rifle cant center in

[wildcat junkie]

5 hours ago, steve863 said:

 

So what do you use if steel or fiberglass is not good??

 

Hickory. It has worked for hundreds of years. If you break a ramrod, 99% of the time it's operator error.

[Daveboone]

Several things to help eliminate issues:

First, like has previously been said, make sure all mounts /wood is tight.

My preference for my rifles is to site it in first with the open sites before mounting a scope. Ya never know. At modest ranges (my 30-30s) I site them for fifty yards, and can keep a rested group of about an inch and 1/2.

If you can keep a tight group with the open sites, you know for sure it isn't the barrel, which is doubtful unless heavily fouled anyway.

If you are experienced/ know what you are doing,Take the scope and mount totally off and remount it. Make sure the bore is thoroughly scrubbed, cleaned and wiped dry. Is it a quick detacheable mount? if so they are notorious for being poor for accuracy.

Make sure you are sighting from a rest, but not hard blocks. You want stability but a hard rest can make it jump.

Don't worry about distance. Start at fifty yards or so, with a big wide poster back drop so you can see where you are off. Shoot a group....at least three shots without changing anything.   that is your control.

Unless the scope is junk, you should have a reasonably tight group (how tight? tough to say, but two inches out of an older well used gun at 50 may be acceptable....you know you have to limit your distances and pick your shots though, as the group will open up / roughly double as you double the distance). If so, you should be able to zero in the scope. IF the shots are still all over the place, probably the scope is no good. It was very common to throw a cheap scope on a lot of 30-30s, for many years they were pretty inexpensive themselves, and usually had a likewise cheap scope tossed on them.

What is the gun? I am guessing a Marlin or Winchester 94. Marlins could be a real solid platform. Older model 94s needed an offset mount before they angle ejects came along...and that wasn't a very good set up. 

My preference for a 94 is to put an aperture (peep) site on it. With practice, excellent accuracy can be had with practice, within a given range.

These are just my experiences, and suggestions.

 

[Daveboone]

second side note after re reading you initial letter...

I not too long ago read in one of the outdoor magazines about sighting in woes...including symptoms like what you talk about: shots being very erratic, not responding to adjustment. I had a newly scoped rifle that was doing the same. The article mentioned that it is possible to unevenly torque a scope tightening it. Cheap unlevel mounts can do it, or unevenly torqued down. 

I pulled the scope off, rechecked and leveled the mounting, and replaced the scope being very careful with the torquening. problem went away. 

[Will_C]

I'll just add to what has been said-I'd suspect something is loose-stock, fore end, scope base or rings. A pretty terrible barrel or muzzle would still keep a sighted in rifle on paper at 50 yards.

[Robhuntandfish]

I'm gonna get him to take it to a shop. After not even being able to get it to be consistent at even 50 yards with open sights or 2 different scopes and trying 3 different kinds of ammo, I told him I was done shooting it.  Esp when the last shot group was all over still and even not on paper at times.  Will sure be interested to know what it is.  Never seen anything like it

[wildcat junkie]

11 hours ago, Robhuntandfish said:

I'm gonna get him to take it to a shop. After not even being able to get it to be consistent at even 50 yards with open sights or 2 different scopes and trying 3 different kinds of ammo, I told him I was done shooting it.  Esp when the last shot group was all over still and even not on paper at times.  Will sure be interested to know what it is.  Never seen anything like it

If there is a significant ding, gouge, etc at the crown. It will allow the propellent gasses to vent at that point at the precise microsecond that the bullet is leaving the muzzle. That will cant the bullet as it leaves the muzzle. That will result in very erratic grouping.

It would be possible when cleaning from the muzzle repeatedly to wear one side of the bore thus creating an oval or elliptical hole at the end of the barrel. It probably wouldn't be obvious to the naked eye, but if there was a .005-.010" partial gap between the bore and the bullet base, it could cause erratic performance. 

 

I don't see stock fit, especially on a rifle with a 2-piece stock, causing the significance in erratic grouping you are experiencing.

 

Then again the bore might just be ruined. If it was shot with corrosive primers in the early part of the 20th century or the later part of the 19th century without the required soap and water cleaning. Even with smokeless powders, corrosive primers will have a similar effect to black powder due to the salts present. 

 

The good news is, if you want to make Granddads rifle shoot like new, a barrel liner can be used to restore the bore. The cost is not significantly more than a straight rebarrel job and the appearance of an heirloom piece can be maintained.

Edited November 15, 2018 by wildcat junkie

[Elmo]

Swapped out my 223 barrel on my H&R for a 20 gauge rifled barrel.  It shoots all over the place.  Do I need different rings for the recoil or something?  I never  been able to hit the board side of a barn with a slug gun.  Rifled slugs out of my smooth bore Mossberg 500 or sabot slugs out of my rifled barreled H&R.