It’s surprising how individual each rifle, pistol or shotgun can be.

Even today when machining standards are so high, the tolerances so close, one rifle may shoot better, tighter groups than the very next rifle off the assembly line. It’s hard to say exactly why, but tiny differences in barrel or action metallurgy, the rifling lands and groves, the barrel crown, and of course the stocks bedding all have their influence.

However, today’s firearms are marvels of production genius and their overall standard, even in less expensive models, is of the highest quality. It is safe to say that any new rifle you purchase today will shoot an inch group with the right ammunition and almost just as certain will shoot even tighter than that. It’s difficult with light sporting rifles to know just how well they do group due to possible parallax in your scope and slight errors in sighting, hold, and trigger squeeze on your end.

In fact, it’s frustrating to me that one day I can shoot half inch groups in an accurate rifle and barely be able to shoot an inch group the next. Apparently, it’s not the rifle that’s inconsistent, it’s my shooting!  But, in fairness to myself and others, you have to do a lot right just to shoot a 1-inch group in a light sporting rifle.

I’ve also discovered accurate rifles need to be maintained to shoot their very best.

Not long ago my cousin called me just before deer season extremely upset. His rifle was shooting group sizes of six inches or more with custom hand loads. This was driving him insane! I quickly ran over to his house to see what may be the problem.

First I checked the screws holding the rifle to the stock. All were tight. Next, the scope mounts and bases which were examined and proved tight as well. I looked over the fired cases for signs of high pressure and there were none.

His scope itself was high quality and appeared to be in perfect working order. What was the problem?

Thinking his six-inch groups might be caused by a bad crown, maybe he fell and hit the muzzle of the rifle barrel on a rock, I removed the bolt out and looked carefully at the end of the barrel. The crown was fine, but I immediately saw the lands and grooves were a bright copper color. His bore was badly copper fouled, the worse I’d ever seen before or since.

Asking him if he’d ever wired brushed his barrel he said no. He consistently oiled the bore after every deer season, but nothing else. I showed him the copper fouling and took the trusty 30-06 home with me. It needed a good scrubbing.

Once home I screwed a .30-caliber wire brush on the cleaning rod and stepped out on the porch. Starting at the chamber it took all my strength to force the brush down the fouled bore and when the brush finally popped out the muzzle end a large whitish cloud of lead and copper burst into the air and floated away.

The next passes through the barrel grew easier and easier and the clouds of dust grew less and less.

After a good 20 passes I ran a patch soaked with Hoppes #9 through the barrel several times. It came out black and covered with tiny particles of copper. After six more patches failed to come clean it was time to let the solvent soak for an hour or two and hopefully loosen more of the built up residue. Then I wire brushed and scrubbed some more.

A quick inspection of the muzzle showed despite my progress there was still a large amount of copper visible on the lands. A call to Gary Colley revealed he had an ammonia based bore cleaner and a quick trip to his house saw the barrel slathered inside with the potent chemical for several minutes. That did the trick; almost every trace of copper fouling was eliminated. A sopping patch of soap and water, then Hoppe’s and lastly a final oily patch restored the bore condition. Bill’s next trip to the range showed his beloved rifle shooting inch groups once again.

My latest rifle, a Mossberg Predator in 223 wasn’t shooting well either. I broke in the barrel in the approved manner, wire brushing and cleaning between shot strings. Still, inch groups were not there. A little frustrated I wondered what the problem was and finally broke down and purchased some Butch’s Bore Shine. I thoroughly wire brushed the barrel and then ran soaked patches of Bore Shine down the barrel. It took a dozen patches before they came out clean. Hoping this had done the trick I hardly wait to hit the range.

The results were immediately apparent with two of the three handloads tried grouping under an inch. Even direct from the factory it appears the barrel needed a thorough cleaning before it’d perform at its best.

The two loads which shot well were Varget using 25.1 grains of powder while the IMR 3031 loads liked 24 grains the best. I was using Sierra 53-grain BTHP bullets. I dry wire brush the barrel after every five shots to help keep fouling down.

If your groups aren’t what you think they should be, a good wire brushing followed by a vigorous scrubbing with a quality copper solvent may be just the ticket to tighter groups, give it a try.