6.5 SAUM help please

[JD250]

hey guys so I just had a new SAUM build it's on a defiance deviant medium action 24" bartlein with a break, chambered with the .120 reamer 8.5 twist jewell trigger bedded in a manners game warden stock topped with a nightforce nxs it was built by mike at hell's canyon armory. So I started my load development I'm shooting 140 vld hunters and h1000 .020" off. Started at 58gn and worked up .5gn to 61.5 and shot 5 shot groups and the best group I got was .5" with 60gn and with 60.5 shot bout .75-1" so I loaded up 59.8-60.4 and shot them today and didn't have a group under an inch and a half. What happened?? It's all brand new hornady brass neck sizeed and trimmed uniform. I'm not a master reloaded by any means but this rifle should shoot very well given all the parts I used and the smith I had build it the barrel is a 2b contour and I'm not letting it get hot it gets warm but definitely not hot today I shot three shot groups in about five minutes so I don't think it's to hot and the weather was only about 60 degrees. Does any one know what I'm doing wrong or something I should change?? I'm shooting out of a lead sled and have felt really good about my shots so I don't think it's me but most of my groups are inch and a half or bigger but most of the time it will put two shots in the same hole then jump over to the right usually an inch-inch n a half and put the others in another ragged hole im just not getting any consistency in my groups. For what it's worth my buddy has the identical gun built at the exact time by mike as well and his is doing pretty much the same thing we shot together today and his groups were doing the same thing except in vertical groups vs horizontal like mine. Any advise tips or knowledge is greatly appreciated!
Thanks

 

[trucraft]

Have you spoken to your gunsmith?
Strange both guns are doing the same.
I would change primers next.

 

[PowellSixO]

Did you clean your barrels? New barrels can foul quickly sometimes. Some can take a 100 to 200 rounds before they stop fouling quickly.

 

[JD250]

Yeah I broke it in according to bartlein procedure and was cleaning it after every five shots and it wasn't looking that bad at all...

 

[LongRangeFever]

I would try to seat the bullet touching the lands. I have not had good luck with Berger's seated back. You may also want to try to use a more forgiving bullet to see if maybe the gun just won't shoot the vlds. I love the 140s, but have one rifle that will refuse to shoot them well. I thought it was the barrel, but after loading some Match Kings, it did shoot very well. I switched to the eld x bullets after.

 

[JD250]

I would try to seat the bullet touching the lands. I have not had good luck with Berger's seated back. You may also want to try to use a more forgiving bullet to see if maybe the gun just won't shoot the vlds. I love the 140s, but have one rifle that will refuse to shoot them well. I thought it was the barrel, but after loading some Match Kings, it did shoot very well. I switched to the eld x bullets after.

Ok I'll try moving them up into the lands I'm just concerned with the lack of consistency I've got 55 rounds through it and it won't duplicate any of the loads that shot good the first time it will shoot a five shot group in an inch and half but two in one hole then move over an inch or better and put the other three in another hole then the same load shot again is just a totally random inch and a half plus group. Very frustrating I thought this gun was going to be a lot more forgiving than it is.

 

[JD250]

Have you spoken to your gunsmith?
Strange both guns are doing the same.
I would change primers next.

Have not spoke to him yet when he finished them he was pretty confident that they would both shoot extremely well he felt really good about the builds and I've seen other guns that's hes build and they shoot amazing.

 

[LongRangeFever]

Ok I'll try moving them up into the lands I'm just concerned with the lack of consistency I've got 55 rounds through it and it won't duplicate any of the loads that shot good the first time it will shoot a five shot group in an inch and half but two in one hole then move over an inch or better and put the other three in another hole then the same load shot again is just a totally random inch and a half plus group. Very frustrating I thought this gun was going to be a lot more forgiving than it is.

Did you mount the scope yourself? You may want to check your torque on the rings, and stock to make sure nothing is loose.

 

[Rick Richard]

If you are going to experiment with seating depths, then use the Berger preferred method of doing it. It will save you a bunch of time and money in the end. Also, I would load and shoot until the barrel speeds up before I would load for accuracy. That usually takes more than a 100 rounds down the tube.

 

[JD250]

Did you mount the scope yourself? You may want to check your torque on the rings, and stock to make sure nothing is loose.

Mounted it myself and already checked torque there all good...

 

[Deviant]

I'm with JD250. Check the scope and mounts first. I recently had the same issue with 195 EOL's in my 28 Nosler. I found I had some inconsistent brass and my velocities were jumping around on me. After fixing that I used the berger bullet seating depth procedure and took my groups from 1.5 to below .5 MOA with the same powder charge. Some guns will shoot the VLD's better with a jump. I would definitely check your velocities and see what your standard deviation is. Is it possible that your die got bumped and changed your seating depth? I have a 3 year old that has caused me a few headaches by turning my micrometer seating die adjustments so I always measure my CBTO every time I walk away from the press.

Al

 

[JD250]

If you are going to experiment with seating depths, then use the Berger preferred method of doing it. It will save you a bunch of time and money in the end. Also, I would load and shoot until the barrel speeds up before I would load for accuracy. That usually takes more than a 100 rounds down the tube.

I was reading there loading method last night and it makes sense to narrow it down but there wanting to get all the way out to 130 off the lands and I haven't seen anyone shooting that far off seems like the sweet spot in these has been .020 for most guys but not mine apparently. We were thinking about trying the 10 shot ladder test to see how that works out has anyone had success with that? Or is it possible that I just don't have enough rounds through it for it to tighten up yet? And I have put it through the chronograph yet, should I be doing that as I'm shooting groups?

 

[JD250]

*havent put it through the chronograph yet.

 

[Rick Richard]

Use the chrono. It will tell you more than you think especially when you get that flyer and will let you know when that barrel speeds up. As far as .130 off the lands? My SAUM shot some amazing groups at around that seating depth, which is why I recommended the Berger method. Also, I have found once fired brass shot through the rifle has performed better than virgin brass.