Consistent first round flier

[Bobcape]

Most barrel blanks have some curvature to them. It's best to try to align that curvature north and south on a custom barrel. Since this is a Savage, if you have the tools, you might be able to correct for that. One more thing to consider.
Bob

 

[223kid]

Now don't be getting in the car to drive over to punch me in the nose but.... I googled laminate stock warpage and from what I saw ,a laminated stock is very stable and not prone to warpage. The Savage model 25 lightweight varminter come with the laminated stock

 

[Thunder17]

Shooter error.

Awfully bold to assume shooter error, whenever I can shoot another rifle right before this one with no issues, shoot this rifle and it has a flier, then shoot a different rifle afterwards with no issues. I can shoot this one a few groups today, tomorrow and next month and it's always the same thing with a first round flier in the exact same spot, I also use to shoot this rifle and have no flier issues whatsoever. If you were close to WV I'd invite you to try it out for yourself. Thanks for the help though.

 

[Thunder17]

Stupid answer time.
Have you hunted with the rifle recently prior to the trouble starting?
I have a really lightweight Kimber in 25-06 that started doing a similar thing. Right after a hunting trip it decided to print the first shot way off POA, subsequent shots went into the group at POA.
Tearing down the rifle after checking rings, bases etc, I found a twig had lodged itself between the barrel and fore-end.
After it was removed, no more POI shift or fliers.
Sometimes things shift also, so a tear down and re-torque on the action screws may help.

Cheers.

It's gets used a good bit and rides around in the truck or side by side a lot. I'm going to try a list of things learned here and see what helps. I'll double check for any debris that may be lodged in where it shouldn't be. Thanks for help, it's greatly appreciated!

 

[Thunder17]

Try taking some dry fire shots. This usually helps with getting the jitters out. I have even had a friend load the rifle without me knowing will dry firing, should be a surprised break. You'd be surprised how much some people anticipate the recoil. Try it out and report back

I'll try that the next time I get to shoot it, thank ya!

 

[223kid]

I have become overly protective of transporting my weapons. I have gone to the range, sighted in. Came home slapped it in the quad gun scabbard and it would be off again. I use blankets and padded cases in the jeep and on the quad nowdays

 

[223kid]

recoil? 17 Hornet. I am outta here.

 

[Stephen Orleski]

I have taken a lot of long range shooting classes, all the way up to ELR, and all the instructors say that cold bore shots will vary, and you need to know your clean cold bore POI, your dirty cold bore POI. this guy explains it all in 2.5 minutes:

Hunting Tip: How to Plot Your Cold Bore Point of Impact « Daily Bulletin

bulletin.accurateshooter.com

 

[Rosebud]

How often do you think military snipers clean their barrels while setting in a hide with80 or more pieces of fired brass laying around them. I worked in a government facility that trained first responders how to handle mass cal events. Many we're ex military and police snipers. I'd pick their brains about stuff as you are discussing. Most said to let your rifle tell you when it needs cleaning. Meaning the barrel that is. Most said in the neighborhood of 200 rounds or whenever it started having the group's open up.I have a couple of rifles that's about 60 rounds a CZ 550 at about 140. All I do is pull a bore snake through with some powder solvent on it till the rifle tells me otherwise , then its serious cleaning and start over. Shoot about20 rounds through it the see what it does.

 

[Thunder17]

did you check the action screws? a loose screw will get ya.

I have checked the torque when I put the stock back on, front and rear screws I torqued to 45 in/lbs, middle screw just snugged up. I'm not positive that's the right way to do it, just what I've read before.

 

[Huntz]

I have found that full length bedding the barrel,cures this every time,if done correctly.

 

[Thunder17]

Sounds like a scope issue. I had that issue with my air rifle until I bought a better quality scope. How I would deal with it was to drop the rifle on the ground butt first a few times before aiming at the target and firing. This seemed to settle the internals mimicking a first shot. I saved a lot of ammo doing this. However i finally tired of this "cure" and finally bit the bullet... bought a better scope. Now it shoots like it supposed to all the time. Good luck.

I'll change the scope with and see if there's any improvement, thank ya!

 

[Thunder17]

How often do you think military snipers clean their barrels while setting in a hide with80 or more pieces of fired brass laying around them. I worked in a government facility that trained first responders how to handle mass cal events. Many we're ex military and police snipers. I'd pick their brains about stuff as you are discussing. Most said to let your rifle tell you when it needs cleaning. Meaning the barrel that is. Most said in the neighborhood of 200 rounds or whenever it started having the group's open up.I have a couple of rifles that's about 60 rounds a CZ 550 at about 140. All I do is pull a bore snake through with some powder solvent on it till the rifle tells me otherwise , then its serious cleaning and start over. Shoot about20 rounds through it the see what it does.

I don't clean very often, usually only when accuracy drops off, I actually didn't clean this barrel until it had around 400-500 shots down it, because it always shot so good I didn't see a reason to. when I started having fliers, thinking it was dirty. Cleaning didn't seem to help so I thought maybe it had a carbon ring built up, so I cleaned it really well the second time. That didn't help either

 

[Thunder17]

( Tip, make sure your thumb is on the same side as your shooting finger. This will keep you from tweaking the gun. ) now just squeeze the trigger and your set. Hope this helps.

So you're saying keep my thumb on trigger hand wrapped around the stock, or not wrapped around stock? I'm no expert marksman, or even close to one lol. This stock is a thumbhole if that makes a difference