I'm having some issues with cold bore shots and I think it might be my action screws torque settings on my 12FV.

So the last two times at the range I had a fouled barrel and prior to those range sessions, had everything zeroed and trued. Using custom handholds that shoot amazingly well, except for the first few shots out of a cold barrel.

Remember: these are all with a fouled barrel, so fouling rounds are not the issue.

See my target from Sunday:

[IMG][/IMG]


So I hit the range Sunday after having zeroed on Friday. Didn't touch the gun in between, no cleaning, nothing. First three shots I aimed at the center square. As you can see, shot 1 was way left, shot 2 was closer, shot three closer still.

Shot 4 I decided to aim for the bottom right square. Thats 4 shots touching and one shot 1/2" low. I then decided it was good and had excellent results out to 1,000. Heck I had a 3 shot group at 1,000 within 4-5" of each other.

This rifle tends to do this on cold bore shots. I'm thinking it's my action screw torque settings. I just torqued them both to 30 or 35 in. lbs. and left it. Can't recall if it was 30 or 35, but either way I set both the same.

What do you guys set the rear screw to? I read that 30-35 is right for the front one, but is the rear one different? I read somewhere to start with 5 in. lbs. on the rear one and tighten it up by 5 lbs increments until you get a good group.

Is that correct? I've been scratching my head on this one, and all things point to the action screws. The gun shoots amazing once it's warmed, but the first shots off a cold barrel are off L/R consistently. I haven't done a good job of really letting the barrel cool down all the way after I hit the range and start shooting, but I'll have to do some testing when I have some time and play with the action screw settings.

Seem reasonable? Just curious what you guys are setting the action screws to, and if you find they need to be set differently. Thanks!