I took my sweet little Omega X7 to the hunting lease this weekend.



It was the only gun I took because I knew I would only be able to get in a short range session Sunday morning, and I haven't shot it since last June.

My main objective was to check the scope setting before hunting season. It was sighted in for 250 grain Gold Dots over 95 grains of GOEX FFFg, so that's what I wanted to shoot. Also, I've acquired a new chronograph and was looking forward to getting some velocity readings for that load.

After setting a target out at 50 yards, I took three shots and couldn't believe my eyes. The group was about four inches. Somethings wrong!

So I checked the scope mounts - they looked fine. Then checked the action screws - nice and snug. I began wondering if the 4X ProDiamond had given up the ghost.



Deciding to try again, I put a new target out at 50 yards and took three more shots. Here's the target.



Man! That's HORRIBLE. What's going on here? Checked the scope mounts again. They are good and solid. Checked the action screws again - also tight.

Then, as I was checking the action screws I noticed I could move the barrel very slightly from side to side in the stock, even with the screws very tight. AH HA! I scampered back to the camp and grabbed a role of one-inch wide painters tape, and put a strip under the barrel just in front of the recoil lug. Put the barrel back in the stock and could still move it. So I added another layer and tried again. I ended up with six layers.

Here are the action screws.



And the taped barrel.





I crossed my fingers, put a fresh target out at 50 yards, and started shooting.

Here's what I got.



It looks like the Omega is in for a bedding* job. (*Corrected from "betting" just to make Sabotloader happy.)