Does different brass affect accuracy?

[44 mag]

At least you found factory ammo it will shoot.

I bought a new Bergara short barrel 308 to suppress and shoot 200yds and in. Pretty much to be used as a woods gun. What a joke. I tried several powders and bullet weights. Ran about 10 load progressions all together. I even swapped scopes with a known good one. No difference. I tried factory ammo too. I saw groups as large as 6". The best I could get was 1.25" groups with hand loaded Berger 168 Classic Hunters over imr 8208xbr in Lapua brass so I settled on it and called it done. The node is super narrow. The group opens a large amount dramatically by increasing the charge by .2gr up or down. I call that a bubble node. It will still be a good, light weight woods gun. Just hate i had to spend so much in bullets and brass to settle for less.

This was my 2nd Bergara that shot like crap. I believed the hype but now I see the light or muzzle flash !

Hindsight is 20/20. I should have bought a Savage. I'd have been done after the first combo progression.

I bought a new Tikka Superlight in 308 yesterday. Hopefully it will be Savage easy to work up a load for. It sure is a sweet little gun.

I got what I think is probably the same gun. With 18 inch barrel. I was having the same issues. But nice I took the suppressor off the groups closed up to under an inch. With the suppressor and same load they blow out again. All I can figure is the suppressor is messing up the harmonics of the barrel to much. it's a nice rifle but useless for what I got it for.

 

[Jcalder]

I got what I think is probably the same gun. With 18 inch barrel. I was having the same issues. But nice I took the suppressor off the groups closed up to under an inch. With the suppressor and same load they blow out again. All I can figure is the suppressor is messing up the harmonics of the barrel to much. it's a nice rifle but useless for what I got it for.

Work your load with the suppressor on and see if it'll shoot. Most will shoot better with a can, with very little tweaking from initial load development. One thing my can did that bothered me at the start was I started getting ejector marks. I had went about 4.5 grains more than my current load while doing development so I didn't think pressure changed that much. And it may have, but it shoots great as is. Finally quit messing with it and went to shooting

 

[jlanecr500]

I got what I think is probably the same gun. With 18 inch barrel. I was having the same issues. But nice I took the suppressor off the groups closed up to under an inch. With the suppressor and same load they blow out again. All I can figure is the suppressor is messing up the harmonics of the barrel to much. it's a nice rifle but useless for what I got it for.

I started load development on this gun weeks before the suppressor entered the picture. The suppressor didn't help or hurt mine . My poi did change. I tried retuning that Berger load with the can and got the exact same outcome. One thing is for sure, it hates 150gr bullets.

You may be getting some lite strikes inside the suppressor.

 

[backyardtndeer]

Absolutely, as mentioned you need to separate brass by headstamp. I also sort out brass by length. You would be amazed how short some factory ammo brass is, especially in 223. I want as much consistency as possible.