JT, you're having better luck with your new barrel than I am with my Christensen Arms Carbon Fiber barrel. During my 60 break-in shots at 50 yds, I shot a huge group. About 4 inches at 50 yds. Yikes!!! I attributed it to cleaning the bore after every shot, poor ammo, and real bad rifle support. I was shooting it off the tailgate of my truck using only a bi-pod, no rear bag, and a very contorted and unsteady shooting position. Called CA about the inaccuracy and they said the 147 ZQi was too light for their 1:10 twist barrel and I needed to use heavier bullets. They recommended 175gr FGMM. Next range period last Sunday, no wind, good shooting technique and never cleaning the barrel between shots I was getting 2.5-5.5 inch groups a 125 yds. I used 175gr FGMM, 149gr XM80CL and 147gr ZQi. They all performed about the same. Got my best 2.5 inch groups with the XM80. Interestingly, the 1st shot of each 5-shot group shot 2.5 inches high from the other 4 shots in the group. Did the same with a couple 10-shot groups. If I eliminated the 1st shot the groups were about 1.5 inches. Still very unacceptable in my book for a barrel that is advertised to perform like a bull barrel shooting MOA or better. I can't hunt humanely with a rifle whose 1st shot is 2.5 high. Good news is after calling them Monday, they said to ship the entire rifle back to them, they would look at it and they paid for shipping. Then Friday, I called their tech to let them know the rifle was on the way and he said that they don't guarantee accuracy of their barrels since they don't know what rifle it is being mounted to. Sounds logical, but still unacceptable. I'm hoping he was just having a frustrating day working on someone else's rifle and expressed it in our conversation. Sure hope they can get it back to shooting half inch groups at 100 yds. I like the barrel as it made the rifle 5 lbs lighter, but won't keep it if it won't shoot sub-MOA.
Just talked to Christensen Arms about my carbon fiber barrel. They tested it with 168gr Federal ammo (not FGMM) and both shooters shot half inch groups - 9 shots total. So, I guess the bad grouping must just be me. They used a lead sled in an enclosed, temperature controlled shooting range, so maybe my bi-pod and sandbag butt support just wasn't steady enough. They said they really liked my rifle, but didn't like my Leupold Varix-III scope even though they said Leupold makes great scopes. Said it was blurry and that may be my problem, so my next call is to Leupold.
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