[Bigr Bang Thry]

So, here's the latest...

Groups 3 & 4 have been sent down range with a thorough cleaning after every other shot. Group 5 has been sent down range with a cleaning after the 5th shot and again at the end of the group. After that, I put 20 rounds of factory ammo through the rifle, stopping at 10 to give the bore a quick swabbing with Powder Blast, and to look for any signs of copper fouling. I could not see any copper at that point. After the 20th round, again I swabbed with Powder Blast and looked for copper. There was a light amount of copper showing, but definately not as much as previously encountered. A thorough cleaning with Barnes solvent showed that there was some copper fouling, as the patches became blue in color. It was, however, much easier to remove than before the fire lapping system.

I will again try a bunch of different factory ammo to see if the gun likes any of it, and then attempt to tailor a custom round for the gun. Time will tell if the system had any great effect or not. I can only hope that it helped. I've got too much time and money tied up in this gun if it won't shoot well.

Just a question for those of you familiar with this round, How accurately would you expect this rifle to shoot ? This is a Rem 700 BDL, with a Leoupold VX-2 (4-12 x 40). The bases and rings are both Leoupold, and are both steel. Am I perhaps expecting too much out of the 7mmRem Mag ? I should think that 1" 5-shot groups at 100 yards would be quite reasonable. I don't expect 1-hole groups, but of the factory ammo that I've tried in this gun, the smallest 10-shot group was just under 2" at 100 yards. Many of them were considerably larger, some over 8" ! The smallest group of handloads previous to the Tubb system was 1-1/2 ". I think the gun should do better, don't you ?