Tex,

Reading your last post, I suspect that what you have is simply a case of a rifle that doesn't shoot the first shot from a clean barrel, to the same point of impact as shots once the barrel has been fouled. This is common, and nothing to be concerned about. Hence the old saw about "never go hunting with a clean barrel". I have a couple of rifles that don't settle down until several shots have been fired, after cleaning. Just always fire a fouling shot, or two, whatever it takes, before shooting groups or before going hunting. Good luck!

TOrquing the screws to an exact number will not liekly eliminate flyers. It could be a number of things from bedding to barreling issues to scope (first guess) to rings and bases (second guess) to ammo to bench technique (ie shooter) etc. If the screws are tight, then I have never seen a rifle with flyer problems that could be helped by torquing to an exact figure.

Are the rings and bases tight?

Has the scope been proven on another rifle immediately prior to putting it on this one? Even if it has, swap it out and see what happens.

Have you tried different ammo? Is it handloaded, factory? Has th eproblem consistently repeated itself with different loads?

Does it produce flyers for every one who shoots it?

Now the big question-what are you calling flyers? WHatr are the measure center-to-center group sizes? Are these 3, shot, 5 shot, or how many shot groups? AT what range? How hot does the barrel get during shooting? What type of bench and rest set up are you using? Are you shooting with wind flags (MAJOR!!!!!)?


ALl of these things would be checked out by me before I would look at what a torque wrench says. If it is giving you flyers with tight screws, then soemthing else is wrong. A few inch punds one way or the other does not matter. Give us a better description of the issue and maybe soem folks can give you soem definite pointers to check out.

This is my actually my dad's rifle...

The scope is new. I believe its a Nikon. The mounts and rings are both Leupold and are mounted as properly and tightly as is necessary. The ammo is all handloads with rather stringent attention paid to detail.

This rifle is shot at a 100 yards in a range that is bordered by thick forest. The actual range itself is rather narrow and wind is not usually a problem. We shoot 5 shot groups - all handloads. The flyers are usually the first shot from a cold bore - before shooting, a patch is run through the bore to clear out any oil that may be left over from the last cleaning. The actual flyer can be anywhere from 1-5" from the center of the target. The rest of the shots usually measure in a group under 1".

I rather suspect that this rifle has a bedding problem. However, it is an heirloom and dad doesn't really want to alter it. Failing a proper bedding job, I remembered reading something where a gentleman had a Winchester that threw a few flyers here and there and was going to get rid of it until he properly tightened the guard screws and his accuracy improved greatly. I would imagine we have a similar situation on our hands here.

Thanks again all,

Jason