A rifle that won't shoot- Update

[hunter399]

If you can't sell it , you can always give it me.

Try a different scope off another rifle if you have too.

[Alchase]

if your base and rings are solid then there is no way its  the ammo....any crappy factory ammo wont "group" at 20" at 100 yards....scope problem

I don't know.  I have done a scope swap and had one rifle shoot great with both scopes at any range and the other wouldn't stay on the 2'x2' cardboard at 50 yds.

He said he was shooting at 150 yds.
I prefer to be methodical about troubleshooting issues like this. If the scope had no issues in the past, rings and mounts would be my first check. Ammo would be the next cheapest to check and would narrow it down to either the "decent scope" he used or the rifle, not likely, but can happen.
I have had way more issues where a rifle does not like certain ammo then a bad scope.
Just never 20 inches at 150 yds kind of problems, LOL

Assuming he is shooting from a rest, not offhand as Bill W asked. If he is shooting offhand, that would be consistent with about 90% of all range shooters I have seen over the years. 

[Dan-o]

If it has iron sights I'd consider taking the scope off and shooting iron sights at 50 yards. 

Tough to believe a rifle would group like that. 

I would check the crown. 

[GBoyd]

Thanks for all the input guys.

Yeah, I was shooting off sandbags.

So the scope: it's a Leupold VX-2 3-9x40. I had it on my main hunting rifle for a few years and it worked fine. I took it off when I upgraded and have had it in storage until now. I doubt there's anything wrong with it. I have it mounted with Vortex rings that came with the gun. I don't see any problems with them. I skipped the Loktite, but used a torque wrench to get the right pressure on all the screws. It seems most people think the problem is in this area, so I'll definitely experiment here before writing the gun off entirely.

The crown and bore: looks fine to me. You can probably tell I don't know a ton about rifles, but I don't see any problems. The rifling is strong and easy to see. There are no weird marks or damage around the crown. Is there something else specific I should be looking for here?

[Jonathan_S]

Do you know if the rifle was broken in properly?

 

Sounds like an absolute piece of junk if the break action is locking up tight and the scope is good. Only other thing possibly worth trying is a few shots from a fresh box of ammunition just on the off chance there is something weird there. Doesn’t really make sense

[Biggerhammer]

I would bet a unsuspecting buddy what the rifle is worth, that he can't shoot it better than you. Take the cash and walk away. But that's just me.

[Blacktail Sniper]

Did you check the base screws and make sure they were tight before installing the rings?

How are you resting the rifle on the sandbags, forearm or barrel?

What grain bullet are you shooting? 

Found this, sounds like a lot of what you are experiencing:

http://ammosmith.com/forum/index.php?topic=6597.0

[jasnt]

I've seen this before in a break action 243, trying to shoot 100 gr bullets from a 1:14 twist. Bullets tumbled to the target. Could hardly keep it on paper at a hundred yards.  Measure your twist. It's simple and checks one more thing off the list. Jme

[Bill W]

push a pure lead bullet down the barrel and mike it.  You may have the wrong diameter bore on your rifle. But if this was the case you would have keyholed bullets.  Once you rule out the wrong sized bore/bullets you can work on the other items.  You could chronograph your ammo just to see if it puts out close to factory ballistics.  The bedding would have to be grossly wrong.... or it could be scope/mounts broken or loose.

[GBoyd]

Did you check the base screws and make sure they were tight before installing the rings?

How are you resting the rifle on the sandbags, forearm or barrel?

What grain bullet are you shooting? 

Found this, sounds like a lot of what you are experiencing:

http://ammosmith.com/forum/index.php?topic=6597.0

Thanks for that link! I was shooting 100 grain Core-Lokts. I'm hopeful now that switching to a lighter bullet might do the trick.

[Calvin Rayborn]

Are you sure the scope isn't the issue?

I'm willing to bet the issue is scope related.

[GBoyd]

I've been out shooting twice since the last time I wrote, with no good news to report. For the first trip, all I did was defoul the barrel and buy some 80 grain ammo. Neither of those seemed to make a difference.

So, I went to the gun store with another scope I had lying around and bought a new set of rings. I even had the owner there mount it for me to be sure that the problem wasn't with how I mounted it. I took it out again this afternoon and shot group sizes identical to the first day- more than 12 inches at 100 yards.

Any suggestions for other things I can try? There's a lot of talk about these on other forums, but they're mainly focused on taking them from 4 inch groups down to 2 inch groups. It doesn't seem that there's many that do this poorly.

[Bob33]

If you have definitively ruled out the scope and the ammunition and the shooter, then it's time to move on and sell it.

[bobcat]

I'm kind of wondering how the crown looks on that rifle?

[j_h_nimrod]

How tight is the lockup and could the fore grip be putting pressure on the barrel when you are breaking it open and then loading it. The pins where the barrel and action break are a notorious issue with Ruger #1s and many people replace them with an oversized, custom pin. Crown would be my next thought as well.

Another thought, how are you shooting this?  In a lead sled, vise, off a rest. Are you resting back by the action or out toward the barrel?