Glassed levergun

[chromecrow]

I took the freshly-glassed levergun for a romp. First impressions indicate improvement but with verticle strings. The gun is a 375 win and enough Unique to just miss 1000fps made a group about a half inch wide and two inches tall. I will shoot some more but im thinking the forearm might havr to be "unglassed" a litle. John.

[Bass Ackward]

Your problem could be related strictly to load. You can and probably should try more before you draw too many conclusions.

Or fire the same load once slowly enough that heat isn't a factor and the second one fast enough to be. If both climb, it's load. If not, then you know.

[hpdrifter]

I took the freshly-glassed levergun for a romp. First impressions indicate improvement but with verticle strings. The gun is a 375 win and enough Unique to just miss 1000fps made a group about a half inch wide and two inches tall. I will shoot some more but im thinking the forearm might havr to be "unglassed" a litle. John.

Might wanna see this.

leverguns.com
Articles
Paco articles
accurizing the lever rifle.

tried posting the link, but could not ge it to work.

[Dale53]

The link didn't work for me. So, I took the liberty of adding another link to, hopefully, the same article:

http://www.leverguns.com/articles/paco/chapter23.htm

Dale53

[versifier]

I have always associated vertical stringing with a barrel getting too hot as it's always more pronounced with skinny barrels. I have seen it on our W94 in .30-30, but it's always more noticable on the .308's and -06's due to the greater amounts of powder being burned. Might not be your problem here, but it is a common cause of it and I would think about it first as it's the easiest to check.

[Pilgrim]

Your description sounds more like changes in velocities to me than a bedding problem. I suspect that you have so little Unique in the case that position sensitivity is resulting in large velocity variations, which is resulting in vertical stringing. FWIW...Pilgrim

[45 2.1]

Add more Unique in 0.2 gr increments until you get a round group. Your charge is too low.

[woody1]

Are you positioning the powder each shot? If not, try it. Regards, Woody

[Frank46]

chromecrow, while not in the same class as your modifications, glassing the tang area and where the receiver butts into the stock can also be a good idea especially if the rifle is chambered for the harder kicking calibers. Good insurance against cracking. I had to do this on my 444 marlin as was starting to get a crack in the buttstock. That rifle has seen nothing but factory ammo. To date no further damage. Frank

[chromecrow]

the first shot was the highest, the next two were about one inch lower almost touching and the last two were again one inch lower but made one hole just a little larger than the rest. The time frame was ... fire-spot-load-fire etc. The barrel was barely warm. I thought I had been having good luck with the load of 7g of uniquewhich is what lyman lists as the start load in the 38-55. 7.5g seemed to open the groups up. Also this load tended to have the same POI as the hotter loads using different powders. I will do more testing before anything else. Thanks for the input, John.

[lovedogs]

Most powders I've tried in reduced loads had the problem of position sensitivity. Must have been a problem for lots of folks in the past... that's why they used fillers. Now, they advise against use of fillers. The best I've found for reduced loads is Accurate 5744. It was designed for this. A quick call to them, or reading some articles on it is helpful. They say a good rule for starting loads is to fill a case to the base of the bullet... that's full capacity. Then use a load of 40% of capacity for a starter. Don't worry about grunge after firing, it's common with 5744 and affects nothing. With 5744 you can go so low that you'll eventually stick a bullet so be careful about that. Otherwise, it's one of our safest low-density powders and I've had real good luck with it. Don't use mag primers or fillers with it. Good luck!

[BOOM BOOM]

HI,
The best group I ever shot w/ cast bullets was out of glass bedded 444. 11 shots all touching each other. Son now owns that rifle, rats, he does not appriciate what he has.

[BABore]

I agree that you probably need more load developement. That said, you should also look at the magazine tube and steel nose cap or barrel band if you have them. Eliminate any interference. The mag tube should show a nice even line between it and the barrel. A rubber o-ring can be put in between the tube and barrel attachment point too.

[Doughty]

You might also try single loading. Help to eliminate barrel/magazine vibration as a cause.