17 hmr question

[Jonl]

I just purchased a Savage wood stock 17 hmr and put a Cabelas 17 scope on it. Accuracy was very good with Cci ammo (3/4 " at 100 ) but the next time the zero had shifted 6" to left. Is this the scope or is it the rifle?

 

[Ohio Varmint Shooter]

Could be any number of things. Off the top of my head:

1) You could have banged the scope on something, causing a shift internally or the rings/mounts.
2) Is the barrel free floating? If not, humidity change could have caused it to push on the barrel.
3) change in the mounts/rings? (settling?)

I'm sure others can come with lots of reasons...

 

[Warren Dean]

Was there ANY wind on one day versus the other? The straight left shift tells me the wind may be the culprit.

My 17 HMR just hates wind and it doesn't take much to move that little bullet a good way.

 

[Jonl]

Must been the wind. The barrel is free floated and today with no wind it shot dime size groups at 50 right on target. Love this little Savage. Clark is putting me a stainless barrel on my Ruger. It costs more than the whole Savage rifle. Interesting to see if it will outshoot it.

 

[moorepower]

It takes an 18 mph side wind to push the .17HMR bullet 6". If it was blowing that hard, that was your problem. I can tell you from personal experience that a Wood stock Savage will respond well to bedding, that will make it more repeatable.

 

[SShooterZ]

Those are some sweet shooting guns.

What is being done to your Ruger besides the barrel?
I've got 2 Ruger 17HMRs and I like them a lot.

 

[searcher]

1+ for bedding the Savage. After pillar bedding, groups shrank right up. Prior, was shooting from 5/8" to 1 1/2" @ 100 yards in conditions where wind was almost imperceptable. After, shoots 3/4" on the outside - with most well inside 1/2". Not bad for such a reasonably priced gun - let alone a rimfire. The greatest fun with these is shooting with buddies at a squirrel or something out past two hundred yards when the wind is blowing. Talk about a lesson in wind reading and effect! For the uninitiated, the first ten shots are spent trying to figure out what is wrong with the scope.