Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles POI shifted 3 inches on my Weatherby!

Before traveling to WY a few weeks ago I dutifully took my Weatherby Ultralight in .257 Wby to the range and tweaked the scope settings a bit to get my point of impact 1 inch high at 100 yards. The scope is a Meopta 2100 3x12x50 in a Leupold QR mount. Even though I have the scope in a QR mount, I have NEVER removed the scope from the rifle.

After tweaking the scope setting at the range I fired a final 3 shots into a nice half-inch sized group, and went home. The cartridges are my handloads using Hornady 120 Interlocks and H4831SC powder.

At home I ran a dry patch through the barrel to dislodge any grit, but I purposely did not use any solvent because I didn't want any first round fliers in the field.

Took the rifle to Wyoming by car, about 750 miles, it was packed in a hard case and was NOT on the bottom of a pile of gear.

On the third day I shot an "eater size" mule deer buck at about 125 yards. Nice standing broadside shot, the buck's head was facing toward my left. I was hidden under a tree and fired from sitting position using my bipod - I had all the time in the world and felt good at the shot. The deer was visibly hit but rather than being "dead right there" - as the .257 usually delivers - he hobbled over and disappeared back into the ravine he had just come up from.

This part of the story has a happy ending, I found the buck dead about 50 yards away. When field dressing the buck I found that the entrance wound was a few inches further BACK than I had thought I'd aimed. Still far enough forward to take out the lungs, but the shot completely missed the heart. Hmmmm.

Back home in Minnesota I revisit the range with the Weatherby, and find that my POI at 100 yards has moved 3 inches to the right! That explains the shot placement on the deer. The gun hadn't yet been cleaned, the ammo was out of the same box I took to Wyoming. Afterwards I double-checked all the screws on the scope mount and the rifle, everything is tight.

So what caused by POI to shift but what I consider to be a pretty substantial amount? I believe that the weakest link here is the Leupold QR rings and base, but before I buy a set of Talley ringmounts can anyone think of other possibilities to investigate?

Anyone else had a similar experience?

try a leupold scope to match those rings.

I have qr rings and never had a problem with them, so I don't know what to tell you. It probably wouldn't be to hard to to move 3moa if the levers weren't totally tight. Was it that?

I had a rifle shift 12 MOA in 36 hours. I verified my sight-in the day before elk season just before the rain started. I hunted hard in the rain all of Saturday. Sunday morning at first light I whacked a raghorn 4x4 bull. I held behind the shoulder and broke his neck. 18" from where i was aiming at 150 yards with a solid rest on a stump. The next day at the range I shot a nice inch and a quarter group 12 inches from the crosshairs. Rather than adjust the sights, I left them there. Over the next few months as the stock dried out the point of impact shifted back where it'd been to begin with.

So ... what kind of stock does your weatherby have? Plain wood, or a synthetic? Is the barrel free floated? If so, better check the barrel channel to be sure it really is. Etc.

As long as everything is screwed down tight with regard to your base and rings, that's about the last place I'd worry about being the problem. It's about as likely that something is broken loose inside your scope and the crosshairs are moving. Much more likely is stock bedding ... in some way or other.

Tom

TOM is onto something there. My first thought was the skinny wood forearm, along with a skinny barrel= bad shift change. If it's a wood stock, of course.................

gremlins......

Yes! Some elaboration on the stock and bedding might help. I have a Mk V 257 and run a Bushnell Elite 6-24X. I had to glue the scope in Leupold rings to keep it from sliding forward. Living in an excessively dry climate, it was also about 2 years before the stock quit moving around and I did my final action bedding. A 30-378 Weatherby simply sheared the windage dovetails right off of a Leupold setup. I went to Talley's and it's now my most accurate rifle and can completely hide 3 shot groups beneath a dime. 1Minute

Wind? The few times I have been to Wyoming it was really windy. Not at all like the normal days in Northern MN where I grew up. Action screws perhaps a bit loose? I have leupold QR rings on a pre-64 300H&H and have not have any issues. Good thing is it still did the job and the buck was recovered.

I have been using QR rings on some mighty big kickers like 416 Rigby and 300RUM with no troubles. I doubt that to be the weak link. If the stock is synthetic or properly bedded (My wood guns do just fine in climate changes, but it takes some doing) then I suspect the scope. Since going to all Burris Posi Lock scopes I have rifles that do not change POI even when severely abused for days. Year to year, hunt to hunt, dead on.

RE the wind, A wind that would move a 120gr .25 cal bullet travelling at 3300fps or so 3 full inches would be darned near impossible to hunt in. I also do not give the wind too much blame here. Scope and stock seem to be the most likely culprits. Concentrate your energy there.

The Weatherby Ultralight has a synthetic Bell and Carlson stock as manufactured by Weatherby, so the stock should be unaffected by the weather and humidity. I will check to see if the barrel is free-floated, however.

The wind in Wyoming and at the range in Minnesota were negligible while shooting. There is no sign that the scope has shifted in the rings, everything is TIGHT.

I hate to think the Meopta is flakey!

bedding and/or action screw torque. The ultralight I had didn't have the best bedding.

Of course it shot like crap as well, that's why weatherby replaced it.