A question about bullets point of impact.

[ole farmerbuck]

The other evening i was shooting my Savage 22-250 using Nosler comp 52gr bthp bullets and 40.5 gr of H380. Shot great the other eve but tonight the groups were way off. Same powder and bullets. Why would the groups be so different? It was putting 3 shots in a 3/4" circle but it didnt come close to that tonight. Helllp!

 

[NCsmitty]

Did you have the same support setup on the bench as before? Did you have the same atmospherics and humidity which can possibly affect metal to stock fit? Is it a synthetic or wood stock? Floated barrel?


NCsmitty

 

[ole farmerbuck]

Same setup, a zero kick rifle rest, same powder. its a savage model 200 with free floated barrel. I think the temp was about the same too. I couldnt believe the way it shot last night. I'll clean the barrel and try again i guess. Disapointing since i have 8lbs of h380 coming tomorrow!

 

[Afy]

Clean the barrel.

 

[Sport45]

Was that multiple 3 shot groups inside 3/4" or just one? One 3-shot group really doesn't tell you a lot about how the rifle shoots.

 

[loadedround]

Ditto on a clean barrel!

 

[climbnjump]

Did you drink more coffee the second day? For some folks, it's a factor.

Were the shots fired on the second day from the same lot as the first day or were they newly loaded? If loaded separately from the first batch, were there any variables other than bullet and powder (which you mentioned were the same) such as old cases vs new, slight difference in bullet seating depth, etc.?

 

[Dave P]

Cheek weld? Scope parallax not zeroed?

 

[dubbleA]

I am confused here. In the thread title, it says "questions about POI". In the thread itself you mention getting a 3/4" group and then not getting close.

Were you not able to get the groups 3/4" or under ....or did you have a big shift in POI?

Was that multiple 3 shot groups inside 3/4" or just one? One 3-shot group really doesn't tell you a lot about how the rifle shoots.

I agree, I'll shoot five, 5 shot groups as a minimum to get an average on how a load performs. Not saying this is the case here but there are quite a few folks that shoot one small 3 shot and suddenly proclaim they have laser beam shooting gun.

 

[rcmodel]

Just off the top of my head, if it shoots good one day, and not the next day with the same exact loads, it's not a reload problem.

Normally, I would start trouble-shooting something like that by checking:
*The scope mount & ring screws.
*Rifles guard screw tightness.
*Stock bedding, or even barrel contact in the forearm.
*The scope itself.

And your shooting procedure:
*Consistent rest from one day to the next.
*Barrel itself not touching anything, including the rest, etc.

It almost has to be something moving that isn't supposed to be moving, or something touching that isn't supposed to be touching.

rc

 

[ole farmerbuck]

I guess i shouldnt have said point of impact. What i should have said is they were not grouping at all. I wouldnt mind if they were all hi or low but they wont group in one place or the other. They would move from right to left or vice versa. I'll try cleaning the barrel.

 

[ole farmerbuck]

This was night before last group. I was ashamed to take a pic of the shots lastnight.

 

[rcmodel]

One other thing to check is case neck thickness.

See if a bullet will slip freely into a fired but not resized case.

My 22-250 hulls needed neck reaming or turning fairly often when I loaded for it.

rc

 

[ole farmerbuck]

Yea the bullets go in a fired case easily. I'm about to decide its my cheap scope. its a Simmons whitetail 4x20 i think. I put my Leupold 3x9 on it today and then i noticed the extractor was letting go of the cases before it was suppose to. Now it wont work at all. Brand new gun. I guess i'll have to call savage tomorrow. Hopefully i can get them to send me the parts rather than having to send in the gun. Guess i'll have time to look for a better scope.