Problem sighting in rifle

[Evergreen]

Maybe it just doesnt like the ammo? Maybe you ruled that out and I missed it!

 

[Teaman1]

I guess for now, I’ll assume it’s me. Really hoping it’s not the scope. Could be ammo, just thought it was strange that the first shot was a couple inches away and the 2nd & 3rd shots were right about an inch apart. Lotta possible problems to weed out. Guess I’ll get someone to shoot it tomorrow to make sure it’s not me

 

[Salmon River Solutions]

make sure everything is tight, if the problem persists, throw the scope on another gun. I just went thru this with my dads rifle. New gun and scope, terrible wandering groupings. I put the scope on my gun and it shot great. My scope on his gun still shot terrible. Ended up being a bad barrel.

 

[Teaman1]

Average of the 3 shot groups was 3ish inches. The 5” group I was talking about was the 1st shot from each group collectively. Just wanted to throw that out there.

 

[Wrench]

You have to anchor the forened down with your free hand. The light guns recoil so fast that you WILL screw it up and not believe it.

 

[tntrker]

I was having issues with a new Savage 300wm. I'd always get 2 "flingers" out of 5 shots. Torqued my action screws to 55lbs and backed the muzzle brake out one turn. Now she's grouping all shots...

 

[Staton_cole]

I would try a different scope to see if that is the culprit

 

[Teaman1]

Thanks for the advice everybody. Went the cheap route and gave it a good cleaning. I changed up my shooting form a bit after reading a couple articles on shooting lightweight rifles. Those were the only changes I made. I shot 2 - 2 shot groups this morning and all four together were about a 1.5 inch grouping. I’m assuming I was the problem. Time for more practice and to maybe try some new loads after this season.
And just because I checked today, the rifle weighs 7.1 pounds scoped with sling and trigger breaks at 2.2 pounds.
Thanks all and good luck to you this fall

 

[Teaman1]

Still might put a bell and Carlson stock on it though

 

[Anozira]

Random story from years ago: My old man bought a new rifle and shortly after had a muzzle brake, trigger-job and new scope installed. He went to the range to sight it in and could not get it to group for the life of him. Took it to the gunsmith who did the work and the gunsmith blamed his shooting techniques etc... My dad went back out and tried again to no avail; he could not get a grouping worth a hill of beans... He returned to the gunsmith for the third time very discouraged and frustrated. The gunsmith took the rifle out himself and surprisingly also could not get it to group.

Long story short, the gunsmith forgot to ream the final diameter of the muzzle brake and the bullets were barely striking the tip of the brake just enough to cause them hit inconstantly. Luckily no damage was done to the rifle and the gunsmith made it right. That was years ago but this thread reminded me of that.

 

[16Bore]

325 WSM in a light package can cause a case of the McFlinchies. Scopes “settling” is a rural legend and hot barrels never scared me. Make sure the thing is put together correctly, no action screws or scope screws are hitting the bolt head. Or a scope screw dead heading on the barrel shank.

worst thing would be to let someone else shoot and find out its all you.

But it happens.

 

[Teaman1]

The reason I cleaned it was so I wasn’t the only variable haha. I’m guessing it was me though. Just needed a little more focus I guess. I did change up the way I hold it though after reading about others and their “lightweights”

 

[Billy E]

I had a gun that frustrated me for 20 years (yes) and eventually figured out the rear ring was walking in the base under recoil.

 

[Teaman1]

Hoping I get that 325 shooting as good as I’d like. I have a 300 wsm that I want to change to a 35 sambar

 

[Teaman1]

I can hunt with 1.5” groups though, I’m not a long ranger

 

[16Bore]

1-1/2” groups are fine, but everyone wants their rig to shoot little groups. Just work on one variable at a time. I’d take it apart and look for tell tale signs of things being out of whack. Maybe if you have a proven scope on another rig, try it on this rifle.

What rings are you using?

 

[Teaman1]

Ya. The bare rifle weighs just over 5.5 pounds so I’ll find out what kind of accuracy I can get with hand loads after this years hunting season

 

[Newt]

You have to anchor the forened down with your free hand. The light guns recoil so fast that you WILL screw it up and not believe it.

This X2.

I proved it to myself. I have a couple rather light weight rifles that are a dream to tote around the mountains, but when shot you must control them or else you get erratic groups. I learned that practicing field conditions was to put my hand over the scope to add the extra weight it needed to recoil correctly.

Some believe that recoil only effects accuracy because of flinching. The theory is that a bullet is not directly affected by recoil. However, when math is applied, you can see that recoil can effect where the muzzle is pointing before the bullet leaves. It doesn’t take much movement.

Lightweight guns have to be controlled under recoil because they have the propensity to move more. You can’t apply the same teqniques of shooting to them as you do heavier rifles.

I have a rifle that weighs close to 15lbs. I can pretty much sit behind it and pull the trigger without touching it and the weight of it will ‘manage’ the recoil. The lightweight ones have to be controlled way different if you want consistent repeatable results.

 

[Ratliff92]

If the stock is warped I’d try floating the barrel if you have the room. If not then start looking at stocks


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Teaman1]

The stock is a little warped. Passed the dollar test I guess so it’s just annoying to look at more than anything