Friends all,

I had read with great interest a thread that Matt started regarding his 308 BLR, and some difficulties maintaining a shot group after a few rounds traveled down range. I had not had the same issue with my 358 BLR, until just recently, and I am working towards getting it fixed up, back to the performer that it has been, and hopefully capable of being again.

The mix of loads that I fired for these days started just has he had described, the first few grouping acceptably, and then at some point the groups would open and shift point of impact relative to point of aim. As this rifle is my favorite woods rifle, and it had not exhibited these traits before, I looked hard at the matter, all the way back to the drawing board.

What I noticed, was that it started to lose its ability to consistently group, after I had fired about five loads in the gun that were loaded with ball powder, specifically AA2520, and Win 748, in a few different sessions. I had started fooling around with these powders to get a little quicker start from the muzzle, and also to work up a load for the long Nosler 225 Ballistic tip, as the ball powder can save a man some powder space.

I'm heading back to the old stand by's and make sure that it works like I think it should, as any of the IMR powders hadn’t acted like this, but at this point I'm only sure of what I think I know.

So....Matt, M1, Harry, Bart, Sunday, and the rest of the BLR/ 35 crowd, have any of you gents gone the ball powder route, and does this register as reasonable?

Thanks for your help.

Steve

Well
First Give her a treat of "Wipe out "
Second right now nothin' is grouping at the range 'cept fer the black flies

Two areas to think about. First, American produced ball (copyrighted by Olin) powders, to one degree or another, rely on plastisizers in their production and final coating. This residue builds in the barrel rather quickly and must be regularly removed. Hodgdons used to recommend regular Bon Ami cleanser on a damp patch. The ball powders from Europe (Accurate and Ramshot) do not seem to have the same problem as the Americans. Secondly, after some years, you could possibly have a loose forearm hanger screw or there may be warpage of the forearm which only becomes apparent as the barrel warms. You may have to look at relieving the forearm and barrel band. Scrub the barrel and tighten the hanger screw and work from there. BOL

Steve, never thought about that. The BLR I was having problems with was brand spanking new and all the rounds I was shooting were factory loaded.

I had tried AA 2520 with some 200 grn bullets (Hornady & Remington) and I did not get good groups at all. I thought I had the targets lying around to post a few pics of what I was getting but I couldn't find them. I was going to tinker with it some more but I was also going to try some magnum primers to see if it gave better results with the ball powder. Since then though, I had given up for the time being and worked with other loads.

Mattpair- back to forearm tension... Another point, off a bench, it is best to rest the action on the bags, not the forearm. Groups will be much more consistant. BLR's are relatively narrow in cross section and are somewhat sensitive to any canting, nothing bad, just something to be learned.