Been loading for my new Tikka and had a pretty good night at the range. Been trying to get a load dialed in and think I' m pretty close. Problem is I shot 2 groups of 5 and the first shot is hitting high, with a cold barrel, and then as the barrel heats up the rest of the group is really good.

Anyone see this happen before? Are there any remedies to try? I' m shooting a 7mm Rem. Mag. with 160g Partition reloads on top of IMR 4831 pushing along around 3,000 fps.

Thanks for the help.

(edit)
This is with a dirty barrel [10+shots]. I' ve shot 3-shot groups that seem to be spread around 1.5 " . I' ve only shot 2 groups like this one below (last night) so I' ll shoot more to confirm. Seemed pretty consistant though.

I have to ask how many times have you shot this same group . If every time you went to a range you shot the same group with a cold barrel then maybe you have a problem . But one shot doesn' t usually have much effect on a cold barrel.

Probably have about 10 groups with this effect. Thanks.

do you clean your bbl between the 5 shot groups? perhaps there is a lose mounting screw, and when you clean it you loosen the bbl. after the 1st shot the bbl and receiver gets seated again.

Was the rifle cleaned before taking it to the range to fire the 5 shots? Does this happen with every 5 shot string starting with a cold barrel, or the first string you shoot when you get to the range?

If you cleaned the rifle before taking it to the range, I would almost expect the first shot to be a little high- this is normal if you have a light coat of oil in the barrel, the first shot will remove the oil and further shots should be more consistant. This a good reason NOT to clean your rifle after you sight in for deer season- wait until after the season unless the gun gets dropped in water or mud.

Power, if you are cleaning your rifle between sessions the result of a high POI can be the effects of oils or cleaners still in the bore. I make sure to run a patch soaked with rubbing alcohol after I have cleaned and a few dry patches behind, this ensures i have removed all cleaning or oil based soultions. In turn it results in no shift of POI through a clean barrel. You can try shooting a group of 3 or 5 leaving it until later or the next day(don' t clean) and see what happens then. I think it is imperative to ensure a cold barrel shoots on the money as this is mimics our hunting situations best. While follow up shots can and do happen, often your highest % shot is the first! Otherwise why spend all the time on the range preparing for that perfect shot, only to need/bank on the second, third or fourth rushed shot to connect.

If your flyer 1st shot only happens on the #1 shot from a cold barrel regardless of whether the 1st shot is thru a clean barrel and the rest are through the fouled barrel...then I' d advise you to add a small chunk of material near the end of your fore-stock to put slight upward pressure on the barrel. A piece of credit card might be perfect if your barrel is free-floated...or could be too much, ..you' ll have to experiment. If your barrel is NOT free- floated then try adding something thinner....(small bit of folded aluminum foil). If your barrel is NOT free-floated and the upward pressure doesn' t work...then try free-floating. Just some thoughts to try. Either way, make sure your first shot is thru a clean and DRY barrel.
good luck

Thanks for all the replies. I have some things to try now. The rifle is a Tikka Whitetail Hunter, which comes with a free-floating barrel from the factory. I need to shoot it some more to make sure it' s the rifle and not something else but I think I' ll try the tip from 8mm/06 and see what happens.

If that doesn' t work I might have to glass-bed the action (comes with a plastic piece that slips into a slot in the stock, must be there way of bedding or something). Anyone bed their Tikka WH yet?

Yes! this is not at all uncommon. COL T. Whelen would tell you to use the " sniper' s zero" , that is, zero your gun for the first shot from a cold, clean bore, and know how much allowance you must make for the rest of the group. The first shot is usually the one that does the job, anyway.

The first shot out of many of my rifles are fliers due to a very clean barrels. After my first two shots, they start to group normaly. Before I go out hunting I shoot a couple of rounds to season the barrel. Good luck.