Can rake on the stock cause vertical?

[BoydAllen]

I respectfully disagree Boyd. I've been there done that, but yes that is just my experience with my rifle with considerable toe rake. I was just trying to offer a possible option, and it has the same style of forend he described

Perhaps I should have been more deferential in the way that I disagreed, but I too stand by my statement. Are you saying that you get consistent return to point of aim with a similar stock, shot off of bags, after firing and reloading? How close? How were you shooting the rifle?

 

[22BRGUY]

Perhaps I should have been more deferential in the way that I disagreed, but I too stand by my statement. Are you saying that you get consistent return to point of aim with a similar stock, shot off of bags, after firing and reloading? How close? How were you shooting the rifle?

Thanks for asking Boyd.
The rifle is a 260ai. It has a laminated thumbhole stock ( I don't use the thumbhole) and a Pierce single shot action. It weighs about 18 pounds.
I bought the stock used from a guy that had a 40X action in it. It did have a forearm rail underneath also.
I was shooting off of a bench with a Bald Eagle slingshot style front rest with a 3 inch bag. I bought a 3 inch forend adapter for it but initially couldn't get the rifle to return to "on target" when I would push it forward to the forend stop after firing. I was shooting a light Jewel trigger also. The rifle would torque up and left and end up never on target after firing. I was using light shoulder pressure making sure my shoulder was always perpendicular to the butt stock.
After getting the rear bag hardness right so the butt stock would return to close to the same place between the ears in height, and after making the forend stop about 4 inches longer to make the rifle more front heavy, my groups shrunk down to below 2 inches. No world beater but much better for me.
In the beginning I went through several test loads at 100 yards and some showed real promise but no consistency from one group to the next with the same load. I just felt there was something that needed to be changed in my setup.
At first, shooting at 400 yards, I was getting 3 inch to 5 inch groups.
When I push the rifle back into battery now the scope is within an inch of being centered on target.

 

[BoydAllen]

Thanks for the details. I am interested. One thing stands out, your willingness to go out of the box with your experiments.

Some time back I was playing with a DCM 40XRF with a 28" heavy barrel, the original one. The stock had a full length accessory rail. I found that it liked light shoulder that was on the edge of pushing it forward without a stop, and no other contact. It wanted to be supported right under the front of the scope, well back from where I could get with a forend stop....but I remembered an aluminum "hockey puck" shaped hand stop that I have. I wrapped it with some foam tape to prevent metal to metal contact and installed it so that it was contacting the back of the front bag holder with the rifle in the desired position. It worked really great. The advantage of this sort of setup is that if you want to use more shoulder there will be better force distribution to the rest, much less tendency to pick up the rear leg.

 

[22BRGUY]

Thanks for the details. I am interested. One thing stands out, your willingness to go out of the box with your experiments.

Some time back I was playing with a DCM 40XRF with a 28" heavy barrel, the original one. The stock had a full length accessory rail. I found that it liked light shoulder that was on the edge of pushing it forward without a stop, and no other contact. It wanted to be supported right under the front of the scope, well back from where I could get with a forend stop....but I remembered an aluminum "hockey puck" shaped hand stop that I have. I wrapped it with some foam tape to prevent metal to metal contact and installed it so that it was contacting the back of the front bag holder with the rifle in the desired position. It worked really great. The advantage of this sort of setup is that if you want to use more shoulder there will be better force distribution to the rest, much less tendency to pick up the rear leg.

Ingenuity is cool....especially when someone doesn't have a pile of money.
Not going to point at anyone but I know of a few really nice guys that are "loaded" with money that have come out to our range with all of the latest greatest most expensive gear and firearms. When something wouldn't shoot to their satisfaction they would throw more money at something else new again. My mouth would drool at some of that stuff but it was always fun to either keep up with or do better with much less invested. The question I always try to ask myself is what can I do to just make it group just a little better? To me it's always about experimenting.
A really good friend that I shoot with asked me why I don't just find a good load, make a 100 of them, a just go shooting. That to me would take all of the fun out of it and I would give up the sport.

 

[rebel]

That sure was a surprise to see my stocks with PVC attached. Actually, I added the PVC to aid in watching my hits (and occasional misses) on groundhogs at long range (I just wanted the rifle to recoil straight back). But I guess it could aid in reducing vertical.

Well, it's an awesome mod that is so simple. I don't shoot a ton of matches but it would be nice to have a hunting stock transform into a BR stock quick. I love it.

 

[22BRGUY]

On this Memorial Day I would like to send my heartfelt THANKS to all servicemen and women, both active and past.
My Dad was a SeaBee in WWII and landed in Normandy with the Marines in that hellish mess.
I don't know if it was what he acquired in the service or from his growing up on the plains of North Dakota in the early 1900's, but he is the one that taught me about out thinking a problem. I remember him sitting with his cigarette at the kitchen table deep in thought about some problem that needed to be figured out.
He's been gone now many years ago and is buried at Fort Snelling National Cemetery in Minneapolis but I miss him very often and I'm sure it's the same for many here and their service members. Bless them all.