barrel heat and accuracy

[tankerjoe]

 I just bought a howa 1500 in .243 i love the rifle and its action, i went to the range last week fired about fifty rounds through it my ? is if the rifle was grouping very well then started to throw rounds off the paper at 300 yards after sighting in could this be because the barrel got to hot? and will the rifle go back to shooting accurate next time on a cold bore? I know your supposed to let it cool every few rounds but my wife was there so was rushed! lol THANKS FOR ANY HELP!!!! Oh and i did swab the bore every few rounds!

[wareagleguy]

If it were mine I would have cleaned after every 5 rounds but clean after cool down.  If you have NOT cleaned it I would do it before a new session. 

I have always noticed a heated barrel will loosen the groups a bit.

[Val]

The inaccuracy could indeed be because of excessive heat. The Howa 1500s have a pressure point up on the foregrip and when a barrel heats the result is not prdictable. A good way to erode the throat and damage the barrel is excessiveheat. If you can't comfortably wrap your hand around the barrel it should be allowed to cool.

[tankerjoe]

Oh ok thanks i figured the heat was the cause and i know better than to let it heat up like that but like i said i was in a rush! I was just a bit nervous about another accuracy problem, i purchased a rossi 243 single shot and it was so inacurate it would litarally shoot 10'' groups at 100yrds i thought it was my scope but it was'nt! Later after some research i found there were a list of problems with that particular rifle! Like i said otherwise this howa 243 is probly the best quality for the money on hte market, again thanks for the help!