Why the vertical stringing?

I went through some similar issues a couple years ago with my 300 rum. Finally I abandoned the bench and flopped in the dirt with a bipod and rear bag. My groups shrunk dramatically. Granted I had cheap bags for the bench but I definitely wasn't allowing the rifle to recoil consistently in that position. I haven't seen the issue as much with lower recoiling rounds but it's something you might want to look into. Also, have you shot over a chrono to check your Es? Could be something with that. Good luck. I'm not saying one position is more accurate than another but more that I personally am more consistent prone than off a bench with my form.
I will give prone a try and see if I have the same issue. As for ES, I did run target 1 and 2 over a chrono but not target 3 as I was rushed and did not want to take the time to set it up. I don't have my book with me right now so I can't say for sure what each string ES was but I think 9-30 over all strings but again I don't recall which was which. I was honestly not paying to much attention to that because I am still looking for a load and since I'm nowhere near hitting preasure does not concern me too much yet. Am I wrong in thinking this way?
 
I'm no expert but I don't see anything wrong with that approach. Could also be a bad combo of harmonics from seating depth too I suppose if you rule all else out. I generally find a charge that shoots best towards the top end then fine tune with seating depth.
 
So I went out yesterday and tried a few things albeit not everything. I removed the cheek pad and loosened then tightened the action screws with my new Wheeler torque wrench. I set the wrench to loosen the bolts at 45 in/lbs and it would not remove the bolts. I set the wrench to 65 in/lbs and it did so they had been somewhere in between. I then set the wrench back to 45 and tightened them down. I also did the scope rings to 25 in/lbs, lots of torquing happened on all 8 screws. No more vertical stringing. Now, was the issue the action screws, scope rings or cheek rest? I am leaning towards action screws but will put the cheek rest back on next time out, will be a few weeks unfortunately.

Another thing that happened yesterday is my initial shots were 2 MOA dead right. Easy enough fix but did not expect that much deviation so things must have been way out of wack.

Thanks for all the help on this.
 
That's good news. Glad to hear it wasn't you. I sure wasn't feeling all that good when I finally realized after all that frustration that my issues were just me not being consistent.
 
So I went out yesterday and tried a few things albeit not everything. I removed the cheek pad and loosened then tightened the action screws with my new Wheeler torque wrench. I set the wrench to loosen the bolts at 45 in/lbs and it would not remove the bolts. I set the wrench to 65 in/lbs and it did so they had been somewhere in between. I then set the wrench back to 45 and tightened them down. I also did the scope rings to 25 in/lbs, lots of torquing happened on all 8 screws. No more vertical stringing. Now, was the issue the action screws, scope rings or cheek rest? I am leaning towards action screws but will put the cheek rest back on next time out, will be a few weeks unfortunately.

Another thing that happened yesterday is my initial shots were 2 MOA dead right. Easy enough fix but did not expect that much deviation so things must have been way out of wack.

Thanks for all the help on this.
My bet would be the big problem was with the way the action screws were over torqued. Even with a good bedding job you create stresses on the action causing it to flex unnaturally by over or under torquing.

The days of "as tight as you can and a half turn tighter" are over.
 
Vertical stringing can be induced by the shooter, usually through cheek weld. It's effect is more prominent with lighter rifles It's not really a "weld". There's all kinds of ways to hold a rifle but give this a try before you spend money. Mind where your stock lays on the front bag. I don't stress to much about the front stud but I do slide the rifle fore and aft a couple times to see if it's sliding smoothly. If it's not sliding smoothly on the front bag or hanging up on the stud, do something so it isn't. The idea is to minimize shooter induced inconsistent stress while sending several consecutive shots downrange. Because I usually let my barrel cool several minutes between shots, I come off the rifle so getting back on the rifle should be similar from shot to shot. I mention it in steps but after a while, it will only seem like two steps because your doing everything else automatically like knowing the exact spot your car keys go into the ignition. Get into position behind the gun and adjust both your gun and your body so the when your relaxed, your crosshairs are pretty much right on target. Give a long blink. If you open your eyes and your crosshairs aren't where you want them, it's because your twisted up. That's cool because you caught it in time. Re-do your positioning so it's natural and get comfortable behind the gun.

1) hold pistol grip medium hard like your shaking hands with your thumb riding high over the tang. It's not a death grip. DO NOT pull the rifle into your shoulder. Just hold it. This is unnatural but important.
2) Instead of pulling the rifle to you, flex your pec muscle a little so the rifle butt sets against a firm consistent surface and push into the rifle with your pec muscle/shoulder but like I said, don't pull it into you. Your off hand can be used to make micro adjustments to the rear bag, or lay it without tension over the scope to mitigate jump or just hold the stock without inducing fore or aft tension. You'll need to experiment. I use my off hand to make micro adjustments to the rear bag.
Lay you cheek into the stock hard and then back off cheek tension so that, that part of your cheek that contacts the butt stock is just a reference point on the stock and not a tension inducing weld. I mention "lay it in hard" so you have a feel for how much you back off each time. No cheekbone, just flesh.
4) Center up the edge shadow in the scope.
5) Important: Control your breathing and squeeze the trigger deliberately to the center-line of the butt and watch your hit on the target regardless if the rifle jumps off target. If you can't see the hit, imagine the hit with your minds eye but in your mind, follow the bullet all the way out the back of the target. I try to hold the trigger to the rear until the target is hit but I don't know if that's right or not.

Because your not pulling the rifle in hard, it will recoil a bit more so I'd avoid creeping up into the scope to much till you've tried it out a little bit. The proof is on the target. If it helps, cool. If not, then do something different. Just for kicks, if you want to see vertical stringing, lay your cheek into the stock/weld inconsistently hard and pull the rifle into you with varying degrees of tension.
 
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