horizontal stringing

Was shooting my reloads for the first time today in my Savage 12fv in 223 (converted to single shot w/ a SSS adapter)

Had horizontal stringing going on as the barrel warmed up, about a 1.5" drift from right to left (in shot order) at 50 yards but once it was warmed up the groups were much smaller (MOA or less, I'm happy :cool: ) but were still more wide than vertical (ie, 3 holes right next to each other, each edge touching the ones on left/right)

It may be my prejudice from the Savage Mk II FV rimfire stock but I'm not a fan of the plastic - I think it may flex. In this case, mine is also not exactly perfectly free floated - a single sheet of cheap college notebook paper has a hard time making it all the way down the forearm.

So I'm thinking my wide groups are due to the barrel heating and it not being exactly free floated. Will need to remove action from stock and see if it is possible to hog it out more to really free float it or maybe I should just spend the money at Boyds.

OR

My scope. I've always used an high magnification adjustable objective which is intended to deal with parallax but it also does a great job of keeping the target in clear focus, etc. My new scope is a side-focus, not parallax adjustment. So I guess it could also be my positioning and parallax rearing its head. Will need to stretch it out to 100 yards or more to determine this I think.... although I would expect it to show both horizontal and vertical change and not just horizontal.

Thoughts?

Boyd's would be a good choice but the stock from them would need pillars ( I think that's an option when purchasing the stock), or you can use an appropriate diameter long socket and some 100 grit paper and open up the barrel channel in your current stock until the barrel is floated to where two pieces of copy paper will slide back to the barrel nut. If the problem persists after that, It could then be your scope. With the rifle solidly bedded, look through the eye piece and move your head around slightly. Does the cross hairs move? If so, there is a parallax problem. The side focus scope should be able to take care of that.

Is it a focus knob?
Or is it meant for parralex adjustment?

Have you considered seating depth or shooter error. What weight is your trigger?

Check your scope. Most 'side focus' knobs are really the parallax knobs and focusing for your eyesight is done at the eyepiece.

I still like to keep my eye centered on the scope even with adjustable parallax.

I would also make sure the barrel is not anywhere close to the forearm.

Try shooting at longer range first and see if the stringing is still there. Many bullets are not fully stabilized at 50yd.

Fire at least a 10 round group to see if there are any issues. Keep track of where each bullet goes to see if there is a trend as the barrel heats up.

....and adjust the reticle with the eyepiece(ocular) and adjust parallax with the "side focus" If the crosshairs move on the target by moving your head the parallax is not corrected.

Horizontal stringing is frequently the fault of an inconsistant trigger pull or jerking.

Just a thought.

That factory stock and that model (12FV) are typically capable of shooting groups well under 1 MOA ( one inch at 100 yds). That you installed a single shot adapter means you removed and replaced the action in the stock, so I'll offer some tips to make sure the stringing is not caused by improper installation.

When seating the action in the stock, stand the rifle on the butt and push firmly down on the barrel to seat the recoil lug, then snug the front action screw. Now look closely at the rear tang around the safety lever. Make sure the action is not touching the stock around the tang while you snug the rear screw. After you've confirmed the action is properly centered ( I slide a .005 feeler gage around and under the rear tang), tighten the front screw to 45 in lbs, then the rear screw to about 15 in lbs and recheck that the action is properly centered in the stock.

Moving to the firing line, shoot a 2 shot group. Use targets with a very small bullseye. I use a half inch circle drawn in pen line width with a tiny dot in the middle. The theory being aim small, miss small. Make up a target with many bulls on a horizontal line and photocopy it onto card stock paper.

Now tighten the rear screw to 20 inch lbs and repeat. Notice how the groups change in size and shape while you continue to shoot, tighten and shoot. Once the groups start to open up again, back off the screw torque and find the sweet spot again. Record that torque value for future use. It may change slightly when changing to a different load.

FWIW, my 12FV in plastic stock with Vortex AO Crossfire II scope will shoot well under 1/2 moa. When I moved it to a laminate stock https://www.eabco.net/Savage-Thumbho...6_p_14233.html the groups shrank to the mid zero's using the 53 gr V-Max.

Good luck and let us know if this improves your groups.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Texas10

That factory stock and that model (12FV) are typically capable of shooting groups well under 1 MOA ( one inch at 100 yds). That you installed a single shot adapter means you removed and replaced the action in the stock, so I'll offer some tips to make sure the stringing is not caused by improper installation.

When seating the action in the stock, stand the rifle on the butt and push firmly down on the barrel to seat the recoil lug, then snug the front action screw. Now look closely at the rear tang around the safety lever. Make sure the action is not touching the stock around the tang while you snug the rear screw. After you've confirmed the action is properly centered ( I slide a .005 feeler gage around and under the rear tang), tighten the front screw to 45 in lbs, then the rear screw to about 15 in lbs and recheck that the action is properly centered in the stock.

Moving to the firing line, shoot a 2 shot group. Use targets with a very small bullseye. I use a half inch circle drawn in pen line width with a tiny dot in the middle. The theory being aim small, miss small. Make up a target with many bulls on a horizontal line and photocopy it onto card stock paper.

Now tighten the rear screw to 20 inch lbs and repeat. Notice how the groups change in size and shape while you continue to shoot, tighten and shoot. Once the groups start to open up again, back off the screw torque and find the sweet spot again. Record that torque value for future use. It may change slightly when changing to a different load.

FWIW, my 12FV in plastic stock with Vortex AO Crossfire II scope will shoot well under 1/2 moa. When I moved it to a laminate stock https://www.eabco.net/Savage-Thumbho...6_p_14233.html the groups shrank to the mid zero's using the 53 gr V-Max.

Good luck and let us know if this improves your groups.

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Maybe you hit it with one shot but missed with all the rest of them? lol