"A" 22" inch light weight barrel, factory sights, Alex Henry fore arm.
"AB" There are several thousand from the 80s. 22" light weight barrel, no sights, Semi Beavertail fore arm.
"B" 26" barrel, medium/standard weight, no sights, Semi Beavertail for arm. Uncataloged short run of 100 made in 1975. Serial numbers are around 130-135xx give or take a little.
I don't think there are any Douglas barreled 7x57s. The 7x57 came out right after Ruger went to Wilson barrels when they cranked up production from a few thousand a year 1967-1973 to LOTS in 75 and 76 and Douglas couldn't keep up, especially with the 77s added in. Ruger went to their own hammer forged barrels in 1991 and it's possible yours has a Ruger barrel as they didn't go to the black pad till after that.
If it's all over the place, especially with light weight bullets in factory ammo it MIGHT be the throat but there are far fewer with the long throat than not. If it's stringing in a line, usually vertical it's probably a fore arm pressure or barrel harmonics issue. For what it's worth 2" is the factory acceptable accuracy and if you send it in they'll just send it back, ;-) "It's a sporting rifle designed for acceptable sporting accuracy". My dad killed the last deer he ever killed with my "A" in 7x57 so it's here to stay. I just started using 175s, they kill deer and elk and quit tinkering with it. It still shoots just under 2" with the 175s BUT it is a group rather than a string of shots and it's certainly Minute of Deer at any reasonable hunting range.
The best
Ross
