Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles RAR all over the place

I have a new Ruger American Rifle in 7-08. I mounted the same Kahles scope I have had on my other rifle for years. Everything Loc-Tighted looking good. Went to the range. First shot 1"left and 1"high at 100. Went to move the scope to the right. 3 clicks =1" acccording to the scope dial. Next shot right where I want it. Next shot 5 inches to the right. This same scenario goes on for the better part of a box of shells. First shot right where it should be the next shot somewhere far from the first. My question is this do the barrels heat up extremely fast nd wasn't I giving it time enough to cool or do I look elsewhere like the scope, or even the crown although this is a brand new rifle.

That sounds like a scope issue....

Sorry but I got to..

Did you use 'flave precision ammo i.e. 22-250/7-08. lol

Sold my RAR. After multiple boxes of factory ammo of various types I failed to find any that shot well.

If it is an earlier made stock, it could have the forend issue putting side pressure on the barrel. Look in the stock. The reinforcing spacers should be X shaped in the forend. If they are just straight across dividers, it is a first generation stock. There have not been as many issues with the current design.

The barrel is relatively lightweight, but it isn't going to heat up any faster than any other barrel of the same weight.

My guess would be the scope, with that type of performance. Good info on the barrel channel, though. I have a .308 and it shot OK, but tightened up when I fixed the fore end. I also filled the "Xs" with epoxy to firm up the stock.

Don't give up on it until you try another scope.

What ammo were you shooting?

Check the scope/mounts.

If those are not the culprit, you can be content in knowing that not every 300 dollar plastic stocked rifle shoots like a benchrest gun.

Flip it and hope the next one does.

Although, funny thing is, most of them do come close to that. Hence the reason this thread was probably started.

This would be my first guess. Sometimes you can simply loosen the action screws, use your thumb to center the barrel while tightening the actions screws, done deal. My 30-06 was that way and it will most definitely put 3 under an inch at 100.

JP Lucas- I was using Hornady GMX ammunition

It ain't the rifle.

My buddy had one that shot like chit too. He sold it and bought a couple TC ventures and a savage XP trophy hunter. Those drive tacks. He swore he'd never buy another RAR, so I guess that's more for you guys.. .

I'm two for two, guess I'm very lucky. Threw a Tract Toric on the RAR '06, grabbed some federal blue box 165's and 180's, and shot 1' or better with both. The 180's were closer to .6". Did the same thing today with the .243, mounting the Toric and hurling 95g BT's into small clusters, and 140 fusions into small clusters.

140's?

I'm sorry...90's in the .243. 140's in the 7-08. Good catch there huntsman.

I tried the Hornady sst superformance in a rar 7mm08 and my weatherby 7mm08. It shot a 4 to 5 inch group in the rar and a 3 to 4 inch group in the weatherby. The hornady american whitetail shot less than an inch in both.

After the disparage in bullet diameters of the Hornady 55gr red box I had - they'll be lucky to see my cash again.

This was the first time I ever tried anything other than Remington Cor-Lokt ammunition. Looks like I'll try that before investing in a new scope, then if nothing changes I'll go scope shopping. Thanks for the insight on Hornady ammunition.

Reef on those action screws too... all my RARs have liked "bloody knuckle" tight on both front and rear.

On the one RAR I had with the old style forend, I simply used a heat-gun to warm up the stock just in front of the shank. When it was warm enough, I pulled the forend put away from the barrel a bit, put a spacer in it to hold it where I wanted it, and set it in the chest freezer for a few minutes. Once cooled and hardened up again, I pulled the action screws, removed the spacer, and reassembled... the barrel was floated nicely, and it took some pretty good pressure to get it to touch the barrel. Took about 10 minutes of my time, and knocked groups in half...