not a straight barrel?

[sniperboy]

Hi to all

I was with a friend on the weekend with his new 338 lapua he got built at the rifle range sighting in the scope. We started zeroing it at 200 meters (218 yards) and we couldnt get any shot on paper. So we brought the targets to 100 meters (109 yards) and again we didnt have much success. Although looking through the barrel and the gun on the rest we where on target, our shots where not to be seen. The bad thing was we where flat with the target and couldnt see were the shots were landing.
We finally got the shots on paper after all. We had clicked the scopes wind adjustment to the left to its final stage. (the scope on the rifle is a nightforce nsx 12x42)
Although the rifle was putting some unbelievable 5 shot groups together, its just was doing our brains in trying to work out why this was happening with the scope.
Today my friend took the rifle back to the gunsmith to sort out the problem, and rang me to tell me that the gunsmith told him barrels dont always come straight and that not to change the barrel, for the fact that it shoots so good. Instead he siad he will modify the steel scope bases and move the front of the base to the right so that he can have wind adjustment on both sides.
I m no gunsmith and neither is my friend, and we dont know if he has built my friend a faulty rifle or not.
Can someone advise me on weather the gunsmith is lying or been honest to my friend?

Thank you
sniperboy

 

[James Jones]

True that most barrels are not strait , its impossible to drill a hole that long and keep it strait and thats why alot of barrel makers "straiten" their barrels. I can see where a barrel that was overly "bowed" and not indexed properly would drift to one side way more that the other but at 100 yds , no their is another problem.

have you tried another scope , granted that the NF is one of the best but everybody can let a turd out here and their..

what kind of base and rings are being used?
I have seen guns that had the rings put on opposite of one another , why I don't know , but the bases would lean a little bit when snugged down and since the rings were opposite each other is cause the scope to be crooked on the base.

Are the scope base hole strait?
I have also seen some guns that the scope base hole were not strait with the reciever , this can generaly be fixed by re drilling the hole over sized and useing bigger screws like the 8-40.

If it does come down to a barrel being that far bent the maker should have no trouble replacing it.

 

[eddybo]

Maybe that barrel could be indexed with the curve up?

 

[Coyboy]

2nd that have the smith put the curve up. If it's that bad the curvature should be obvious to a trained eye.

 

[Catfish]

All you need to do is put on a set of Lupold or the Redfield mounts that have the windage adjustment in them. Years back the Redfields were very popular for that reason. There were alot of mil. action being rebarreled and this was the easy way to get the windage correct. Just set your scope in the center of it`s adjustment range and zero it with the mounts. After you get close you can fine tune with scope adjustments.

 

[J E Custom]

Sniperboy

Try Bore sighting.Remove the bolt from the rifle and place the rifle
on sand bags or a good rest , Place a target with a 6" black bulls eye
at 100 yrds , Center up the bulls eye in the bore looking through the
barrel . With out touching the rifle rase up and look through the scope
if you have it sighted in it should be within a few inches of dead center.

If it is not then there is definitely a problem with the bases or the scope.

James is wright about the some barrels not being perfectly strait but they
are straitened at the factory.

Some of the custom barrel makers don't straighten there select barrels they redrill
to a larger size and re check for straightness.

This is the way I bore sight a new scope ,and even with not so good eyes
I am normally withen a few inches (I'm normaly low and left 3 MOA.

I have never heard of one being out that far.

Let us know what you find .
J E CUSTOM