Tell me about torque......... please.

[bobinpa]

Ok, I got my new gun... 300 WSM, stainless 700 LA, 28' Krieger HV 1-10 twist, Shehane MBR tracker stock, pillar and glass bedded. I have about 110 rounds down the tube and it was broke in correctly. I shot mostly 208 AMAXs a few 190 SMKs and now I am onto 210 SMKs. My groups are kind of stringing or walking from center to 5 o'clock. Overall groups are consistantly measuring 3/4' to 1' long by 1/2' wide. A buddy thought maybe it was torque. What do you guys think? By the way I am using H4350, Fed 215 primers and I am averaging around 2875 FPS.
Bob

 

[LRSmoke]

I haven't studied torque as much as some of the other guys on here, but with the MBR Tracker, the torque from a 300 WSM, with the weight your rifle weighs, should be minimal. That stock features a wide forend that displaces energy well and shouldn't be effected too much by torque. One thing I have found when shooting the larger magnums is to apply a bit firmer grip on the rifle. I have found that if I grip lighter, I start to string my shots in the manner that you are describing. You might try different grip pressures to see if this effects your groups. Hope this helps.

 

[Mikem]

LR Smoke, has a point, even when I shoot my heavy tactical 308 off the bags, with 168g SMKs at 2700fps, if I'm not holding tight the rifle will end up torqued over slightly, but I haven't noticed any decrease in accuracy. Just a red crescent on my forehead. Just kidding.
M.

 

[Mikem]

Action Torque: For instants, my tactical rifle,mentioned above), an H-S Precision 2000 HTR 308, has a T handle torque winch that came with it for torquing down the action screws, to 65 in/lbs. The stock is equipped with a full length aluminum bedding chasses cast in to the stock, so no stock bedding is required or recommended.
Mike.

 

[bobinpa]

Thank you for the replies. I am refering to bullet torque. I have complete confidence in the gun and the builder. I am the one that is haveing trouble with torque. I am not even sure it is torque..... just trying to figure out my groups.
Bob

 

[Mikem]

Bob, there's really only one source of rifle torque, and its all from the bullet and the twist or the rifling. Heaver bullets, tighter rifling twist and higher speeds equal increased torque.
Whats being referred to as action torque is, how one would address this torque, and its effect on the connection of the action to the stock.
Concerns about torque are, the action screws, stock bedding, Stock forend design, rifle weight and the shooters hold.
Mike.

 

[blawton]

You ever try 210 primers?

 

[Rust]

Pretty much every rifle not fired in free recoil is affected by how you hold it. There's a lot more going on motion wise than just the bullet being spun up as it heads down the bore. Anything you do will affect the vibration and reaction of the rifle to the torque of spinning up the bullet.

I've found three basics for shooting of a bipod, and it seems to carry over to using a front rest too.

1st up is where under the fore arm does the bipod,or front rest) go?. All the way to the front, an inch back, two inches? I do a lot of shooting off a bipod. When I noticed a difference between putting the bipod on the front and next to the front sling studs and it was helpful, I decided to put a rail on the fore arm of the next rifle I built. It was a good idea. Sort of 'tunes' the way the rifle reacts.

2nd up, a few of my rifles respond to a really hard hold, pulled back hard into the shoulder. Of course this will change the response to the vibration of firing a round. A couple of others like a bit softer hold. The general trend seems to be the more the recoil the harder the hold/

3rd up, leaning hard on the butt into the rear bag. Once again it tends to be related to recoil, the more recoil, the more lean.

In effect all you are doing is changing the way the rifle vibrates by changing the dampning effect with the physical act of how the rifle is held.

And yes, even with a heavy rifle with a wide fore end, the torque reaction to spinning up a bullet to 100,000+ rpm is still going to have an effect. Not being consistant with the hold will show up on the target.