Educational Zone #79 - Tightening Up the Groups on an Old Rifle

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Educational Zone #79 - Tightening Up the Groups on an Old Rifle - Page 1

Some of you may remember that I have an old 1917 Enfield that is a really nice example.

Here it is.

It is a really nice example on the outside and even has Elmer Keith's cartouche on the stock, indicating that he once inspected it at Ogden Arsenal.

But as nice as it is on the outside, the bore is enough to make a grown man cry.

It is as rough as a dried corn cob.

I have done some experiments to improve the accuracy of this rifle in the past.

But I was still not completely satisfied with the accuracy of this fine old rifle and wanted to try to make it shoot even better I decided that maybe the old, worn rifling just wasn't getting a good purchase on the bullets as they went down the tube.

I had an idea.... What if the bullets were just slightly larger in diameter? I decided to try another experiment.

First, I wanted to show you fellows the profile on standard military .30-06 Ball bullets.

I will pull one to show you how they look.

To pull a bullet on a round of military ball, it is first necessary to break the seal formed by the asphaltic sealer that is between the bullet and the case.

This is most easily done by first pushing the bullet back into the case a little.

I set up my press with the seating die about 1/16th of an inch deeper than the loaded round's length.