Lost and frustrated..

So I've been shooting my encore a ton.... I put a new Vortex HSLR 4-16-44 on it... I dropped my powder charge from 120 down to 100 of BH209. I have the gun zeroed for 100 and its shooting a 250 gr Barnse TEZ with 100grs of BH209 at 1920 FPS.....

Im shooting 1MOA at 100 yards but when I reach out to 160 and 225 I have a decent amount (75%)of rounds that are impacting left....

Im shooting off a lead sled and am beyond frustrated....

Im also noticing today in the snow that there is a fair amount of unburned powder onto of the snow in front of the bench.... Any one have any suggestions..

I have buddy who used to be a sniper in the Army that thinks the bullet isn't making contact with the rifling.. Im going to attempt to scrub the piss out of it tonight with a brass brush. My current cleaning procure was 1 dry patch,1 paths saturated in 209 cleaner 4 more dry patches then 1 cap fired.... I was under the impression that it was bad to get the bore extremely clean for BH209.... Im lost now...

Are you accounting for wind drift?

also make sure you scope is centered in rings and with bore, at close range wont make much difference but does the further out you get.. cheap rings can cause problems..and as said above wind drift also.
if using sabot it has no choice but to make contact unless its falling down the barrel..

When you start shooting longer ranges, shooter faults multiply. Identical placement of your finger on the trigger, to palming, body position changes, free hand on the forearm and so many other contributing factors can change the POI. You didn't say rather the 75% were grouped, the group size, or how far left.

Why did you lower your powder charge? If rings scope and bases are fine I really think it's the powder charge myself. I don't think the bullet is obturating as well as with 120grns of BH209 which explains the powder your seeing.

wind drift, most likely ,

Perhaps, if there is zero wind, you could adjust your sight for the 225 yard target? Impact on the 160 yard target will be near. Impact on the 100 yard target should be plenty good enough.

If there was a slight breeze, it will blow the bullets further than you may think. However , your sniper pal knows this, so i presume there was no breeze.

The rings are the Vortex Hunter Rings.

I put 2 bullets threw the same hole left but then had a flier go low right.. I know what everyones thinking.. This kid is flinching but I'm honestly not.. I was taking my time really concentrating on the shots. And at 160 it shouldn't be that far off from 100....

There was little to no wind

I dropped from 120 down to 100 as I'm trying to reduce recoil.. I don't care who you are less recoil improves shooting... It honestly didn't drop in FPS much.. I went from 2128FPS at 120 to 1919at 100 but the recoil reduction was significant. Im only shooting whitetails so I don't need a Max load. Im also looking at trying the 200 grain Precision Rifle Dead Center to get a flatter trajectory and even more reduced recoil..

I am considering purchasing the Traditions Vortex strike fire as it has a 2lb 2-stage trigger and I have more then enough Cabelas points to cover it. Im an AR guy and all my guns have Geissele triggers in them..

I do have another T/C pro hunter 50 cal with open sights that I may reinstall my scope onto to see if its indeed the gun/barrel.

This has been weird/nighmare from the getgo.. I had to install a 20 MOA base on gun after mounting the new Vortex as i only had 8 MOA vertical adjustment after I zeroed it.. Now I can't shoot for **** after 100 yards... I have lost all confidence in the gun/setup and am just plane disgusted.

BDC reticle? I would try turning the scope a tad to the right in the rings (clockwise), the scope may be canted to the left just a bit.

Do you knurl your bullets? I think it helps with flyers.

Index your sabots?

bigbuck28 said:

I am considering purchasing the Traditions Vortex strike fire as it has a 2lb 2-stage trigger and I have more then enough Cabelas points to cover it. Im an AR guy and all my guns have Geissele triggers in them.

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How is the trigger on the Encore? If you are looking for a rifle with a light trigger, am I correct in assuming you feel the Encore trigger is too stiff and that could be contributing to your problems? For what it's worth, I picked up a Vortek Strikerfire a couple of months ago, and while It does have a light, clean breaking trigger, it only breaks after a large amount of travel to take up trigger slack. I assume this travel is what Traditions is calling the 1st stage. After this 1st stage, the trigger reaches the point where it tightens for the 2nd stage and is ready to break. I am having difficulty getting used to that take up travel and I worry that in a hunting situation where you might be rushing a bit to make a shot on an animal getting ready to move, adrenaline might make you subconsciously punch the trigger. I prefer a trigger like the one in my Accura rifles that is light and breaks cleanly without any take up travel.

I'm wondering if it's me now and I prefer 2 stage triggers. And I like new toys..

My T/C has a trigger job in it....

I'm my opinion a 2 stage is even better for hunting... I use mine in my 204 AR for yotes... It's perfect for moving targets bc you can take the slack up as they walk then as soon as they stop you know when the trigger is going to engage...practice finding the wall and I bet you'll learn to love it

How crisp is the second stage? I like candy cane breaking crisp in my second stage.. There's 0 travel in the second stage correct, no spungyness?

If he hasn't already, have your sniper buddy shoot it and see if the same thing happens to him.

Welcome to longer range shooting, where shooter error is multiplied. What may not be so noticeable at 100, is doubled at 200.
I see where you said you put two in the same hole left than a flier, but how far left? Are they 5" left, or are they 1" left?
Your rifle may shoot slightly better with the 290gr than the 250gr. If you're only hunting deer, then you'll never notice recoil when shooting at one.
Spend a little more time working on what you might be doing to affect the POI difference.

bigbuck28 said:

I'm wondering if it's me now and I prefer 2 stage triggers. And I like new toys..

My T/C has a trigger job in it....

I'm my opinion a 2 stage is even better for hunting... I use mine in my 204 AR for yotes... It's perfect for moving targets bc you can take the slack up as they walk then as soon as they stop you know when the trigger is going to engage...practice finding the wall and I bet you'll learn to love it

How crisp is the second stage? I like candy cane breaking crisp in my second stage.. There's 0 travel in the second stage correct, no spungyness?

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I'm with you on new toys. :yeah: I haven't measured it but he trigger pull of the Strikerfire is very light and it breaks very cleanly. I just don't like the initial trigger travel you have to take up, probably because of over 45 years of shooting sidelocks with double set triggers that once set, fire with just a touch of the trigger.

I have an encore and an oversize hinge pin from Bellm made my gun way more consistent. If you have any wobble between your frame and barrel when its broke open then you may look into that. Also a heavier hammer spring to reduce lock time and a trigger job.

If using a BDC then your scope may not be 100% straight or you do not have the gun level every time. You can get bubble levels for your scope. That will make sure you are doing the same thing every time. The long range rifle guys use them.

Sabot fit is a big deal as well. Too loose and you will have fliers

dozer_xj said:

I have an encore and an oversize hinge pin from Bellm made my gun way more consistent. If you have any wobble between your frame and barrel when its broke open then you may look into that. Also a heavier hammer spring to reduce lock time and a trigger job.

If using a BDC then your scope may not be 100% straight or you do not have the gun level every time. You can get bubble levels for your scope. That will make sure you are doing the same thing every time. The long range rifle guys use them.

Sabot fit is a big deal as well. Too loose and you will have fliers

Click to expand...

Good ideas there. Also add to be sure and get compacted powder under that snug sabot. I put a little oomph in my bullet seatings..... with all powders on the market.