243 accuracy issues

chola

chola

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Savage axis 243....1 in 10 twist trying to shoot 100 gr pills out of it
the pattern was horrible....2 within an inch and then the 3rd way off high and right by 5 inches....
It acted like the scope was toast....I helped him out by putting on a new 1 piece rail, a tried and true scope ring and scope combo from one of my rifles...

Back to the range and tried some Nosler 70gr out of it...2 shots in almost the same hole and then the third was up 2 inches and over to the right 7 inches LOL
Barrel was rested between the shots as well...no excessive heat
I cleaned the crap out of it..lotsa copper fouling. What I did find is that when I took the action out of the stock, there was a light film of oil right on the contact points where the action sits/bolts.
I cleaned and degreased everything as best as I could and then retorqued the action screws down based on the info I could find...45 inch pounds for the front and 25 on the rear..

I know its not a high end rig but its all this fella can manage to muster to hunt with. Best guess is under 60 rounds down the pipe
We will be trying it out again in the next day or two but my question is, do ya think the oil film could cause these accuracy issues.....he has killed a few deer with this rifle over the last 4 years and two cow elk......I dunno what to make of it all, just looking for some tips and other things known to these rifles
 
The cost or value of late made Savage rifles doesn't seem to have much effect on how well they shoot.

In all honesty, I'm quite impressed by how well such low end rifles shoot factory ammunition, right out of the box or off the shelf.

You don't mention how many rounds this rifle has through it.

Cleaning, should help, but the bore will likely need a couple of "fouling" rounds to settle down after a down to the steel cleaning.

If that rifle has a lot of rounds, say 500+ down the bore, it may be time to seat your bullets further out, if the magazine will allow for it.

The other issue, which often effects the 243Win is "pressure"

The round usually likes to be loaded close to maximum in the manuals but depending on the powder, when getting close to max pressures velocity spreads become extreme and accuracy becomes erratic, often obvious by unexplained flyers.

The 243Win, builds up pressures very quickly, once you're close to maximum for a particular rifle.

With the 1-10 twist rate, stability shouldn't be an issue with any 100gn bullet design.

Cleaning the oil out of the bedding in most rifles is crucial for accuracy. There are a lot of naysayers to this but I've never seen a rifle that hasn't benefitted accuracy wise from such cleaning.

Have you checked the "barrel nut" for torque? Have you checked the barrel channel for clearance?

Sometimes, this is just a quirk of the particular rifle.

I have a Ruger No1 which will always shoot the first bullet an inch high at 100 yds then print a tight cluster immediately to POA after.

I also have a Remington 7-08, with a very light barrel, which will put the first two bullets into 1/2 moa at POA then throw the third shot appx 2 inches in whichever direction it chooses, every time I take it to the range. It's fine for hunting though. If I need the third shot, especially at distances over 100-200yds, I've likely missed the animal anyway.

If you can get that rifle to shoot the first two shots to POA, when cold, in the field, it should be OK for hunting purposes.

Just IMHO of course.
 
Interesting that the first 2 seems to be fine but then it goes crazy. Did you only shoot one group with each ammo?

I wonder if the action is shifting in the stock and the foreend is pushing on the barrel sometimes? The fore ends on the Axis stock tend to be pretty flexible and are often not nicely aligned with the barrels. Worth taking a look.

If you find that to be a potential issue you could open up the barrel channel some to minimize the chances of flex causing contact. Bedding the action might help too.
 
Thanks Bear....its got 60 rounds through it best guess
43gr of IMR 4350 is what I have loaded for it..

Thats all I am ever looking for anytime is the cold barrel shot and then two more follow ups to see where I am at
 
This was after a good cleaning and degrease
Torqued action screws
Different scope and went to a 1 piece base

The first cold barrel shot was bang on a 10 inch gong at 275 yds and then was followed up by shots 1 and 2 on the target.
I thought for sure we had it figured but it all went to hell after that lol.
We cooled down between shots as well, cold wind helped a lot.
 

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chola said:
This was after a good cleaning and degrease
Torqued action screws
Different scope and went to a 1 piece base

The first cold barrel shot was bang on a 10 inch gong at 275 yds and then was followed up by shots 1 and 2 on the target.
I thought for sure we had it figured but it all went to hell after that lol.
We cooled down between shots as well, cold wind helped a lot.
Click to expand...
I wouldn't be upset with that group at 275 yds. It's fine for any Deer size and larger game in North America and in all honesty, better than many I've seen people take out to the field.
 
I was not clear bear....thats a hundred yard target the black one in the pic.....I meant the first cold barrel shot was on the steel 10 inch gong at 275

The issue turned out to be that when we dialed the scope to 9 power, the POI shifted low and left as much as 4 inches. We dialed it back down to 6 power and the shots came back to where we were sighting for..well roughly.......We tried 3 shot groups on 4 different powers and they were all over the map
 
chola said:
I was not clear bear....thats a hundred yard target ………
The issue turned out to be that when we dialed the scope to 9 power, the POI shifted low and left as much as 4 inches. We dialed it back down to 6 power and the shots came back to where we were sighting for..well roughly.......We tried 3 shot groups on 4 different powers and they were all over the map
Click to expand...

This experience is worth sharing as it is not uncommon for a variable power scope to shift the reticle as the power is changed. This applies to ALL variable power scopes to one degree or another although first focal plane scopes are more ‘immune’ to this condition … if you have the opportunity to examine how many variable scopes are designed it is more apparent why it is very difficult to prevent this shift - which of course can be more evident as the range to target increases.
 
chola said:
I was not clear bear....thats a hundred yard target the black one in the pic.....I meant the first cold barrel shot was on the steel 10 inch gong at 275

The issue turned out to be that when we dialed the scope to 9 power, the POI shifted low and left as much as 4 inches. We dialed it back down to 6 power and the shots came back to where we were sighting for..well roughly.......We tried 3 shot groups on 4 different powers and they were all over the map
Click to expand...
Wait. So you were shooting a shot or two, then changing your magnification and shooting more shots in the same "group"?
 
chola said:
I was not clear bear....thats a hundred yard target the black one in the pic.....I meant the first cold barrel shot was on the steel 10 inch gong at 275

The issue turned out to be that when we dialed the scope to 9 power, the POI shifted low and left as much as 4 inches. We dialed it back down to 6 power and the shots came back to where were sighting for..well roughly.......We tried 3 shot groups on 4 different powers and they were all over the map
Click to expand...
Have you tried factory ammo to see how that shoots ?
I chased fancy bullets back in the 90's only to find that the 700Varminter liked 100grn. Blue Box Bonus round Federals to shoot tighter than 4350 or even BLC.
Scope shouldn't really be a factor at this stage of the game imo and mine alone, but guys who send in their Vortex get a new one sent back.
 
chola said:
I was not clear bear....thats a hundred yard target the black one in the pic.....I meant the first cold barrel shot was on the steel 10 inch gong at 275

The issue turned out to be that when we dialed the scope to 9 power, the POI shifted low and left as much as 4 inches. We dialed it back down to 6 power and the shots came back to where we were sighting for..well roughly.......We tried 3 shot groups on 4 different powers and they were all over the map
Click to expand...
I've got a Vortex Strike Eagle who's POI changes 5 inches low when I dial the magnification from min to max. It's going back to Vortex...they are fine to deal with for returns.
 
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