ot: Hunting Rifle with 20" groups... UPDATE: Scope

The cartridge that the rifle is chambered in is excellent.

Check the muzzle for dings, make sure the stock is tight, and make sure your optics aren't loose.

If those are not the problem, then you're probably looking at getting a new barrel.



On the bright side, if you do rebarrel it, you can swap it out to .308 without issue and save a bit on ammo.

I took a close look at the muzzle and there is a very small ding on the outside edge of the barrel. Could that account for the extreme inaccuracy?

After you follow TRH's suggestions, but before you get a new barrel, assuming it is now 20" long, you may want to consider shortening it & recrowning.

Find out what the optimum length should be for the cartridge. 18" or 19" may change the harmonics of the barrel enough to bring your POI to a consistant size.

Whatever you decide, make sure the barrel has no internal, hidden defects, such as being bored off center before putting more $$ into it. Otherwise it may shoot well, fired slowly, but string out in one direction as it heats up.

how does it group at 100 yards?

I am going to spend some time on google about the optimum barrel length...
The barrel right now is 22"


As for 100 yd groups, better but still not great. About 5"-6" 5 shot groups.

Check if the barrel is in contact with stock. slide a dollar bill between the barrel and barrel channel..if its contacting remove the action and open up the barrel channel in the stock. re-assemble ,and tighten the trigger guard screws . repeat till there is no contact. Then take it to the range and post a report.

gundoc said:

Check if the barrel is in contact with stock. slide a dollar bill between the barrel and barrel channel..if its contacting remove the action and open up the barrel channel in the stock. re-assemble ,and tighten the trigger guard screws . repeat till there is no contact. Then take it to the range and post a report.

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You may be on to something, there is not a single place between the barrel and the stock where I could ever hope to slide a dollar bill through. The stock fits VERY tightly against the barrel. I will loosen the screws and see what happens.

If all else fail I know a guy who can cut it down , put a target crown on it and cryo the barrel. :smile: That is a good caliber.

snakebite said:

how does it group at 100 yards?

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stop slobbering on your keyboard over that pic. :lol:

I think the optics or the mount are the most likely thing that could cause that.

are they vertically stringing, or just all over the place?

ou may be on to something, there is not a single place between the barrel and the stock where I could ever hope to slide a dollar bill through. The stock fits VERY tightly against the barrel. I will loosen the screws and see what happens.

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If optics rings and bases are tight then this is most likely going to be your problem. You will need to relieve the stress on the barrel caused by the stock touching it: every place that the stock touches the barrel causes a disharmony in barrel harmonics. Easy fix; just hog out the barrel channel until you can slide a dollar bill between the barrel and stock all the way back to where the barrel enters the action. Also, a bedding job (pillar bedding is best, usually) is an inexpensive way to really start driving tacks with it. Neither of these things is hard to do.

My bet is that it's the scope or scope not mounted tight enough. Shouldn't matter if your barrel is free floating or not. I had a 30 yr old Leupold that gave me inconsitent groups on a couple different rifles, I sent it in, and Leupold fixed it free of charge, no questions asked. Now before you go re-crowning and replacing the bbl, check that scope and mount.

Before you try any of these good suggestions, I would take it back to the range with a screw driver and back the tension off the stock screws a little and fire a few rounds. If that doesn't work, then go forward with the other ideas. The stock screws may just be over torqued.

I wouldn't waste my time looking at the barrel with those kinds of 'groups'. You have a problem with your optics. Either sometime's come loose, or you just have a bad scope. Never assume that a high dollar scope can't go bad (ask me how I know).

Doesn't Ruger have a lifetime warranty on most firearms?

rdm said:

Doesn't Ruger have a lifetime warranty on most firearms?

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their definition of "good enough" may differ very highly from you or me or anyone else.

i've known several folks in the same position send guns to ruger only to be told it was "acceptable hunting accuracy" and leave it at that. :neutral:

most of them traded the guns in at the gun store, cause they didn't want to personally sell a gun that wouldn't shoot.

i had a similar problem with my mosin sporter it went from shooting 1 inch groups at 100m to 20 to 25 inch at 100m i thought my barrel was screwed and after looking it over i noticed there was a small mark on my optic. turns out that something hit my optics and the crosshairs would shift from the recoil of the rifle. slapped a cheap $20 tasco 4x on it and it was dead on. i replaced it with a 6x PO from Kalinka and have had no problems with it since.

i never did find out how it got damaged.

I experienced a similiar problem with one of my rifles. I had the same scope with the exception of the 50mm vs. your 40mm. There was a problem with the internals and the crosshairs were moving where it wouldn't hold zero. My shots were all over the place.

Send the scope back to Leupold and they will clean, adjust and fix the scope. You will be out the cost of shipping at the most.

That would be a cheap way to start after you have verified that the bases, screws and over all mechanics of your optics set-up is in order.

I wouldn't start recrowning and shortening barrel or messing with the stock to barrel fitment until I was assured the optics were up to par.


DK

So after reading all the suggestions, I took it to the range and traded the scope on it for one of my father's Leupolds. It shot fine with his scope.

Called Leupold and they told me to send it in so they can look at it. :neutral:

Thanks for the help, I never thought a $350 scope would crap out like that.