.308 Vanguard all over the target????

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Hello, I got my son a weatherby vanguard in .308 scoped with a bushnell elite 3200 3-9. Last 3 years we had the wood stock installed and rifle shot consistant 1 - 1.5" groups @ 100 yds, with nosler custon 165 grain. We changed out the wood stock for the supplied synthetic stock and the rifle will not group at all, we still hit the target but all over the place. Scope rings are tight, nothing there seems to be loose. Should you be able to run a bill inbetween the barrell and stock? I cannot get a bill in between them. Any suggestion on what I may have done wrong or what I can do to fix this. Thanks in advance.

Darwin
 
Get some bedding material(I use brownells ACRAGLAS GEL) do a little time on youtube and bed the rifle into the stock . Try again and good luck.
 
if you cannot run a bill between the barrel and the stock you have contact with the barrel by the stock. Remove some of the stock, carefully, a little at a time until there is no contact - this is freefloating of the barrel - you should see an immediate improvement in groups - only a little at a time is all that is necessary until there is no contact. It may also be that the stock was meant to contact the barrel just short of the end of the forestock, this is meant to be a pressure point, however, if that is the case your rifle doesn't seem to like it! Look for a shiney spot where the barrel touches the wood and start there, again, only a little at a time.
 
A common problem seen in stock swapping is the action bottoming out on the magazine box. If it gets clamped down between the floorplate and the action before the action is drawn down against the stock then its a loose fitting handle no matter how tight the screws appear to be. It is also possible that the front action screw bottomed out in the action before clamping the action down. The back screw can't do that.

When a rifle goes from one inch to 1 foot you should fight off the urge to grab the sand paper, Devcon and right angle grinder for a moment or a month and look for something simple. Like putting the wood stock back on.;)

Whether wood or plastic stocked, Vanguards are shipped with a forward pressure pad. Some of the wooden ones are bedded with hot melt compound.
 
STOP with all the FREE FLOATING. Was the wood stock free floated or not? If it wasn't then free floating is not the issue. If the wood stock gave more upwards pressure on the bbl than your synthetic free floating could make it worse.

Other things to look for, recoil lug not up against the stock,, stock screws to tight or to loose,, stock screws to long and sticking up through action binding on bolt,, mag out of whack pushing up on action,,bottom metal out of alignment causing screws to be crooked putting stress on action.
 
I bought a new savage in .204 that came with a Boyd's thumbhole. At the very end of the stock it was touching the barrel and I was shooting like 3" groups. Amazes me that it made that big of a difference but I took about half an hour to sand it down, did the five dollar bill trick, lightened the trigger and I was shooting clover leafs. I know the trigger is irrelevant in your case but I'm sure the free floating made the most difference.
 
Republic of Alberta said:
STOP with all the FREE FLOATING. Was the wood stock free floated or not? If it wasn't then free floating is not the issue. If the wood stock gave more upwards pressure on the bbl than your synthetic free floating could make it worse.

Other things to look for, recoil lug not up against the stock,, stock screws to tight or to loose,, stock screws to long and sticking up through action binding on bolt,, mag out of whack pushing up on action,,bottom metal out of alignment causing screws to be crooked putting stress on action.
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Agree 100%. The free floating or lack thereof is not the issue. As Dogleg said, the barreled action may not be tight in the stock or around the recoil lug. Drastic changes in accuracy are not the result of barrel contact in my experience. Usually contact with the barrel will make the zero wander as the barrel heats up not scatter shots all over the paper. Something is seriously loose in the joining of the action to the stock.
 
Beside the obvious loose screws, poor bedding. I have yet to see target or military/LE bolt rifles without freefloating barrels. No it's not "the all,end all" to your problem, but it's a start, along with bedding of your rifle along with other issues (scope/rings). These problems the OP is in search if addressing is the exact reason my go to hunting rifle is low and behold an Accustock Savage. I never have any concern of floating or bedding issues ultimatly effecting the rifles accuracy.
 
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Mike Webb said:
Agree 100%. The free floating or lack thereof is not the issue. As Dogleg said, the barreled action may not be tight in the stock or around the recoil lug. Drastic changes in accuracy are not the result of barrel contact in my experience. Usually contact with the barrel will make the zero wander as the barrel heats up not scatter shots all over the paper. Something is seriously loose in the joining of the action to the stock.
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This advice is spot on. Pressure on the barrel, as the barrel warms up will cause your points of impact to shift. They will not be dramatically all over the map. For the grouping to have shifted that much in behavior, something has to cause the shift. It does not make sense that everything is tight and your points are unpredictably all over the map. Grab the front of your barrel and hold the stock tight against the floor snugged firmly between your feet. Try to wiggle/twist the barrel firmly. If there is wiggle or movement, then the receiver is not seated properly.

If it is tight. Then put the wood stock back on. See if it shoots the same way. If it does not, then maybe your scope may have an issue. When replacing stocks, I seat everything in and then snug the screws lightly. I work the bolt and make sure that there is no binding in the magazine. I am trying to remember, but isn't the dimension of the front side a little shorter that the rear? I seem to recall when I changed mine that I had to make sure it was in the right way. I could be mistaken though.

I tighten mine down to 50 in/lbs on the front and rear lugs.
 
Well I thought that Wetherby added excessive head space this is how he got his hi speed
Every one I know with a modern Wetherby shoots like that bedded ,wood ,synthetic
They all group 1.5 to 2 moa . Yet to see one shoot consistently under a moa
 
If you put it back on the wood stock and it's still shooting funny and you've tried everything mentioned here, maybe try swapping another scope on if you have access to one. Although rare, scopes can fail too. I just went through some accuracy problems with my new rifle and turns out when they went to put the scope on and torqued it down with the scope mounts backwards it slightly tweaked the tube and it was enough to have the scope seriously mess up after a few boxes of shells went through it. Just another thing to consider, scopes can fail too...
 
"...cannot get a bill in between them..." That'd do it. The barrel has no space in which to vibrate.
It's a receiver bedding issue. Not necessarily a barrel float issue. Floating a barrel isn't the answer to every accuracy problem either. Some rifles don't like having a floated barrel. The only way to find out is to try it, but after you've sorted out the receiver bedding. That could be as simple as tightening or loosening the screws.
 
stop witht he free float, snad paper, riffler files and what not.
First,
Is the action properly installed in the stock? Is the action screw properly torqued to the the recoil lug through the pillar area? Is it the same torque as when it was installed in the wood stock or is it "tight enough"? First thing you check is the stuff you changed. Then go from there. Don't dive into new scopes, bedding, etc., before you check the simple stuff first!
 
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