Christensen Arms Mesa 300 Win mag and accubond woes…

[farmer14]

I’ve always reloaded for this rifle using nosler 180 accubonds and at 100 yards I can touch holes, even with it kicking like a rented mule.

No suppressor and factory muzzle break (which is pretty crappy). Other than that no mods.

At 400 yards and beyond, I’m all over the place and have trouble hitting a giant metal gong.

Muzzle velocity is out of the barrel is 3120 using RL 22.

What am I doing wrong? Trigger anticipation? Like I said, this thing has so much recoil after 4-5 shots im over it.

After checking zero - 5 shots - I let it completely cool then go out to distance and the troubles start again.

Too light of a bullet being pushed too fast? Me? Rifle? All screws remain torqued to factory specs.

I’m as lost as a baseball in the tall grass on this one…

Thanks in advance for any recommendations!

 

[AM_Hunter]

Whats the ES on your loads? A high enough ES could be pushing you off of your target at 400 depending on the size. If its a 10" gong theres no reason you should be missing it at 400 if youre grouping like that unless you have a crazy high ES, or your dope is way off, or you are anticipating your shots significantly. Also, do you have a bubble level and are you making sure its level? If youre not level consistently it could be pushing your rounds left or right off target.

 

[wind gypsy]

Have you put it on paper at 400 yards or have enough gong hits to see general distribution?

I didn't shoot it much at distance back when but i seemed to have some unexplained poor performance on a 300wsm with 180 accubonds at distance that shot really tight at 100 too. 185 classic hunter bergers did notably better even though they didn't shoot quite as tight at 100. Sample size was small and I never drilled into it to get a 100% conclusion though.

Even pretty lousy velocity ES shouldn't make things completely fall apart at 400.

I dont know why an accubond would fall apart like that at a moderate distance but i'd try a different bullet.