whelen36

what condition is the barrel in , inside the bore , barrels do wear out and need replacing after so many rounds , especially in a high velocity round like a .300 mag , that might be something to get checked

if the barrels in good shape and it' s stress relief , and it really bothers you have you considered changing the scope mount style and having it mounted on the barrel itself , like a scout rifle , just a thought

whelen36

just wanted to add , that if you go for a scout rifle style scope mount you' ll , have to get a new scope , a long eye relief scope. you probably allready know that but i just added it just in case

BTM

Whelen: The barrel shoots great groups; they just don' t stay consistent. (The other day I dropped five shots inside 3.5" at 400 yds.)

I gave up on scout scopes after learning (the hard way) that you lose about 20 minutes of shooting light at the start and end of every day.

woodseye

Come up to Maine and I' ll point you at more land to hunt than you have time for.No shortage of available land to hunt and lots of elbow room also.Deer kill is low but about 25% are mature bucks with a good chance of a 200# dressed buck if you connect.I still say try another scope,unless the stock is twisting the action and stressing it when tightened, the scope just sounds like the culpirt.A synthetic stock is pretty much unaffected by weather conditions and parallax just don' t sound like that much of a factor at 200yds.

woods

NorthJeff

My brother and I had the same trouble trying to site in my fathers shotgun at 50 yards. The groups kept moving. Now granted it was just a cheap Mossberg 500, but still, the groups kept moving!

Towards the end we were very frustrated, and almost fighting over who had to take the next shot, as it was absolutely beating us up. Around the 50th shot we realized the rings were a little loose. We were trying to blame us, instead of the equipment, but it just ended up being the mounts.

I' d deffinately try a new scope first, a trusted friends or another proven you have, and then try new mounts if that doesn' t work.

noway

Sound like from your description you are moving your scope setting fairly often.
If you leave your scope setting alone for 4 or 5 trips to the range do your groups settle down.
When you adjust your scope make sure you check it after adjusting it to make sure the zero actually moved to where you think you moved it,
If you are adjusting your scope after you finish a shooting session, you will have to recheck and adjust your zero each time you start your next shooting session.
Sometimes when you adjust your scope setting it may take a shot or two to settle in, especially if it is cold. Also returning your scope to the previous setting may not actually move your point of impact back to the exact previous spot.
Try leaving the scope settings alone for awhile and see if your points of impact don' t settle down.
If they do settle down your scope is ok, if not then go on to loose mounts on your scope, you cannot tighten your scope down to tight either, shoot from a dirty barrel for a few sessions, cleaning residue in your barrel can affect impact, check the bolts holding action to stock too tight or too loose can have an impact.
Are you shooting the same ammo each time, change anything in your reloads or factory ammo and impact will shift.

BTM

Noway:Thanks for the advice. The problem has existed through two separate mounting systems (Leupold and Weaver). Both were installed tight, which further leads me to believe it' s the scope that' s bad. As far as adjusting, the Vari X III has click adjustments, so they should move precisely with every click.

I' ve owned other rifles before, and have never had to let them " settle down." (I know that bullets move a little slower in cold temps, but the problem goes beyond just hitting an inch or two low when it' s cold. ) Once I zeroed them, they didn' t have to be re-adjusted every time I went to the range or after I' ve readjusted it the same day in order to shoot a different distance. I' ve even heard that " boxing" a scope (i.e., shooting a 12" square) is the sign of a good scope.

The last time I shot, I again set the rifle to dead on. Will return to the range next week and see where it hits. If it' s not dead on, Ill send the scope back to Leopold and let you gents know what happens then.

Vapodog

It' s extremely difficult to understand how the scope is a problem when you' re shooting 2" groups at 200 yards..........

Regarding the possibility of a worn out barrel, even a .300 mag or even a .220 Swift will shoot well for more than 5000 rounds if they' re not shot hot and cleaned well regularly (50 rounds)......difficult to shoot a .300 mag hot....usually they are fired three times max in use!!!

I' ve owned Win 70s, Rem 700s, Ruger77s, Weatherby mark Vs, Sakos, Mausers, Browning A bolts, you name it.....and I' d not complain over a gun that shot 2" groups at 200 yards and the point of impact changed a couple inches annually......even in a few weeks.....It' s why we sight them in before every hunt.

I' ll repeat this.....most folks don' t have a gun good enough or are capable to detect the subtle changes.

A change of even .0005 anywhere in that gun can cause a few inches of impact change at that distance. Do you have a steel receiver and an aluminum tube scope? Want to guess what a few degrees temp makes in thermal expansion of that system.....

noway

BTM,
I can see why you would be frustrated.
I also have varix III' s on my rifles.
In a perfect world when you adjust your scope 10 clicks up and 10 clicks down your point of impact will move back and forth to the same spot.
Unfortunately that is just not what always happens. Maybe for some people this works but it has never been my experience, expecially shooting at distances over 200 yards.

If you are adjusting your scope at the end of your shooting sessions and don' t check to see where your zero actually moved to and then when you go out to shoot again the zero did not move to where you expected it to then I am not surprised.

Even with a vari x III you have to actually check your zero and fine tune it to make sure the adjustments moved the zero to where you want it. Especially at 200 yards and further out.

Try leaving your adjustments where they are for awhile and see if you still get point of impact changes.
Good luck!

LARRY338

BTM, besides all the other possibilities mentioned, the most obvious is the way you are resting the rifle on the bags. With sporter weight rifles and hard kicking calibers, its not easy to hold the rifle exactly the same from one session to another. Try moving the spot on the forearm where the bag is contacting it. The amount of downward pressure you exert will also cause a slight shift in zero. These things are much easier to determine than sending a scope back.