- Joined
- Jul 15, 2005
- Messages
- 477
- Reaction score
- 58
I had an opportunity today to do some further shooting with the Vortek Strikerfire I picked up. I have now put around 120 rounds through this rifle and have yet to find a load that gives acceptable accuracy. It has a pretty tight bore which somewhat limits what bullet/sabot I can use but I've tried everything I've got and cannot get it to hold a decent group at 100 yds. I've used nothing but BH209, either 70 or 77 gns weighed. all shots are from a solid rest on a lead sled. I've tried not swabbing the barrel for a 3 shot group and tried swabbing every shot. I've changed the scope to one I know is reliable and it made no difference. I checked all the screws on the scope mount when I received the rifle, taking out one at a time and lock-titeing them before reinstalling. With a few loads, I can get a couple of shots to group fairly well but there is always a flyer that is at least 3" or more off, high and left or right, and the flyer could be any shot of the three. Some bullets that shoot accurate as hell out of my CVA rifles and MK85 just scatter all over the target face, giving no better than an 8-10" group. I've read of others getting good accuracy from Vortek rifles and have no reason to doubt them, but I just can't get it.
I noticed a couple of things today while shooting. When loading a fairly snug, but not extremely tight, bullet/sabot, it seems as if the barrel has several spots where it gets tighter, then looser, like it has an uneven bore. Also, I have the scope centered for 260 gn Scorpion PT Golds over 70 gns by weight of BH209, or at least as centered as I can get it with the inconsistent groups. When I switched to 300 gn PT Golds over 77 gn, the bullets were hitting high and left, up to 6" each way. 290 gr Barnes TEZs over 77 gn were also just as much high and left as were 300 gr XTPs over 77 gr. I never expected that kind of difference. The PT Golds and Barnes at least would put a couple of shots fairly close together but always had one several inches off. The XTPs were all over the place. I'm going to swab the bore 50-60 strokes with some J-B bore paste before the next session but I don't have high hopes it will magically fix everything. This is getting frustrating and I'm starting to wonder if I can get this rifle to shoot accurately at all.
I noticed a couple of things today while shooting. When loading a fairly snug, but not extremely tight, bullet/sabot, it seems as if the barrel has several spots where it gets tighter, then looser, like it has an uneven bore. Also, I have the scope centered for 260 gn Scorpion PT Golds over 70 gns by weight of BH209, or at least as centered as I can get it with the inconsistent groups. When I switched to 300 gn PT Golds over 77 gn, the bullets were hitting high and left, up to 6" each way. 290 gr Barnes TEZs over 77 gn were also just as much high and left as were 300 gr XTPs over 77 gr. I never expected that kind of difference. The PT Golds and Barnes at least would put a couple of shots fairly close together but always had one several inches off. The XTPs were all over the place. I'm going to swab the bore 50-60 strokes with some J-B bore paste before the next session but I don't have high hopes it will magically fix everything. This is getting frustrating and I'm starting to wonder if I can get this rifle to shoot accurately at all.