Rifle Help - couldn’t get on paper at 25 yards

[BRTreedogs]

What do I look for in the can for baffle strikes? I took it apart last night and inspected the baffles and didn’t see any signs of contact.


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I tried to take a pic but couldn't get the angle.

I had to shine a little and move it around to get the angle and the back edge of the end cap is beveled ish looking and silver while the rest has carbon.

 

[SDHNTR]

Christensen 300 PRC (FFT version, but has been upgraded to an XLR chassis), leupold backcountry pic rail and rings, maven RS1.2

First, shoot it without the can.

Second shoot it with a different rail/rings.

If no improvement send that rifle down the river and consider it a lesson learned.

 

[deerhunter628]

You may have already answered this but in your original post you said it was previously an accurate rifle. When did that change? Did it change when you put it in the chassis? Did you change the rail and rings and thats when it lost accuracy. Since the rifle was accurate previously it should be easy to figure out. Put everything back to the way it was when it was accurate.

 

[pbroski]

Is your barrel bent? Otherwise a can strike. That's pretty far to be off at 15 yards.

 

[Jason Snyder]

First, shoot it without the can.

Second shoot it with a different rail/rings.

If no improvement send that rifle down the river and consider it a lesson learned.

Some of you folks are missing the fact he said it was previously an accurate rifle. Clearly something he recently did is grossly affecting accuracy.

 

[PredatorSlayer]

It sounds like you lost Christensen arms roulette

Since they are one of the few companies that offer an accuracy guarantee, you can’t lose with them.

 

[Skarrchery]

I’m at a bit of a loss for words after my trip to the range this morning. I started the morning by going to a public shooting pit. Goal was to get velocity info for a few different rounds I have for my 300 prc, mostly out of curiosity since I just picked up a chronograph. I already knew what ammo I was going to zero the rifle with as well today. I setup a target at 100 yards and realized I wasn’t even on the box let alone on the paper. I tried to spot my shot and it seemed to be going way up and to the right. I attempted to adjust a few times and get closer, but had no luck.

I moved the target into 50 yards with pretty much the same result. I gave up and went to the public range that has benches.

When I got to the range I set the target at 25 yards and stil had no idea where it was hitting. definitely not on the targets i taped up. At this range they have so sleds so i grabbed one of those and boresighted at 25 yards. Still not on the paper but i was able to land a fee at other spots on the 3x3 backing for the targets.

Based on the trip today, I think something is loose or not seated properly. Maybe i messed something up this week when i was retorquing everything down and applying fingernail polish to the threads.

My question is, should I tear the rifle down in a certain order to diagnose things and if so where do I start? Prior to today this rifle has been extremely accurate.

For info, i'm running a 300 prc christensen in an xlr element 4.0 mg. the scope is a maven rs1.2 on a pic rail with leupold back country rings.

Bore sight it?

 

[Harvey_NW]

Some of you folks are missing the fact he said it was previously an accurate rifle. Clearly something he recently did is grossly affecting accuracy.

Where? I've seen this mentioned but unless something was edited I don't see where he stated it was previously accurate.

 

[Jason Snyder]

Where? I've seen this mentioned but unless something was edited I don't see where he stated it was previously accurate.

My question is, should I tear the rifle down in a certain order to diagnose things and if so where do I start? Prior to today this rifle has been extremely accurate.

Here.

Lots of variables. Bedded rail. New rings. Different stock. Can.

 

[Macintosh]

I missed that^^ too.

Something changed. Start subbing back parts until you figure out which it was that caused the shift.

 

[waspocrew]

So was the suppressor a new addition or was it shooting well with it previously?

When it was still 3 MOA off at 100 with your windage maxed out, was it still grouping? If consistently grouping, I would think that goes against a baffle strike.

Anyways, as mentioned above, I’d go back to the configuration the rifle was when it was shooting best and troubleshoot from there.

 

[Ucsdryder]

I had a rifle that had issues in a chassis. If it was accurate previous to the chassis I’d put it back in a traditional stock and shoot it. That’s my guess. Your experience is very similar to mine.

 

[ccoffey]

Update

Last night I took off the can and inspected for baffle strikes. I didn’t see any indications of that. I’m current in the process of cleaning the baffles and will reassemble.

I also took off the scope, original rings, and pic rail off the action. I noticed that the underside of the pic rail had more epoxy on one side than the other. I removed all of the epoxy that remained on the action. I then inspected the rail and everything seemed to be intact and not out of alignment.

I had a brand new pic rail in the box and I attached it straight to the action and did not bed it. It was torqued to 22 inch/lbs as recommended by the manufacturer.

I then re-attached the original scope rings and original maven scope.

I checked barrel clearance on the chassis, checked for obstructions in the barrel, and made sure every other screw on the stock was torqued correctly.

I put my stock CA side port brake on the rifle as well and timed and torqued it.

One last important note. I set the left right windage to zero position. I believe there is 35 MOA of adjustment in either direction from this point. Yesterday, I was fully maxed in the clockwise direction.

I stopped at the shooting pit this morning and placed a target at 20 yards. First round was low off target since I had zeroed the elevation as well. I adjusted for that shot and was center square of the target. I repeated that shot in the square. I then moved the target out to 100 yards. After one shot there I adjusted elevation again and was in the center. I then repeated 3 shots all within what I call tolerance shooting off a bipod in the back of the truck.

So now I think I’ve narrowed it down to one of 2 problems. Sloppy shitty pic rail job or issues with the can. I’m gonna take a break from sending $4 a shot down range and I’ll update with the can later this week.

 

[ccoffey]

So was the suppressor a new addition or was it shooting well with it previously?

When it was still 3 MOA off at 100 with your windage maxed out, was it still grouping? If consistently grouping, I would think that goes against a baffle strike.

Anyways, as mentioned above, I’d go back to the configuration the rifle was when it was shooting best and troubleshoot from there.

That’s the thing that had me so puzzled. It grouped well with the exact setup on 5-6 other trips this summer as I was working on different shooting positions. Sometime in the last 3 weeks since I shot, something came loose.

And no, with the windage maxed out it was still not grouping well. I just posted an update based on my trip this morning.

 

[Harvey_NW]

I had a brand new pic rail in the box and I attached it straight to the action and did not bed it. It was torqued to 22 inch/lbs as recommended by the manufacturer.

This will likely be an additional issue in the future.. If your receiver has 8-40 screws I would be putting no less than 30-in/lb on those base screws. With paint pen. Maybe even red Loctite if you proof that it shoots.

 

[roadrunner]

Something to keep in mind with bolts (screws) is that they are really springs and the torque specs are there to keep them in tension and tight. Too loose and you get movement, too tight and there is too much tension and contact force between the mating surfaces causing point loading.

 

[Reburn]

What do I look for in the can for baffle strikes? I took it apart last night and inspected the baffles and didn’t see any signs of contact.


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Mine was copper swipes that you couldnt see with the naked eye until I had seen them with a bore scope. Caused my 223 to group in a 9" oval.

 

[waspocrew]

If everything else checks out and you suspect the suppressor is the issue, I’d grab an alignment rod to see if the mount or can is off center.

 

[Jason Snyder]

If everything else checks out and you suspect the suppressor is the issue, I’d grab an alignment rod to see if the mount or can is off center.

Yep. Pretty easy check.

 

[Vern400]

I'm not an expert, but I've never been that far off either. Tell me your barrel is free floating? My rifles light and heavy go bonkers if anything is touching the barrel ahead of the recoil lug. Like clean misses on 18x18 paper at 100 yds on the light ones. All I have to do to screw up is let the forward bag touch the barrel and groups go straight to Hades. 0.5 goes to 2 in high. And we don't even want to talk about and exposed barrel on an AR touching something.

I don't know anything about suppressors and what they do really. I reckon if something irregular happens on the inside it's not good.