Evelio does great work - he's quite an artist. That's another beautiful rifle, Paul!

Paul,
James and I know better to bet against each other. But I'll hold the money for anyone that wants to jump in. wallet is flat after Coates had all four wisdom teeth removed this morning, maybe he won't be so smart mouth now, eh? It is kind of funny to see him with a swollen jaw and not eating much.

Mary

This morning I was able to confirm that bedding the barrel at the end of the forearm enables a 504 with a Lilja barrel to shoot extremely tight one hole groups at 40 meters. This is a cradle, not a typical pressure pad, since the point is to keep the barrel from shifting side to side instead of just up and down.

I feel foolish for not trying this before, particularly after realizing how well a stock 504 could shoot. If anyone has a stock 504 with consistency problems, I'm curious to know if this works for them too.

Another note on this: I clean rifles after every use with a Patch Worm and over sized patches, but recently discovered this isn't enough. First, 20/20 Concepts includes a .22 "bead" for use with their pull through line that I wasn't using. I put the bead on and re-cleaned a 1712 with about 500 rounds through it and pulled out lead flecks! I applied the same process to the Lilja barreled 504 and then mopped the bore thoroughly. Eley Club now chambers easily (the bolt had become difficult to close) and accuracy improved again! I was able to drop three rounds through the same, very slightly enlarged hole, so the rifle is far more accurate than I am.

The moral here is that if you're using a pull through bore cleaning system make sure it fits tight enough, and then - as Dan Lilja advises - make sure to mop out the chamber every 100 rounds or so.