Problems with new gun

[Coldfinger]

My brother has a new gun it's a tikka action brux barrel in 6.5 max barrel has been nitrided inside and out first 15 shells through no problem went to the range the other day and one bullet through target looked like the bullet was tumbling perfect silhouette of bullet next bullet looked like it had mushroomed through target went home checked everything crown was a little rusty no gouges or grooves in crown but gunsmith recrowned it 3rd time we went out could not even hit target one bullet would hit 8 feet low and 3 feet right next roun would be 6 feet high and 3 feet to the left please help no idea what is going on. Bullet 140 eldm powder vitahouri n165 55 grains cci 250 mag primers.

Are you positive your not striking the ground first? I had kinda similar results not too long ago with a 20 Moa rail. Try a group zeroed if possible at 25 yards, then 50 yards and rezero, then 100 yards. If it don't group at 25 yards strip it and start securing everything all over. I was shooting a 7 twist 22creed with 73 grain bergers. Fliers everywhere sideways impacts you name it. Went to 25 yards and first shot 2 nice round holes, jacket separated from core perfectly. Next shot 1 hole and lead dust around it. Run a tight fitting patch down hole and check your twist.

 

[Coldfinger]

Ok gentlemen we went out and shot problem gun adj brass, cci 250 m primers, 60gr 570, 156 Bergers shot # 5 I seen two ground after bullet went through target 3 feet right of target and about one foot left of target.

I hope your shooting with components in a slingshot!!! I'd bet it's your twist.

 

[bigngreen]

Did you clean the heck out of the barrel???

 

[GregH118]

Cleaned barrel a couple of times I would think if the bullet is hitting the ground before the target that we would see dust flying up

 

[Harry Knutz]

Cleaned barrel a couple of times I would think if the bullet is hitting the ground before the target that we would see dust flying up

Set your rifle up on the bench, Pull your bolt out, Look through the bore at your target, Position the rifle where when you are not touching it, The rifle bore is centered on a round target. Then raise your head up and look at the crosshairs, You can then re-adjust your crosshairs until the crosshairs are centered on the target and so is your bore. It's quite simple and many times you will find yourself at least in the 10 ring if not in the X.

The adjustments will react exactly the opposite of what they say on the turrets, Because while shooting, A counter-clockwise adjustment on the elevation knob will cause your impact to move up, So when adjusting your crosshairs while looking through the bore, It will move the crosshairs down. This is bore-sighting the old way, It can be done on an AR upper also, If you remove the upper from the lower, And remove the bolt, And steady the upper on bags to center the bore, Hope this helps.

 

[Harry Knutz]

You can also do this bore sighting at home, Just make sure to leave any live rounds away from the area you are working in. I have an old speaker magnet I spray painted black and stuck on the side of my shipping container 40 yards from my shop, I center the bore on that and make my adjustments before I head out to the range.

 

[RidgeTop]

I have never heard of such a radical change from shooting good to can't hit target.
Switch to standard factory ammo to rule out your reloads.
Steady rest to shoot from and maybe let another shoot some.
Do you have another scope to try?
As you track down problem try to change only one thing at a time.
Good luck.

 

[Harry Knutz]

From your pics, It looks like all of your rounds are hitting the dirt, The bullets look like a banana went through the target, A 20 moa base will put some scopes with little adjustment left if you turn the elevation knob all the way down. I would look through the bore like I suggested, It has saved me untold rounds of ammo wasted trying to get on target.

 

[Harry Knutz]

I went back to the beginning of this thread again and I had forgotten that you had this barrel rechambered. It's a little bit harder to get a straight chamber when you are rechambering to another cartridge, Number one, If the first guy didn't cut the chamber straight then the next one will be worse. I have changed the way I dial in a re-chamber completely. Indicator rods are made to be used on existing chambers, A range rod is for use on an unchambered blank or muzzle. Indicator rods are sloppy in my book, And will rarely get you zeroed to an old chamber,And secondly, I don't know why anyone would nitride a match grade barrel. I doubt your problem is with the chamber though, But you need to systematically eliminate one problem at a time, I know it's hard when you are getting ideas thrown at you from all directions, It can be enough to make your head explode. Take a logical approach and eliminate one thing at a time.

 

[DUCKMAN11]

First thing i would do is see if you can drop a 6.5mm bullet down the barrel. Weird things can happen and one barrel can get confused for another barrel in a busy shop. I've seen similar results when a 270 was shot out of a 30-06. Has the scope been removed since yall shot those 15 rounds that were accurate? Correct rings being used?

It's hard to believe that you are shooting banana shaped holes into a target at 50yds WITHOUT the bullet coming in contact with a surface other than the barrel before it hits the target.

 

[Harry Knutz]

I don't know who your Gunsmith is, But if he did the work, Then the responsibility of getting this straightened out is on him. There are a lot of So-Called "Gunsmiths" Out there, Many of them do questionable work, I am not saying this guy is one of them, But I would lay this problem at his feet and get him to make this right if he is capable. It sounds to me like you had something good until all of this new work was done.

 

[GregH118]

I feel like we have eliminated everything but chamber and barrel used a different scope bore sight several different times took muzzle brake off different bullets my gun is same as my brother's problem gun and mine shoots everything his won't from target I posted it looks like bullet is coming apart 5th shot fragments below bullet hole on target

 

[bigngreen]

I know you think you've cleaned it but I have seen this dozens of times, something about the bore is stressing the jackets and they go sideways right out of the gate and you'll get baffle strikes, sideways hits and bullets flat coming apart. I've seen it right out of the gate on nitrided barrels and I've seen it on barrels when changing bullets and not cleaning all of the previous copper out and it gums up and starts tumbling bullets.

 

[bamban]

If the barrel wasn't perfectly cleaned before being sent it will create pockets in the nitriding, then when barrel comes back from nitriding Id wear out two bronze brushes cleaning to remove the crud, often it looks like rust at first.

When we get a dozen or so barrels for the juniors from the meloniting place, we just soak them in a tub of water for a few days. I've left barrels for over a week or more submerged in water with no ill effect. That rust looking thing is water soluble, you can see it ooze out of the barrels as they sat in the tub after a few days.