Ruger American Predator scope change no accuracy.

[ceard]

Check that nothing became lodged between the stock and barrel when you had it off last. You can slide a dollar bill, or a thin pcs of shim stock if you have it between the barrel and stock.
Also +1 to cleaning I bought a well used 700 for a song because I was told it shot poorly. I had plans just to use the action, and have it re-barrel it but a friend suggested I take some coper solvent to it for a bit then nylon brushes down it and try it out later. With about an hour of work It went from a 2.1 moa gun to right at 1 with standard ammo I had bought off the shelf at the time

 

[mkk]

Do you have access to a lead sled? Sometimes we try to hard to make it shoot and our form gets in the way. The sled takes a lot of the human influence out

 

[TB2BLAZER]

Try cleaning the barrel.

I cleaned it really well after the first round of bad shots with the Vortex on it and it still didn't make a difference.

 

[TB2BLAZER]

Do you have access to a lead sled? Sometimes we try to hard to make it shoot and our form gets in the way. The sled takes a lot of the human influence out

I do not have access to a lead sled. I was going to buy one but I got to thinking that even with my 300 win mag I can still get sub moa pretty easily at 100 yards. Considering the 6mm has almost no recoil I decided against it. I've shot from just about every position I could with all different methods of hold and trigger pulls and nothing is working. Even when I'm about to take a shot if I start taking up trigger slack and I see the reticle shake more than it should I back off, slow down, and reset.

 

[lancetkenyon]

Don't buy a lead sled. Terrible on rifles and scopes.

Back your action screws out to 35in/lbs.
Take it back out, and shoot 3.
Tighten to 40in/lbs and shoot 3.
Tighten to 45in/lbs and shoot 3.
50, 55, 60 and see where it shoots best.

 

[TB2BLAZER]

I'm going to take off the barrel again and check the action bolt torque upon disassembly. Also going to check all other bolts and screw the trigger back all the way in (the way it was when I bought it). Maybe they have somehow worked loose. I'm going to clean the barrel very well. Hopefully something will show up and let me quit wasting $2 a shot looking for the problem. Thanks again everyone and hopefully I will have something to report back on tomorrow.

 

[TucsonFX4]

It's always possible the good group at the beginning was a fluke. It is very statistically possible for a "bad" rifle or ammo to produce a good group with a small sample size. You have done a lot of work and eliminated/minimized a lot of other possibilities.

 

[TB2BLAZER]

Don't buy a lead sled. Terrible on rifles and scopes.

Back your action screws out to 35in/lbs.
Take it back out, and shoot 3.
Tighten to 40in/lbs and shoot 3.
Tighten to 45in/lbs and shoot 3.
50, 55, 60 and see where it shoots best.

I like this idea. Definitely going to try that tomorrow!

 

[TB2BLAZER]

It's always possible the good group at the beginning was a fluke. It is very statistically possible for a "bad" rifle or ammo to produce a good group with a small sample size. You have done a lot of work and eliminated/minimized a lot of other possibilities.

Very true. I have put close to 90 rounds through it Total. Only 4 of them (the beginning) were good shots. That's not very good odds in favor of a rifle that shoots well. I'm going to email Ruger tonight and see what they say. I would really like to stop pouring money (ammo) into this thing for it to just be a factory defect or something.

 

[cajun]

Don't buy a lead sled. Terrible on rifles and scopes.

Back your action screws out to 35in/lbs.
Take it back out, and shoot 3.
Tighten to 40in/lbs and shoot 3.
Tighten to 45in/lbs and shoot 3.
50, 55, 60 and see where it shoots best.

This right here. These rifles can be picky about it. Also do some google fu for ruger american action screw torque.

 

[Dmagna]

What screws on your rings did you tighten to 65in/lbs? Never heard of that. Also using missed if you are using that plastic stock, 65 lbs is way too much on that little thing.

 

[cajun]

What screws on your rings did you tighten to 65in/lbs? Never heard of that. Also using missed if you are using that plastic stock, 65 lbs is way too much on that little thing.

He's talking about action screws. The ruger has 2 v blocks that tighten in 2 cut outs in the receiver so it's metal on metal. The factory spec is 65"#

 

[Old Rooster]

My first inclination is the scope is bad. Vortex has a great warranty, but it probably gets used more than any other brand.

Are you shooting the same ammo which shot great out of the rifle originally?

I wouldn't worry about taking the rifle apart and putting it back together. It is supposed to do that and it shouldn't hurt accuracy, assuming you do it correctly, which it seems like you are.

The only consideration I will add for a change is your scope ring torque specs. I know different brands have slightly different recommended torques, but over on rokslide in the threads on scope durability, the guy swears by 20 in/lbs dry or 16 in/lbs wet (loctite). He documented scopes shifting in the rings with 16 in/lbs dry, though that was after intentionally dropping them and not from just firing them.

I bought the same rifle in 223 and it shoots great with the Vortex scope that came with it.Like others I use the scope maker's torque specs( Vortex) and don't use other specs.Too much torque could put the scope in a bind and cause problems.
Just my opinion.

 

[Dmagna]

He's talking about action screws. The ruger has 2 v blocks that tighten in 2 cut outs in the receiver so it's metal on metal. The factory spec is 65"#

He said side lugs on rings