Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Strange results from The Mauser From Hell

I'm inclined to go with the, "It's a scope problem." I had a Leupold go south and do exactly like you described. I sent it back and they fixed it.

I don't care it's a totally brand new scope. I recently bought as expensive (for me) scope and when I mounted it on the rifle and did the bore site process, got the elevation just fine but the windage would not adjust. Went a few clicks then locked up tight. backed it off and tried again but it locked up again. Sent it back and they fixed it. So yeah, even brand new scopes can be bad.

If that rifle was mine I'd trie a new scope of known reliability.
Paul B.

I'd be inclined to shave about 0.050" off the end of the front guard screw and shoot it again after trying another scope shows no change.

I don't mean to disagree with y'all on the scope being the source of the problem. However, a different bullet seems like the easier thing to try next. I'm not discounting any answer yet.

What has me deuced in all instances, and is the motivation for starting this thread, is figuring out the mechanism by which you can have 3 good shots and then one outrageous flyer and then go back to shooting where it was before. Once thrown out of kilter, how does it (whatever it is) know where to come back to? When I first got the rifle, I was having a heck of a time until I discovered the mounting screw was AFU. In that case I'd get 2 or 3 shots in one spot and then it'd move somewhere else and then 3 shots later it'd be somewhere else entirely. It never came back to where it was originally shooting.


That is one reason I have for trying a different bullet. A bullet with flaky mfg or QC might cause the trouble. It's one of the few possible causes that does fit the pattern. I only say that, because the only time I've seen anything approaching this is when I started casting my own muzzleloader bullets. If I tried one of the goofy ones that did not cast right, or if I gouged a big smile on the bullet while I was seating it, it was usually certain to go off into space.

any chance you have a .318 barrel? I was thinking there were two different sized bullets for 8mm. Possibly the previous shot the rifle with the wrong bullets often.

I have not slugged the barrel yet. That might be a good thing to do before proceeding further.

However, I will say the previous owner threw in 500 rounds of surplus 8mm, so I know it's been shot with standard military ammo prior to this.

A faulty scope's internals can bounce back and forth, giving the results you describe of throwing fliers and then coming back to the previous POI.

Different mechanism for sure- however- I had a Mini-14 all tricked out for accuracy "except" that first round loaded by charging it from the magazine went high & right 5", then the rest (which loaded by the gas action) all went where they were supposed to! ha
I also have had new scopes that flaked out and a couple more that moved back and forth several inches, 2-3 tot he left, the next 2-3 to the right, etc. I think anything man made is subject to screwing up royally, ha. Keep us posted though as to what you do, but take some Tums, and count to ten before doing anything rash to it!

I had that EXACT problem. Three or four shots in a tight group, then bang 2 feet off. Two or three shots into the new group and bang 18 inches off in a different direction. I shot nearly 100 rounds of .270 one day trying to lock down a zero. It was the most frustrating experience I ever had with a firearm. In my case, it was the scope. I bought a new, relatively cheap scope and the problem disappeared. If you have a good scope on another rifle, I would try it.

But what about under the barrel? and down both sides.

My swede acted that way. I finally noticed the barrel wasn't consistent with a tight patch. Then I found the leupold scope was afu. Fixed those two things and now it shoots.

Well, I'm back from the range. I've got good news and bad news.

Good news: It was the bullet. I shot 180 grain Hornady Interlock RN over H4895 and got no flyers. It was not a tight group, but it was a group. I shot 10 rounds and they all stayed inside a pie plate with room to spare.

Bad news: After all that trouble, all I have left is about a 4 MOA rifle with the current choice of bullet. I'm not done with it yet. However, that's where it stands.

Thanks all for you kind imput.

Hmm, have to wonder how many more dollars worth of powder and bullets you should send down that barrel in the quest for satisfactory accuracy. Do you think playing with seating depth might yield some results? Have you measured the chamber/throat? Just a thought.

Yep. I don't think the OP is open to changing out the scope, since it is "new", therefore shouldn't have anything wrong with it...... I also wouldn't trust another man's bedding job if the rifle is not shooting up to par. It's easy to re-glass bed a rifle and that would confirm it's not the problem...

[quote]I also wouldn't trust another man's bedding job if the rifle is not shooting up to par. It's easy to re-glass bed a rifle and that would confirm it's not the problem...[quote]

Exactly!! The barrel could even be touching the wood in places under the barrel also. That'll give you accuracy fits too.

Yep

10 shots with a different scope without adjustment would tell you if it was the the scope

Well, actually the reason I didn't change out the scope was partly that, and partly because I found the .322" bullets and got to wondering. I had the Hornadys handy and figured the change of bullet would be an easy try. I also had a new scope on order as a backup plan. It arrived while I was at the farm.

I think my next time out, I'll try shimming the barrel and see what that does. I also know I can also get a tad closer to the lands on the next batch of rounds. This is a project that has some hope left to it. 4MOA is not that bad a position to be in. It may not have a chance to improve on it before this deer season, but certainly before the next one.

Could still be a bad scope.

You're right, Mister Smith. It could be. However, I've now got a bunch of other things that are more likely candidates. Chief among them is the fact that I am at least the third owner in the past decade and the last one coughed this one up as a deal sweatener and threw in gobs of ammo to boot. That says a lot. For all the stories you read out there with fairytale endings, the average military Mauser wearing its existing barrel has quite often ended up a 2-4 MOA rifle-- not a tomato stake, but not a tack driver either.

I'm not giving up yet, but. . .

I get where you’re coming from, but if it were my rifle and I had a spare scope laying around, I’d spend the few minutes to mount the other scope so I’d know for sure about the functionality of the first one.