is it me ????

pj1

Well-Known Member
View attachment 47965I have been out this evening to re zero with some factory ammo. I have had inconsistency problems with my parker hale in 308 and so I thought I could eliminate one variable by using factory loads rather than home loads.
Well the first three shots were near touching. I was quite surprised (75 yards off of a bench bag). I let it cool for twenty minutes or so and fired another two shots and they were slightly left so i adjusted the scope to come nearer the point of aim and fired 3 more shots with minor adjustment in between.
I let it cool again and put a new target up. And the old problem appears again. It shot high and right by several inches. So I followed up with three more shots. Which crept down and left.
Is it me or the gun. But more importantly will the rifle be zeroed to the right point next time I use it.

Regards pete
 
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Have you been cleaning your rifle?
have you checked barrel clearance?
Have you checked that scope is tight and action too?
 
Scope and action tight. Pushed through after each outing but not scrubbed. Barrel isn't floated but was made that way and not wanting go down that route really. Was really pleased with the first group. (they are half inch squares) and if it was where I was aiming would of left alone and been very confident in I but adjusted scope to point of impact with two further acceptable shots then it goes all off and it blows your confidence right out the water
 
Scope and action tight. Pushed through after each outing but not scrubbed. Barrel isn't floated but was made that way and not wanting go down that route really. Was really pleased with the first group. (they are half inch squares) and if it was where I was aiming would of left alone and been very confident in I but adjusted scope to point of impact with two further acceptable shots then it goes all off and it blows your confidence right out the water

What is the scope? Are you having parallax issues?~Muir
 
Scope is a pecar champion 6 x 45. Not having parallax issues. I had a Nikon monarch on this rifle but struggled to get good eye relief and put that down to inconsistent groups
 
Am I right in thinking that most sporting rifles will shift zero after a few shots when the barrel has warmed. When the barrel is cold on the next stalk / trip should it have returned to the original zero even if the barrel is not floated
 
Yeah POI will shift with a warm barrel, floated or not.

How does the crown look?

That's a gross generalisation. Some rifles may exhibit a shift or opening up of groups as they heat up. How hot is "hot"?

Assuming the bedding screws etc are tight, I would start with the scope...
 
Crown looks ok and even / uniform. The rifle although built in the early 80s has had from what I can see is very little use and if I can get it to group like the first five shots did I will be well pleased but it always seems to leave me with a little dought in my mind

I let it cool for about 20 minuets after the first 3 shots to then take four and five. Between each group except the last three shots I let the rifle cool to what was not stone cold but certainly cooler than my hands

If it were the scope would it group like the first 5 shots then after after adjustment be shifting zero. Never had a broken scope before so don't know how they behave. Do they shift as each shot is fired or is it not an exact science
 
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pj1 Do you have a moderator on the rifle? If so does it come loose after a few shots? - This can have the effect of moving zero unpredictably.

Ian
 
Hi yorric. Yes I'm using an atec cmm4 mod but do check it after each couple of shots as I have heard of the loosening and affecting zero
 
Are you changing your hold and firing position after each shot ?....what are the empty cases like after firing are they sealing....have you checked that the round is not clipping the end of the mody on exit.....
 
I have only been shooting centre fire for three years so I have little experience but what I have is recent! Are you calling the shots? As in getting the sense that everything was good when you fired?

I had a confusing period trying different factory ammo and lost confidence in both my ability and that of the equipment. I removed me from the equation and asked a friend to have a go with it.

His groups were much better than mine, :( but significantly they reflected a proportionally similar difference between the factory rounds. :)

The gun did not like Federal Powershok 150grn or Hornady SST Superperformance 150grn, but loved Hornady Superperformance SST 165grn and GMX 150grn, and liked Sako Super Hammerhead SP 150.

Now I have a much better idea of whether it is me or the equipment and have consequently bettered my groups and gained a bit more confidence.

Do you "know a man that can?"

Alan
 
I will check the cases later this evening but I'm sure the bullets aren't clipping the mod. Shot number 9 I would say was different seemed to kick / jump more. Don't think it was the round but more likely me. All the others felt good shooting prone off of front and rear bench bags. Front bag under scope objective bell so back from the thin end of the stock.

I do know a man that can. Will try and arrange some tine to meet up
 
That Pecar scope, is image moving or does it move the cross hairs?

With an image moving scope there is a spring holding erector tube against the adjusters.
good to wind adjusters away from spring tension, give scope a good tap to make sure tube is hard against adjusters,
then approach zero by adjusting against spring tension if you see what i mean.
I used to like the cross hair moving scopes as you could actually see the adjustment take place
 
Its a champion where the reticle stays centered if that's makes sense. Is this the type with the spring I may need to slacken and adjust
 
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Yes,, the poor old spring has to hold the internals hard in 2 directions and overtime everything can take a bit of a set.
there is a chap on utube shooting a hmr , you can see him giving his scope a couple of taps after every adjustment
 
Ok I will look that up thanks. The scope is in really nice condition and so clear so I don't want to just discard it
 
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