Omega Z5 Barrel Rocks Back & Forth?
 

When I set the Omega barreled action in the synthetic stock lugs it will rock back and forth muzzle to breech. This doesn't seem right.

I've got a number of centerfire rifles, some I've bedded, but even before bedding I never experienced this situation.

pretty typical with TC's cheap Syn. stock. I'd bed it and then put a couple pop can shims under the barrel lugs to free float it a bit.

Read thru this thread and the referenced threads within it, it may help you.

http://www.huntingnet.com/forum/blac...ening-day.html

My Omega Z5 stock does allow movement back and forth between breech and muzzle, but as Sabotloader suggested in the thread, insert the screws into the lugs to start them, put the Omega on it buttstock end so that the action sits all the way back in the stock, and then tighten the screws. Put the same amount of tension on the screws each time you are putting the action back on the stock. I don't have a way to measure foot pounds, so I just use a witness mark on the stock and tighten to the mark each time (you gotta put the same screws in the same holes though).

I didn't have any issues with my stock (no polish marks), so my accuracy issues were not related to that and have since been sorted out...to an extent. Are you having accuracy problems?

I've floated the barrel by sanding out the stock forward of the front lug. I had to trim one thread off the screws to get them to tighten (28 in. lbs) per screw. I did tighten the rear lug first. It just seemed logical.
I had a piece of the "Corian" left over from my new cabinet top, cut and sanded it and fit it between the two lug pockets in the stock to strengthen it. Again, it seemed logical in the flimsy stock. (I'll post some pixs if you'd like).

The groups are 2" to 3" @ 100yrds, (Vertical alignment) but never in the same place. I'm shooting Hornady SST 250 Low Drag with 90gr of Triple 7. Before I pulled the stock to clean the gun, I got groups 1" to 1.5".
It's gotta be the stock.

thom2

It is quite normal for the the barreled action to rock some what in the stock until the both lug screws are tighten down. Once they are tight the rock will no longer be there. You still may be able to squeeze the barrel and forearm of the stock and get the forearm to flex, but if the barrel is floated properly it will not make a difference.

A couple thing you might do, insert the barreld action in the stock, start the lug screws into the receiver. Then stand the rifle on it's recoil pad and gently tap the recoil pad on the floor/counter - what ever it is standing on. Then make sure to tighten the lug screw near the trigger first and the outer one last.

The other thoughts I have expressed in the thread that has been pointed out.

If you have a thumbhole stock or the laminate stock none of this necessary.

If you are getting verticle stringing - I would wonder about forearm contact with the barrel as it heats up. I guess I assume you have ran the dollar bill down under the barrel to make sure it is floating.

One other little trick you can try to shim the lug pockets to lift the action and the barrel up out of the stock a few clicks. If your pattern settles then you have a stock problem. If it contines you might have a barrel heating problem.

Hey Sabotloader,
Didn't check the float with a dollar bill, but I used a sheet of printer paper that I cut similar to the width of a dollar. It slides, but there's some slight tension.
The time between shots was about 6 to 8 minutes, so I don't believe the heated barrel is the problem, your call. I may make some aluminum pillars to stabilize the barrel.
I'm use to extreme accuracy with my bench rest centerfire rifles. Guess I'm asking too much from a muzzleloader.

But I can shoot a consistent 2" group @ 100yds using ball & patch with a .50 cal Hawken I bought for a TV commercial I was shot for Hawken Smokeless tobacco.

I bought the rifle from a man, since dead, in Colorado. I've been trying to find out if the rifle was a reproduction or original. The only marking is S. Hawken St. Louis on the barrel. No brass only a pewter cap on the stock. A spring and nib broke in the lock, but so far no one, including Dixie, has been able to identify the lock.
I may post pixs of the Hawken on the site. Maybe someone can help.

Slight tension is all that it would take when you conside the the pressure you put on the forearm when shooting and expansion of the barrel as it heats.... Usually this would lead the slanted verticle strign of shots...

Really do not think you have to go to as far as the pillar idea unless you just decide to bed the whole barrel which is always more accurate than a floted barrel. You really just need to clear the barrel out of the channel so that when you apply pressure to the forearm shooting off a rest, off you hand, or even off a branch on tree it does not push on the barrel.

See I think you just hit part of the thought right on the head... is your ML a target rifle or a hunting rifle?

I guarantee you you can do the same thing with the Omega once you get the wrinkles worked out.

You will not have any problem finding information about the St. Louis Hawken it has quite a long history and most of it is good.

Here is a start for you...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawken_rifle

Just type st. louis hawken in your search engine and you will have aton of reading material....