.
I discovered that this barrel, like many others, will respond differently to fouling. With patience, you can determine how many fouling shots it takes to shoot to your desired accuracy and how many additional shots it will handle before it gets too fouled requiring a good cleaning. I am assuming the scope or open sights are properly mounted. I have a 22-250 barrel that needs 3-fouling shots after that I can easily shot 40 to 60 rounds before cleaning is required. Just something to consider before you plant that barrel in the rose garden!
