Building a hunting gun for SC whitetail

[Luckus]

I would work up a good load with the 165 gr BT in the 30-06 and try it.

[Nandy]

You are obviously not following the thread. I got it re-barreled to a 7mm rem mag and have not shoot it yet... why will I come back to the 06 without trying the $800 plus in upgrades?

[Nandy]

Went to the range today... It was one of those days that not much seems to go right... Spent there 5 hours being chased by big arse mosquitoes, I mean these things were huge! Larger than flies and had no problem stinging you thru your shirt. That on itself made me rush my shots as if you stay still they will eat you alive. The rifle is shooting high after the bedding of the base. I can't dial it down anymore so I need to put the base back the way it was before. I am about 12 inches high at 200 yards and like 8 inches high at 100 yds. The chrono only recorded 9 shots from the rl22 and none when I shot the rl19 so I have no good data. I did noticed that the shots I did get did not went up in speed like it should have. I shot them in order from the lowest load to the hottest and even when not all the shots were counted the shots that were clocked should have been up. Something definitely went wrong when I did my reloads. Never had that problem before. I had plenty of clover leaf groups but after revising the video ( I take video of the shots impact so I dont have to worry about keeping track of what shot when were) non of those clover leaf are of consecutive shots. I did have a few follow up shots that touch each other.
However, that brake is super sweet!!!! I would have no problem resting that rifle in my head and shoot it. The last shot was without the brake and the difference was there and it was close to painful... Also it was not that loud with the brake, at least not to me. I had no one shooting close enough to me to ask. The barrel cleaned good and quick. I need a longer cable to be able to control my chrono. We shoot thru concrete pipes and my chrono is about 40 feet from the muzzle, im not sure if the problem was low light or distance from the muzzle.
Will order 200 or 300 more bullets and will try again in a few weeks, will check in back then unless something else happens...

[jersey joe]

Ya know, it is late at night and I may not be thinking straight but you may wish to remove the carpet under your benchrest items. I would think that there could be subtle movement in the fiber that could be altering you POI. I believe the Anton Polyester might be the affecting your stability.

[Nandy]

When I was doing a gun full clean Saturday I found that the most rear screw in the base was loose and the one next to it was not torque properly. I am taking it tomorrow to a closer range (just 100 yards) and see if it is not shooting high anymore but I seriously doubt that will cure it, but it could be the reason why my groups were not as tight as i wanted. Waiting on midwayusa to deliver the next batch of nosler accubonds, I got them in 140 and 160... Also, I went to Bass Pro Shops and got me a new Hornady Lock-N-Load Bench Scale Electronic Powder Scale to compare to my scale side by side when loading to see if there is anything wrong with my RCBS RangeMaster 750. I did some mock charges and the Hornady was constantly .1 grain high but that was the only discrepancy I saw. I was expecting to find that my scale was messed up but I am happy to see it dont look like that at this time. If that Hornady is no better it is going back...

[wbm]

My first guess, second one too, as to why you "can't dial it down anymore" is either the bottom of the recoil lug is touching bedding material or the bedding is lifting the rear of the receiver when you torque the screws down. As for the scales if you read the fine print they usually say they are accurate to within one tenth of a grain.

[Nandy]

It is a 20 moa base, I should have added that. Before I bedded the rear of the base I had about .04" inch gap at the rear. I used the base without bedding for the past 5 or 6 years, it is just now that I made the change and bed it, I wonder if that could have made this worst. It is a 57 moa scope, took 20 moa out of it already then maybe that .04 inch that it is sitting higher now might have taken the rest of the moa?
Of course, if that dont solve the problem tomorrow I will be looking in to relieving the sides and bottom of the lug or ultimately take all bedding out of this choate varmint stock to see how it works back to stock. I used tape around the lug while bedding it and torque the action to 30 in/lbs.
As far as the scales, Im aware of those being accurate 1/10 or a gr. What I was looking for was to see if the number varied drastically between the 2 scales. I have a beam scale from lyman but I dont have much faith on that one... I will get me a 5-0-5 in the near future...
Thanks for your input, I did not thought about the possibility of the recoil lug stressing the action up.

[Nandy]

Reading over my response I now wonder if when they say 57 moa scope they mean 57 moa over the mechanical zero or 28.5 over the mechanical zero... Will count once I get home.... If it is the latest I might have to remove that base...

[handirifle]

My guess is the 57 MOA is from one end to the other.

[handirifle]

Nandy this might be a stoopid question, and not meant to insult, but I have to ask it. Are you 100% sure the bases were not reversed front to back, assuming they even CAN be. This could easily account for the "shooting high" issue.

If those are correct, and the bottom of the recoil lug is clear, my guess is the bedding in the forward part is too thick. I know you torqued it down, but if the bedding glass is thick, and there is no place for it to squeeze out when torqued, it will not give. Unless the stock was sloppily cut, the bedding is usually a very thin, like 1/8", or less layer. Figure the stock was meant for the receiver to touch it, even when no bedding was in it, so the bedding is just to make it a smooth, 100% contact, so no shifting takes place. being too thick can be worse than too thin.

[Nandy]

It is 57 mia total from the lowest setting to the highest setting so I'm sure the bedding of the base is affecting the setting but it might not be the only factor. This is a flat rear action. Not possible to install it backwards. I will have a better update after visiting the range.

[wbm]

Of course, if that dont solve the problem tomorrow I will be looking in to relieving the sides and bottom of the lug or ultimately take all bedding out of this choate varmint stock to see how it works back to stock.

Had the Choate varmint stock a couple of years ago and did the same type of bedding that you did and ended up with the same kind of problems....make a long story short I removed the bedding and just skim bedded the v blocks.


Figure the stock was meant for the receiver to touch it, even when no bedding was in it, so the bedding is just to make it a smooth, 100% contact, so no shifting takes place. being too thick can be worse than too thin.
+1

[Nandy]

While at home first thing I did was to put my laser bore sigth and aimed it to about 50 yards. I note the distance between the laser and the crosshairs. I then unscrew the action bolts to almost the point of them falling off and recheck the laser vs crosshairs. The distance remained the same so I became a bit skeptic that the problem could be related to the rifle bedding, torqued it again, recheck again, all the same... I packed my things (and the dremel for just in case) and took the wife and son with me to the range.

I went to the smaller range today, only 100 yds but enough to check my problem (plus 1 hour less trip). Remember I found the 2 back screws in the base (where the base bedding is) loose? By getting those tight to 18 in/lbs I went from being 12 inches low to 4 inches low without making any elevation adjustments in the scope (the scope adjustment was still bottom out). So knew I was in the right track. I then removed the bedding from the base (only the rear was bedded and the bedding material measured .045" in thickness) and dialed up 15 moa. Shot and hit 3 1/2 inches low. So the problem was the base bedding as I suspected. I let the wife shot it too, together we made a just under 1 inch group with commercial ammunition. I have to find my plastigauge to check my clearance around the sides and front of the lug. I used thick tape for the sides and double the tape for the front when I did the action bedding but the only way to know the clearance for sure (that I can think off) is to use the plastigauge. If I ever find it I will post the clearance here.

Now to wait for the shipment from Midway to get home tomorrow. Will try to put some loads together and try again asap...

Thanks everyone for your input!