Thread: Improving the accuracy of a rifle questions- advice wanted please.

I found that my groups got smaller shooting off my small pack with my swandry inside it with the higher recoiling rifles they tended to jump around a bit on firing off my bipod doesn't affect my lighter recoiling rifles as much

my 2c worth to the lots of good advice already given.

Trigger job will help for sure - get that pull wieght down to 1.5 - 2lb.

Cleaning - make sure you've got clean barrel with no copper fouling. Nathan's Terminal Ballsitics website is a teasure trove of info on everything, including cleaning. A polish with JB's might also help - but dont over do it !

Bedding - first you might consider an after market stock, most standard synthetic factory stocks are not ideal for a stable platform for bedding. I've had good luck with B&C stocks (other might have a different experience) as well as some of the more expensive brands. In terms of bedding, try Mitch Maxberry in the Hutt. He very knowledgeable, helpful and reasonable prices. Wont cost you much more than buying the bedding components, and you get an expert job !

Scope rings - forget the lapping imo, just invest in good quality rings. I find the Burris Signature Zee rings with the variable inserts give a great platform and allow you to adjust for any up/down (or sideways) between front and rear rings. This really helps get your scope into alignment with out the need to crank the be jesus out of the scope turrets which can get you into optical issues & inaccuracy.

If you're chasing sub moa then probably need to find some one to reload for you.
cheers & good luck.

Originally Posted by chainsaw

Cleaning - make sure you've got clean barrel with no copper fouling.

A little bit of copper fouling is a good thing - carbon fouling is a problem. Cold clean barrel will throw the first few shots out slow and potentially out of the group - particularly at extended distances

Originally Posted by chainsaw

my 2c worth to the lots of good advice already given.

Trigger job will help for sure - get that pull wieght down to 1.5 - 2lb.

It was already pretty light so thanks for that.

Cleaning - make sure you've got clean barrel with no copper fouling. Nathan's Terminal Ballsitics website is a teasure trove of info on everything, including cleaning. A polish with JB's might also help - but dont over do it !

Bedding - first you might consider an after market stock, most standard synthetic factory stocks are not ideal for a stable platform for bedding. I've had good luck with B&C stocks (other might have a different experience) as well as some of the more expensive brands. In terms of bedding, try Mitch Maxberry in the Hutt. He very knowledgeable, helpful and reasonable prices. Wont cost you much more than buying the bedding components, and you get an expert job !

I am looking at this and seeing if there is anyone in the Waikato area that can do it. I like my synthetic stock as it fits me well and comes up nicely, one of the reasons that I chose the rifle in question. Might not be the easiest to get bedded but can only try.

Scope rings - forget the lapping imo, just invest in good quality rings. I find the Burris Signature Zee rings with the variable inserts give a great platform and allow you to adjust for any up/down (or sideways) between front and rear rings. This really helps get your scope into alignment with out the need to crank the be jesus out of the scope turrets which can get you into optical issues & inaccuracy.

Yeah not overly fussed about it TBH, might be a very last thing I do.

If you're chasing sub moa then probably need to find some one to reload for you.
IT would be great to be able to do this and certainly if I could get access to a range in Waikato I would look at it, for the time being will stick with trying to get the rifle to shoot well with factory ammo
cheers & good luck.

Cheers, seriously good bunch of buggers you lot are.

Originally Posted by Willie

Cheers, seriously good bunch of buggers you lot are.

Willie the only thing I'd add to what my learned colleagues have said (as excellent starting points) is don't overlook the value of strengthening the fore-end as part of your bedding activities. The other would be to check the crown for any wee dags that might be there at the end of the rifling, if there are its relatively easy to get removed or polished out.

Remington and even my T3 that i thought was free floating when sitting in my gun vise was touching the barrel in one place when I'd place weight on the Harris Bi-pod firing prone. Sweet as off the bags but both the Remington SPS ( Theres a reason its called SPS) and T3 Lite stocks tend to have a possibility of torquing and touching the barrel when fired if you use one of those or apply any pressure that may influence the free floating nature of the barrel and the ability for the lug to float during the shot and return to battery.

Nathan Foster has a compound for that too - It adds weight but this might be the thing that changes your POI for the group by as much as .5 MOA.

I'd also check or get Arthur to check for slop in the action and see whether a true up may be warranted. Its a line call but now wer're getting into long range tweaks and to the point where there will be diminishing returns for cost versus accuracy gain.

Just my 2c.

P.

Ok so you are shooting off a bipod but it is jumping around when you fire?
Righto rem plastic stocks are pressure point bedded, putting pressure on the front of the stock puts pressure on the barrel, moving it.
to fix it if you are going to use a bipod all the time it will need a bedding job and freefloating.

rifle jumping around when you fire it, ... hold onto the foreend or bipod leg when you shoot.
When you shoot do everything the same everytime you fire, consistency is the key.

or just sight the rifle in, don't bother firing groups all the time. Just go shoot stuff with it, seems to work for a lot of blokes

Originally Posted by Tuidog

Ok so you are shooting off a bipod but it is jumping around when you fire?
Righto rem plastic stocks are pressure point bedded, putting pressure on the front of the stock puts pressure on the barrel, moving it.
to fix it if you are going to use a bipod all the time it will need a bedding job and freefloating.

rifle jumping around when you fire it, ... hold onto the foreend or bipod leg when you shoot. It only ever jumps around with coreloct hence not using that. Hornady and Whitetail it is fine.
When you shoot do everything the same everytime you fire, consistency is the key.

or just sight the rifle in, don't bother firing groups all the time. Just go shoot stuff with it, seems to work for a lot of blokes

Plan is get it back after new trigger and then get it bedded, thinking that will do the trick. Just need to see how long it will be before i get it back

Originally Posted by northdude

I found that my groups got smaller shooting off my small pack with my swandry inside it with the higher recoiling rifles they tended to jump around a bit on firing off my bipod doesn't affect my lighter recoiling rifles as much

That's an error in your shooting position causing the rifle to jump with the bipod. With good natural point of aim and a bit of bipod loading they don't hop.
Don't worry though, shooting off a pack is a lot more forgiving for this but depending on you technique and practice may not be quite as steady as the bipod.