new .243 shows promise

[rhill]

I sighted in my new A Bolt using 80gr. "j's", then broke out my cast boolits, 14.5gr. imr4227, Lyman 83gr. gas check boolit. First 3 groups at 100yds were right at 1.5". Looking good, then went downhill. Vertical spread was no more than 1/2", but horizontal was really spreading, 2-2 1/2". Not sure what was going on, maybe barrel getting too hot. Bore looks clean, no leading or fouling visible, am going to clean it tonite and can see for sure. Anyway, with a bit of fiddling, I am sure I can get a 1moa cast boolit gun out of this. Range time is going to be economical with this gun. By the way I only had to come up 5 inches on my scope to zero the cast loads. A lot less than I thought.:mrgreen:

[Yodogsandman]

That's some great shooting! I find that when I'm not exactly comfortable behind the rifle, my shots tend to string horizontally. Like straining my neck to see through the scope or not adjusting the front rest quite enough. It helps to slide the forend back and forth in the rest, prior to starting a shot string. This aligns the rifle to recoil straight back from the rest. This will also show if the front sling stud will hang up during recoil. Also, I like to use mica on my leather rests to reduce friction during recoil. That group could be reduced to !/2" just by changing your technique a little. Keep up the good shooting, your on the right track!

[rhill]

Thanks for the suggestions! The horizontal stringing very well could have been my doing, I had by that time been shooting for a while. I have 30 more rounds of that same load so I will try it again when I am fresh. I am kind of exited to see this rifle shooting well with cast, I really get tired of sending those expensive J words into the dirt backstop! I am hoping to get this shooting even better. Then those steel gongs way out there better watch out!

[Bullshop]

As my friend and brother Felix used to tell me there are three things that may cause this issue and they are ignition ignition and ignition. Now its up to you to fly with his wisdom.

[Silverboolit]

Check your bases and rings. Loose parts will give stringing especially if it was working and all of a sudden it isn't. You could also check for a barrel/forearm binding with a warm barrel.

[rhill]

I have the scope covered, mounted with blue locktite and used a torque driver. Barrel is free floated when cold, but I did not think to check it when warm, could be the problem, I will check it next shooting session. Or the problem could be me, the gun is pretty light and if the hold is not consistant I can see this as contributing to some wide groups. Either way thanks for the suggestions!

[GabbyM]

If you have any Unique powder laying around. Try 11.0 grains under that Lyman Loverine.
It works in my 243 A.I. for sub MOA out to 100 yards. It's the accuracy load in the old Lyman 45th.
If that load doesn't shoot consistent you may have other issues. Neck tension would be the first thing I'd look at.
243 has a thick neck and they need to be annealed well and expanded to fit your boolit.