I just bought a H&R handi rifle 30-06. I put a 3X9 Nikon (Bushmaster) on it. It has solid scope rings as well. Good RINGS!
I bought some remington core lokt 185 gr. psp's and 165 gr. psp's at Walmart..

Headed out to the range today and had the gun in about a 3 inch circle at 100 yards. It took me about 4 rounds and a few clicks to get me close.

My set - up::::

Gun vise for sure..I am not a flincher or a jerker...I squeeze until the stock and gun knocks the spit out of me. Taking human error out of the picture this gun should be 1.5 to (at most 2 inch groups at 100 yards)

I could not hold anything under 4 inch groups.....The bullets were sporatic...I couldn't hold a pattern good enough to tweak into 1 to 1.5 inch groups.

Whats wrong? My thoughts are..
1)Gun doesn't like the remingtons
2)Barrel is hot and producing inconsistent groups (no bull barrel on this gun)
3)I got a bum barrel?

I have an H&R 12 gauge ...and my hornady ssts hold better groups then this 30-06

Please let me know your thoughts...

Brian

Try different ammo. The 30-06 i used to have only liked 150gr Winchester Ballistic Silvertips. Any other ammo and the best group i would get was about 4in. Teh Winchesters gave me 1-1.25in groups all day.

thanks alot!

I have a remington 700 in 30-06 that really doesn't like anything under 165gr. I am still working to find a load with the 150 and 125's it likes.

I just bought one in .270 caliber right before rifle seasonand it wouldnt hit the broad side of a barn with corelockts. got some pmc ammo and was with in an inch at 100 with three shots...im heading to the range tomorrow with the cheap winchester ammo to see what it cando.

What do you mean the ammo was "sporatic?" 150 - 180 grs is just about the idea weight bullet for the 30/06. I've had Remington .22 LR ammo that was garbage and in fact won't buy that brand 22 anymore but I've never seen Remington high powered ammo this bad. (Not that I shoot very much factory ammo)

Nikon SHOULD be a damn good scope. You may have good rings but is everything tight and lined up right? Maybe H&R misdrilled the holes and scope alignment is crazy.

If you aren't flinching.........hmmmmmm.

The fastest and easiest way to check would be to go back to the range with a friend who you know is a good shot and ask him to try your rifle and ammo. See if he duplicates your problem. This would be cheaper than buying and replacing things.

Then again maybe H&R made your barrel out of something that would have made better tent pegs.[:@]

Good luck sorting this out.

There are several reasons but the ammo is what I would try first.Try a rubber o-ring on the forehand screw that helped mine and my brother-in-laws.There is a web site just for the H&R rifles but I dont know the address.

Have you shot other rifles with that gun vise? I found that I get better groups with sand bags. I have a vise and Harrisbi pods, I like the caldwell bag type rest by far. More that likely it's your ammo. Good Luck

Gun vise for sure..I am not a flincher or a jerker...I squeeze until the stock and gun knocks the spit out of me. Taking human error out of the picture this gun should be 1.5 to (at most 2 inch groups at 100 yards)

What knowledge do you base this on? You have just started shooting this rifle, presumably, so how do you know it will shoot any better than what it has been doing?

The last box of Remington factory ammo I bought, .22 Hornet, was about the WORST-SHOOTING FACTORY STUFF I've yet tried. On the other hand, I've had some Rem. 7mm Rem. mag. factory loads that shot very well indeed, and that was loaded with Corelockt bullets.

What do you mean by a "vice"?? I hope you are not clamping the rifle into anything that holds it rigidly, because if you do, it will definitely shoot erratically. Use a padded rest for the rifle, so that it can recoil freely. I tried that Caldwell "Lead Sled", and while it tames recoil for sure, the point of impact of a rifle can be quite different when using one of those, vs using a regular sandbag rest!

I was talking about the Caldwell bags, not the lead sled..