Stumped on the 308

[russ808]

OK gang, heres the set up.
Remington 700 in .308/ older model without a butt pad.
leupold scope/ both purchased in 1980.
Federal brass/Federal 210 primers
42.5 grains of imr4895
oal 2.830
The problem is that he will shoot the first two and they will be touching or the same hole. The third one will always be low at 4 oclock about 1".
He tried shoot one let the barrel cool
Shoot two let the barrel cool :? :? :?
Then the next string will be the same thing. And the next and the next.
He had the rifle sand bagged in. Help guys cuz I can't figure it out. I know you only need one and he does have two, but the third one, well its personnal now. :x :x :x
Guns tight, scopes tight, old but tight. Oh he did say that the front lens has a small cloudy spot on the bottom.
Russ

 

[JD338]

Might want to play with the COL. What bullet(s) are being used?

JD338

 

[Antelope_Sniper]

I agree with JD. Start coming in at .05 increments from where you are now.

 

[russ808]

I'm using 150 grain Ballistic Tips.
I started at 2.810, 2.820 and stopped at 2.830
The longer the oal got, the tighter the groups got, except that darn flyer.

 

[JD338]

Russ,

Keep going out until you are there or out of magazine clearance.

JD338

 

[russ808]

Gotcha JD. I'll give it a shot.

 

[Greg Nolan]

I'm probably wrong but if OAL doesn't work check your rings and mounts to the point of trying to wiggle them even if they are tight. That scope was mounted along time ago, heat and stress may have loosened something. Also check the torque on the screws that hold the action to the stock for being loose or over tight.

 

[Guy Miner]

Bedding? It cured the same problem on my rifle years ago.

Is it a heavy - barrel rifle? If so - free float that barrel and bed the action.

 

[old #7]

Are your sccope rings and bases properly alligned? A tweeked and stressed scope will cause problems like you describe.

 

[Guest]

I'm going to say bedding, especially if the gun performs better if you let the barrel cool down between shots (which is what I think you meant in the original post). I bet there's a spot that the barrel is rubbing and once it heats up, it shifts POI. Float the barrel, and try again. You may have to find a new load after you float it, though, so it's not a panacea.

 

[russ808]

Just prior to switching to the 150 bts, he used to shoot Federal Gold Medal Match in 168 bthp. It got a little, no a lot more costly, thats why he wanted to switch. I have some Gold Medal Match left so I think we'll see if he gets the fliers with them. I will look into the other suggestions and see what happens next week on our range day.

 

[Guy Miner]

If it groups badly with the FGM, it's not the load!

That will tell you if the rifle, scope, base, rings or shooter need tweaking. I've seen that stuff shoot so well, from so many different rifles...

 

[1Shot]

Glass the action and free float the barrel and go up to 43 grs IMR 4895 with those 150 Nosler BT's and you should put 5 in the same hole at 100 yards.

 

[FOTIS]

bedding!

 

[russ808]

Guy, the Fed stuff shoots very well in his rifle, that why I think I will go back to see how it groups first. If it still groups the way it used to then it will most likely be one of the others including operator error...We will find out sunday.

 

[Bull oiler]

Sounds like a possible bedding problem to me. Check the clearance with some cardstock. My model 700 had a similar problem. 3rd and 4th shots always flew. Stock was hitting the barrel. Did a little work with the dremel and never looked back