I am having a difficult time diagnosing the cause of my fliers. They are typically low. This is with my 9# 300 Win Mag. The barrel is a custom chambered Lothar Walther and stock is Rimrock synthetic. Action is trued. For example when shooting prone with Harris bipod and sling I shot two 3 shot groups at 400 yards. 5 of those shots were in 2.5” and one of the shots was low such that 6 shot group size was 6”. On another outing I shot two 3 shot groups at 500 yards. 5 of those were in 5.3” with only 3.5” vertical (one of those 5 was off to the right) but the 6th shot was quite low giving a 10” 6 shot group at 500 yards. I know that when those low shots were fired I most certainly was not aiming that low. So what is the cause? Assuming the bullets are not bad ones I can think of a couple possible items. I recently saw a video from the American Gunsmithing Institute that Darrell Holland did about long range shooting. Darrell Holland in his video said that the barrel should be freefloated to about 0.125” below the barrel and about 0.075” on the sides. My stock was originally set up for a barrel of smaller contour. I have tried to hog out the barrel channel more but started getting down to glass fibers so stopped. I have about 0.025”all around the barrel and more underneath it but I can still hear the stock hit the barrel when I rap on the stock with the palm of my hand. I wonder if when I am prone and tight in my sling if the barrel is hitting the stock sometimes upon firing. A friend measured the clearance when I was prone and tight in the sling and it was clearly less than when gun was at rest. Only other possible is that perhaps the position of the butt on my shoulder is varying somewhat. I do not think that is the answer as I am really trying to keep it consistent. Do you have any other possible thoughts? Many have said that a bipod on a hard surface can cause the rifle to bounce but Darrell Holland in the video is using a bipod frequently from a hard bench. Would a bouncing bipod cause a low or a high flier? Thanks for the help, Rufous.

Rufous,

Do you get the same problem if you shoot from a rest on the bench?

Are you changing your hold on the sling between shots in such a way that might cause the flyers?

Just a couple of thoughts that come to mind.

If you can find a hard-core highpower rifle competitor, they can probably help you diagnose the problem.

Steve

I have a 300 win mag,The barrel is glass beded
i have noticed some strays after the barrel heats
up, hitting low or just to the right.If i let it
cool like i should it allways solves the problem.
this happens with sporter and bull barrels.

Any consistency in the sequence of events, that the flier is early in a string or later on? How much time between shots?

There is no consistency. It could come at any time. Mainly I am wondering if an insufficient clearance between barrel and stock could cause this. They are consistently low and I wonder if the stock were contacting the barrel sometimes if the shot would tend to go low or high or some other direction. Rufous.

Rufous, fliers can be caused by many things, but in my experience they can usually be traced to two issues most of the time.

Uneven locking lug contact is a prime culprit, and lapping the lugs into what is assumed to be full contact isn't the whole answer. Back when Winchester was making Model 70 target rifles, they discovered that, the vast majority of the time, if fliers were present, the lugs were ususally NOT in proper contact with the lug seats.

Also, if a bedding job is uneven and the action is flexing just the tiniest little bit, lug contact can be seriously compromised.

As I mentioned earlier, lapping the lugs can be somewhat misleading. The better riflesmiths are machining the locking lugs and lug seats first these days, THEN they're lapping them. This is the best way to assure full contact, and even then, the bedding must be stress-free.

Here's a simple solution for many rifles that suffer from fliers, and it's worked for me with several of my own rifles: Experiment with primers a bit more. For example, my old .300 Winchester began its career by throwing frequent fliers. My first loads featured CCI 250 primers. I switched to Federal 215s and the fliers went away for good, and with no other changes to the load!

AD

I have found that a lot of my fliers come from my shooting technique. I must remember to always follow through, try to call the shot, and not jerk the trigger.

You may have a problem on the internet, but a 6" group at 400 yds. is NOT a problem in real life....

Take that honker rest off the front of the stock and see if it helps as that is probably the problem with the flyers, but it is a minor problem because that is about as good as hunting rifles shoot.

I'd give it ago without the cheater (bi-pod) on the front, just to see.

I'd also look at technique and part of that is how you position the butt on your shoulder. I do believe this can come in play when you are shooting from the prone like you are. I've done a lot of shooting at chucks at range, and found this to be something for me to work on.

I believe you should strive to keep your groups between 2-4" at 400 yards. At least that is my belief and my goal. So I can understand why those flyers are driving you crazy! I am working on some of that now also. In fact I am about to head for the range for the evening.n Again this is just my beliefs.

"GET TO THE HILL"

Dog