How do you accurize a mossberg chuckster 22 mag

[U.S.SFC_RET]

I recently acquired a Mossberg 22 magnum bolt action, 5 round magazine with a tasco scope. Riflings look good. action looks good. Nice walnut stock but the barrel lays to one side.
Problem is that it shoots at least 7" GROUPS at 100 yards and I know that a gun like this should shoot better than this. I plan to ditch the Scope and pick up a better one.
Any tips regarding this type of gun would help.

 

[rockstar.esq]

Well the current trend in long arm accurizing consists of free floating the barrel. I'm not that familiar with your particular rifle, however if the mag capacity is 5 then it stands to reason that you have a box magazine of some sort. Given that assumption, you'd need to either remove any part of the stock that directly contacts the barrel. That's not to say that you're trying to hog out the whole thing just enough to clear a slip of paper between the barrel and the stock. Another school of thought is to try to bed the barrel and action into the stock using fiberglass bedding compound. The idea here is to create a uniform mating surface between the stock and the barreled action. Sometimes, slipping a piece of a matchbook cover between the action and the stock near the front action scew will allow the barrel to float. This works extreemly welll on Remington 700's. I hope this helps.

 

[3 gun]

Take a step back and don't panic. The first 2 things you need to do is double check the scope and mounts to be sure they are on right and tight. Then get a box of a bunch of different ammo and try again. Some rimfire guns can be insanely picky about ammo. The stock thing could be a red herring. My Marlin 25mn rifle isn't centered in the stock but it doesn't stop it from shooting dime sized groups at 100yds with the heavier bullet weights. The lighter you go in weight the larger the groups get. If you do go with free floating just take your time and check your work often. I doubt that glass bedding would be needed to get better groups but it can be fun to do. Again just go slow and triple check every step to be sure you don't end up "gluing" the action in the stock.

 

[Mannlicher]

I agree with 3 gun. I suspect either the mounts for the scope, or the scope itself. The 'Tasco' part might be a clue. Cheap scopes do not make for accuracy. This rifle merits at least a Simmons scope, or a used better brand scope.

 

[U.S.SFC_RET]

A closer inspection of the scope reveals that the front lense has been taken off once before. This has me puzzled somewhat. Why would someone take the scope apart. Looks like the former owner placed a cheap scope and sold it to the gun shop, wouldn't be the first time. First thing I will do is replace the scope. Kinda fishy as to why there would be a 3 to 12 variable scope on a 22 magnum in the first place. As I said before the riflings look too good to shoot this bad. Thanks for the advice. keep it coming.

 

[foghornl]

front lense has been taken off once before.

Leads me to think that the scope is . . . .well, fischmeckled***

I have had decent service from Tasco Scopes since I bought my first one, a 3-7x21 for my Nylon 66 I had as a teen. Others call them Trashco. Tasco scope are certainly not top-of-the-line, but they work. Someone else owns Tasco now, can't remember if it is Bushnell or Simmons or Leupold.

If the lands/grooves are sharp, and the muzzle crown in clean, then I also suggest buying a box or 2 of as many different brands/styles/bullet weights as you can find on the shelf locally. Rimfires can be very persnickety about their ammo preferences. My Nylon 66 liked eveything except the Rem 36-Gr hollow-point "Golden Bullet". Imagine that...A Rem rifle that hated Rem ammo....go figure.



***Fischmeckled...A technical term for "Someone who didn't know what in the cornbread hell they were doing took this thing apart, but couldn't put it back together right, so now it is REALLY BROKEN. "

 

[U.S.SFC_RET]

Foghorn Quoted ***Fischmeckled...A technical term for "Someone who didn't know what in the cornbread hell they were doing took this thing apart, but couldn't put it back together right, so now it is REALLY BROKEN. "
Good term. I'll add it to my vocabulary. That scope looks "Fishchmeckled".

 

[gm]

congrats on getting that ol chuckster, they are a fine 22 mag.

first, pitch that scope and put something better on it, get some weaver rings.my own suggestion would be to get the scope in the rings,slide it onto the grooves and loosly tighten the rings.get it where its level and apply a drop onf locktite to the screw threads.,use the blue loctite.red is hard to get loose without heating it.recoil isnt going to be a problem but keeping it from moving is why I use loctite.just added security from things that bump it.

the other suggestion is check the barrel channel.the sling screw might have been turned(overtightened) a bit too much, if th3 tip is in the barrel channel, itll throw your shots.you dont want anything touching the barrel cept the stock.if youve done everything you can do and it still shoots bad groups, there may be other issues in that gun such as bad barrel or barrel crown damage.

I used winchester hollowpoint in the one I had but with todays variety, you can try any number of offerings.find the one that gives you the best group size then stick with that.

almost forgot, you can test the gun without the scope to see where its hitting and its consistancy before diagnosig a scope/gun issue.if its ok with the irons, scoping it should work out great.hope your gun works out, chucksters are one of my all time personal favorites.


p.s. had a bushnell 3-9x sportview on my ol chuckster...my current centerfire varmiter sports a inexpensive tasco 6-24x,its held zero for at least 15 years...never shifted.

good luck.