Horizontal stringing

wind

Action a bit loose in the stock, scope rings loose on the rail or mounts. Had the same problem the other day on an indoor range - in my excitement to put the new scope on my rifle, I forgot to tighten the mount to the rail - it was all over the place horizontally on paper until I happened to see the scope physically move when I laid the rifle down. Tightened mounts, problem went away. Surprisingly, there wasn't any vertical stringing, just horizontal.


With a following wind, that may also have been a factor, especially if the wind wasn't coming directly from behind but off to the side a bit.

If the barrel is not free floated and the stock is putting pressure on it from one side or the other, might make it move once the barrel warms up.

The scope rings may not have been tight enough. It wasn't noticably moving, but I was just able to snug both ends 2 full turns.

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That's quite a bit of "snugging", chances are that may cure the problem. The 264 does generate some recoil so even a slightly amount of "wiggle factor" will transfer to the 100 yd target.
Also realize that one rifle's load may not be the ideal load for the other. That's still to be determined though.
Good luck.

NCsmitty

bailer,

Did you ever cure the problem. If so, what was the cause?

All,

I've never before seen significant horzontal stringing in my groups, but I definitely have it in my 7mm RM. Some of the targets have quite small vertical spread, but about 1.5" to 2.5" on the horizontal. So far I've gathered possible causes as:

1) Canting of the rifle
2) Placement of the trigger finger (sometimes referred to as "dragging wood")
3) Breathing or pulse bounce
4) Parallax at the range one is shooting shooting
5) Barrel making side contact (not properly floated/bedded)
6) Loose scope or scope mounts
7) Inconsistent cheek pressure on the comb
8) Load not properly tuned to the rifle
9) Wind

Did I miss anything? Which possible cause should I start investigating first (i.e which are most likely)?

i've always felt that horizontal stringing was the fault of improper bedding, and vertical stringing needed more/less powder. that train of thought has always served me well.

there are other factors to check before jumping into bedding a rifle, biggest are pressures on the stock, floating the barrel, etc, but if my technique is good, and i have stringing, i either check the bedding, or add powder to the load.

dakotasin,

Thanks. I actually took it to a gunsmith last night for a free float, glass bed, and trigger work. I thought the trigger was actually okay, but when he tested it it was 4.75lbs. He's going to try and lighten it down to 2.75lbs.

Hopefully, that will help with any uneven forearm pressure or with any potential causes from a stiff trigger.

With regards to adjusting the powder, in one case the load just previous to the horizontal stringing was right on the money with only one shot being a little high and left (and I -know- that one was me). The other four shots were touching.

Thanks for your feedback.

stock channel, needs to be channelled out/sanded out more. as the bbl heats up as you shoot, it starts to touch a spot inside the channel, that it did not before, as it was cool. shoot 1 minute between shots, and this will proly not happen. Really, probably not happen at all, 1 minute or more, between shots. I will go out on a limb here; THIS IS THE CORRECT
ANSWER, sir!!! Say that part as if you were Ed McMahon.

stock channel, needs to be channelled out/sanded out more. as the bbl heats up as you shoot, it starts to touch a spot inside the channel, that it did not before, as it was cool. shoot 1 minute between shots, and this will proly not happen. I will go out on a limb here; THIS IS THE CORRECT
ANSWER, sir!!! Say that part as if you were Ed McMahon.

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I believe that Rangerruck is correct. Look at this target that I shot with an MI with a new CMP stock. A small amount of work with sandpaper cured this problem.

rangerruck,

The shots were taken about 4 to 5 minutes apart already. However, I had a gentlemen at the rifle range, whose opinion I respect, suggest a local gunsmith to me. I dropped the rifle off with him last night for a free float, glass bedding, and trigger work (trigger came in at 4.75lbs, more than I expected).

Did I miss anything? Which possible cause should I start investigating first (i.e which are most likely)?

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Gremlins! As a guy said in a post on THR..."These gremlins cause havoc, and are hard to get rid of... the only way to rid yourself of them is to P in your barrel"

...It doesn't work... I filled a barrel or two and still.....

Vertical stringing is usually a result, as RC said, of the barrel heating up and moving around in the barrel channel, but hitting somewhere in there.

does your stock have a pressuer pad an inch or so from the end of the forearm?

I'm just an old fart with poor eyesight, and not really an "experienced" shooter, I guess. If I shot a target like CZguy's with my M1 at 100 yards, I'd probably wet myself. Hell, I'd be thrilled to do that with my scoped Rem. 700/.30-06.

I'm just an old fart with poor eyesight, and not really an "experienced" shooter, I guess. If I shot a target like CZguy's with my M1 at 100 yards, I'd probably wet myself. Hell, I'd be thrilled to do that with my scoped Rem. 700/.30-06.

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Hold the pampers.............the photo can be misleading. That's a closeup of a big target, showing about a 3 or 4 inch string. About normal for an M1.

I have a Remington 700 in 30-06 with a Lyman receiver sight that will shoot a 2 inch group. (On a good day)

It's quite common for horizontal stringing to come from canting the rifle, not holding it uniformly vertical from shot to shot. Without proper sandbagging, it's easy to be off just that little bit.

Generally, vertical stringing comes from the heat-induced change in pressure against the barrel by the forearm if the channel isn't clearanced.

My other, new rifle, shot the same loads in the same conditions with significantly different results

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I have never seen two rifles of the same caliber shoot the same load equally well.

While all the other factors mentioned might be needed, I would start with the loads. I've had two different .264's, both were tack drivers, but one would drive tacks with a 130 gr bullet at medium velocities, and the other required a 170 at max load before it would shoot well.

I would spend some time playing with bullet weights and velocities before I would start dropping a lot of money into a gun that MAY not need it.

this should be good; make sure you use the same size target, and the same rests, and every thing, and repeat the shoot you did before, duplicate your shooting from that day as much as possible, even down to the location at the range, and temps, and sunshine, etc. Lets see how much improvement can be had from a good bedding/trigger job.

Bailer - do you have an update on your rifle?

stock channel, needs to be channelled out/sanded out more. as the bbl heats up as you shoot, it starts to touch a spot inside the channel, that it did not before, as it was cool. shoot 1 minute between shots, and this will proly not happen. Really, probably not happen at all, 1 minute or more, between shots. I will go out on a limb here; THIS IS THE CORRECT

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I'm betting the floating/bedding fixed. My M70 in 7mm RM did the same thing. It was surprisingly accurate for a USRAC model and if I let it cool 10 minutes between shots I could shoot MOA out to 350 yards with high end ammo. But start shooting three shot groups one after the other and it was a nightmare. I have since floated the stock and bedded the recoil lug and first inch and a half of the now-floated barrel (and removed 2" of barrel) and it will shoot close to MOA all day with Federal PShoks.

So OP ... what was the fix? We should've started a pool.

wombat, it's best to PM him, and let him start an updated thread.