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.

 

[Bater]

Maybe I missed it but are you dialing elevation? Using reticle? I’m assuming you have some sort of scope issue

 

[farmer14]

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.

Yes, I have a level on it. I shot today and have an ES of 56.

Of all your suggestions, I think it’s anticipating the boom.

I adjusted the trigger and it made a world of difference. I shot 500 cold bore and bam, 2” below center punch. I before 300, 400, and 600 and I was able to bang metal so maybe it was just me and the trigger. Time will tell. Thanks for the reply.

 

[farmer14]

Maybe I missed it but are you dialing elevation? Using reticle? I’m assuming you have some sort of scope issue

Yes I am dialing, using a near new maven RS 1.2 Mil.

I don’t think it’s the scope BUT I have noticed some potential discrepancies between what I’m dialing/my app tells me to dial and where I’m actually hitting. Again, don’t know if that’s me or the load.

At the end of the day, I know I can effectively kill at 600 so I’ll hover at that range for now until I can do some more trouble shooting.

Thanks for the reply!

 

[farmer14]

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.

I tried some 205 Bergers and they shot about 2 MOA. first go with them but I think they are promising. I’ll continue to dial it in - I’m not very good at loading bergers due to my crappy effort at measuring ogive but I’ll give it a shot. Thanks for the reply!