I have to add my 2 cents to this. You said you got your first rifle and scope. Was it a package deal? I got my first "real deer rifle" 2 years ago just after christmas. A savage package gun. Had a 32mm 3x9 simmons scope. I spent a most of a day at the range with it getting it sighted in in late august that year. never got the accuracy exactly as I wanted it. Acceptable, but not to the standard I had expected. I killed one deer with it but it was an ugly kill that required follow up shots. I blamed myself for shooting a moving deer and having Buck fever. On the second to the last day of the season, I climbed up in my stand, went to wipe some moisture from the lens and it moved. It actually pushed inward about half an inch. I climbed down and went home. That cheap package scope had come apart. I don't know when , or what caused it, but it came apart just the same. so....let the barrel cool completely and if that doesn't fix it, it might just be the scope.

David