Can’t get the Odin 6.5 cm to shoot, looking to swap things up

[Black71]

I’ve got an Odin barrel on my mega maten that I’ve been fighting with for the last couple years. Can’t get better than 1.5 inches at 100 yds. I consistently get 2 that touch then the third is a flyer..I definitely have room for improvement in my shooting abilities but time and time again this barrel has done that to me. Factory ammo and reloads. Honestly kinda sick of trying to figure it out. Looking for something new, not stuck on staying with a creedmoor either. I regularly shoot at 950+ so I’m wanting something that’ll allow me more than that.. looking for any advice or suggestions you care to give..

p.s. I have contacted Odin and will be sending it in for them to check it out, not sure what’ll come of it but I am not holding my breath. This is not a dig on Odin, other products from them have been great. And they’re customer service has always been pleasant. I understand that sometimes things just happen..

 

[Flywheel]

I would shim the upper and barrel at the receiver extension. It's an easy enough process, if you're sure for 100% that your scope and rings are good, that's my first bet.

Get the steel from Amazon in 25' or 50' lengths, measure out the appropriate length around the barrel extension, use a set of kitchen shears to cut. The steel can be had in .001, .002, and .003 thicknesses.

Take down upper and barrel, clean off all loctite/gasket maker/ assembly lube. Place your shims on the barrel extension, try to friction fit them, if a certain size goes in relatively easy, go up to the next size. You want snug when getting the barrel to go back into the receiver, if it's tight and not going in at all, go down a size for shim. Use a rubber mallet to tap shimmed barrel into place, torque barrel and good to go. Do not try to use loctite or any other type of gasket maker with the shimmed barrel. The shims do what the chemicals are supposed to do. Only thing I would suggest is a LIGHT coat of oil on both sides of the shim to keep out the elements. Torque barrel to spec and go shoot.

Edit: Tired brain forgot my zeros for the shim size.

 

[BlastersAreCool]

Heres a thought...what if your gun food is out of its velocity node? Before I adopted using the ladder test method ( more efficient) I used to shoot 3 round groups in .3 grain charge weight increments. (Ex: loaded three rounds at 36.0gr. Varget, load three rounds of 36.3gr. Varget, load three rounds of 36.9 gr. Varget etc) working my way up until I was close to the unsafe pressure point. Then I would head to the range and get to work. When I found a node I would see that group "triangulate". When I was out of a node, I would see two touching and one cast out. Very common down range effects when out of a node. Maybe that's it? Hope that helps. If you want more info feel free to PM.

 

[Bullspotter]

I would shim the upper and barrel at the receiver extension. It's an easy enough process, if you're sure for 100% that your scope and rings are good, that's my first bet.

Get the steel from Amazon in 25' or 50' lengths, measure out the appropriate length around the barrel extension, use a set of kitchen shears to cut. The steel can be had in .1, .2, and .3 thicknesses.

Take down upper and barrel, clean off all loctite/gasket maker/ assembly lube. Place your shims on the barrel extension, try to friction fit them, if a certain size goes in relatively easy, go up to the next size. You want snug when getting the barrel to go back into the receiver, if it's tight and not going in at all, go down a size for shim. Use a rubber mallet to tap shimmed barrel into place, torque barrel and good to go. Do not try to use loctite or any other type of gasket maker with the shimmed barrel. The shims do what the chemicals are supposed to do. Only thing I would suggest is a LIGHT coat of oil on both sides of the shim to keep out the elements. Torque barrel to spec and go shoot.

.1, .2 or .3 shim around the Barrel extension to get it to fit snug in the upper receiver? You have something way wrong if it is fitting that loose to start.

 

[Flywheel]

Definitely forgot my zeros, thanks for catching that.

 

[Black71]

thanks for the suggestions!

I very well could be out of the node, I was trying n555 with 130s in my last ladder test (I also use .3 increments) and found a spot that only gave me 2fps variance. But just because the velocity was that tight doesn’t mean it’ll group I guess...

Barrel fit VERY snug when it was assembled...like freeze to make fit

 

[308pirate]

thanks for the suggestions!

I very well could be out of the node, I was trying n555 with 130s in my last ladder test (I also use .3 increments) and found a spot that only gave me 2fps variance. But just because the velocity was that tight doesn’t mean it’ll group I guess...

Barrel fit VERY snug when it was assembled...like freeze to make fit

All you of people using MV as an indicator of a node seem to forget that the optimal charge weight isn't determined by a velocity flat spot. It's determined by a point of impact flat spot, meaning a range of charge weights over which POI on target changes little to nothing.

No wonder you all have so much trouble and confusion.

 

[6.5SH]

Honestly sounds like the OP just got a mediocre barrel. They have a 1 MOA guarantee, take them up on it.

 

[hlee]

Yeah, if it’s got an accuracy guarantee but won’t meet it with match ammo, work the warranty- no need to waste time and effort hand loading...

 

[CNC-Dude]

Back this past summer, I upgraded the scope on my RPR in 6.5 CM. Prior to the switch, I was shooting consistent low .5 MOA's at 1000 yards, and occasionally could get some .3's at 1000 also. the scope I had was ok as a starter scope I feel, but I felt at distances past 800 I was guessing where to place the cross hairs on shots 2 and 3 to get good groups. I upgraded to a Vortex Diamondback Tactical from a Vortex Crossfire. It had more magnification and I could see the targets more clearly at 800 yards and beyond. The problem came when I went back to the range the first few times after changing scopes. I had 2 out of the shots in my 3 shot groups be almost the same hole and the other would be a flyer. It could be the first shot or the last, but every 3 shot group was like that. Long story short, even though the Diamondback scope was an upgrade, it had a parallax adjustment and the Crossfire did not. At higher magnifications, like 24X, the parallax was also magnified and causing me to not be able to place all three shots in the same Point of Aim the same every shot. The resident sniper at the range suggested to re-focus the scope and re adjust the parallax and also turn the magnification down to a lower setting to reduce the error in the parallax. I did and immediately went back to shooting .5 MOA's and less with 3 shot groups. I'll also admit, I never had a scope with a parallax adjustment before and probably didn't have it completely adjusted correctly either. Thank goodness for those with more experience being willing to show others simple tricks of the trade to help us out. Might be something to try in your case.

 

[Black71]

The parallax is a good point... I do have a vortex razor amg on it at the moment and the parallax seems super finicky

 

[CNC-Dude]

The resident sniper said that magnification is good, but too much isn't always better and to only use as much as you truly need. You probably know this already, but he also said to re-focus the reticle while looking at the sky so you don't have any other object in your view to trick your eye. Get the reticle as sharp and crisp this way and only look at it in maybe 3 second bursts so your eye doesn't try to over focus it. Once that's done, then use the parallax dial to bring your target into focus at whatever distance you are shooting.

 

[oldfatguy]

The resident sniper said that magnification is good, but too much isn't always better and to only use as much as you truly need. You probably know this already, but he also said to re-focus the reticle while looking at the sky so you don't have any other object in your view to trick your eye. Get the reticle as sharp and crisp this way and only look at it in maybe 3 second bursts so your eye doesn't try to over focus it. Once that's done, then use the parallax dial to bring your target into focus at whatever distance you are shooting.

Properly adjusted parallax (eye movement does not move cross hair on target) May or may not yield the sharpest focused image.

OFG

 

[BlastersAreCool]

All you of people using MV as an indicator of a node seem to forget that the optimal charge weight isn't determined by a velocity flat spot. It's determined by a point of impact flat spot, meaning a range of charge weights over which POI on target changes little to nothing.

No wonder you all have so much trouble and confusion.

No trouble here...its what my group of friends have been doing for the past three years now... there seems to be an "easy button" with hand loads of most popular cartridges. Measure your throat and place your jump .060" off the lands and conduct a ladder test to find the velocity dips/ flat spots. Those correlate with consistent SDs/ES every time. They also tend to be shit hot groups sub 1/2 moa consistently. Nodes? Yep. Sure are. I personally know several top 100 PRS shooters who do just this. But what do we know I guess? Lol internet is prolific with "know it alls" tho. That is a fact. Just my .02 on your observations

 

[Black71]

Got a list of questions to answer before taking my complete upper into them.. then they say if it’s not clean etc they’ll charge shop rates and what not... beginning to wonder if it’s worth it

 

[Black71]

No trouble here...its what my group of friends have been doing for the past three years now... there seems to be an "easy button" with hand loads of most popular cartridges. Measure your throat and place your jump .060" off the lands and conduct a ladder test to find the velocity dips/ flat spots. Those correlate with consistent SDs/ES every time. They also tend to be shit hot groups sub 1/2 moa consistently. Nodes? Yep. Sure are. I personally know several top 100 PRS shooters who do just this. But what do we know I guess? Lol internet is prolific with "know it alls" tho. That is a fact. Just my .02 on your observations

Consistency is accuracy right? Seems to make sense that consistent MV would equal accuracy on the other end