This may be the problem

[bandit1250]

I bought a Remington Sportsman 78(plain model 700) from a older gentlemen that said the barrel was going bad at several hundred rounds. I never heard of a 223 going bad that quick and looking through the barrel it looked good except it looked from the muzzle to be copper fouled. I bought it reasonable priced and decided if the barrel was bad I would build a 6X45 on the action as I have been wanting another one of those any way. I shot it as is and it was not terrible groups but not really as good as my other 700 223 rifles shoot. Most groups were in the less than 1" size with bullets and powder it liked with some groups at 5/8". After two trips to the range I went to work cleaning the barrel and was amazed at the copper fouling in that barrel. I spent maybe two hours patching and soaking it with Sweets copper remover. I finally got it to where the patches come out clean and may get to shoot again this week between showers in the area. Here is what the patches looked like with the copper fouling. This is a small sample of the patches I actually went through. The blue-green is copper fouling.

[PT7]

Your patches almost look like artwork...but all the barrel fouling was not good stuff!
Sounds like a good purchase.

[JWC]

I am interested to see how much improvement you realize after the cleaning. That is quite a bit of copper fouling. Let us know about the accuracy.

[Sir Henry]

Yes a range report is a must.

[daytime dave]

I wonder how that much fouling got in there?

I hope that makes it work for you after that great cleaning you did. Sometimes, that's all things need is a good cleaning.

[bandit1250]

I wonder how that much fouling got in there?

I hope that makes it work for you after that great cleaning you did. Sometimes, that's all things need is a good cleaning.

That fouling is usually a result of lack of cleaning and not using good bore cleaning solvent with a copper remover. Fouling can be reduced by a good barrel break in procedure. I think shooting barrels until they over heat also speeds up fouling. I have seen barrels so bad they looked like a penny inside the muzzle. They shot terrible in that condition. It is not a fun cleanup when they are shot until they get in this condition or even worse. This rifle was bought as a project gun down the road but I think I can bring it around to shoot decent and let the wife shoot it this summer since she parted ways with the 700 Varmint that was to heavy for her.

[Travlin]

SAVE THOSE PATCHES The scrap metal dealer should give you a lot for all that copper.