Vertical Stringing in Encore

[Bob C]

I recently acquired an Encore in .300 Winchester Magnum. It is reasonably accurate, but the first round was hitting about 10" high. Then after three or four rounds it would settle down and do fine. This is the 26" heavy barrel.

The stock and forend are composite.

I decided to relieve the forend enough to float the barrel back to the front screw, and did so by sanding out the front portion of the forend. This has worked for me on bolt action rifles in the past.

I haven't tried this barrel since, but did try a 24" standard .280 barrel with this forend today, and several three shot groups at 100 yards averaged 4" vertical dispersion.

I'm thinking I need at least one new forend, and I may find I need two after I fire the .300 Win. Mag barrel.

Any suggestions are welcome, either for correcting the problem or for advising me what I did wrong.

TIA,

Bob

 

[MFH]

I had the same problem with my encore. Actually the same set up as you describe. Vertical strings from minimal to 8 or 10 inches. For mine, it ended up being differences in the way I handled it. Essentially, I was interfering with the rise of the muzzle during recoil with a resultant vertical string. I was able to causeor change it by not gripping the fore end the same, allowing the tip of the butt pad to contact the bench or even different shoulder/stock pressure or contact. After several rounds, my consistancy would improve and the groups would tighten.

FWIW

MFH

 

[Bob C]

An update on the stringing with the .300 Winchester barrel:

It was suggested to me by a very knowledgeable competition shooter that the problem might be fouling ( or lack of), rather than heating.

Yesterday I fired a three shot group from a clean cold barrel, and then fired a second group without allowing the barrel to cool. Both groupos were OK, but were four inches apart at 50 yards.

I then let the barrel cool for 90 minutes, and fired another three shot group. The POI was within an inch if the second group, indicationg that the barrel temperature wasn't the problem after all.

I did not use any solvents on the barrel after firing it, only swabbing it out once with Ballistoil.

If the next group holds to the POI I was getting with my last group yesterday, I believe that will confirm this diagnosis.

 

[J Scott]

Describe your bench technique.

J Scott

 

[Bob C]

I was shooting from a bench, with a sand bag front, and another rear.

I am careful about maintaining consistent contact and position between the front bag and the fore end.

 

[JohnKSa]

It can take a few rounds for a rifle to settle down after a bore cleaning.

Unless you're using corrosive ammunition, you should never clean the bore after zeroing if you want your first round to be dead on.

A friend of mine scrubbed out his rifle bore and then immediately went back to shooting for score--you could sure tell the difference in his totals for the first few rounds until the barrel got back to normal.

 

[riddleofsteel]

when using a light weight weapon like a T/C Contender or Encore if your sand bag is too tight or hard it will often contribute ot vertical stringing. I had a bunny ear leather bag packed TIGHT with lead shot and had the same problem. It was especially a problem with heavy recoil calibers like 45-70 and 30-30.