I'm happy with the accuracy of my 91/30 Mosin Rifle except for one thing, it consistently throws the first shot of a string out side of where the following nine go. The only thing not consistent in this behaviour is where the first shot is thrown, the two targets shown were shot last night. I fired three ten shot strings over a period of an hour and half. The barrel wasn't cleaned between targets.
The first target shown was the second target shot (shots 10 - 20) as you can see the first shot is roughly two inches outside the main group. The black is four inches in diameter.
The second target shown was shot roughly twenty minutes later and the first shot went roughly ten inches to the right and four inches below the group!
The targets were shot at 50 yards. Load was 30 grains of VV N120 behind the Lee .312-185gc. All rounds were chambered singly and in identical fashion.
I've bedded the action properly, free floated the barrel, put a pressure pad between the barrel and fore-end and now has two wraps of felt under the front barel band to apply pressure on the barrel from both fore-end and hand guard. The bedding put an end to the vertical stringing I had before, but no matter what I do the damn thing still throws the first shot! It doesn't matter is the barrel is clean or not! The first round fired last night went only an inch above the main group but it was still clearly a flyer. So hot barrel, cold barrel, fouled barrel ,clean barrel, free floated, pressure point bedded, it doesn't make a difference.
So any suggestions for a cure?