Vertical stringing in lighter rifles?

[crackers]

A front sling stud can ride up randomly on a bag.

[MostlyLeverGuns]

I find that with the skinny barrels, 'load tuning' is more critical. Incremental or 'ladder' type load development seems to make a great difference compared to the 'standard' or heavier barrels. Getting all of the bullets out of the barrel when the vibration node is fully down or fully up makes quite a difference with the 'whippy' barrels.

[FergusonTO35]

Biggest problem I have, is I tend to mash the trigger and pull the shot upward. This is really noticeable with lever actions, not as much with bolt guns. I need to work on keeping the forend firmly planted on the rest.

[barrabruce]

Are you shooting off a rest or bags? Vertical stringing can come from the gun jumping off the bags / rest at the discharge. Hold it like you would in the field and rest the hand, not the rifle, against the bag.

This.
I tend to hold my rifles as if in hunting mode, but stabilised by bags etc.

I like skinny forends and they jump or bed different unless I hold them.
I don’t rest them directly on tree limbs or such either.

[Silvercreek Farmer]

Are you shooting off a rest or bags? Vertical stringing can come from the gun jumping off the bags / rest at the discharge. Hold it like you would in the field and rest the hand, not the rifle, against the bag.

I’ve shot both ways, but may revisit this to see if I can say for sure that one way is better than the other.

[Silvercreek Farmer]

Try a different primer. Vertical stringing can be primer batch.

Good point, I’ll run them over the chrono as well.

[dverna]

6” of shot stringing on a .357 does not sound like a recoil problem or barrel whip problem or position on the front bag problem. And it will take a significant spread in muzzle velocity to have that degree of POI change.

Have another shooter fire the gun and see if the problem persists.

I was having issues last year with a new gun and found an action screw very loose. But I assume you have checked them.

[robg]

i shoot better holding the fore end and pulling back and down against a bag on the bench.bipods bounce all over the place on a rigid bench.

[charlie b]

Some rifles do not like to be rested on the forearm. Paco Kelly found that lever actions did best with a hand on the forearm, then rest the hand on bags. I found the same to be true with my Win 94 and muzzle loader. If your barrel is free floated with good clearance then the forearm can be put directed on the bench rest.

Bipods frequently need some forward pressure on them to keep from bouncing around. Hard to do that on a bench.

[curdog007]

I believe a light weight hunting rifle must be tested and sighted by duplicating the field position shot the hunter is most likely to use. I have used a standing rest now for many years, that being the most common shot I will have as a still hunter. But, believe me, I will get a rest if I can!
Using a solid bench rest position can alter results on even the best prepared lightweight rifle.
Most guys now seem to think they need a rifle capable of sub-moa 5 shot groups, or they have an inferior product. Only because the gun writers say this. The fact that 9 out of 10 can't take advantage of such a rifle seems irrelevant.
A hunting rifle needs to deliver the first shot every time from a cold bore right on the money, and a second one very close to that for back up. There are very few situations needing more shots. A rifle that won't do this is useless, and needs remedial action.

[Sgt H]

It has been my experience that light weight hunting rifles seem to perform more consistently when the forearm is held rather than rested on the bag. I too test my hunting rifles as I would shoot them in the field. Another test that is quite revealing is a 5-10 shot group but not fired at one range session. Get your zero, let the rifle completely cool, put up a fresh target and fire one round. Then over the next several weeks/months put up this target and fire your first cold bore shot. No sighters, no sight adjustment, ect., allowing for wind/mirage is ok. Continue this till you have five or ten rounds on this target. You are likely going to find this group is far larger than the groups your rifle normally produces. It is quite normal for the POI to change slightly, even on a well tuned rifle/load, due to differing atmospheric conditions, how you hold the rifle that particular day or how much coffee you drank that morning. Do this long enough for a lot of rounds and keep a log book of the conditions and you can get a good handle of where that first cold bore shot will land.

[hoodat]

I'd like to make another point about hunting rifles.

Shooting at 100 yards ---

I've got rifles that will shoot sub .5 MOA from the bench, but standing off-hand I probably couldn't keep my shots in 12 inches.

I've got other rifles that shoot 2 MOA from the bench, and I can stand and shoot off-hand and keep my shots inside 6 inches.

Which rifle do you think I'm gonna take hunting. jd

[barnabus]

Something else about thin barrels-- they 'whip' more so than a thicker one.

Hold onto a thin rifle barrel and fire it.
You can feel it flex and jump around as the bullet runs down through it.
As it heats up, it does it more and slightly differently in relation to where the muzzle is when it turns loose of the bullet.

This effect gets us back to why target barrels are thicker.
They do it too, but with much less effect as to where the muzzle is when it releases a bullet.
Also, with more mass, they don't heat up quite as fast-- which makes the effect worse and worse.

thats hilarious

[FergusonTO35]

I gave my two 94's some exercise yesterday. Both of them are quite accurate with the Lee C309-170-RF. Biggest thing is, being slim and lightweight, one has to really hold them firmly or it is very easy to pull and push the POI all over the place. Marlins are a little easier in that they are chunkier and weigh more. For hunting in the dense woods here, the 94 with a receiver sight is my favorite all the way. In an area with both woods and open field where shots are a little longer I go with a Marlin equipped with a compact scope.