Thread: Factory ammo fliers every 3 shots

Hey team.
Took my new rifle out for a spin today.
She's a winchester mod 70 243.
I intend to reload for it and have ordered some eldx 90g which should be here mid February.
I bought some hornandy whitetails 100g soft points just to run through it in the meantime as I can use the brass.
I put 20 rounds through the rifle today getting a feel for it and sighting in.
But I foubd that I could put 2 shots almost on top of each other and then the 3rd would always be a flier 3 or 4 inches higher.
Any idea what would cause this ? Or is it just me getting used to the rifle ?
Very happy with everything else it shoots nice trigger is good no creep and about 2.5lbs of pull. It feeds really well too.
It's not an issue for hunting too much as I have never needed 2 shots to kill anything but just curious as to what might be causing the fliers.
Took thd rifle home and gave it a really good clean just with patches and gun oil.
If nothing here sheds light I'll take it round to a mate and get him to put a few down range to see if it's just me.
Thanks

Typical group 2 shots nice and close, the 3rd would always be 3 or 4 inches higher

Check everything is tight, as well as the stock make sure its all good. It may pay to get some other factory or handloads and run them through to see if they group better. Some rifles can be touchy in terms of what they like and dislike.

Yup everything is nice and tight, I didn't clean it prior to shooting so will ry again after as it was a bit grubby in the chamber but the bore looks good.
It may be fussy, I'm not gonna dick around with factory ammo just waiting for my eldx to arrive then I can fiddle the load till I find the sweet spot it likes.
Just wondering if I was missing something ovious thst would cause this ?

Check the primers to make sure they are even. Not that a small change in velocity would be obvious in the primer but worth a look.
Also how long between shots, did you check the target between groups? Barrel may be getting warm.

It sounds like a bedding issue to me. There is probably some fore-end contact and the barrel is reacting to it as it heats up. Check all screws including rings and bases, then try and slide a piece of paper around the barrel and see if it goes all the way to the receiver.

If its always the third shot it possibly has something to do eith heat. Some part may be expanding just enough to cause a contact somwhere. Check yr barrel is properly free floating with adequate clearance as a start point.

Bedding issue if always 3rd shot imo.

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Best guess bedding is shot as others have previously stated. Firing 5 shots will confirm this you will get 2 groups one of 3 the other 2. The recoil is bouncing the action backwards and forwards between two points. Over tightening the action screws wont fix it but may damage the stock. It needs a proper bedding job and as gundoc said making sure the barrel is free floated.

run paper between barrel and stock....check the forend sling screw isnt contacting.... these are piece of piss to give really quick bedding job similar to what the factory bedding job was.....hint really hot hot glue gun...PM if want to know more.

check scope mounts AND then take off mounts and check the BASES.....been caught twice by that...once on same rifle as yours.

have checked the barrel and there seems to be a pressure point bed right at the fore end as I can get paper between the barrel and stock but it jams at the fore end, it's not the swivel stud as I removed that to completely to confirm.
I am at work for the night now, so I will pull the action from the stock tomorrow and se what is what.
I will post pics but is there anything in particular I should be looking for ? @Micky Duck could be very interested, I've attempted a bedding job before and made a right fuck up of it so not keen to ruin this one

Originally Posted by Woody

If its always the third shot it possibly has something to do eith heat. Some part may be expanding just enough to cause a contact somwhere. Check yr barrel is properly free floating with adequate clearance as a start point.

not a heat issue, my last 2 groups when the barrel was at it's warmest were the best 2, I was shooting 3 shots at a time then walking down to the target to inspect the results and make scope adjustments.
fired 20 shots in total like this, it was definitely warm by the end but not what I would call hot.

When you pull the action out of stock make sure the mag box/insert is the right way up.

Too much recoil

zero recoil