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bullsi1911
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Troubleshooting the Niece”s deer rifle

My brother had been taking his daughter hunting for the last several years, and last year she made some noise about shooting her first deer.
So- grandma got her a deer rifle for last Christmas. We did not get time to get it dialed in for the last bit of deer season, and then when my brother got out to sight it in, it shot horribly- not consistent and it would not shoot to point of aim.
My brother dropped it with me a while ago, and I am finally getting some time to futz with it. It’s a Savage Axis in .243 in some hideous pink camo and a crappy Bushnell Banner 3-9x scope




I started by dismounting the scope and mounts and reinstalling using correct Torque values. Found that one of the rings was loose, and one screw on each mount was pretty much only finger tight. I also dismounted the stock and reinstalled it with the right torque as well.
Swabbed the bore, reinstalled and bore sighted. I confirmed the scope IS actually tracking when you twist the knobs. Will be heading to the range at lunch with a few loads to test out and see if this corrected the issue.
Swabbed the bore, reinstalled and bore sighted. I confirmed the scope IS actually tracking when you twist the knobs. Will be heading to the range at lunch with a few loads to test out and see if this corrected the issue.
To make something simple is a thousand times more difficult than to make something complex.
-Mikhail Kalashnikov
-Mikhail Kalashnikov
Replies
-Mikhail Kalashnikov
As for the twist, it seems to me to be geared more toward heavier bullets. I have a 1:10 twist Stevens (Savage) 200 that has consistently shot 1/4"-1/2" groups with 105 grain Amax hand loads, which they no longer make. They might be twisting those to work with the new ELD bullets. Just my guess. If one of those 100 grain loads will shoot, that'd probably be my choice.
Since those cheap tupperware stocks are sometimes pretty flimsy, especially when hot, I'd also watch out for flexing of the forend causing contact with the barrel, especially when the rest contact point is further forward. I have to pay close attention to mine and get inconsistent groups if the rest isn't right under or just in front of the barrel nut. I've always intended to put a new stock on that rifle. Just don't use it enough to keep the motivation going.
― Douglas Adams
He was sighting in his LWRC carbine with a Specwar suppressor. Me? Pink Girls gun.
-Mikhail Kalashnikov
Want to hear what my luck is like? This is a classic example of of how sh.... stuff works for me.
I get to the range... realized I forgot my sandbags/ rest, so I had to borrow a leadsled (ugh). Get all set up, run the target out to 50 yards and fire 2 rounds of the federal 100gr rounds to confirm boresight. Both rounds go through the same hole, dead on for elevation, and 2 inches left. AWESOME!
I run the target back to set up for load test and sighting in, and I get a work call. Luckily, I am wearing my Walkers Bluetooth ear pro, so I just step out into the lobby and take the call.
BOOM! Lightning strike right outside the building (its a rainy day here). Takes down the network, power flickers on the range. I dial back into my call, finish up, and go back on the range.
The power surge from the strike has crashed the computers controlling the targets. They defaulted back to run the targets back into zero yards, and the computers shut down and refused to restart. For like 40 minutes. There went my lunch.
So.... I THINK I have it fixed. I just need to get back to the range and see what works best and sight it in.
-Mikhail Kalashnikov
"If you get it and didn't work for it, someone else worked for it and didn't get it..."
Lovely stock....not going to show my girl!
NEXT- this rifle is a well rounded shooter! All 3 loads hit really close to the same place. Which is pretty amazing that this cheap rifle/ scope combo can put 3 different loads within the the area of “acceptable hunting accuracy”
Load 1-CVA pistol load using Sierra 85 grain BTHP at 100 yards
it hits right here:
which is good enough for practice.
-Mikhail Kalashnikov
Looks like you got the "problems" sorted out.
Mike
N454casull
You can control elevation.....wind.......not so much.
Mike
N454casull
Take the max charge of H4895 for the given bullet, multiply it by 60% (0.6) and go from there.
The list the no longer made Hornady 80gr SSP on the "Youth Data" PDF, but I'm sure you can find a suitable replacement.
The problems I have encountered with those combo packaged have always gone back to some doofus that slopped the package together before putting it on the rack for sale.