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Most inaccurate rifle you ever owned

7K views 21 replies 21 participants last post by  Ridgerunner 
#1 ·
We like to discuss our "lazer" accurate rifles. The ones that shoot sub-moa groups whenever and wherever we shoot them. But, let's face it, not all of our rifles have been able to hit the broad side of a barn. Let's talk about them. What do you say?
I once owned a Remington model 700 ADL in .270 and oddly enough I couldn't get it to group decently enough to hit an elephant five yards away. The riflings appeared to be well defined and it had a bright and shiny bore. I installed a good scope and tried several brands of ammunition and different bullet weight , but it didn't help. The rifle just never "had its Wheaties." It and I have long since parted!

Regards,
TimberWolf
 
#2 ·
Hmmm, interesting question.  I don't think I've ever owned a rifle that just would not shoot.  Probably the least accurate in my memory bank was my first rifle, a used Model 94 Winchester 30-30.  The rifle was cheap, had been used and abused by the time I got my little grubby hands on it.  I supposed that rifle shot 2 inch groups at 50 yards.  I never shot it over that distance, I was 12 years old, what did I care?  Sure was a truckload of game that met their demise because of that little rifle.  The bore was pretty rough on that little rifle, it wasn't the rifle's fault.  I had a Mark X Interarms 30/06 that I could not shoot for nothing, but my brother sure could.  He shot rings around me with that rifle.  It's bad to get outshot with your own gun, especially if your brother does it.  I don't know why that rifle didn't like me.  It's just not fair I tells you.  All the rest have been accurate enough, probably moreso than I.  They always put meat on the table as long as I did my part.  I've accidently shot some ragged one hole groups at 100 yds, but that is more the exception than a rule for me.  If a rifle shoots 1 - 1.5 MOA (or 2 MOA in a levergun) I'm pretty happy.  Sure I'll tinker with them a bit, I don't curse them as a non-shooter.
 
#3 ·
Without a doubt the worst longarm I ever owned was a Winchester 94 Trapper in .30-30. I never scoped it but did add a Williams receiver sight. No matter what I shot, factory or handloads, 150's or 170's, I could never get even a single group smaller than about 4" at 100 yards. Most hovered around six or seven inches. That Trapper soured me to the 94 ever since.
 
#4 ·
I had a Model 11 Rem shotgun that missed a deer with a slug for my son at about 15 yds. I could not figure it out. It haunted me because I thought I had put my son in the perfect position with good equipment for his first deer. Every one cooperated, even the deer but the shot failed to connect.

Tried everything to make it not be the shooters fault but it had to be. Well, I went out and shot it to pattern for turkey season and it patterned bad. Never had it done that before. I put in a slug and could not find a whole in the turkey target. What is going on.

I was never so glad to find the barrel at the muzzle was egg shaped. Don't know when or how it happened but it did. It wasn't the shooter after all.
 
#5 ·
Savage model 340, .222.  My dad had a real old one that was a tack driver, so I though I would get one, too. I remember saying in another post that I never had to give up on a rifle, but I had forgotten about that Savage! I just didn't have the patience for it.                                 IDShooter
 
#6 ·
My worst was a Ruger M-77 International in 250 Savage. This was during the era of the "contract barrels". Loved the rifle but it stubbornly refused to put 5 shots inside 5 inches at 100 yards. In retrospect, I should have rebarrelled it but it went the way of the buffalo.
 
#7 ·
If by "worst" you could count as most dissapointing That would be a Ruger #1 - .257 Roberts. Bright side of that one is it taught me that fire lapping works. spent a lot of money on ammo & cleaning supplies till I got it to half way shoot.
Even at that I have a couple of surplus M96 6.5x55 Swede's that will shoot as good or better.
 
#8 ·
As you may know, I'm a fan of the Savage 24.... the old models.  My worst shooter was a new model Savage 24 in .223/12ga.  That gun came with a loused up, oversize chamber, sent it back to Savage, they graciously and quickly installed a new barrel set, and try as I might, that confounded piece of iron wouldn't shoot the .223 into anything under five inches at 100 yards.  I tried all manner of loads and bullets, it didn't matter, different rests and techniques at the bench, lapped the bore, bullets touching lands, off the lands, neck sized, neck turned, you name it.... no soap!

The last straw was comparing points of impact between the sights on the rifle barrel and actual point of impact on the 12 ga barrel.  The shotgun barrel shot left nearly two feet at forty yards!  Patterns were great on the shotgun barrel, but wouldn't shoot where you looked!

Corresponding with Savage proved a frustration, and I offed the gun at a gunshow in Spokane.

Hmmmm we get lemons once in a while!  Time to make lemonaid!

God Bless,

Marshall
 
#9 ·
I bought a .22 bolt action a year or so ago--Marlin 81TS.  I had a little red dot on it, my first such sight.  I couldn't hit a thing and certainly not the same thing twice.  So I took the red dot back and got a cheap 3x9 scope.  Still no luck, but a lot of ammo and frustration.  At 15yds I couldn't hit a 10" x 10" target.

It was about that time that I discovered that I had a smooth bore--no rifling.

The Local Mart glady exchanged it for a new one and I've had no more problems, but  I have been much more selective in my purchases since then.
 
#10 ·
Two come to mind, and if memory serves me, they were both equally inconsistent at 100 yds. Both Rugers,.
1. Mod. 77,  .308 ; 2. Mod 1A (sporter) , .270. Unfortunately for Ruger, these memories have lived w/ me for over 15 years.
 
#11 ·
My Win 94.

I own one that is so innaccurate that when the deer see me carrying it they stand still. They know they are the safe.

It shoots six feet to the right on a good day, and eight feet to the left if you get the barrel really hot with two or three rounds.  I'd say it's the perfect gun for house sized targets out to about 75 yards.

Oh yeah, I'm only able to get that level of performance with a scope, of course.

BZ
 
#12 ·
I had a pre 64 Mod 70 in 300 Win. mag. that simply would not shoot well.
And a Kimber in 22 Hornet that was nearly as bad.
And that Ruger #1 in 22-250 was a real let down.
Then there was the TCR that I never did get to shoot very well.
I'd have to say that I've been lucky though.  Most of the guns I own and have owned just needed a little care and careful handloading to get them to shoot well.  But this list is the worst of the worst.
             Lefty
 
#13 ·
M1 Carbine re import made originally by IBM. The thing is really shot out, almost closes on the field guage. I remeber when I first tried to sight it in... Couldn't hold them on a 12 inch square target at 100 yards off the bench. Now I'm not ever going to be the club champ, but I'm not that bad. Never had a day or found a load that could give me 5 shots in less than 6 inches.

<edit 'cause I didn't know I wasn't allowed to type h, e double toothpicks...???>
 
#15 ·
After I saw my first Rem Mountain Rifle I had to have one. Bought one in .280 Rem. To this day it is the worst shooting gun I ever owned. Was never able to get it to group better than 5 to 6 inches at 100 yards. I wonder how many people have owned that gun?
Joel
 
#16 ·
Ruger Mini-14 Ranch Rifle in 5.56mm
I bought it new in 1993, when it appeared that strict controls on "assault rifles" would reach even northern Idaho.
This rifle has a 1:7 inch twist. GI ball ammo is woefully inaccurate in it, giving five-shot, 7 or 8 inch groups at 100 yards with a 4X scope from prone.
This is, I believe, due to the quick rifling twist and the lack of precision when creating FMJ bullets at the factory.
My Theory:
If you look at FMJ bullets, you will see that on many the lead extrudes slightly from the base. This is especially true on the cheap, white-box type of FMJ ammo.
This extrusion creates an imbalance in the rotational stability of the projectile, especially when its spun at such a high rate (about 4,800 revolutions per second, or 288,000 rpm).
It's been known for many years that that a bullet's base must be perfect for the best accuracy.
Any imperfection, and accuracy suffers. The same is not always true of the bullet's sides or nose; defects to these areas usually don't have nearly the effect on accuracy that defects to the base do.
To test my theory, I pulled the bullets from ball ammo and seated 55 gr. softpoints in their stead.
Groups went from 7 or 8 inches to 5 inches. Remember, everything was identical to the ball ammo except the bullet.
Then I assembled some high-grade target loads: carefully weighed charges, hand-seated primers, once-fired brass that was inside-neck reamed with a Lee Target Model Lee Loader and seated the bullets to the same OAL, giving them a firm crimp.
Groups shrank to 4 inches.
In a good bolt gun, or an HBAR AR15, these loads should have produced groups of 1 inches or perhaps a little larger.
Ruger later changed the rifling twist on the Mini-14 from 1:7 to 1:9 inch. I think this is rather telling.
I take the Mini-14 out once in a while and plink with it in the Utah desert where I live, but it's more of a high-powered plinker.
Someday I hope get it accurized. I'm in no rush. I've got a Swedish M38 Mauser in 6.5X55mm that works just fine for my long range plinking.
The Ruger Mini-14 is my least accurate rifle.
 
#17 ·
<!--QuoteBegin--IDShooter+Mar. 02 2002,21:34--></span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (IDShooter @ Mar. 02 2002,21:34)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE"><!--QuoteEBegin-->Savage model 340, .222.  My dad had a real old one that was a tack driver, so I though I would get one, too. I remember saying in another post that I never had to give up on a rifle, but I had forgotten about that Savage! I just didn't have the patience for it.                                 IDShooter[/quote]
I also had a Savage 340, .222 that wouldn't group.  So did the range master, and he said the same thing. I bought it at a yard sale in mint condition for $140 and sold it for $250.
 
#18 ·
I once traded a perfectly good S&W 686 for a Browning A-Bolt .22.  Nice looking rifle with wood that could make your living room furniture look bad.  Put a Bushnell scope with 1" tube on it and tried every brand and kind of ammo that I ever ran across.  On a good day it would group about 4 inches at 50 yd with it's best ammo.  Surprisingly, the only time I ever took it squirrel hunting I killed one tree rat with one shot...too bad it angled down into the leg and pretty much blood shot the whole carcass.  Ended up losing money when I finally found someone who'd take it off my hands.  Last I heard he was still trying to dump it himself.
 
#21 ·
Would have to be a Howa 1500 in 300 Win Mag.  Had a buddy that had one just like it but did not shoot his much at all.  When I ran out of things to try to make mine shoot, we took my buddy's out and found them to perform almost identically.  About 2.5 inches at 100 yds was the best we could do.  Factory Winchester Fail Safes would not stay on a paper plate at that range.  Mine was sent down the road but my buddy still has his, he just says that it is "good enough".
 
#22 ·
Here's Mine: A Browning .22 auto, 'take down' One of the made in Belgium series. 4" to 6" groups at 50 yards........After checking the sights, cleaning it to death, and tinkering with the take down feature adjustments, I took it to my local gunsmith and we checked the crown, and barrel for straightness. It was straight as a string. Crown looked ok, but he redid it anyway.......Still no shootee!! As a last resort, I decided to have the bore lapped. I sent it to Cliff LaBouny, and Cliff called me and said here is what you have.......A bent bore! .......So much for that rifle............"Ridge"
 
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