Barrel temp and POI

[Hendo]

Cold bore shot hit dead center 1" orange pasty.. 2 consecutive shots showed same degree of accuracy +/- 1/2". I induced rapid shooting for 8 more shots at 1" pasties and Tbox shots and had a .5 mil steady right shift of POI over known dead zero for first three. Rifle is SPS tac with stock barrel, badger scope hardware, and bushnell 3-12. I am going to prove zero again at the next session, but is it possible barrel temp threw the POI .5 mil consistant?

 

[Dan Newberry]

Yes, it's possible. A half mil is just under 2 inches at 100 yards, which is a lot, but there are some things you can do.

First, if you're using handloads, make sure your load recipe is perfected, and be sure to tune the CCB location by seating depth changes in .005" increments after you find the right powder charge.

If you're using factory ammo, you may want to check some other brands and/or bullet weights.

And don't clean the barrel down to bare metal, leave some "conditioning fouling" in the bore, just get the powder residue out using a mild solvent and you'll do much better at keeping the shots together.

And one other thing... sometimes it's not so much "cold clean bore" as it is cold clean shooter... sometimes it takes us a shot or two or three to get fully into the swing of proper shooting technique...

Dan

 

[smokebomb]

Stress in barrel, receiver truth, bedding, differing stock pressure by shooter, trigger control, cheek weld, parallax...
All things that can cause your results.

Many less expensive factory rifles can walk shots as they warm up. Please post your results when you attempt again, it would be interesting to see the consistency.