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Winchester XPR zeroing problems

opherman47

Supporter
Supporter
Minuteman
Dec 18, 2021
85
17
Utah
I bought one of these about a year ago and have only taken it to the range twice to zero my scope.

it seems that it only takes three to five shots out of this rifle to have the shot groups go all over the place.

I have no problem retaining excellent shot groups with my m4 in the military or zeroing... I am using a sandbag in the front and in the rear.

what gives? I saw some post saying you need to have it cool down but how do you get your scope perfectly dialed if you have to wait forever between shots?

should I take the rifle to be looked at?

thanks in advance for your time.

this is just a basic hunting rifle for shots under 300 m in Utah.
 
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with such a small barrel it's not unreasonable to wait a few minutes at least between shots if you really want it to group

in the woods it doesn't matter much what it does on shot 5. it's what it does cold cause that's the shot that counts

you cant expect a pencil barrel to take a quick strong of 5 shots like a PRS gun

how to proceed:
shoot a shot
wait until it's cool and shoot other guns in the meantime
shoot a shot
adjust scope to zero
wait
shoot 1-2 shots to confirm zero
come back another day and confirm zero when it's cold again
 
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with such a small barrel it's not unreasonable to wait a few minutes at least between shots if you really want it to group

in the woods it doesn't matter much what it does on shot 5. it's what it does cold cause that's the shot that counts

you cant expect a pencil barrel to take a quick strong of 5 shots like a PRS gun

how to proceed:
shoot a shot
wait until it's cool and shoot other guns in the meantime
shoot a shot
adjust scope to zero
wait
shoot 1-2 shots to confirm zero
come back another day and confirm zero when it's cold again
thanks... this is the information I need... do you consider a three-shot group within 2 mins too much?

if I use a laser temperature reader how cold is considered a cold barrel?

are there barrels for hunting where this would not be an issue? carbon fiber etc? or other rifles I should be looking at? this is chambered in 30-06.
 
thanks... this is the information I need... do you consider a three-shot group within 2 mins too much?

if I use a laser temperature reader how cold is considered a cold barrel?

are there barrels for hunting where this would not be an issue? carbon fiber etc? or other rifles I should be looking at? this is chambered in 30-06.
3 in two minutes isnt bad so long as you dont do a bunch of that back to back to back. Do that and let it sit for 10 minutes or until it feels cool to the touch before doing again. I usually wait like 5 minutes at least between shots just to ensure that Im working on a non stressed barrel condition.

I haven't had good luck with the ir temp guns.

The more you spend the better it should be. A normal good releived barrel will be better than your factory cheapo barrel.
A carbon of equal weight will be stiffer than a steel of the same weight but it costs much more. A steel of the same size as the carbon would be stiffer but heavier.

Dont spend money making this xpr expensive with carbon etc. If you get good ammo of a few different types and take your time between shots and you still cant get it zeroed then send it back for warranty and let them deal with it.
 
3 in two minutes isnt bad so long as you dont do a bunch of that back to back to back. Do that and let it sit for 10 minutes or until it feels cool to the touch before doing again. I usually wait like 5 minutes at least between shots just to ensure that Im working on a non stressed barrel condition.

I haven't had good luck with the ir temp guns.

The more you spend the better it should be. A normal good releived barrel will be better than your factory cheapo barrel.
A carbon of equal weight will be stiffer than a steel of the same weight but it costs much more. A steel of the same size as the carbon would be stiffer but heavier.

Dont spend money making this xpr expensive with carbon etc. If you get good ammo of a few different types and take your time between shots and you still cant get it zeroed then send it back for warranty and let them deal with it.
thanks... yeah I don't want to put any money into this rifle... but thinking a better one might be in my future here.


how do I know if this needs some work?
 
if it shoots an inch or so at 100y with relatively cool barrel temps i'd consider that acceptable and Winchester probably would too
 
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