Is “Less Vertical Stringing” a Good Thing for ELR?

[6ShotsOr5?]

In today’s Accurate Shooter bulletin there is an article about the new BAT Nuevo 2-lug action that has horizontal lugs when locked in. Alex Wheeler was quoted as saying “Also the horizontal lugs may be why we see less vertical stringing in the groups.”

If the action does in fact create less vertical stringing, wouldn’t that mean you would have more horizontal stringing from the same issue? Also, given accurate range finders and high-consistency ammunition, since the greatest challenge for 1000+ yard shooting is usually wind reading, would it be helpful to take a vertical error element and turn it into an additional horizontal error element?

I don’t claim to know the answers - what do y’all think?

 

[moondog]

I try to tune a bit more vertical into my loads.
I have found it to be a bit less wind sensitive.
A guy named Tony Boyer figured this out a while ago

 

[LA50SHOOTER]

There is a thread that states the upwards pressure on the rear of bolt when the firing pin is held by the trigger assembly causes a reduced load on the top lug causing vertical stringing. Horizontal lugs greatly reduce that effect. I can’t see horizontal stringing being created by this.

With the tight tolerances that BAT maintains this is pretty much a mute point. And if a Bolt is double-sleeved (or has "Borden Bumps") then it is a mute point.

When I shot E2KI found horizontal to be way more than vertical because of wind, A One mph miss-call of wind equated to about 30 inches at 2000 yds with a 300 gr. Berger OTM hybrid moving at 2965 fps.

 

[Darwin]

I stand corrected.

 

[LA50SHOOTER]

I stand corrected.

You are very much correct in a lot of instances on lesser actions so there's nothing to be corrected on.
- A good gunsmith should check over even the best custom action when doing barrels. and insure that good contact is established by both lugs. - BAT spec's their 2 lug Benchrest actions to have the bolt 0.002 under which is holding some pretty tight tolerances.
I personally believe that the 3 locking lug action is best as far as lock-up.

 

[Alex Wheeler]

I have built quite a few LR BR rifles on the Nuevo actions. Feed back on these rifles is a little different. That action seems to show less vertical in a ladder shape. Its hard to put a finger on why but its been quite obvious to me and I get to see a lot of feedback on different rifles.

 

[seymour fish]

I have built quite a few LR BR rifles on the Nuevo actions. Feed back on these rifles is a little different. That action seems to show less vertical in group shape, but not an increase in horizontal. Its hard to put a finger on why but its been quite obvious to me and I get to see a lot of feedback on different rifles.

Alex, are you still able to get some positive compensation out of the system, or is it down to needing extremely tight Es on the tune ?

 

[Alex Wheeler]

The guys are still tuning for PC and its still there.

 

[seymour fish]

The guys are still tuning for PC and its still there.

Thanks Alex. That’s a “positive”