- Joined
- Jan 14, 2022
- Messages
- 241
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- 244
I have a Vortek Strikerfire and sabots were nearly all flyers. Exclusively use PowerBelt™ Aerolite Bullets - 250 Grain or 300 grain. Always use 2 pellets and only White Hots. (As an added benefit, fires very clean -- do not need any swabbing at the range). I use whatever 209 primer I can find. Breech plug grease is from Traditions. I use the Optima scope that came with it. Hunting here is in medium to heavy brush and all shots will be in range of 30-60 yards. I zero to 50 yards and consistently have sub 1 inch groups at that distance.I could be wrong, but I might expect free floating the forearm, indexing sabots and knurling bullets to cut a 2" group to 1" but not cure the inconsistencies I am seeing.
The barrel does not have a speed load system and the crown actually looks quite good.
Breech plug was new with the rifle so the flash hole is the standard size Tradition uses. I have not heard of others having problems with that and I am getting no blow back around the primer pocket.
I clean the breech plug with a drill bit every 5 shots.
It doesn't have iron sights. I switched scopes to a Nikon I had on another rifle and I am certain there isn't a scope problem. I even switched the scope back to the Optima V2 I had it on and while the zero was off because of the adjustments i made while on the Vortek, it shot consistent 1-1.5" groups using some of the same loads I tried in the Vortek. FWIW, the Vortek will shoot 1 hole groups at 25 yds with either scope but when I back off to 100, they open up big time.
Unfortunately, it does not have an accuracy guarantee and from what I have heard about Traditions customer support, I doubt they will be much help.
The large POI changes due to different loads is baffling. My next step is going to be a very thorough examination of all the mechanicals, stock and forearm mounting bolts and fit to the hinge pin. Nothing appears to be loose but I'm going to check them all. I'm also going to take a very close look at the integrity of the supplied scope base and rings. The base is a Weaver style clone, as are the rings, and while they appear to be adequate, they certainly aren't the most robust I've seen. Again, nothing appears to be loose but I'm going to take a hard look at them.
When loading, once started, the bullet travels smoothly down the barrel. I have not experienced the waffling feeling you describe.
Sounds like barrel the problem. Any chance Traditions will look at it?