Follow along with the video below to see how to install our site as a web app on your home screen.
Note: This feature may not be available in some browsers.
I agree with Boyd and Ackley man you may never get that pencil barrel to shoot any better like wise I had one once and it gave me fits nothing less than a #5 now.
dont need to worry about it if its for hunting. inch groups or better is just fine. you said 2 first shots would have superposed each other so dont worry bout it. Hit the animal you shoot at with the first shot. light hunting rifles have a trade off less weight for less accuracy. if you you really need to shoot 1\4 inch groups , get rid of it and get a different gun. It's always a crap shoot when your trying to get an accurate rifle. There's things you can do but if you can't get it to shoot to your standards get a different rifle. Like i said if it's for hunting inch or better is just fine, if were me the 5\8 groups your getting is good enough. I've been there, a guy gets ruined when you have guns that shoot 1\4 inch groups , so then you think all guns need to shoot 1\4 groups. for a light weight hunting rifle 5|8 groups will be adequate.
Not annealing brass right doesnt cause groups that big- come on. People didnt just start shooting sub 5" groups because annealing came along. Br shooters never anneal and shoot sub 1/4" 5 shot groups
now put 58 to 59 grains of IMR4831 with a berger 140 vld hunting bullet and i bet you will have found your load too. (I never had much luck with the noslers you used)
Get yourself some nice Seeking rings and make sure you torque them to spec with a torque wrench. I cannot tell you the number of times I have fixed scope ring that were loose at the range for people that had them put on at the gun store...Well....the end of the big mystery!!! This morning I called Night Force to inquire about anything I should check on this scope before I send it back to be checked. I told the guy in customer service that when I switched the scope the problem went away. He asked if I only switched the scope or if I moved the rings and bases too and also if I checked the tightness of the rings and bases. He then proceeded to tell me that the only rings and bases Night Force recommends are the mil-spec 1913 Picatinny rail type base and mil-spec rings to fit. He said that because the SHV is such a heavy scope that those type rings and base were the only ones that would stand up to the mass of the heavy scope under recoil.
Sure enough, this afternoon, when I tried the SHV on a different rifle with different/better rings and bases it held zero without any problem!!! This would explain why the rifle shot better with the muzzle brake installed...less recoil, less movement in the ring/base combo I was using. Incidentally, I was using the old Redfield type {new Leupold brand} with the two lateral windage screws on the rear base. The guy at Night Force said that without a doubt that type would never hold zero with this rifle scope combo, and he was right. i didn't select these by choice...they were the only type in stock at the gun store when I bought the rifle. The correct rings and bases should arrive in a few days.
One other thing I would like to mention...several of you fellas asked me about parallax. I did check, but did not have any with the rifle/scope that was giving me fits. I never really gave parallax much thought, never had it cause any problems. I was always aware of it and would check from time to time, but again never really had it show up. Well today I got a lesson in just how easy this was to have sneak up on you...one of my other rifles has the USMC PMII 3-12 scope. I noticed that the side focus was reading almost 200 meters when the range was 100 yards. Sure enough, when I moved my head side to side the reticle moved in relation to the target. Not until I set the side focus to just under 100 and then properly adjusted the diopter did the parallax disappear. Thanks again for all the tips and info fells...I am hopeful that this thread might help others as much as it has helped me.
I have learned to ALWAYS check for ANY parallax at each outing....it is the first thing I do after getting the rifle lined up on target.
Re: the brake, the previous posts stated there was no difference on target?
Also, we still don't know about the rate of fire?