I need some input.

[montana bob]

What bullet are you loading?

I have tried 130, 140 and 150's in Amax, ELDx,Sierra MK, Sierra GK and Berger VLD

 

[montana bob]

Bought that gun in a prc, did the same thing. Take it down and you'll find extra epoxy touching your barrel by the recoil lug. My son in law had the same problem too. Hope that helps.

I'll look at this.Thanks

 

[montana bob]

Hi, clean the barrel, get yourself a tympanic thermometer measure the cold bore temp,
fire one shot, clean the barrel, let the barrel cool down to the original cold bore temp and so on,
Torquing the action screw is definitely worth a try,
have you tried it without a mod?
I had a good friend who had a similar problem to yours he tried 3 different scopes then tried a 4TH scope, Problem solved 3 out of the 4 scopes were faulty.
Get a friend to try your gun out with good factory Amo.

Are you shooting off a bipod or a bench?

A bench, As far as a friend trying it I can have another rifle out and shoot fine. I don't see where it's me. I had my muzzle loader out the same day and had touching holes with it at 100 yards, it doesn't have as good a trigger and it has significantly more recoil than this rifle.

 

[montana bob]

As others have already mentioned. I would clean the bore very well and get out the carbon and as much copper as you can. Check your action screws and see if they are loose. If the stock has pillars, torque your action screws to 50-60 inch pounds. If it's just wood or plastic, torque them 30-40 inch pounds. Check to see if your barrel is free floating or if the stock has it bound up. Also if the rifle has a box magazine, open the floor plate and reach up in the mag well and see if the mag box moves up and down just a little without forcing it. If your mag box is bound up that will cause accuracy problems too. Trying a different scope is also very good advice. I saw this happen on a buddy's Kimber .204 with a Nikon Monarch scope. Went from shooting bug holes to 2" groups at 100 yards. Tried a new scope and the groups went back to normal. When shooting groups with a lighter weight barrel, I always wait 2-3 minutes between my shots to keep the heat and mirage down.

I've tried 2 quality scopes but I have no problem with triyng another. I use a good copper cleaner and carbon cleaner and start out each time with a clean barrel.

 

[montana bob]

How many shells have you ran through the barrel I had a browning xbolt 7 mag that didn't settle in until after about 300 rounds then shot really well If your barrel isn't able to touch and nothing loose may just need wore in a ltitle when all said and done first load I had worked up was the best. David

about 85

 

[montana bob]

Is your barrel clean or fouled when you see this occur ? I have a brand new 280 that shoots one three-shot group of around 3 to 4", and then a pretty little half-inch cluster a couple of inches away for the next 3-shot group. This is identical to what I've seen for years with a 30-06 - a big group that is a couple of inches away from the spot where the next group lands. If I put either rifle away and shoot the next day, each will shoot to exactly the point where the second, smaller group was the day before. For decades, I used a 308 that did this, and I got into the habit of shooting three or four rounds downrange before I even walked down to hang a target. I have had more rifles that behaved like this than I have had rifles that didn't. My guess is that this is fairly typical.

I've tried a clean barrel and tried it fouled, no difference.

 

[montana bob]

Some of my rifles, will only shoot two touching, then anything after that the go all over the place. How does it shoot when you wait 10 -15minutes between shots?

It may sound stupid to some but I will not keep a rifle that won't shoot a 5 shot group at a setting. I have not tried waiting 10-15 minutes after 2 shots. I have waited after shooting a 4 or 5 shot group and still no change. As a matter of fact I have went into the house and loaded 5 more giving the barrel time to cool and went out and shot again with no greater accuracy.

 

[montana bob]

Hi, clean the barrel, get yourself a tympanic thermometer measure the cold bore temp,
fire one shot, clean the barrel, let the barrel cool down to the original cold bore temp and so on,
Torquing the action screw is definitely worth a try,
have you tried it without a mod?
I had a good friend who had a similar problem to yours he tried 3 different scopes then tried a 4TH scope, Problem solved 3 out of the 4 scopes were faulty.
Get a friend to try your gun out with good factory Amo.

Are you shooting off a bipod or a bench?

I bought factory ammo at Brownings recommendation and it shot worse than my handloads

 

[montana bob]

How long are you waiting between shots? I would shoot one shot or two let it cool down and shoot another shot. This will tell you if it's a barrel, heating bedding issue. What is the profile on the barrel?

I'm not sure what Browning considers the contour to be but to to me it appears to be a light varmint and it is fluted

 

[montana bob]

Yeah, that's a bummer, you spend all that money and now time. Probably just gotta find that right mix of powder and projectile. 1 1/2 MOA is savage axis not Browning long distance rifle.

I have tried so many load combinations with no real success. I see a little difference but not enough. It shocked me when the guy told me it's within tolerance at 1 1/2 MOA on a supposedly Long Range Rifle.

 

[montana bob]

Did they say how many shots for 1.5 Moa? I'd send it back and ask/insist they use 5 shots, and hopefully it shoots outside their specs.

Thank you! those are my exact thoughts.

 

[montana bob]

Check for free float right after you shoot a 5 shot group. Unless there's something odd with the barrel, generally the "2 group groups" are bedding problems, although if your ES & SD are high, that could be the problem, too. I would think the first thing to do is check the free float while the barrel is hot and then chrono your loads. Bedding problems sometimes involve voodoo, which can be time consuming and costly! Try the easy stuff first!
Cheers,
crkckr

I appreciate the input. I used to bed all the rifles at a custom shop.

 

[montana bob]

I must be lucky. Never had a gun I couldn't get to shoot by changing bullet weight or handloading for it. Seriously I have never bedded a stock or anything. (Other than trigger adjustment)

Also if you're not having luck with factory rifles buy a Sako. They all shoot and fit and finish is on a different plane from the rest. Sorry OP for your troubles hope you find resolution.

Thank you! I'm the same way. I only had one other rifle that I couldn't get to shoot simply through different load development.

 

[montana bob]

Sounds like he may be shooting compressed or over compressed loads. Maybe try to back off to 95% of case capacity and see if ES comes into the +/_ 10 fps range.

I'm not shooting compressed loads.