Boresighting WAAAYYY off. Is this a dodgey barrel.

[OzRanger]

Question for the brains-trust folks.
Mate of mine just got a new Ruger 17WSM. Nice looking rifle. Normally I bore-sight it for him and we get going.
I normally have it set perfectly in 3 or 4 shots and off we go.
However, I look down the bore at 100 meters, fire, and I'm not even on a 1x1 meter fresh board! WHAT!!!
So I boresight at 50... I'm off by over a foot. Can't even see the the bullet hole looking down the bore.

I boresight at 25 then extend that out to 100. I work out that at 100 meters, the bullet is shooting right... almost a meter!
Lucky the scope has some **** adjustment. Just wondering, does this mean the barrel is bad/bent or other?
Never seen anything like it. I am considering telling him to take it back.
Cheers for any and all help.

 

[JKB57]

one possibility is the barrel is not square to the receiver have seen many rifles this way or the mounting screws drill off so when the scope is mounted and you look down the rifle it looks like the scope is going one way and the barrel the other so look to see if your scope looks inline with the barrel as you look down the whole rifle. have seen a lot of remingtons this way and especially the Winchester model 70's just before they closed in 2006

 

[ShtrRdy]

Wow, that sounds WAY off. I would fitst try taking it back and see if they would help correct the problem.

 

[Mram10us]

I'd go to the mounting setup

 

[snox801]

Where does it fall in the erector? How many clicks from cent one way and how many are left?.
Also how does it group?
If it shoots tight groups and he has adjustment left I wouldn't sweat it. Unless he really wants to stretch it out.

 

[dwightb]

I have had a CZ and a Ruger American rifle do the same thing. Took the CZ to a Smith. He checked all out and everything was all square and aligned. The CZ shot over a degree low. Use a plus 20 moa rail and Burris rings with 40 moa inserts! Ended up sending to Triple River Gunsmith to correct. Not even sure what they did! The American shot far to the right, not enough windage to even get it on paper. Sent it back to Ruger, they replaced it.

 

[OzRanger]

one possibility is the barrel is not square to the receiver have seen many rifles this way or the mounting screws drill off so when the scope is mounted and you look down the rifle it looks like the scope is going one way and the barrel the other so look to see if your scope looks inline with the barrel as you look down the whole rifle. have seen a lot of remingtons this way and especially the Winchester model 70's just before they closed in 2006

Mate I'm looking down the actual bore of the rifle, the scope should have nothing to do with it. I can see the black dot at 50 meters dead center in the bore, but the bullet travels right almost half a meter. The receiver if it was off a bit, I wonder if that could bias the projectile to one side. Maybe I'll inspect the brass.

Where does it fall in the erector? How many clicks from cent one way and how many are left?.
Also how does it group?
If it shoots tight groups and he has adjustment left I wouldn't sweat it. Unless he really wants to stretch it out.

Shoots a tiny group. Not sure how many clicks but its quite a few!

This is the second of 3 rugers owned by people I know that have done dodgey weird stuff. I was about to buy a ruger hawkeye VT 22-250 to convert to a 22 Creed but now I'm not gonna. Just gonna stick to my Howa's I think.

 

[OzRanger]

I'd go to the mounting setup

What do you mean? The scope? Doesn't matter if the scope is on or off. The BORE is the problem. It's pointed at a black dot 50 meters away, bullets hitting right 1/2 a meter.

 

[Mram10us]

What do you mean? The scope? Doesn't matter if the scope is on or off. The BORE is the problem. It's pointed at a black dot 50 meters away, bullets hitting right 1/2 a meter.

You are saying you look down the bore and it "looks" like it's aiming at the poa, but it shoots right?

 

[OzRanger]

You are saying you look down the bore and it "looks" like it's aiming at the poa, but it shoots right?

Yep, I can see the black dot at 50 yards dead center down the bore. It's hitting right about 1 foot at 50 yards.
I'm wondering if there's a burr on the crown, the crown wasn't cut straight, the rifling is shallower or deeper or something on 1 flute. Not sure... never had this issue. Ultimately do I tell him to take it back. But if it shoots tiny groups and kills things, would YOU just accept it?
I'm not convinced I would.

 

[HARPERC]

Is it serving it's intended purpose, use it. If not move on.

 

[MachV]

Years ago I had a smith put a new 22-250 barrel on a wore out 243 Ruger.
Boresighting the barrel has always got me on paper at 100 but could not get enough movement on the vxlll to get it zeroed, had to aim off paper to check groups. Take it back to the smith and he claimed the bore was not square in the barrel. So it was not his falt??? Left it there and told him to fix it, picked it up with the scope rings shimmed ***.
The new 708 Abolt did what you are describing. Shoots alright but had to bring it in to 25 yards to find where it was hitting. Got it zeroed and rechecked boresighting to find it looked WAY off??
Kinda figured the barrel had to be bent as this is the first barrel in over a hundred that boresighting has not worked on.

 

[J E Custom]

Question for the brains-trust folks.
Mate of mine just got a new Ruger 17WSM. Nice looking rifle. Normally I bore-sight it for him and we get going.
I normally have it set perfectly in 3 or 4 shots and off we go.
However, I look down the bore at 100 meters, fire, and I'm not even on a 1x1 meter fresh board! WHAT!!!
So I boresight at 50... I'm off by over a foot. Can't even see the the bullet hole looking down the bore.

I boresight at 25 then extend that out to 100. I work out that at 100 meters, the bullet is shooting right... almost a meter!
Lucky the scope has some **** adjustment. Just wondering, does this mean the barrel is bad/bent or other?
Never seen anything like it. I am considering telling him to take it back.
Cheers for any and all help.

You will have to check everything that could be the problem one thing at a time and I would start with the scope alignment. If you normally have good luck bore siting, trust it. Then try siting in at 50 to 75 meters adjusting the scope to center it. (The bullet should be at the top of it's trajectory and start dropping at `00 meters so It would be a little low at 100 meters)

Any number of things could be causing this so you will just have to adjust around it. The recommendation about the site base holes being drilled off center or canted is not that uncommon. It could also be that the reticle is canted and with the difference in the scope center and the bore center, It could be the problem. If you get a good zero at 100 meters and go to 2 or 3 hundred meters if this is the problem the error will get worst as you adjust the scope reticle

If it shoots good groups, there is nothing wrong with the barrel, just the scope alignment. After mounting the scope, try to find true center of the windage adjustment by going all the way left (Don't turn it tight against the stops) and then counting the clicks, go all the way right. Once you have the number of clicks, go back left half the number of clicks and you will have the optical center of the scope and it should be pointing near the bore site picture. If not, there is something wrong with the mounting alignment and it has to be compensated for with scope adjustments.

Some times if you take a scope off another rifle it will probably be off because of the other rifle and the new rifle differences.

Don't give up, you will figure it out.

J E CUSTOM

 

[73driver]

Never have had to workout a problem like this. So thinking about it you have bore pointed at same spot as the scope and then it shoots off to the side. Well alignment is good but bullet flight veers off. I do not see the scope, basses or mounting of them as a problem. Something in the barrel or barrel to receiver mate up is causing the bullet to get slung off to the side. My guess, two cents is that the receiver face is not square. Imagine a hard side and a soft side to the barrel receiver interface. As the barrel vibrates/whips around as bullet travels down the bore their appers to be a bias to the side, I envision the not square receiver pushing the bore off to the side under fire.