Hi All - I was wondering if I could get some advice please ?
I have pretty much a brand new AX308 which has about 200-400 rounds through the barrel (last 200 without any cleaning)
At Bisley in the UK, there's a range called the zero range which is set to a special distance (can't remember the exact distance) at which you can shoot at a special graduated target which has various distances written on it - the idea being you can work out the number of MOA you need to get on paper at various distances without having to book a target of that distance.
I've collated the various numbers for my rifle already (this was done within the first 100 rounds although I can't remember if I did it on a cold barrel or not) and I found I needed 14 MOA at 300 yards.
A month ago, a friend and I were shooting at 900 yards and we were got quite a few bulls - so at that point I know there wasn't an issue with either the shooter(s) or the gun.
Today (at around the 300-400 round mark), we had a few issues shooting at 1000 yards (some of it was definitely due to the marker) and decided to re-visit the zero range and found 19 MOA was required for 300 yards.
I realise there could be several explanations for this - especially as the gun is kept at the armoury at the rifle range (i.e. it could have been used and rezeroed by someone else), or that the scope mounts are loose etc., but putting aside all those reasons, could a dirty barrel be a cause for a 5 MOA difference in adjustments required at 300 yards ?
It's worthwhile to note that once we found the new MOA adjustment for 300 yards, the rifle was consistently able to put rounds very close to it, or even through the same hole - so in my mind this would tend to rule out loose scope base etc.
When checking the rifle back into the armoury, I also found that the silencer had become slightly loose - could this be a factor ?
Or (hopefully) can this difference be explained by the fact that barrel needed to be broken in before consistent MOA adjustments could be found ?
I'd appreciate any assistance.
Thanks in advance.
I have pretty much a brand new AX308 which has about 200-400 rounds through the barrel (last 200 without any cleaning)
At Bisley in the UK, there's a range called the zero range which is set to a special distance (can't remember the exact distance) at which you can shoot at a special graduated target which has various distances written on it - the idea being you can work out the number of MOA you need to get on paper at various distances without having to book a target of that distance.
I've collated the various numbers for my rifle already (this was done within the first 100 rounds although I can't remember if I did it on a cold barrel or not) and I found I needed 14 MOA at 300 yards.
A month ago, a friend and I were shooting at 900 yards and we were got quite a few bulls - so at that point I know there wasn't an issue with either the shooter(s) or the gun.
Today (at around the 300-400 round mark), we had a few issues shooting at 1000 yards (some of it was definitely due to the marker) and decided to re-visit the zero range and found 19 MOA was required for 300 yards.
I realise there could be several explanations for this - especially as the gun is kept at the armoury at the rifle range (i.e. it could have been used and rezeroed by someone else), or that the scope mounts are loose etc., but putting aside all those reasons, could a dirty barrel be a cause for a 5 MOA difference in adjustments required at 300 yards ?
It's worthwhile to note that once we found the new MOA adjustment for 300 yards, the rifle was consistently able to put rounds very close to it, or even through the same hole - so in my mind this would tend to rule out loose scope base etc.
When checking the rifle back into the armoury, I also found that the silencer had become slightly loose - could this be a factor ?
Or (hopefully) can this difference be explained by the fact that barrel needed to be broken in before consistent MOA adjustments could be found ?
I'd appreciate any assistance.
Thanks in advance.