338 Lapua Accuracy Issue- Help!

[hafejd30]

Yobuck, this rifle has been shot at various closer distances quite a bit. But it took longer distance to really tell me this problem was bigger than I thought. Used this rifle for this summers crop damage deer hunting and got 3 kills over 600 yards with the furthest at 1000. Some shots were noticeably high on the first rounds but I thought my range was off. It wasn't until trying this longer shot that I realized I had issues with consistency. All prior target shooting I did started off at closer distance and moved out during the session. Not a big deal when the first round hits off at 300 yards because the target was generally big enough to still get hit. After that the rounds remained consistent. Believe me Its not shooter error on this. Im the guy people have shoot there rifles to check consistency.

Winnie, I wasn't suggesting the edge. I wil be sticking with the Lapua. I was asking about barrels chambered in either the lapua or edge as a comparison for custom barrels vs factory barrels accuracy. Only reason I said edge is because I figured more people will have custom barrels in that caliber than lapua. Just fishing for more opinions on a brand than anything

Thank you both for the advice

[WinnieTheBoom]

Winnie, I wasn't suggesting the edge. I wil be sticking with the Lapua. I was asking about barrels chambered in either the lapua or edge as a comparison for custom barrels vs factory barrels accuracy. Only reason I said edge is because I figured more people will have custom barrels in that caliber than lapua. Just fishing for more opinions on a brand than anything

You're going to get replies all over the place. Most of the big barrel manufacturers are hard to go wrong with. LRH and SH will both say Lilja, Hart, Douglas, Pac-Nor, Bartlein, and Shilen. There are definitely some other good ones out there, but it's a pretty sure thing that you're going to have a laser if you go with one of those brands.

It really comes down to how much you're wanting to spend and how long you're willing to wait. Douglas is around 3-4 weeks at the moment, Pac-Nor is around 6, McGowen around 10, Hart is around 11 months.

[hafejd30]

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Did some testing at 446 yards today.

Shot 1/2- 3.75 MOA- aim point right orange circle. Shots about 10 Sec apart

Shot 3/4- 5 MOA corrected from hits 1/2 at left orange circle. Shot about 3-5 min after 1/2 shots

Shot 5/6/7 3.75 MOA as originally adjusted. After dialing back to zero. At right circle

Shot 8 - 5 MOA after dialing past zero half a turn and back (testing scope repeatability) aimed at left circle

Shot 9- 3.75 MOA after dialing back to zero from shot 8.

Wind about 3-5 mph from 3 o'clock

Couple more pics with tape measure. First pic looks like left group is further off from where it was

Shots 1/2/5/6/7 are all same adjustment on scope and same aim point

Only shots that hit off are 1/2 the others hit where I expected.

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[338LM]

I have the 110BA also. We shot today and my shots were all over the paper to start with. Started at 865 yds and then moved too 200 yds. and checked zero. Should have been putting one bullet in previous hole at this range but it didnt happen. We checked it at 400 and 600 yds and shot a 5" group at 600 yds. Last time we shot accuracy was much better than today.

[hafejd30]

I feel your pain. This gun shoots very well. This group at 446-3 shots 5/6/7, not sure what it measured. This gun also shot a .92" group at 500. It actually shoots better groups at 500 it seems then 300.

I switched the base, rings, scope.... I don't have another high end scope to test besides my sightrons. But the fact that I cranked the scope up and down several times and it was consistent makes me think the scopes are good. If one is broke they both are lol.

My barrel will Proly be a 30" Shilen select match that will be machined nutless to the action. If that isn't it then I'll have 2 good 338 LM barrels I guess. I just don't know where to turn next besides that. It's not the loads cause they obviously shoot great yet. Barrel was cleaned and refouled. Everything north of the action is replaced... ��

[WinnieTheBoom]

I feel your pain. This gun shoots very well. This group at 446-3 shots 5/6/7, not sure what it measured. This gun also shot a .92" group at 500. It actually shoots better groups at 500 it seems then 300.

I switched the base, rings, scope.... I don't have another high end scope to test besides my sightrons. But the fact that I cranked the scope up and down several times and it was consistent makes me think the scopes are good. If one is broke they both are lol.

My barrel will Proly be a 30" Shilen select match that will be machined nutless to the action. If that isn't it then I'll have 2 good 338 LM barrels I guess. I just don't know where to turn next besides that. It's not the loads cause they obviously shoot great yet. Barrel was cleaned and refouled. Everything north of the action is replaced... ��

Honestly it just looks like it's a cold bore shot... I always hit a little low on my first 1-2 rounds. Test by shooting the same distance but dial more elevation that you think you'll need on the first shot. In this case, 5 MOA instead of the 3.75 MOA since you've confirmed that's the proper elevation at that distance. Try this at different yardages. Dial a little bit more than you think you need and see if you can repeat the results at all. A match barrel will certainly help to lower the potential of different POIs cold to warm bore, but there's always going to be a chance of a slight variation.

Have you had the barrel off your action yet? When I took mine off the first time I had some good burrs on the lugs, and I'm just wondering if your's might have something similar going on with it.

[hafejd30]

Having taken it off. That was my last nine rounds...

I'll have to load more

[hafejd30]

Gun was brought to my gunsmith. He mounted a Nightforce atacr on top and had the cold bore hit 1.5" low at 300 with next 2 rounds touching in bullseye. Barrel will be switched to a Shilen

[mudpig]

keep us posted on how it all works out for you.

[hafejd30]

Will do.

[hafejd30]

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Retested the Sightron used to shoot the last 9 shots on the cardboard with the 338 in the above pic (several posts above) Shot at 100 yards with my 260 today.

Target was shot in round robin fashion 9 rounds. Aim point was orange target where the tape measure starts.

Shot 0 moa, 6 moa, 10 moa. Repeated this twice. Scope is definitely not the issues

[WinnieTheBoom]

Are you having the Shilen made into a prefit with barrel nut or are you going to a shouldered setup?

[hafejd30]

Will be shouldered. No nut

[hafejd30]

Barrel arrived at smiths last week. Had s chance to look at it before chambering. Hopefully will be completed soon. It's a #7 HV Varmint at 30".
If the problem continues the only thing left is the Chasis. But I couldn't imagine that it would shift every time I handle the rifle and shift back under fire. It's torqued at 65 in lbs and the lug is set firmly against the chasis aluminum block

[hafejd30]

Update:

Picked the rifle up today. Barrel looks great. Definitely beefier then the factory barrel. I will post a pic when I get back together hopefully tomorrow.


Couple questions tho on some things that bother me about this setup:

1) Why did savage make such a chinsey recoil lug setup for this rifle. My gunsmith had to machine my NSS lug smaller to get it to fit properly in this chasis? You think the lug design would be beefier

2) The chasis- why not make the bedding block more solid and have more contact area? This has less contact area then even a cheap accustock bedding block for standard 110

3) Why isn't the action designed so you can implement some kind of scope base recoil lug? This is a heavy recoil round and it would only make sense that 4 base screws didn't take all the punishment

Not necessarily looking for answers but more looking for someone to explain why you should cut corners on what should be a better setup

[hafejd30]

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