A rifle that won't shoot- Update

[Hemlock]

One more thing to check is the trigger. Even if you think it feels OK, it may not be consistent. As an example, I bought a 340 Weatherby and after 10 hard kicking shots a 50 yard target I couldn't hold a consistent group. Maybe that's why I got it so cheap. I dry fired the trigger and found a lot of creep and a trigger gauge showed a heave pull. Fortunately this model has an adjustable trigger. I tore it down, cleaned and adjusted the trigger and went back to the range and it shot one inch groups at 100 yards all day long. Well, for as long as I could stand the recoil. 

[lord grizzly]

Sounds like the thing is either completely shot out or just a piece of crap. I suppose you could have a smith run a bore scope down it and confirm this but really this thing probably isn’t worth the effort. Hang it on the wall with a coyote pelt or something and call it a decoration. You’ll get more enjoyment out of it that way then shooing I’d imagine

[Jonathan_S]

 

[Slenk]

Well I have read all the guesses on this thread.
I have a few things that may help that are not guesses.
First of all just a little history on me. I am 77 years old .
I have been shooting break action single shot rifles for a lot of years.
H&R, NEF, Savage & Rossi.
You can not get good groups resting the forearm or barrel on sandbags or a rest.
You need to rest behind the hinge point ,or action.
Also remove the forearm and put a O-ring around the stud that the screw goes into then replace forearm. hope some of this helps someone.

[jackelope]

If you have definitively ruled out the scope and the ammunition and the shooter, then it's time to move on and sell it.

Sounds like a cull to me. Not sure I'd want to sell it in good faith.
My buddy's kid has one and it shoots reasonably well. He's killed a few bucks with it.

[bobcat]

 

I couldn't sell a gun that shoots 12 inch "groups." Give it away, maybe.

[hunter399]

I couldn't sell a gun that shoots 12 inch "groups." Give it away, maybe.

I called it first ,reply 15,
My offer still stands on pm me anytime.

[bearpaw]

For the first trip, all I did was defoul the barrel and buy some 80 grain ammo. Neither of those seemed to make a difference.

If you have ruled everything else out mounts, scope, hinge pin, and barrel twist, and you have other guns that shoot well by shooting them the same way you are shooting this gun then it sounds like either the rifling is worn out or fouled. If it's fouled with copper then defouling can be tough to do. For a couple years I had a gun that I thought I had defouled but I wasn't really getting the job done, I took it to a gunsmith and he pointed out that he could see copper fouling, I bought some copper cleaner and used it aggressively over a couple day period until I could let the gun sit wet with cleaner in the barrel for several hours and when I ran a patch through it came out perfectly clean with no blue discoloration. The group that gun shoots tighened up to 30% of what it had been shooting.

[N7XW]

For the first trip, all I did was defoul the barrel and buy some 80 grain ammo. Neither of those seemed to make a difference.

If you have ruled everything else out mounts, scope, hinge pin, and barrel twist, and you have other guns that shoot well by shooting them the same way you are shooting this gun then it sounds like either the rifling is worn out or fouled. If it's fouled with copper then defouling can be tough to do. For a couple years I had a gun that I thought I had defouled but I wasn't really getting the job done, I took it to a gunsmith and he pointed out that he could see copper fouling, I bought some copper cleaner and used it aggressively over a couple day period until I could let the gun sit wet with cleaner in the barrel for several hours and when I ran a patch through it came out perfectly clean with no blue discoloration. The group that gun shoots tighened up to 30% of what it had been shooting.

[Fl0und3rz]

Well I have read all the guesses on this thread.
I have a few things that may help that are not guesses.
First of all just a little history on me. I am 77 years old .
I have been shooting break action single shot rifles for a lot of years.
H&R, NEF, Savage & Rossi.
You can not get good groups resting the forearm or barrel on sandbags or a rest.
You need to rest behind the hinge point ,or action.
Also remove the forearm and put a O-ring around the stud that the screw goes into then replace forearm. hope some of this helps someone.

Seems like sage advice here.  I wouldn't give up on it yet, until after the above is tried.

[Alchase]

 

Break action rifles and shotguns look great up on the wall with the breach open!

[jackelope]

Break action rifles and shotguns look great up on the wall with the breach open!

I've got a couple that say they're good for uses other than that.

[Fl0und3rz]

I am sure.  I think the point is that they are different animals than your standard bolt gun or AR rifle, as far as shooting technique and tribal knowledge.

You see the same thing with people saying a spring piston air rifle won't shoot well.  Other shooters, applying different skills and knowledge, get different results. 

[Alchase]

Break action rifles and shotguns look great up on the wall with the breach open!

I've got a couple that say they're good for uses other than that.

Did not mean to imply breaks actions can't shoot, just that they really do look great as wall art.

 

[Special T]

I say keep at it. There is lots of great information out there via you tube, and other online forums. If it were me I'd keep at it. The kind of group you are talking about  has to be something gunsmithing related.

I had a well loved firearm that jammed, didn't shoot well, and I didn't have much invested in. I learned a bunch by watching as many FYI videos as I could. Time, sandpaper and cleaning did a bunch to improve the weapon AND my understanding of how firearms work...

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