I swapped the scope to a Swarovski Habicht 2.5–10x42 and went to zero it. It didn’t do particularly well with the only ammo the RFD I bought it from had in stock (Norma Whitetail 130). The best groups were around 1.5 MOA, with a few flyers worse than that.
I took the stock off to check the bedding. The wood-to-metal fit was very tight throughout, with a bit of old bedding compound at the start of the barrel channel, it was pretty difficult to get the action out at all — definitely not a free-floated barrel. You can see where the paper catches.
A few days later I went to another shop and had them borescope it. We spent a good while looking it over. Glad to report that, like the rest of the rifle, the rifling was in great condition throughout. It did, however, have quite a lot of copper and carbon fouling. I’d previously given it a light clean with Ballistol, but after seeing this I went home and gave it a proper clean with Bore Tech. I also picked up some PPU and some Hornady Precision Hunter ELD-X.
The action didn’t really like the Norma or the PPU — the bolt was quite stiff to close and open. I checked that the bullets weren’t catching the rifling (no marks on them), so that didn’t seem to be the issue. I also discovered the internal magazine will hold five rounds, but it won’t feed properly if you actually load five.
I headed back out to test the new ammo after the clean. The PPU produced a 2-inch group, albeit with fresh fouling shots after the deep clean. I then switched straight to the Hornady, which was the first ammo to feed, chamber, and extract smoothly.
That gave me a 1.5-inch group (shots 3–6 after the clean) and then a sub-1-inch group, with only one click between them from the previous Norma zero. Happy enough with that to consider it ethical for normal stalking distances — so I headed out and christened her.
