Sorry, I’ve not read all the comments but as a general observation- I’ve shot all my best groups prone from a bipod from .22 up to .50BMG, however positioning and recoil management is key. Harris bipods tend to jump and are more tricky to load on slipperly or loose surfaces as opposed to say an Atlas that has some forward and backward movement.
My new custom rifle is driving me crazy, help needed!
- Thread starter randello88
- Start date
TringSaint
Well-Known Member
Have you got a mod on the rifle?
Maybe a bit of additional weight along with the braking effect of the baffles will help tame the muzzle movement.
Maybe a bit of additional weight along with the braking effect of the baffles will help tame the muzzle movement.
randello88
Well-Known Member
I didn’t because I don’t like hunting with earplugs so I don’t wanna use a muzzle brake if possible.. and a moderator is illegal here in Italy.
randello88
Well-Known Member
So what lightweight bipod would you use?
randello88
Well-Known Member
According to your answers my friends, it seems like a good plan could be:
1) try to use an atlas bipod and see if the problem persists. In this case i should take a QD one in order to be able to take it off if necessary
2) if it persists, ditch the bipod and just use the backpack supporting the forend like i always did.
What I was trying to understand is if my rifle is flawed and too sensitive to minor details or not but apparently this is not an easy answer to get
1) try to use an atlas bipod and see if the problem persists. In this case i should take a QD one in order to be able to take it off if necessary
2) if it persists, ditch the bipod and just use the backpack supporting the forend like i always did.
What I was trying to understand is if my rifle is flawed and too sensitive to minor details or not but apparently this is not an easy answer to get
TringSaint
Well-Known Member
Ahhhh, then maybe some lead adornments off the stock fore end then!
I had to add some weight to the front of my steyr as it was a bit light and the stock was too flexible. So I used flexible moulding resin (miliput) to fill in all of the open chambers and the mix of adding stiffness and a bit of weight has made the rifle work beautifully.
I guess your rifle is a bit like an Italian sports car - amazing on the right road surface, but on the wrong road surface it’s less fun!
Hope you get it sorted.
TringSaint
Well-Known Member
Sounds like it’s a bit of a diva!!According to your answers my friends, it seems like a good plan could be:
1) try to use an atlas bipod and see if the problem persists. In this case i should take a QD one in order to be able to take it off if necessary
2) if it persists, ditch the bipod and just use the backpack supporting the forend like i always did.
What I was trying to understand is if my rifle is flawed and too sensitive to minor details or not but apparently this is not an easy answer to get
HonestJohn
Well-Known Member
Hold the forend! Seriously. Read the article 
jthyttin
Well-Known Member
Forget changing gear.
It sounds like you need to work on your shooting fundamentals. Try to get lots of air / rimfire practice in, just make sure the practice is relevant (perfect shots from perfect position as "control", and then other positions as experiments).
Brake or mod will do nothing than add a bit weight, and remove or mask user error. Their effect on fundamentals is only after bullet has left the muzzle.
It sounds like you need to work on your shooting fundamentals. Try to get lots of air / rimfire practice in, just make sure the practice is relevant (perfect shots from perfect position as "control", and then other positions as experiments).
Brake or mod will do nothing than add a bit weight, and remove or mask user error. Their effect on fundamentals is only after bullet has left the muzzle.
randello88
Well-Known Member
In this case i will surely sell it, i have no use for a rifle i can’t use on the field at all. why do you say it is like this? What variables could make it so sensitive to minor details other than weight?
There's nothing wrong with your rifle. You'd shooting a light(ish) rifle with no mod across a range of positions, with/without bipod etc. Your results are entirely consistent with "field conditions".What I was trying to understand is if my rifle is flawed and too sensitive to minor details or not but apparently this is not an easy answer to get
randello88
Well-Known Member
And what about using a bipod which i can preload a bit? Man, seriously, i tried everything to make this rifle recoil in a straight line. The load is probably fairly hot pushing 165 gr 308 at 825 m/s and the rifle just jumps. I have never seen something like this with my other 308 rifles. I am not sure someone could make this rifle don’t hop with that harris bipod unless you immobilize the feet or load it in an artificial way. I was never once able to see my impacts in 350 rounds (using a 16x mag, ok, but still the rifle almost always jumps, in any condition, in exception of when i shot it from the backpack or the bench, in that case the recoil was more of the usual “push” i experience with many RIfles, instead of the hop i am getting with this one. If I could load the bipod things could change
Maybe I am wrong. Are you able to shoot a 10 lbs rifle with let’s say a 300 win mag and a harris bipod and get a perfectly straight recoil in every position and terrain?
Personally I like Atlas.
Vertical stringing shooting from a bipod usually comes when the rifle is not properly located in the shoulder pocket and you get muzzle jump (usually it jumps up and left if your a rh shooter)
You know you’ve got your position when the bipod feet stay in one place and the rifle pulses back - you should be able to return to the target and even spot your shot.
Dry firing helps trigger control and eliminating flinch.
If it shoots big holes from a bench it’ll be fine. Go and find Franks tutorials on snipers hide and get lots of rounds down range. All part of the fun.
You're over thinking this. It's a stalking rifle. Field conditions aren't perfect. You can't always pre-load a bipod (if the ground is loose, soft, muddy etc). You need to learn to focus on the fundamentals, control the recoil and then accept that you will not always be able to shoot benchrest accuracy in the field.
randello88
Well-Known Member
I get what you say and you are right, we are saying two different things. I try to explain myself. We all agree that having rock solid fundamentals is important. We all agree that someone with a lot of shooting experience in field positions is gonna have less poi shift in harsh conditions given a less than ideal equipment. But then why shouldn’t i try to reduce the margin of error using a bipod which theoretically has benefits exactly in the ballpark of issues i am getting? I know that changing gear is a fast solution and getting more experience is a slow one and i know that i can’t rush on the latter, if I will ever need to considering i don’t plan on shooting on anything breathing past 350 meters. My point is: a good shooter can hit a roe with iron sights at 300 meters 9/10 times . This means he shouldn’t upgrade and mount a scope to reduce the margin of error? This is an extreme example of course but i think you got my point
TringSaint
Well-Known Member
I think it comes down to the level of engineering precision.
Take my remy 308. I can put just about any ammo through it and it shoots well. Not up to the standards that you are talking about when your rifle is on song, but equally far better than what you describe when it’s not.
I can shoot it off pretty much anything and it’s still ok - and that comes down to the engineering being a bit more sympathetic perhaps.
It’s not a ‘picky’ rifle so it can handle 95% of situations just fine, but it’s also not a sub moa rifle either.
Question is, in the field do you need sub moa performance? And if so, are you happy to put up with the rifle being picky about how it’s shot?
For me, I am happy with how my factory rifles perform - I know how they shoot and know how far to push them in terms of distance, and I know that if the ground is uneven or not very firm or whatever then I know I can still shoot with a relatively high degree of accuracy and hit what I am aiming for without too much hassle.
But……. I tend not to shoot deer much further than 250m away, largely because I shoot cwd and muntjac predominantly (and it’s a small kill zone on a small deer) and that my ground doesn’t really allow for much longer shots without shooting across hedges, etc.
Shooting groups is a skill (whatever way you do it)
Shooting a single round from ‘a position’ is another skill
I shoot groups to ensure my rifle and ammo are up to the task. I’m quite good at it. I bet however there are lots of stalkers with one old wooden stocked rifle that would outshoot me with that one shot in the field.
Have confidence in your kit and go through (and enjoy) the process of learning to shoot in different ways.
Shooting a single round from ‘a position’ is another skill
I shoot groups to ensure my rifle and ammo are up to the task. I’m quite good at it. I bet however there are lots of stalkers with one old wooden stocked rifle that would outshoot me with that one shot in the field.
Have confidence in your kit and go through (and enjoy) the process of learning to shoot in different ways.
randello88
Well-Known Member
I don’t see how mechanical engineering could result in less tolerances to different positions. Maybe the rigidity of the stock yes. As far as factory loads, i tried this rifle with 5 different loads. Every single one shot sub MOA and 3 of them shot literally bughole groups (hornady sst, fiocchi hpbt and geco express) so this rifle is way more tolerant of different loads than any other rifle i had. If your remmy is not even sub moa at the range of course you don’t see big changes if you change shooting positions, how could you, the variance will be included in the natural spread of the groups. Also this one, if I don’t consider fliers which are most likely due to fatigue after several rounds because they never pop up in the first groups of the session, never goes much beyond 1 MOA with a less than ideal position.. so why you say it shoots “far better” than this when the conditions are not ideal? I don’t understand
randello88
Well-Known Member
I didn’t shot many roes, maybe 60 or 70, but no one came back to tell it to his friends. I have never seen a deviation of more than a couple cm from were i expected the bullette to go on distances between 25 and 250 meters so i think that with the other rifle i got some capacity to land that first shot with good results. This thread is about my rifle maybe not being up to the task mechanically.. most people i talk to say it’s a normal behaviour opening up from 0.2/0.3 MOA to 1-1.5 in field conditions but to me it sounds weird.. how can people shoot longer ranges and make first round impact with lightweight magnum rifles then? It’s also true that my other rifle is loaded with milder recoiling 308s and that i never shot actually groups with it from field positions, i just did some tests when the scope took a bump or after deep cleaning (which i did 3 Times in the life of the rifle ahah)
Weird harmonics maybe? Barrel definitely won’t be touching the stock. Not to say something else isn’t going on.
I’d get someone else to shoot it, see how they go.
Then investigate, barrel, bedding, bolts etc
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