bad crown

[bandit1250]

A friend stopped by yesterday with a recently purchased Rem. 540-X target rifle. He was having problems with fliers and ammo didn't seem to make any difference when changing brands. The barrel is fully free floated and they usually shoot well that way. One of mine likes the floated barrel but two of mine shoot well with a piece of bicycle inner tube about two inches back but he said he tried that with no change. I put my reading cheaters on and right away I noticed a bad nick right at the edge of the bore. So I said to him it really needs the crown cleaned up. So I got my variable drill out and my brass round head screw and my box of various grades of lapping compound and went to work on it starting with 400 grit then to 600 and a final 800 grit. The 800 is mostly like a nice smooth polishing. He called today and when I answered the phone his first words were "You missed your calling." He said " You should have done gun work. I told him " No thanks." "Don't like dealing with the public." He shot it early in nice still air and was pleased with his groups with the same ammo he had tried before with no good grouping. He had multiple targets right at a 1/4" and some at 3/8" and nothing over 7/16. He is now very happy with it and the brass screw and drill along with the compound saved him from probably trading off a very good rifle.

[North Country Gal]

Good work, bandit. Sometimes it really is the little things that make all the difference.

[RetiredSeabee]

I have to admit that when I saw the title my first thought was bad dental work.

[BrokenolMarine]

My first thought as well, but good call. Glad you could tune it up for him. I had the crown recut on my PPC gun and the groups tightened up nicely.
It makes a big difference.