Brad Cayton
08-03-2018, 03:37 PM
Hi fellas,
I bought a new Marlin 30-30, 336 Texan Deluxe last fall and it's my first go with microgroove and cast. I tried different boolits sizing from .309 to .312 and it would shoot a couple rounds in 2" at 50 yards and then throw the next one 4" from the group. I was busy at the time so just put it up till a couple days ago.
I started messing with it again the other day and couldn't get it to shoot anything consistently. I didn't have any factory rounds and pretty much decided that I'd just give up on shooting cast in microgroove barrels even though all the post here said they worked fine.
I decided to take the forearm off and see if I could see a problem and there it was, the through bolt/screw on the forearm barrel band was making heavy contact with the barrel and tube and the band was very tight on the forearm. I did some file work on the barrel, tube and the wood on the forearm and it seemed to do the trick.
Here's the first 3 shots at 100 yards just under an inch. 25 grains of R7 and the NOE 311-165 RD. My Chrony says its running 2080 fps
https://i.imgur.com/qJsbdLkm.jpg
It's pouring rain here again so I quit with it after busting a couple water filled milk jugs at 130 yards. I'll shoot a few 5 shot groups with it before I call it good but I'm feeling pretty good so far. So.... my microgroove issue wasn't a rifling issue at all.
Just posting thinking it may help someone that's having a similar issue with their lever action.
PS, I used an old target in the picture. The big holes are from my 45/70 a while back.:)
I bought a new Marlin 30-30, 336 Texan Deluxe last fall and it's my first go with microgroove and cast. I tried different boolits sizing from .309 to .312 and it would shoot a couple rounds in 2" at 50 yards and then throw the next one 4" from the group. I was busy at the time so just put it up till a couple days ago.
I started messing with it again the other day and couldn't get it to shoot anything consistently. I didn't have any factory rounds and pretty much decided that I'd just give up on shooting cast in microgroove barrels even though all the post here said they worked fine.
I decided to take the forearm off and see if I could see a problem and there it was, the through bolt/screw on the forearm barrel band was making heavy contact with the barrel and tube and the band was very tight on the forearm. I did some file work on the barrel, tube and the wood on the forearm and it seemed to do the trick.
Here's the first 3 shots at 100 yards just under an inch. 25 grains of R7 and the NOE 311-165 RD. My Chrony says its running 2080 fps
https://i.imgur.com/qJsbdLkm.jpg
It's pouring rain here again so I quit with it after busting a couple water filled milk jugs at 130 yards. I'll shoot a few 5 shot groups with it before I call it good but I'm feeling pretty good so far. So.... my microgroove issue wasn't a rifling issue at all.
Just posting thinking it may help someone that's having a similar issue with their lever action.
PS, I used an old target in the picture. The big holes are from my 45/70 a while back.:)