TODAY'S GUN TIME

[Billy Bee]

Having a strange problem sighting in my .257 WBY mark v left hand bolt. Couldn't find my usual ammo as there isn't much available in this caliber. Found 2 boxes of PMC eldorado 100 gr with Barnes x bullets and figured to rezero with this ammo. Was shooting 2 shot groups at 100 yards from a shooting rest, that has always worked for me in the past. The horizontal was consistent but the vertical was always one high, one low, varied from 2 inches to 5 inches apart. Thought it might be a hot barrel, so I let it cool between shots, same results, one above the other. Figured it must be the ammo, so I tried my usual WBY 100 gr spire point, same thing. My son said "let me try that thing", so I let him have a go at it, same thing happened for him. I have not had any issues with this rifle in past, so I decided to quit wasting ammo. Went home and pulled the Leupold scope off, and mounted a Simmons 6 to 18 AO, Figured there must be something wrong with the elevation on the Leupold, if the weather cooperates, today I'll try to see if that makes a difference. Two different shooters, one left hander, one right hander, two different kinds of ammo, same result. I'm baffled. Any Suggestions?
Thanks, Bill

 

[paulsharvey]

Old Grind, I actually did some shooting Wednesday evening.

As far as the Grendel; I have seen Hornady Black for $24 and Hornady Custum for $28 lately, in stock. If your looking at $1/bang for Wolf steel, that would pay for brand new brass, powder, bullet, and primer easily.

My Grendel is kinda a problem child. I have yet to find anything it really shoots good. Lots of 2.5" groups. I have tried 90gr TNT, 100gr Interlock (discontinued); 129gr Interlocks; and 120gr BTHPs and never found anything that shoota lights out. I dont really know if its worth messing around, looking for one magic combo, or if I really need to upgrade barrels to see accuracy.

For a scope out to 200 yards; depends on target vs hunting vs defense vs varmints. My favorite scoop I own right now is an Athlon Argos 3-15×40 MOA scope that I bought as an open box deal. Doesn't look like they make it anymore. Second favorite, if we are talking targets or varmints, is a Athlon Neos 6-18; or if hunting a Nikon Prostaff 4-12.

 

[paulsharvey]

"Having a strange problem sighting in my .257 WBY"

It sounds to me like something is putting pressure on the barrel. Is it a polymer stock? Any way it warped and is now touch the barrel under recoil?

I would check:
Crown condition; i would expect 2-5" change, but easy to check

Stock clearance in barrel channel

Scope rings and base

Did you recently do a full on heavy cleaning of the barrel? If so, it might take 5 rounds to normalize the copper and carbon fouling. Actually, you said Barnes ammo, is it the solid copper projectiles? I've heard (could be BS, or witchcraft) that some copper solids need several fowler shoots of their own to lay down their own specific copper layer... no idea if thats true

 

[RoyJackson]

Just read that Alec Baldwin is in Vermont...
Wondering if he'd like to go target shooting?
(I know...that was cruel)

 

[sea2summit]

May be OT lately, but besides sandman and s2s has anybody managed any trigger time (thanks!) in the last ten days or six pages??? (sorry, Mark)

I'm kinda fired up to check out the threaded 18" SS bbl 6.5 Grendel upper that fell out of the sky a few weeks ago. But I might only hope that anybody might comment on a scope choice for 200 yd & <, whether to reload the brass cases first, to sort it out with $20/bx steel-cased ammo, etc. That said I'm shy about diverting the flow of ??? in a viral armchair era.

Anyway, maybe I'll try to sneak in that shooting trivia in if/when the thread ever orbits back to TBN members and our OWN gun time.

btw, Talk is cheap. (dare me) Meat in the freezer and/or fur on your stretchers are assets, and target salad needs a lot of 'zest' or a lot of ranch on it.

Hornady Black is amazing in my G gun. Think Bud’s has some.

We’re at three in the feezer with a target of ten this season so we’re on track here. Also shot groups yesterday with 2.3 and 2.4 getting ready for a compilation coming up. I have scaled back though, we’re shooting groups of three instead of five. Really need to work up a load for 2.4, she’s starting to get to the point she’s maxing out the capabilities of the plonking ammo I think.

 

[sea2summit]

Having a strange problem sighting in my .257 WBY mark v left hand bolt. Couldn't find my usual ammo as there isn't much available in this caliber. Found 2 boxes of PMC eldorado 100 gr with Barnes x bullets and figured to rezero with this ammo. Was shooting 2 shot groups at 100 yards from a shooting rest, that has always worked for me in the past. The horizontal was consistent but the vertical was always one high, one low, varied from 2 inches to 5 inches apart. Thought it might be a hot barrel, so I let it cool between shots, same results, one above the other. Figured it must be the ammo, so I tried my usual WBY 100 gr spire point, same thing. My son said "let me try that thing", so I let him have a go at it, same thing happened for him. I have not had any issues with this rifle in past, so I decided to quit wasting ammo. Went home and pulled the Leupold scope off, and mounted a Simmons 6 to 18 AO, Figured there must be something wrong with the elevation on the Leupold, if the weather cooperates, today I'll try to see if that makes a difference. Two different shooters, one left hander, one right hander, two different kinds of ammo, same result. I'm baffled. Any Suggestions?
Thanks, Bill

Action is loose in the stock would be first guess.
Second would be dirty barrel/carbon ring/copper buildup.
Last would be something wrong with the rest.

*All assumes you checked the tightness the nut behind the trigger

 

[Bocephous]

Are you responsible for what you do or what others do?

As gun owners, we should all know that the person responsible for pulling the trigger "should" be responsible for where the gun was pointed and when the trigger was pulled.

However, and I could be wrong (since I know nothing about the movies), it's the "armorer's" job to ensure gun safety being that people who have the guns on the set know what those weapons are capable of.

Someone picks up a "M4" whatever on a movie set with a 30 round magazine loaded with blanks. However, on the 17 round, a live round was mistakingly inserted in the magazine. Whose responsibility is it that the live round was inserted into the mag?

End of day, on a movie set with a bunch of people who never handle guns on a daily basis, I can't help but think it's the paid armorer's responsibility.

As noted, we're talking about a movie set here. Thinking about it (which this story has made me do), I don't think I'd want to be within a mile of a movie shoot (no pun intended) that uses a lot of guns in the movie. Seems like a walking cluster waiting to happen.

Heck, at our last Christmas party, seemed like the skeet shooters (a bunch of them with shotguns) we're getting way to causal on their gun safety for my own liking that I walked away. And that's with Redneck gun owners LOL

There may be multiple people culpable in this case, not excluding the armorer. In my case, and in this case, imo, the answer to your question is "yes." And "yes." I have fired many of those fin rounds at human beings, and they are surprisingly accurate, but if in one of those cases I had inadvertently fired a live round, I would probably be in prison right now.

 

[Slowpoke Slim]

Having a strange problem sighting in my .257 WBY mark v left hand bolt. Couldn't find my usual ammo as there isn't much available in this caliber. Found 2 boxes of PMC eldorado 100 gr with Barnes x bullets and figured to rezero with this ammo. Was shooting 2 shot groups at 100 yards from a shooting rest, that has always worked for me in the past. The horizontal was consistent but the vertical was always one high, one low, varied from 2 inches to 5 inches apart. Thought it might be a hot barrel, so I let it cool between shots, same results, one above the other. Figured it must be the ammo, so I tried my usual WBY 100 gr spire point, same thing. My son said "let me try that thing", so I let him have a go at it, same thing happened for him. I have not had any issues with this rifle in past, so I decided to quit wasting ammo. Went home and pulled the Leupold scope off, and mounted a Simmons 6 to 18 AO, Figured there must be something wrong with the elevation on the Leupold, if the weather cooperates, today I'll try to see if that makes a difference. Two different shooters, one left hander, one right hander, two different kinds of ammo, same result. I'm baffled. Any Suggestions?
Thanks, Bi

I will start with the bold assumption that the barrel was clean. I mean actually clean, not just that a patch came out with nothing on it. The Wby mags leave tons of carbon behind. Just the nature of an "overbore" magnum. And the 257 was for a time, their most "overbore" magnum cartridge. They carbon up quickly compared to say a 30-06, or even a 25-06. It can be very hard to get carbon out of a barrel without the right solvent. Most bore cleaners don't touch it. Also, what about copper in the bore. High speed cartidges copper up fast. Barnes bullets copper up a bore quickly in a high velocity round unless the bore is exceptionally smooth. Most factory barrels aren't.

I would have started with checking the barrel to stock clearance before I touched the scope (with those same symptoms you're describing). Taking a single business card, curling it around the barrel in front of the forend, can you pass that card down the barrel channel of the stock? We're checking for barrel clearance there. Now some barrels (usually thin barrels if they do) actually like having a pressure point near the tip of the stock forend. So if the business card trick shows the stock touching, it may not be an accident. After this check, then I would loosen the stock screws holding the action in the stock just enough to put a few business cards between the forend and the barrel. We're creating a pressure point on purpose here, to see if that changes your symptoms, or to see if the barrel "likes" having a pressure point there. The number of cards in the stack would vary depending on if there was an existing gap there or not. I wouldn't want more than 2 or 3 cards worth of pressure under the forend, unless the existing gap was larger.

But, you've already started with the scope (I don't think it's the scope, wrong symptoms). I assume you checked the bases while you had the rings off? Bases are tight to the receiver? Rings are not damaged or hardware bad where they screw to the bases? Rings are still round? Rings lapped? Again, all these are things that do not match your symptoms, but you started there, so may as well check this. After shooting it with the Simmons on it, unless it's now "fixed", I would put the Leupold back on, carefully checking the bases and rings and etc in the process.

Before taking a "suspect" scope off, I would shoot a "box test" with the scope first.

 

[Billy Bee]

Paulsharvey,
It is a wooden stock on a mark V, I tried a dollar to check stock clearance, got it about one third of the way down the barrel and it would go no further. Do these rifles have a free floating barrel? Rings and base are tight, I believe the Barnes X is all copper, ran a patch through before starting, fired 18 rounds, should have been fouled by then.
S2S,
Action is tight, barrel was clean, was using a shooting rest with a padded front and a "Y" in the back and a dial for elevation. I have used this rest successfully for many years. As for the nut(s) behind the trigger, must be both of us. LOL
Thanks,
Bill

 

[sandman2234]

May be OT lately, but besides sandman and s2s has anybody managed any trigger time (thanks!) in the last ten days or six pages??? (sorry, Mark)

I'm kinda fired up to check out the threaded 18" SS bbl 6.5 Grendel upper that fell out of the sky a few weeks ago. But I might only hope that anybody might comment on a scope choice for 200 yd & <, whether to reload the brass cases first, to sort it out with $20/bx steel-cased ammo, etc. That said I'm shy about diverting the flow of ??? in a viral armchair era.

Anyway, maybe I'll try to sneak in that shooting trivia in if/when the thread ever orbits back to TBN members and our OWN gun time.

btw, Talk is cheap. (dare me) Meat in the freezer and/or fur on your stretchers are assets, and target salad needs a lot of 'zest' or a lot of ranch on it.

I would think that the scope on your Stag would make a good one for the Grendal, although I was hoping that I would talk you out of it before you took it off!
If you have $20 a box ammo, get the scope dialed in to paper with that and then get busy loading up some brass with the good powder and bullets as if you were going hog hunting this weekend. (which I wish you were!!)
I order ranch for my target salad by the 55 gallon drum, lol!
David from jax