I was prepared to start polishing the blemish in the bore at the range today. A last ditch effort before I ordered a new custom barrel. But I decided to put the original scope that my father purchased the rifle with, on before I tried anything. You see a few months before I noticed the blemish in the bore I purchased a scope based on a recommendation from an extended family member who recently retired from the service. He said it was all the scope a guy needed. I was interested in a variable power scope since mine was a fixed 6, and who was I to second guess him. Well today I received a blessing from the Lord and a lesson in humility.
I removed that Simmons 3-9x40 POS and put the original scope on and decided to see what would happen. We'll the picture tells it all. I shot the rifle eight times today. Two shots to get it on the target paper and then two 3-shot groups with a final scope adjustment between these groups. Both 3-shot groups are less than one inch. This was from 100yds. The red line on the target is inch thick.
I couldn't be happier. Yes I'm embarrassed to admit it was the cheap scope that gave me all this grief, but that's part of being human. It happens. I wanted to share my humility with you guys and hope others will take this into consideration when they find adversity.
Thanks everyone for your time and advice. I'm happy to be part of this group.
God bless,
Brad