Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Shooting problem, need help????

The gun is a Kimber Montana M84 .338 Federal.
Scope is Leupold Vari X-III 2.5-8X36
Rings and mounts are Talley one piece light weight

The gun shoots a different point of impact with each group.
First five shots today.
100yds
round one impacts
Round two, 4.5 inches to the right and one inch low
Round three, four and five in the center of the first two with a one inch group.

twenty minutes later I shot five more but this time at two hundred yards.
Round one impacts
Round two, eight inches right three inches lower
Rounds three four and five, three inches to the right of round two and one inch lower with a one and a half inch group.

These are pretty consistent results with a couple different bullets.
The three shots that group together would be fine with me but the other two really confuse me.

What do I do to try and make this gun shoot the same place with all the rounds?

These rounds today were handloaded 185 grn TSX. I have also shot the Nosler partitions and the federal fusions.

HELP!!!!!!

Plenty, how many rounds total do you have through the rifle? Is it new?

Is the scope new as well or "proven" on another rifle?

I assume you had the same results with the Fusions and Partitions?

If I'm reading this right, your 200 yard groups are about 10-11 inches(!)Is that correct?

Thoughts:

Pretty light rifle;potent round.It will be sensitive to how it's set up in the bags.Get the front bag back under the front screw of the receiver.Also try putting something soft like a piece of towel between the sand bags and the rifle.This may help attenuate some of the "bounce" from a very light rifle off firm bags.

It will also be sensitive to how you hold it;if you think you are being consistent, try harder.I have a 257 Roberts that is very accurate, but it is light weight,fully bedded barrel; if I get sloppy with my hold, it will throw a flier. It wants to be held firmly and consistently.

Is the barrel properly floated,all the way around;could the barrel be tapping the forend during recoil?Along the sides,etc?Seems like the barrel is stringing horizontal and down.

Barrel heat....are you letting it cool every three shots, or hurrying through the 5 shot string?

Barrel is "new".Yesterday, a friend told of a Kimber in 257 Roberts that grouped about 4" at 100 yards until it had a few rounds through it;then it settled in with Hornady ammo and shot tight groups.He also noticed the dirtier it got, the better it shot....not uncommon with some factory barrels.

Are you cleaning it excessively?

Obvious stuff,like bedding.All screws properly tightened? Scope rings, etc?

The fact it is doing the same things more or less consistently makes me think it is not the scope;a busted scope would be prone to be more random I think.

Keep shooting it;keeping this stuff in mind. It may turn a corner.Others will chime in I'm sure.

Have the same rifle and it took awhile to lean how to handle it. I have to relearn if I leave it for awhile. As Bob said that particular rifle will come out of the bags and the soft cloth may help.

I had mine full length neutral bedded to eliminate the barrel bouncing around in the stock possibility.

Thing I have found is that from the same rifle, off the bags from field positions, it is considerably less finicky and you can ring steel out to 300 consistently.

I have complete confidence in it for hunting purposes and I have days when from the bench it will stay just over an inch. However, I wouldn't be too quick to say "watch this" when benched.

+ 1

Thanks all for the comments and help

Plenty,

My kimber 257 bob took about 20 rounds to settle into .5 moa with hornady superformance sst at 100 yards. 120 partitions also shoot well! Like previous post the dirtier the better this featherweight shoots.

Are you storing the rifle / scope at 0* and then immediately heating the scope with a propane torch, and repeating that process between every shot?

I just learned how careful I need to be about that.

TFF

Sounds suspiciously like a loose erector, or broken erector spring in the scope.

Had a scope on a Marlin that, for every two or three hitting the right spot, would throw another two about 5" high and 4" to the left.

Loose erector, which manufacturer warrantied.

FWIW.

You bought a Kimber. Dont waste money on ammo or reloading to get it to shoot well. Now reach in your pocket, pull out $600 and rebarrel it. Trust me I have had experiance with 2.

Pull off the scope and mounts, and very carefully mount it again, making sure not to put uneven pressure on the scope in the mounting process.