I have a ruger M77 target in a 22-250. It had always held an excellent group. One day I took it out and it was all over the paper. I haven't changed ammo and I had others shoot it to make sure it was the gun and not me. Anyone have any ideas?

1. Clean it.
2. Check bedding screws.
3. Check scope mounts.
4. Check scope.
5. Check fore end (on wooden stocked guns) for any warpage as the temp/humdity changed. Wood tends to walk.
6.Clean, degrease, and relube the bolt...it's a good place for dry molly. IF the Firing pin spring gets kinked, will rub as it uncoils, and vary ignition.

What he said but CLEAN IT first, ammonia based solvent and wait to let it work.

1. Clean it.
2. Check bedding screws.
3. Check scope mounts.
4. Check scope.
5. Check fore end (on wooden stocked guns) for any warpage as the temp/humdity changed. Wood tends to walk.
6.Clean, degrease, and relube the bolt...it's a good place for dry molly. IF the Firing pin spring gets kinked, will rub as it uncoils, and vary ignition.

7. Check the wood stock arrond the inletting for the magazine well...not too comon in 22/250 unless some one has knocked it over in stoarge, but it's thin between the amgazine and the trigger inlestting, and they sometimes crack...that crack will sit quietly for years, then deside to run.

8. Clean it again.

I already tried most of these things. But after reading your replies I pulled it out of the safe to take another close look. I discovered that the magazine box was not sitting square in the bottom of the receiver. So when everything was tightened up it was in a bind and possibly not letting the receiver bed flush in the stock. Thanks for all your input!!! I'll punch a few rounds though it and let you know what happens.

Let me re-echo the bore cleaning bit.

What a lot of us consider clean really leaves some of the residue in the bore. We need to get down and REALLY scrub the bore with something akin to to J-B Bore Compound to do an effective job - especially if shooting moly coated bullets.

A thorough cleaning will normally bring a cranky cloverleaf shooting rifle back to fine accuracy.

I have a Kimber 84M Varmint in .22-250 that is a (I hate to use the term) "tack driver" most of the time, but every so often starts to not group so well. I always cleaned the bore with Hoppe's No. 9 until the patches came out clean, but it didn't seem to help. I was talking to a friend one day who had a similar problem with his Remington 700 and Ruger M77. He cured his problem by using a copper solvent after cleaning with Hoppe's.

I still use the Hoppe's to clean the powder residue, but now I also have Birchwood Casey's Bore Scrubber, Remington's Bore Cleaner, Shooter's Choice Copper Remover, J-B's Bore Cleaning Compound, and Sweet's 7.62 Solvent. The Hoppe's doesn't remove copper fouling, but the others will. I can't tell you which copper cleaner works best yet, but the copper cleaners usually get my Kimber shooting again.

What I Have Found That Is If You Clean The Barrel With Issio Bore Cleaner With A Nylon Brush First Then Add Benchrest #9 And Let Soak 24 Hours. Fill Barrel All The Way To The Very End Of The Crown Since That Is Where The Bullet Leaves The Barrel. Drain, Remove Plug Then Put A Plastic Soda Bottel On The Barrel End To Catch The Cleaner And Patches. Next Spray Break Cleaner From The Chamber To Wash All Out Then Scrub And Patch As You Would Do Normaly. I Then Spray Wd-40 Down Then Oil With A Good Gun Oil. I Have Used A Bore Scope And Found This To Work Great And It Alsway Brings My Barrel Back To Great Tight Groups.

Let Me Add That This Is Done On My Stainless Barrel's And Not The Blued Ones....good Luck

As for the comment Hoppes does not remove copper, I disagree. Follow the directions, copper fouling comes out green from my guns using nothing but hoppes 9 mostly for 20 plus years now.

Other products can work faster but I like the smell.

As for the comment Hoppes does not remove copper, I disagree. Follow the directions, copper fouling comes out green from my guns using nothing but hoppes 9 mostly for 20 plus years now.

Other products can work faster but I like the smell.



Doc, I've always liked the smell of Hoppe's too.

Try cleaning your bore with Hoppe's until your patches come out clean. Switch over to a nylon bristle brush, just to make sure you're not getting blue/green coloration from from either a brass or bronze brush, and try one of the other copper solvents. I guarantee you that after brushing and patching using a copper solvent, you'll have blue/green residue for quite awhile.